Long, long ago the world was a happy place. Nobody was ever sick or sad.

    At that time there lived a little girl named Pandora. One day a fairy gave her a wonderful box. The fairy made Pandora promise not to open it. Pandora and her friends often looked at the box and wondered what was in it.

    For a long time Pandora kept her promise, but at last she couldn't help herself. She opened the box a little. Then hundreds of bad fairies flew out. They stung (刺伤) Pandora and her friends. The bad fairies flew out of the door and stung all the children in the land. Then Pandora heard a voice crying, “Let me out, and I will help you.”

    She opened the box again, and a beautiful fairy flew out. She told Pandora that her name was Hope. She kissed Pandora and her friends, and made them feel well. Then she flew away to help the other children.

    Until now, when people are sick or unhappy, the little good fairy, Hope, comes to comfort them.

    When Mr. David retired(退休), he bought a small house in a village near the sea. He liked it and hoped to live a quiet life in it. But to his surprise, many visitors came to see his house in summer holidays, for it was the most interesting building in the village. From morning to night, there were visitors outside the house. They kept looking into the rooms through the windows and many of them even went into the house. He decided to drive the visitors away. So he put a notice on the window. The notice said，“If you want to satisfy your curiosity(好奇心), come in and look around. Price: twenty dollars.”Mr. David was sure that the visitors would stop coming, but he was wrong. More and more visitors came and Mr. David had to spend every day showing them around his house. “I came here to retire, not to work as a guide(导游)”, he said angrily. In the end, he sold the house and moved away.

    My name is Sam . I joined a club called  " passing help " last month . Now let me tell you why I joined it.

One evening this May, on my way home my old car was broken . It was 25 miles from my home . I wanted to get a ride, but there was no car . It was also hard to take a taxi . I decided to take a bus home .I went to a bus stop nearby .

    After a while , a bus came , but it did not go to my town .The bus driver was a young woman . She was kind and she told me which bus I should take . I waited there for about thirty minutes , but no bus came . At last a car came to me and a woman came out of the car .She was just the bus driver.

    "When I reached the bus station , I got to know that the bus to your town couldn't  come ,so I returned here.I just can't leave you here ," she said , " Get in my car and I will take you back to your home ."

    " It is a long way ."I said.

    " Come on ,sir, "she said ," Let's go."

    On the way she told me a story . A few days ago, there wasn't gas(汽油）in her car . An old man drove her up to a gas station and then back to her car.

    When we got to my home , I wanted to give her some money to thank her , but she didn't accept it . " I only want to help others and do something nice for somebody. Pass it along. " She said. 

    I used to think courtesy (礼貌) was a thing of the past. However, I changed my mind when I met a courteous man.

    Last Saturday, I went to a cafe with my daughters. It was crowded with the usual loud crowd and we had to climb up the stairs to find an empty table. After enjoying coffee and snacks, we were ready to come down the stairs, where the narrow space made climbing down only possible in a single line, with hardly any space for another person to either climb up or come down.

    Just as I was in the middle of my descent (下去), a man got to the main entrance (入口) of the cafe which was right in front of the staircase. I was sure I would be pushed by the man who would want to go up in a hurry. Anyway, I kept coming down as fast as I could. My daughters were already down, looking up at me worriedly, hoping I would get down before the stranger went up the stairs.

    Nearly getting down, I noticed the man still standing near the door. Later, I passed him at the entrance door which he kept holding open. I looked back thinking he was still at the door, deciding whether to go in or find another less crowded place. However, I saw him going up the stairs, two at a time.

    I told my daughters about it and all of us felt bad for we did not even thank the courteous gentleman.

    Tommy hated school and was always looking for excuses(借口)not to go. If he sneezed(打喷嚏), he asked his mother to write to his teacher saying he had a cold. If he had a headache(头痛), he asked his mother to take him to the doctor during school hours. He spent more time at home than he did at school. On the days that he did go to school, he looked for excuses to come home early.

    One day he came home from school in the middle of the morning. His father was surprised.

    "You're home early," he said. "Is the school finished today?"

    "No, dad," Tommy said. "I came home early."

    "How did you do that?" his father asked him. "What did you say to the teacher?"

    "I told her that I had a new baby brother and that I had to come home and help you."

    "But your mother has had twins(双胞胎)," his father said, "a boy and a girl. You've got a baby brother and a baby sister."

    "Yes, I know, Dad," Tommy said, "I'm saving up my baby sister for next week."

    Miss Grey lived in a small house. She was old and did not like noise at all, so she was very pleased when her noisy neighbor moved out. A young man moved in and Miss Grey thought the man seemed to be quiet.

    But at three o'clock the next morning, the noise of a dog woke her up. She thought she had never heard a dog there before. It must be the young man's dog. So she telephoned the young man, said something bad about the dog and then hung up the telephone before he could answer. Nothing more happened until three o'clock the next morning. Then Miss Grey's telephone rang, and when she answered, a voice said, "You telephoned me twenty-four hours ago, now I ring you up to say that I don't have a dog."