I was in a shopping mall, so I decided to go and get a cup of coffee. As I was making my way to the coffee shop, I noticed an old gentleman poorly dressed sitting near the shop. I knew from the first sight that he needed help. He had a little lunch in front of him and was enjoying it. It was clear that he had a problem with his right eye. I then joined the line and waited to be served.

    Then it happened. One of the most beautiful gestures(姿态) I had ever seen in my life. There was a young man in front of me in the line who was also waiting to be served. The next thing I knew was that the young man handed the waitress(女服务员) 20 dollars and requested a glass of juice as a favor(善行). The waitress looked at the young man a little perplexed, not fully understanding the request. That was when the young man asked her to give the juice to the old gentleman eating his lunch outside, as well as the change(零钱) from the 20 dollars. The young man also told her that he would be watching every second so that she would be completely safe. Then there was a wonderful exchange between the waitress and the old man. I only wished I could take a photo of the smiles on both of their faces.

As I was considering this event later, I wondered why the young man didn't perform this act of kindness himself. Maybe he was hoping that this act of kindness might inspire(激励) others to do something for this old man as well.

B

    There is an elephant and a monkey. They're friends. But one day they want to know who is stronger. One of them says, "Who can get apples over there, who is stronger?"

    There is a river over there. The monkey says, "I can't swim." The elephant says, "I can swim. Please sit on my back." They go across the river. The apple trees are very tall. The elephant can't reach the apples. The monkey climbs up the tree and gets many apples.

    Now they know they should help each other.

    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."

    When I was a child, I was a tomboy(假小子). I had a cowboy hat and cowboy boots. My brothers were two and four years older than I. We often played games together.

    Once, my brothers and I fell in love with playing a game called "stealing horses". Then my parents decided to buy my brothers guns. These were not "real" guns. Because I was a girl, I didn't get a gun. They shot and shot at everything with their new guns. I tried to "fight" them with my bow and arrows (弓和箭). But I was still in the poor position without a gun.

    One day while I was hiding behind a wall, looking out toward the fields, I felt a terrible blow to my right eye. I looked up just in time to see my brother lower his gun. Both brothers rushed to my side. My eye felt great pain and I covered it with my hand. "If you tell that to Mummy," they said, "We will get a whipping(鞭打) from Daddy. You don't want that to happen, do you?" I did not. "Here is a piece of wire(电线)," said the older brother, picking it up from the floor, "Say you stepped on one end of it and the other flew up and hit you." "Yes," I said. To be honest, I didn't want them to be punished. So I did as my brothers told me to do.

    A week after the "accident" my parents took me to see a doctor. Finally I knew my brothers were worried about my eye, so they told our parents what had happened and asked them to take me to see a doctor.

A daughter graduated from college. Her father planned to teach her a 1 . He said to her, "My darling, you have grown up. Now I'm considering 2 .my car, and can you help me get a good price for it?", The daughter agreed. Then the father asked her to take the car to 3 .places and then choose the best 4 .

The daughter knew that her father's car was a good one. She was 5 .that the car was worth a good price although it looked pretty old. She went to the first place—a used car market, and they offered her $1, 000. Then in a pawn (典当) shop, she was told the car was worth just $200, which really 6 .the daughter. Finally, she went to a car club. The workers there told the daughter 7 .that the car was very hard to 8 .in the market because it had been no longer in production and that they wanted to buy the car any time at $50, 000 and even more. 

The daughter told these 9 .to her father. The father said, "Don't be surprised. The value (价值) of the car is different in different places. Only the right place can give you the right value. Therefore, if you are not appreciated (赏识) by someone, do not be angry. It just means you are in the 10 .place. You should move on and go to a better place where you can certainly go far."