The story is about a young student. She worked very hard at her lessons. She worked so hard that she became ill. She couldn't go to sleep at night. When she got up the next morning, she felt very tired.

    So she went to see a doctor. Hearing the student's words, the doctor said, "You are too stressed out. You must eat more food like vegetables and tofu. Besides you can try to count(数) numbers when you are lying in bed. By the time you reach one thousand, you will be asleep. I'm sure of it."

    The next day, the student came to see the doctor again. "Well," said the doctor, "how are you feeling today?"

    The student still looked tired. "Yes," she said, "I tried to count one, two, three, four... up to one thousand. But when I reached five hundred and sixty, I feel sleepy. I had to get up and drink some coffee so that I could go on counting up to one thousand. But then I still couldn't be asleep."

    Ashima was a girl from a poor family. She was very beautiful and very good at singing and dancing. A lot of young men liked her. But Ashima was in love with Ahei, a brave (勇敢的) and smart young man.

    One day, Ashima met Azhi, the son of a very rich family in the village. Azhi wanted Ashima to marry (嫁) him. But Ashima said she only loved Ahei.

    When the weather got cold, Ahei had to leave the village to work in a very far place. After Ahei left, Azhi kidnapped Ashima, took her home and asked her to marry him. Ashima still said no.

    When Ahei heard about this, he rode his horse back quickly. When he got to Azhi's house, Azhi said he had to win a song competition before he could get in. Ahei sang for three days and three nights and won the competition at last. He went into Azhi's house.

    Azhi asked Ahei to stay one night in his house and said he would let Ahei and Ashima leave the next morning. At night, Azhi put three tigers into Ahei's room. But Ahei killed them. Finally he could take Ashima home.

    When Ashima and Ahei were walking by a river, Azhi made the river flood (泛滥), Ashima fell into the river.  ▲  

    Ashima became river stones (石头), Later when Ahei missed Ashima, he w0uld face the stones and call out Ashima's name and talk to her He always heard an echo (回声). In this way, Ahei lived with A shima forever.

    Miss Mitra didn't want to be a Sunday school teacher any longer. The students there were all rude and never listened to her. "I give up." She shouted at the students. "Cool." Rick said. He was the most impolite kid in this school. Two months later, Miss Betty Ray came to the school. She looked young. The students thought that she wouldn't stay very long.

    "Have any of you ever been out of state?" She asked in a friendly tone. A few hands went up.

    "Anyone has traveled to California?" One hand went up as the disrespectful(无礼的) laugh reduced.

    "Anyone visited outside the country?" No hands went up now. The silent kids were puzzled.

    Betty took a map of the world from her bag.

    "What else do you have there? Lunch?" Someone cracked.

    Betty smiled lightly and answered, "Cookies for later." "Cool," Rick quipped(困惑的).

    Then she pointed at a place on the map, "I was born here, and I lived here until I was about your age."

    "Is that Texas?" Someone asked.

    "No. Quite a long way from here. It is Mumbai in India."

    Betty fumbled again in her bag, this time pulling out some old wrinkled pictures along with a box of chocolate chip cookies. They passed the pictures around, viewing each with great interest.

    The kids studied them as they bit into the sweets.

    The hour quickly slid by as she told them her stories about faraway places and what the people were like there and how they lived.

    "Wow, this is as exciting as TV!" One young girl told her.

    Sunday after Sunday, Betty came to class, tying her lessons to their everyday lives. She told the kids how they could make a difference right now. The students grew to love her.

    Betty taught that Sunday school class for thirty years. At last, her hair grew into a natural gray.

    Every now and then, she received a letter from a former student. There was a doctor, a research scientist, a homemaker, a businessman, and many teachers among them. One day she pulled out a blue envelope from her mailbox. And there was a photo in it. Squinting her eyes, she smiled at the man in the photo, still seeing the boy in him. Standing in the rubble(瓦砾), in the city of Delhi, India, he came to help the homeless people in the earthquake. Some words were written in the upper part of the photo, "Because of you, I am here now."

    Chip was in the first grade when I arrived at his school as a counselor(辅导员). It was shocking to me that he was described as an angry, uncontrollable and evil(道德败坏的)boy. How could such a little boy, after being in school only one year, be considered "evil"?Over the next several months, I came to know Chip well enough to see that he was neither evil nor uncontrollable.

    But, one day, Chip threw a chair at his teacher and was sent to my office. I asked him what made him do this. He replied that his teacher hated him. He felt there was no way to ever get her to like him. I asked him if he would tell his teacher this. He nodded, and we called her into my office.

    When the teacher came,           . He then said that he knew he was a very, very bad boy, and he didn't think anyone could ever like him. His teacher listened to him with heartfelt compassion. Then she gave him a big warm hug, telling him she didn't hate him at all and, actually, she cared very much about him. Only sometimes Chip's behaviour really scared her. It was clear to both Chip and me that she really meant it.

    I put my left arm on his shoulders and the right hand on his heart. I told him how wonderful and lovely I saw him to be. I praised how special and brave he was to express his hurt feelings.

    As I was speaking to him, his whole body came to rest on my right hand next to his heart. It was a moment in time unlike anything I had experienced before. From then on, I'm pleased to see his behaviour improved through the rest of school years.

    A child's mind is clear and sensitive(敏感的). He receives whatever others say without protection. It is as easy to consider someone hopeless as it is to consider him able in his own special way.

    A crow, having stolen a piece of cheese, held it firmly in her mouth and stood in a tree. A fox, who was very hungry, took the following ways to get the cheese for himself.

    "How handsome is the crow!" he said. "How beautiful is her shape and how fair her feather! Oh, if her voice were only equal to her beauty, she might rightly be called the queen of birds!"

    This he said in a soft voice. The crow, anxious to show that her voice was equal to her other attractions, made a loud caw, and dropped the cheese.

    The fox caught it as it fell. "My good crow," said he," your voice is all right, but your brain is not good."