Little Bob was born in a poor village in New York. His father has been ill for a long time and can not do any housework at all. Bob's mother is very busy with the housework besides working. Bob understands how hard his mother works, and he always helps her with some housework. Though he has too much housework to do, his mother is still very strict with him. There are some family rules for Bob.

    He must take good care of his things in his room and keep them tidy. If he makes them dirty, he must clean them up at once.

    He is allowed to keep a parrot, a cat and a dog, but he must feed them often and give them water by himself every day. After school, he is allowed to play with his pets for a short time.

    As for his clothes, he isn't allowed to choose his own clothes. When his clothes are dirty, he should wash them by himself.

    On school nights, he can't go out alone and only on weekends, he is allowed to watch TV. Sometimes Bob hates the rules so much that he wants to break them, but he thinks the rules his mother has made are good for him, so he faithfully obeys them.

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    When I was 13 years old, the doctor said that I had a kind of attention disorder. So when everyone else in the class was focusing on tasks, I couldn't.

    In my first class, Mrs Green asked us to read a story and then write on it within 45 minutes. I raised my hand right away and said, "Mrs Green, you see, I have attention problems. I might not be able to do that."

    She looked at me and said, "You are no different from your classmates, young man." I tried, but I didn't finish the reading. So I took it home.

    In my bedroom, it was so quiet and the story suddenly became clear to me. It was about a blind person, Louis Braille. He lived in a time when the blind couldn't get much education. But Louis didn't give up. Instead, he invented a reading system which opened up a new world to the blind. Wasn't I the "blind" in my class, being made to learn like the "sighted (有视力的)" students? My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to dance. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was no different from others. If Louis could find his way out of his problems, why should I ever give up? I didn't expect anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs Green, so when it came back to me the next day with an "A" on it, I couldn't believe my eyes. At the bottom of the paper were these words, "See what you can do when you keep trying."

    Mark Twain, as you know, was famous in his day as a public speaker. In his public speeches he always tell funny stories. He also liked to listen to funny stories and to play jokes on his friends. One day one of his friends lost his wallet and asked Mark Twain to pay his train fare for him. "But I don't have enough money to pay both your fare and mine, "Mark Twain said. The friend didn't know what to do. "We can do this, "said Mark Twain." We can get on the train and when the conductor comes to check the tickets, you can hide under my seat." Later, however, when the conductor came to check the tickets, Mark Twain gave him two tickets, one for his friend and one for himself. Then he explained in a loud voice, "My friend is a strange man. When he travels on a train, he doesn't like to sit on the seat." Of course everybody in the train looked at the poor friend and laughed at him loudly.

    One weekend, Taylor, an eight-year-old girl, went shopping with her parents. She asked her parents to buy a toy she wanted. Instead of giving her money to buy the toy, Taylor's father encouraged her to make money by herself. "How can I make money?" Taylor thought for a while and had an idea, "Why not make cakes and sell them at church to raise money to buy the toy?"

    The next day, Taylor started her plan. She first needed some money for tools and materials. So she borrowed $40 from her parents and promised to pay it back. Then she began to make cakes by herself. To her parents' surprise, she made $175 by selling the cakes that Sunday.

    Everyone thought Taylor would buy the toy she wanted. She certainly had made enough money for it, but she didn't. Instead, Taylor decided to buy business cards and had her father's phone number on them. Then she began handing the cards out. More people knew Taylor and came to buy her cakes. Even large companies began to try buying her delicious cakes.

    Though Taylor has made a lot of money, she still works hard at school. She also likes to take part in other activities. So Taylor must carefully manage her time. For example, instead of watching TV after school, Taylor might have to bake (烘焙) a lot of cakes for customers. When she has dance lessons on some days, she needs to get her baking done on time so she isn't late for class.

    Making cakes may take time and be hard work, but Taylor sees the fun in it. "I think making cakes is mostly my hobby," she says. She also decorates the boxes that are used to pack the cakes. Taylor uses all kinds of decorations to make sure each box looks special for her customers. People love the extra feeling Taylor gives them by decorating the boxes, so more and more people come for her cakes.

    Taylor's cakes are becoming very popular. She achieves a sweet success.

    Mr. Jones and Mr. Brown work in the same office (办公室). One day Mr. Jones says to Mr. Brown, "I will have a small party at our house on Monday evening. Would you and your wife like to come?"

    Mr. Brown says, "Thank you very much. I'd love to, but let me ask my wife first." So Mr. Brown goes to the other room and telephones his wife. Then he comes back and looks very worried.

    "What's the matter?" asks Mr. Jones. "Is you wife there at home?"

    "No," answers Mr. Brown." She isn't there." My small son answers the telephone. I say to him, "Is your mother there, David?" and he answers "No, she isn't in the house." "Where is she?" I ask , "She is somewhere outside(在外面). ""What's she doing? ""She is looking for me."