Patrick Johnson，an artist for the Washington Post，found some treasure in his new house一一35，000 dollars in a place where no one could see it. Although he had car and house payments（贷款）in his head, he still decided to return all of the money to the previous（先前的）owner of the house,Mr. Williams. Would you have done the same？

     Just hours after he had bought the house，Patrick came into the small house，where he was planning to lay out his tools and hang things up. He looked up and noticed a little hole in the wall. He didn't know what it was inside， so he walked towards the wall. It was very dark inside，but an old box caught his eye.“I caught the thing，it was heavy. I thought it might be some pieces of wood，”he said. Actually it was not. It was filled with lots of dollar bills. But he and his wife knew they had to return the money to Mr. Williams.

    “I've got two boys and we teach them to be honest and to do what is right. I knew this was a teachable moment that I would never get back again.”Patrick said to his wife.“So I thought we would do something honest with it. It's been a great thing for us and our kids.”

    When was the last time you saw three men running down a forest trail（小径）in the rain wearing flip-flops（拖鞋）？That's what my friend Brandon, Josh and I were doing last autumn. We were looking for a waterfall（瀑布）.We didn't have much time to get to the waterfall and back, so we were running. We were wearing flip-flops to prevent our shoes getting dirty.

    It was raining, but lightly. It kept us cool as we climbed over giant stones and through a shallow（浅的）stream. We followed red arrows（箭头）and crossed that stream several times, walking on toward the promised waterfall. Time was not on our side, however, and we were forced to turn around. As we started back, we looked at the shallow stream we had just crossed. Where did this rushing river come from? That was when we realized a flash flood was around!

    In the few minutes the water rose at a fast speed. Now there were no big stones to be seen-only what looked like lumps（隆起）covered with rushing water. We had no choice but to move our way back carefully in the rushing water -in flip-flops. We had crossed the stream not once or twice, but six times in search of a waterfall that we never even reached!

    With most of the crossings, we needed each other's help if we didn't want to be washed away by water. Wet all over, we felt relaxed after we made the last crossing.

    "My dad always told me to keep off a river when travelling in the rain." Josh said as we hurried back down the path.

    "Why didn't you tell us that earlier?" I laughed.

    "Would it have made a difference?" came the reply.

    He had a point.

    Any introduction to Peking Opera would not be complete without telling of Mei Lanfang. During his stage life, he combined(融合) the traditions of the past with his own creations, creating a style of his own and giving birth to "The Mei Lanfang School". He was also the first artist to introduce Peking Opera to foreigners, winning international fame（名声）in the globe. For half a century, Mei Lanfang was a household name in China.

    Mei Lanfang began his stage life at the age of 8. His teacher said he showed little hope because of his boring eyes. To improve this, he exercised them day after day. He would fly kites and look at them moving slowly in a blue sky. He also kept pigeons in order to look at them flying higher and higher until they disappeared into the clouds. Thanks to his efforts, he managed to change his dull eyes into a pair of bright and expressive eyes and win national fame before the age of 20.

    In over 50 years on the stage, Mei Lanfang played no less than 100 different characters in the traditional Peking Opera performance（表演）. He completely changed both stage make-up and costumes, and made characters' performance. He also wrote many new plays, designing the dances himself. They are part of the great legacy(遗赠) that he left to Peking Opera.

    In 1930, Mei Lanfang started on a successful US tour. There his great performances fascinated the audience, making them realize that Peking Opera was a most valuable form of art.