When my brother and I were children, we spent a few weeks each summer in the countryside with our uncle. He was a geologist and loved to go on long walks to find stones to add to his collection at the university. More often than not, we followed him.

      One day, we left early, and this time, our uncle gave us two backpacks. “ You can help me carry the samples(样本),” he explained.

      Surely, why not? The whole day, we walked around the countryside, and every now and then, our uncle put stones in our bags. We were a bit surprised that sometimes he also took some stones out from our bags, but thought he had just found better samples.

      We reached the house in the late afternoon. The backpacks were so heavy that we were really tired out when we put them on the ground. Yet our uncle's backpack was half-empty.

      “Why did you give us so many stones?” we asked.

      “I didn't. You did,” he said, waiting for a while before continuing. “ You did not know it, but I made you go through a little attitude(态度) test today.”

What do you mean an‘attitude test'?” we wanted to know.

      “It is something someone once did to me. You see, I listened to every word you said. And whenever you complained(抱怨) about anyone or anything, I added a stone to your bags. And whenever you talked about something in an attitude of positive thinking, I took out a stone. And now look at your backpacks.”

      We did. They were full.

      “I hope you remember this little attitude test. You see, your negative thoughts are like stones. You carry them in your mind just like those stones and start paying attention to what you say and how you say things.”

      This little lesson was one of the most important lessons I ever had. And I remember my uncle with great love for teaching us one of the most important lessons in life – the power of attitude.

D

    He Jiang, a postgraduate（研究生）in biology. will become the first Chinese student to give a speech in the commencement(毕业典礼)at Harvard University on May 26, 2016.

    Given the highest honor by the university, He Jiang, who was born in a small village in Hunan province, said, "People in China often believe that it's useless to study and children from the countryside cannot be successful in the future. However, I cannot agree with them. Education can change a person's life. I hope my experience can encourage the students from the countryside to spare no effort in study and make their dreams come true."

    Different from many other families in the village, his parents never thought about finding a job in big cities and leaving their two sons at home without their care. His father was strict about their studies. He and his younger brother studied at home while the other kids in the village played in the fields. Unlike his strict father, his mother took her sons' side when her husband scolded the boys. She preferred to sit with her sons when they studied rather than chat with other women in the village.

    Getting the chance to speak at the commencement is no accident. During his first days in Harvard, it was quite difficult for him to follow the professors in class and he was speechless in campus because of his poor English. Instead of giving up, He Jiang spent all his free time on English. He also made friends with natives to improve his speaking English. One year later, he had little difficulty in class and soon became one of the top students in his class. With the encouragement from Professor Diana Eck. He Jiang decided to apply(申请）for the chance to speak at the commencement.“Few Chinese students had applied before, but I wanted to have a try. I just want to realize my idea of letting more people hear the voice from China and telling them that China is not what it used to be." said He Jiang. After beating three students from Harvard Kennedy School in the third and final round, He Jiang made it to get the chance to speak at the commencement.

    He Jiang will go to Massachusetts Institute of Technology after graduating from Harvard.

    Monty was a high school boy from a poor family. One day his teacher asked the students to write a paper about what they wanted to be when they 1 .That night Monty wrote a seven-page paper describing his dream 2 having a horse ranch (马场).

    Two days later he got his paper back. There was an "E" on it. After class，the boy went to the teacher's office and asked, 3did I get an 'E'?" The teacher said, "This dream is too unrealistic (不切实际的), 4 you need lots of money to buy land (土地), pay for horses and many other things. But you have no 5 . There is no way you can ever do it. Write another paper and I will give you another grade."

    That day Monty 6 a lot about it. Then he had a talk with his father. After listening to the boy's 7 his father said, "Dear son, it's your decision. You have to make up your mind about it, as it's important for you."

    After a week Monty handed in the 8 paper. He just wrote one more sentence at the end of it: You can keep the "E" and I will keep my 9 .

