My grandfather is eighty years old now．He always complains about how fast things have changed, and he often says that life used to be better．

    Families aren't families they used to be．A lot of families have broken up．If husband and wife have problems with their marriage, they no longer stay together．And mothers used to stay at home and take care of their children, but now not any more．Everyone is busy working．Mother used to spend all day cooking in the kitchen．But now the family don't eat home-cooked food any more．

    And the cars! No one walks any more．More and more people drive．Students used to walk 5 miles to school every day, even in winter．But now students don't．And in school, children don't have to think any more．In math class, for example, they used to add, subtract, multiply and divide(加减乘除)in their heads．Instead, they use calculators(计算器)．

    And people today have TV and computers, and they don't talk to each other any more．They are too busy to talk, too busy to eat, too busy to think…．

    Life used to be simple, but it isn't any more．

    There once was a man and a woman who had been married for more than 60 years. They talked about everything. They kept no secrets from each other…except that the old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet and she told her husband never to open it or ask her about it.

    For an these years the husband had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would never recover.

    In trying to sort out things they had, the little old man took down the shoe box from the top of the closet and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed it was time that he should know what was in the box.

    When he opened it, he found two beautifully crocheted (钩针编织的) doilies (装饰垫) and some money. He counted the money. It was $25,000 in total. He asked his wife about the unusual contents.

    "When we were married," she said, "my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doily."

    The little old man was so moved, and he had to fight back tears. Only two precious doilies were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He was filled with joy and happiness.

    "Sweetheart," he said, "that explains the doilies, but what about all this money? Where did it all come from?"

    "Oh," she said, "that's the money I made from selling the doilies."

    Once there was a famine (饥荒) in the town. A rich and kind baker(面包师) sent some bread to twenty of the poorest children. He said to them, "In this basket there is some bread for you. Each of you can have one loaf(一条面包) every day until the hard days end.

    The impatient children couldn't wait to gather around the basket. They shouted and fought for the bread because each wished to have the largest loaf. At last they went away without even thanking the good gentleman. But Shirley, a poorly-dressed little girl, did not join them. Instead, she remained standing modestly in the distance. When the other children had left, she took the smallest left in the basket, kissed the gentleman's hand and went home.

    The next day the children were as rude as before. Poor shy Shirley still took the smallest loaf. When she got home, her mother cut the bread open. Many new shining pieces of silver fell out of it. Her mother was very surprised and said, "Take the money back to the good gentleman at once, for it must have got into the loaf by accident. Be quick, Shirley! Be quick!"

    But when the little girl gave the rich man her mother's message, he said, "No, no, my child. It was no mistake. I put silver pieces into the smallest loaf to reward you because you are a kind and honest girl. Go home and the money is yours now."