A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had loved a beautiful sports car, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

    As Graduation Day came, the young man waited for the good news of the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his study. He handed his son a beautiful gift box. Curious and disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely ,leather—bound(用皮包装的)Bible《圣经》,with the young man 's name on its cover. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" He then rushed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

    Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. But he realized his father was very old, he thought perhaps he should go to see him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could set off, he received a telegram(电报)telling him his father had passed away. He needed to come home immediately and deal with things.

    While searching for his father's papers, he found that new Bible. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he was reading, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible, It had a note with the salesman's name, the same man who had the sports car he had hoped. On the note was the date of his graduation, and the words :“PAID IN FULL.”

    William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the USA, was born in a small town. When he was a boy, he was very quiet and shy. Because he was so quiet, everyone thought that he wasn't bright. People in the town often put a nickel(五分镍币)and a dime(十分硬币)before him and asked him which to choose. He always chose the nickel and they laughed.

    One day a woman felt sorry for him. She asked, "Why do you never take a dime and always choose a nickel? Do you know a nickel is worth(值……钱) much less than a dime?"

    "Certainly I know it.” William answered slowly. "But if I choose the dime, they will not ask me to choose them any more.”

    Many people like animals. Now a lot of people have animals as pets (宠物). Usually people like to have dogs, cats, fish and other animals. Many young people have animals because they think theseanimals are interesting. Some old people have pets because they don't live with their children.Mollylives in No.25 Garden Street. He is a doctor, but he helps dogs. People usually call him The Dog Doctor. When their dogs get sick (生病), they call him on the telephone. He goes to the people's houses and helps them. He gives the dogs the right medicine(药物). Wherever(无论) he goes, he isalways welcome.

I am Mandy and I live in the city with my parents and my little sister. The city life is boring sometimes. I love going to my grandmother's village(村庄). 

It is so much fun living in the village. I like collecting leaves (收集树叶) there. I usually do it on my way to the only shop in the village. They have many different shapes. Some are like a heart and some are like a hand. . . I can make a lot of things with leaves. One fun thing is making leaf pictures. 

This is how I make a leaf picture. I take a leaf out and I also need paper, glue (胶水), a brush(刷子) and paints (绘画颜料). First, I glue the leaf onto the paper and wait for an hour. Then, I paint over the leaf and the paper and let the paints get dry(变干). Next, I take the leaf off the paper. There it is—a beautiful leaf picture on the paper!

I sometimes make birthday cards or other things with the leaf pictures. My friends like them very much. I tell them，"They are not just gifts from me. They're gifts from my grandmother's village！"

Do you know why you get angry so easily, but your friend smiles all the time? It's because you have different personalities. Then what is personality? It's about how people think, behave(举止) and react(反应) to everything around them.

So what makes people think and behave in certain ways? Part of the reason is that people are born like this. A baby gets its genes and blood type(血型) when it is still inside its mother. These may help decide what the baby will be like.

But one's personality doesn't stop here. Family life, school learning and life experiences can also make you the person you are. But this doesn't mean you can't change your personality. You can al- ways try to make yourself better. Don't get too worried if you don't have a good personality. Just face it. This is a good way to start making changes.

For example, if you don't know how to make friends, find out why. Is it because you' re too shy? If so, tell yourself to smile at people. Start talking to people kindly. But don't give yourself a hard time about it all. After all, it's not easy to change lifelong habits in one night. Just keep trying. One day you can see that you can be a new you!