It's Really a Miracle (奇迹)

    Mr. Clarke works in New York and he brought his family to China last summer. They visited many places of interest and had a good time here. Before they left for New York, the Clarkes climbed the Great Wall. It was the greatest project over two thousand years ago. They took a lot of photos there and then they had a picnic under a big tree. Suddenly it began to rain and they hurried to the car. And when they returned to the hotel, they couldn't find the bag in which their expensive camera was. They were all sorry for it. They could buy another camera but had no time to go to the Great Wall again. They could not miss the plane!

That evening they didn't have supper. Mr. Clarke hoped to make them happy, so he said, “Well, let me tell you a story. An old man lived in a sixty-story building. One day he fell down from it when he was cleaning the window. But he didn't hurt himself.”

  “It was a miracle!” called out his children, “Why?”

  “Because he lived on the first floor!”

    They all began to laugh while two policemen with a bag came in. They said a Chinese boy found it under a big tree and he asked them to find out who lost it.

  “It's really a miracle!” the Clarkes said happily.

    Be honest. That's all you have to do on Honesty Day. It would be great if we were all honest every day of the year. It's good that there is a day to encourage honesty. M. Hirsh Goldberg started Honesty Day. He chose the last day of April because the first day is April Fool's Day, which celebrates lies. On Honesty Day, anyone may ask you any question and you should give a true and honest answer. That means that you have knowledge of Honesty Day.

M. Hirsh Goldberg wrote a book on telling lies. He said in his book mat almost all person lie about 200 times a day. In our daily life, a typical(典型的) life for a man is "I did not drink that much” and for a woman is "Nothing is wrong I'm fine.” It is found that nurses are the most honest people, while sales people and politicians(政客) are the biggest liars.

    Every Honesty Day, M. Hirsh Goldberg hands out prizes to honest people.

B

    One morning a boy went home with his father. They noticed a pair of old shoes by the roadside. They thought the shoes might be a poor man's. In fact, the owner of the shoes was working in the field nearby, and he had nearly finished his work.

    The boy said to his father, "Let's play a trick on the man—we hide his shoes, and wait to see what he will do when he can't find them."

    "My boy, we should never have fun by tricking other people like that," answered his father. "Instead, let's put a coin in each of the shoes, and watch he will do."

    The boy did so, and then they hid nearby.

    The man soon back to get h is shoes, but when he put his foot into one of his shoes, he felt something in it. He bent（弯曲）down and found the coin.

    Surprise appeared on his face. He looked at the coin for a minute, and then looked around, but nobody could be seen. He then went on to put on the other shoe, but he was even more surprised to find the second coin.

    He then went down on his knees, looked up to the sky and said thanks aloud. He said his wife was ill and his children were hungry. He wanted to buy some bread for them.

    The boy was deeply moved.

    "Now," said his father, "you must be much more pleased than if you had played your trick."

    The boy replied, "You have taught me a lesson which I'll never forget. Now I understand these words, which I didn't understand before: It is more blessed（神圣的）to give than to receive."

    It was Saturday morning. Kate got up early and had breakfast quickly. She was so excited. She was going to the zoo with her family today! There was a new kind of animal in the zoo. It was called sloth (树懒) and it was from South America. Kate never saw a sloth before. She could not wait to see it.

    When Kate and her family got to the zoo, there were already lots of people around the sloth. The sloth was staying in a tree! It looked so cute! Kate looked at the animal for about ten minutes, and then she asked, “Are you sure it is alive (活的), Dad? I don't see it moving at all.” “Of course it is alive,” her father said. “But a sloth can only move really slowly.”

    Kate's family went to see some other animals. Then they went back to the sloth after lunch. Kate looked at the sloth carefully. It was really at a different place, near the place where it stayed in the morning. “You are really lazy, Mr. Sloth,” Kate said. “I think you should do more exercise. It is good for your health.”

    A long time ago, there was an emperor. He had a beautiful garden. In the garden, there was a little nightingale (夜莺) singing very beautifully.

    One day, the emperor heard about this little bird's beautiful voice. He asked his guards to bring her to him. As soon as the emperor heard the nightingale's voice, he said, "Put her in a golden cage, so she can stay and sing for me whenever I want to hear her."

    The little bird was so unhappy about being kept in the cage that she stopped singing one day. The emperor was very angry. He ordered the scientists in his palace to make a robot bird for him. The bird could sing very beautifully, too.

    The emperor was pleased.

    Soon the robot bird became old. It no longer sang beautiful songs. Just at that time, the emperor became very weak. One morning, while lying in bed, the emperor wanted it to sing once again. But the robot bird couldn't sing any more. Suddenly, the nightingale landed on the window. She began to sing her most beautiful song. The emperor was very happy! He became better and better each day.

    After the emperor was well, he changed a lot and became kind to his people. From then on, all his people cherished(爱戴) him for his love and kindness.