Sometime ago I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn't think there would be any difficulty in getting it repaired, as there are a lot of antique (古董) shops near my home. So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception.  I was quite wrong. The man wouldn't even look at my chair.

    The second shop, though a little more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth. I realized that my approach must be wrong so I decided to try another way. I entered the fifth shop with a plan in my mind.  I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper, "Would you like to buy a chair? Twenty pounds," I said. "OK. I'll give you twenty pounds for it,"he said. "It's got a slightly broken leg," I added. "Yes, I saw that.  It's nothing," the shopkeeper replied.

    Everything was going according to the plan and I was getting excited. "What will you do with it?" I asked. "Oh, it will be easy to sell after the repair is done.""I'll buy it," I said.  "What do you mean? You've just sold it to me," the man asked in surprise.  "Yes, I know. But I've changed my mind.  I am sorry. I'll give you twenty-seven pounds for it." "You must be crazy," he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. He shouted, "I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair." "You're right,"I said, "And what would you have said if I had walked in and asked you to repair my chair?" "I wouldn't have agreed to do it. We don't do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble.  But I'll repair this for you.  Five pounds will be the cost,"the man answered. He was a very nice man and was greatly amused by the whole thing.

      Mr. and Mrs. Su don't often go out in the evening, but today they go out for a walk after supper. They go to the park and have a good time there. On their way home, Mr. Su says to Mr. Su, “Look! A woman is running in the street and a man is running after her.” Mr. Su says, “What's the matter? Let's go and help her.”

      Now the woman gets near them. Mr. Su asks, “Shall we help you?” “No, thank you,” the woman says, “My husband and I are running home, and the slower one does the housework.”

    When people find something valuable and return it to its owner，they are often given a reward．This is because the person not only found what was lost but also spent time finding its owner or taking it to the police station．

    There was once a young boy who found a woman's purse in a shopping center．Inside the purse there was some money and the woman's driving license．Her name and address were printed on the license，so the boy knew where she lived．That evening he went to her house and knocked on her door．When she opened it，he said，“I found your purse，''and handed it to her．

    “Thank you very much，”she said．She opened her purse and took out all the money．She wanted to give the boy a small reward，but there were only bills of$20 in the purse and she thought that$20 was too much to give the boy．“I'm sorry，”she said. “but I don't have any small change to give you．”

    The boy said，“That's all right，”and he went away．

    A few days later he found another woman's purse．It also had her driving license in it，so he knew where she lived．He went to her house and said．“l found your purse ,”and handed it to her．

    “Thank you very much，"she said．  She opened her purse and took out all her money．

    “That‘s strange，”she said．“Before I lost my purse l had a $100 bill and a $20 bill in it．Now I have a $100 bill ,a $10 bill and two $5 bills．''

    “Yes，"the boy said，and smiled．

Somebody Loves You

    One cold rainy night, I was working on my Legos in my bedroom. I was dreaming of the day when I have earned enough money to buy my favourite set. To help me, my father rewarded me one dollar a day after I jogged with him in the morning.

    Suddenly, the doorbell rang. I jumped from my chair and raced to the top of the steps, wondering who would visit us on such a rainy night. My mother opened the door. Surprisingly, she found a very untidy man. Overcome by pity, my mother invited him inside to the living room.

    I went downstairs quietly so I could get a better look. I couldn't hear clearly what they were saying, but I saw the man holding his head in his hands and crying, which made my chest ache.

    I raced back to my room, grabbed the one-dollar coin I had got that morning, ran back to the man, put the coin in his hand and gave him a hug. At that moment, I had no idea why I did so. Feeling embarrassed, I stood still.

In a while, the stranger sat quietly with his head bowed. Tears streamed down his face as he tightly held that coin. Finally, he said, ―I just thought nobody cared about me. For the last twenty years, I have been so alone… I have no family. That was the first hug I have gotten in — hmmm… I don't know how long. It's hard to believe that somebody cares.

    Being a kid, I hadn't thought about what I was doing that night. I just had the reaction to the sight of someone else's pain. On our earlier morning jogs, my dad and I had talked about the importance of giving, but I hadn't had any idea of what it really meant.

    Before the man left that night, my parents asked him why he had knocked on our door. He said that as he was walking along the streets, hopeless and ready to die, he had noticed a bumper sticker on the car in front of our house. The bumper (保险杠) sticker on the car read: SOMEBODY LOVES YOU.

    Cody and his sister April wanted a dog. They went to an animal adoption center. A nice old man, Mr. Smith. greeted（问候）Cody and April.

"How can I help you?" he asked.

    "We would like to adopt a dog," April said. "Ah, you have two dogs to choose from. One of them is a very big bulldog(斗牛犬)named Buster. The other is a very small Chihuahua(吉娃娃)named Teacup," Mr. Smith told her. April wanted Teacup. Cody wanted Buster. They walked outside to discuss(讨论)it, but they couldn't agree on which dog to get. April suggested they race (赛跑)home for it. The winner of the race would choose the dog. Cody thought it was a good idea.

    So they had a race. Cody ran very quickly. He really wanted that bulldog. He looked back. April was so far behind him. Cody finally won the race. He was tired but happy.

    They went back to the adoption center. However, they only saw Teacup, the Chihuahua. They asked Mr. Smith where Buster was Mr. Smith said that a few minutes after April and Cody left, two boys walked in and adopted the bulldog.

    Cody smiled sadly, "We'll adopt the Chihuahua, please."

Birthday cards and parties are always the most popular ways for children to celebrate their birthdays, but not for Logan Brown in the US. He has serious autism. He can't talk and doesn't have any friends. According to his mother Catherine, he stopped getting birthday cards and having parties years ago. This year was Logan's 12th birthday. His mother loved him and wanted him to have a great birthday, just like other children. She asked Facebook (a website) for help, inviting friends and strangers to send her son cards for his 12th birthday. In Catherine's Facebook post, she wrote, "Will you write Happy Birthday Logan一from

your friend-in Washington，Hawaii …? Help us celebrate Logan's birthday!"

    Then the Browns were excited to receive more than 3,000 birthday cards from all over the world. When one police officer read Catherine's Facebook post, he decided to organize a surprise party for Logan at a local restaurant. On that day, many policemen took part in the party and gave the little boy a birthday cake and some other gifts. "We couldn't let Logan's birthday pass without anything special for him," said the police officer.

    With the help of his mother and the Internet, Logan had a special birthday.