My mother only had one eye. I hated her, as she was such an embarrassment (难堪）for me. She ran a small shop at a market, selling anything for the money we needed.

    One day, my mom came to my school. I threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day, my classmates shouted, “Your mom only has one eye!" and they taunted me. My face turned red.

I wished that my mom would just disappear from this world, so I said to her, “Mom, why don't you have the other eye? You make me a laughingstock.” She didn't say anything. Maybe it was because my mom hadn't punished me, so I didn't think that I had hurt her feelings very badly. I decided to study hard so that I could leave her for the rest of my life. I made it at last. Now I'm living happily as a successful man in another country.

Many years later, I received a letter, which said, “I think my life has been long enough now， but would it be too much to ask if I wanted you to visit me once in a while? I'm sorry that I am an embarrassment for you. You see, when you were very young, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn't stand watching you having to grow up with only one eye, so I gave you mine. I was so proud of my son that was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye. I was never angry with you for anything you did. I miss the time when you were still young around me. You mean the world to me. I love you.” I can't help crying with the letter in my hand.

    My two little daughters and I usually go out and help others on Thankful Thursday. Last Thursday we were going to buy lunch for the beggars（乞丐） in the street. Then we went to the nearest McDonald's. I ordered 15 lunches from it and drove my car to hand them out.

We gave the lunches to the beggars. They were excited. We were happy to see that.

    Then we noticed a small, old woman, asking for pocket money. We gave her our last lunch bag. Before we got into the car, she started to speak to us, "No one has ever done anything like this for me before, "she said with a smile. "Well, I'm glad that we were the first, "I answered. "So, when will you eat your lunch," I asked.

    She just looked at me with her big, tired brown eyes and said, "OH, dear, I'm not going to eat this lunch. You see, I have a little daughter. I usually can't buy her favorite food, but today she will be so happy!"

    I don't know if the kids noticed the tears in my eyes. I have asked many times whether our actions of kindness were too small to change anything. Yet at that moment, I realized the truth of words: "We cannot do great things —only small things with great love."

    I have tried to write a ghost（鬼魂） story that won't make you unhappy with yourselves，with each other，with the seasons，or with me．I hope it haunts（飘荡） your houses pleasantly．

    By Charles Dickens One Christmas Eve，old Scrooge and Bob were working busily in his office．It was a cold，foggy day．The fog was so thick that the houses opposite were like ghosts．It was only three o'clock in the afternoon，but it was already quite dark．

    "Merry Christmas，Uncle!"cried a happy voice．It was Scrooge's nephew（侄子）．

    "Bah!"said Scrooge，"Humbug（骗人的话）!"

    "Christmas is a humbug？Surely you don't mean that，Uncle．"said his nephew．

    "I do，"said Scrooge．"Merry Christmas!What reason have you got to be merry？You're poor．"

    "OK，then，"replied the nephew cheerfully．"What reason have you got to be sad？You are rich．Don't be angry，Uncle!"said his nephew．

    "What else can I be？"answered the uncle，"I live in a world of fools!Merry Christmas!What's Christmas time to you？It's a time for paying bills without money？!It's a time for finding yourself a year older，but not richer．

    Everyone who goes around saying 'Merry Christmas' should have his tongue cut out．Yes，he should!"

    "Uncle!Please don't say that!"said the nephew．"I've always thought of Christmas time as a good time，a kind，and a charitable（慈善的）and happy time．And so，Uncle，Christmas has never put any gold or silver in my pocket，but I think it has done me good．And it will do me good．I'm sure．"

    Bob，standing in the corner of the room，applauded．He realized his mistake very soon，and went quickly back to his work，but Scrooge had heard him．

    "One more sound from you，Bob Cratchit，"said Scrooge，"and you'll celebrate Christmas by losing your job!"

    "Don't be angry with him，Uncle．Come and have dinner with us tomorrow．"said Scrooge's newphew．

    "No．"said Scrooge．

I'm sorry you don't want to celebrate Christmas．But I do．So a Merry Christmas，Uncle!"

    "Good afternoon!"said Scrooge．

    "And a Happy New Year!"said his nephew．

    "Good afternoon!"said Scrooge again．

    His nephew left the room．He stopped to wish Bob a Merry Christmas．And Bob replied，"A  Merry Christmas to you，too．"

    Mr. Brown got up late this morning. He was going to be late for work. It was raining hard and the streets were wet. He drove so fast that he didn't see the red lights. He couldn't stop his car and hit a car. An old man got out of the car and called out angrily, "What are you doing? How can you drive so fast? "

    "I'm sorry, sir," said Mr. Brown, "I didn't see the lights turn red." Then he brought out a bottle of wine and gave it to the old man.

    "It's cold today, sir," said Mr. Brown. "Please drink a little, and then you'll get warm."

    The old man drank some wine and became happy. He asked, "I'm feeling much better now.

    Why don't you drink any? "

    "I can't drink anything now, sir," answered Mr. Brown, "I'm waiting for the policeman. Only drunkards（酒鬼）make accidents（交通事故）, you know! "

    Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night, I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 a. m. When I arrived at the place, I saw a small woman in her eighties standing before me. I took the woman's suitcase to the car and then returned to help her. She took my arm and we talked slowly toward the car.

    She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing," I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated."

    "Oh, you're such a good man," she said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked." Could you drive me throughout the downtown?"

    "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.

    "Oh, I'm in no hurry," she said," I'm on my way to the hospice(收容所). I don't have any family left. The doctor says I don't have very long time." I quickly shut off the meter(计价器). For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, and the neighbourhood where she had lived. Sometimes she asked me to slow down in front of a special building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

    As the day broke, she suddenly said," I'm tired. Let's go now."

    We drove in silence to the address she had given me.

    "How much shall I give you?" she asked.

    "Nothing," I said.

    "You have to make a living, "she answered," Oh, it doesn't matter! I have other passengers to pick up." I answered.

    Almost without thinking, I bent sown and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly and said," You gave an old woman a little moment of happiness."

    "I am a selfish child.

    I hope the sunshine lies only upon me, so I can feel its warmth.

I am a selfish child.

    I hope there is a corner of the world that can comfortable for me when I am sad,

    I am a selfish child.

    I hope my mom belongs only to me, so I can enjoy the sweetness of love. "

    This poem was written by a middle school student in a lonely mountains town in Yunnan Province during her first poetry class. The girl missed her mother, who died when she was 5.

    Kang Yu, the teacher who taught the girl how to write the poem, graduated from Renmin University of China in Beijing in 2015. Soon after her gradation, Kang moved to a town in Yunnan, and worked as a teacher at a middle school there.

    Kang said, "Compared with students in the city, perhaps students in the countryside need a way to express their feelings and be heard more." Supported by the headmaster and other teachers, the school held eight poetry classes for students every year.

    As the classes grew in popularity, Kang became the school's favourite teacher. After she finished her teaching at the school in June 2017, she returned m Beijing and planned to study abroad.

    However, on Teachers' Day in 2017, Kang received a big box full of poems and Letters written by students at her old school. She felt she was needed and decided to abandon her plan of studying abroad. Instead, she set up Enlighten our Future, a charity that reaches students in the countryside how to write poems.

    "Now, I go to several places every week I sleep less than six hours a night and the job  provides no vacations and little money, but the happiness and satisfaction I feel is rewarding enough." Kang said.