    Years later, the teacher went on a school trip with 30 kids to camp on a big horse ranch. One  evening she met the owner (主人) of the horse ranch. She got a big 10 because the owner was Monty the boy who got an "E" for the paper about his dream.

    Do you know any 9-year-olds who have started their own museums? When Theodore Roosevelt was only nine and two of his cousins opened the "Roosevelt Museum of Natural History". The museum was in Theodore's bedroom. It had a total of 12 specimens(标本). On display were a few seashells, some dead insects and some birds' nests. Young Roosevelt took great pride in his small museum.

    Born in New York in 1858, Theodore Roosevelt was not always healthy. "I was a sickly, delicate boy, "he once wrote. Roosevelt had a health condition called asthma (哮喘). He often found it hard to breathe. Instead of playing, he watched nature and then read and wrote about it.

    Roosevelt's interest in nature sometimes got him into trouble. Once, his mother found several dead mice in the icebox. She ordered him to throw them out. This was indeed "a loss to science", Roosevelt said later.

    Because Roosevelt was often sickly as a boy, his body was small and weak. When he was about 12, his father urged him to improve his body. Roosevelt began working out in a gym. He didn't become strong quickly. But he did decide to face life's challenges with a strong spirit. That determination stayed with Roosevelt's whole life. And finally his body did get strong. As an adult, he was an active, healthy person. He enjoyed adventures and loved outdoors.

    In 1900, at the age of 41, Roosevelt was elected Vice President. A year later, President Mckinley was shot and killed. Roosevelt became the 26th president of the USA. At 42, he was the youngest leader the country had ever had.

    Once upon a time, there was a little bird named Birdie. She was afraid to fly and always hid in the bushes. Some big crows(乌鸦) often made fun of her by saying, "You can't flyyyy. You are afraid to flyyyy. " Near the bushes, there lived some squirrels (松鼠). Every day, they would "fly" around the branches and "fly" up and down all the trees in the forest.

    One day, these squirrels asked Birdie to join them. Birdie came out of the bushes and wanted to have a try. The crows noticed that and started to laugh at her. They cried, "You can't flyyyy. You are afraid to flyyyy. " Birdie was so sad that she began to flap (拍打) her wings and shouted loudly, "I can fly!" The little bird flapped her wings so hard that she began to fly. These squirrels couldn't believe their eyes. They shouted cheerfully, "Birdie, you're flying! I'm flying?" Birdie said, "I am flying!" She was so excited that she flew up and down, and in and out of all the branches. Then she flapped her wings as hard as she could and flew all the way to the top of the tallest tree. Birdie wasn't afraid of flying anymore, and those big crows never came to bother her ever again.

As a teenager, I was pretty lazy when it came to doing things for my family. I worked hard at school and I found I was not glad to 1 out at home with even the simplest things.

Every Wednesday afternoon, for example, my mother 2 me to another town for a piano lesson. During my two-hour lesson, she rushed to the market and bought a week's 3 . Knowing my mom had driven me twelve miles there, twelve miles back, you might think I'd be very 4 to help her bring the food into the house. 5 I wasn't. I just carried my schoolbag on my back and left the rest for Mom.

Back in my room, I felt 6 not helping my mother more. Deep inside (在内心深处),I wanted to change my 7 . But I also realized (意识到) that once I took on more housework, my parents would start 8 more of me. At the age of fifteen, I realized that one small 9 would happen: from a cared-for child to a 10 young man.

I'll never forget the Wednesday when I made a decision to change 11 .Returning home from the lesson, I rushed into my room, as usual. But once inside, I felt so sorry 12 . Suddenly I opened my door and ran to my mother to help her. How 13 I looked at my mother when I finished it that day!

Surely, from then on, I continued(继续) to help out with more housework. The clear thing was that the more I helped out, the 14 I felt about myself and my place in my family. Mom and Dad soon realized I became a real young man.

Sometimes the little things we put off doing can be 15 easily. And then the feeling of happiness overcomes(战胜) the feeling of guilt(内疚) anyway.