Deisha walked up and down as she waited backstage. This would be her most important piano performance yet. At ten years old, she was the youngest performer in the recital (音乐演奏会). She had practiced playing her song more than 30 times that week. When she closed her eyes at night, the music played over and over again in her head.

    Now that the day had arrived, Deisha was not sure she was ready. She smoothed her hair and picked a piece of lint (绒毛) from the new dress that her mother had bought for her. She noticed that her hands were shaking. How could she play the notes of the song if her hands were shaking? She tried to concentrate on steadying (稳住) them, but they only shook more.

   Deisha's piano teacher, Ms Neal, walked up to speak to her. “I have something for you,” she said, putting a smooth black stone into Deisha's hand. “It's a special stone. There's no other one like it in the world. You've practiced so much, you don't need anything else.”

   The stage lights reflected off the rock. “Thank you,” Deisha said.

   When Deisha's name was called, she rubbed the stone, stepped onto the stage, and played better than ever. After her performance, she noticed that Ms Neal had a whole bag of black stones. “Why did you say this one was so special?” she asked.

   Her teacher responded, “Because, like your talent, it belongs only to you.”

    A poor boy lived in a small town.He sold goods from door to door to pay for school. One day, he only one cent left, and he was hungry. He decided that he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, when a young woman opened the door, the boy was shy, so he just asked for some water. The woman knew he was hungry, so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked, “How much should I pay for it?” “You won't pay for it. My mother has told me that it is good to help the people who are in trouble.” She replied. The boy said, “Then I thank you from my heart.” As the boy left that house, he felt stronger. He knew he had many things to do.

    Many years later, the young woman became ill. The local doctors couldn't save her. People had to send her to a big city.When the doctor knew who the woman was, he was excited and tried his best to save her life. He succeeded. The woman needed to pay for the medical bill. The doctor learned that she couldn't afford it. So he wrote something down on the medical bill. The woman read the bill, “You have paid it with a glass of milk.”

    Once there is a boy in London. His name is Jimmy. He starts painting when he is three years old, and when he is five years old, he is already very good at it. He paints many beautiful and interesting pictures, and a lot of people buy his pictures. They say, “This boy is going to be famous when he's a little older, and then we're going to sell these pictures for a lot of money.”

    Jimmy's pictures are different from others' because he never paints on the whole of the paper. He only paints on half of it, and the other half is always empty.

    “That's very clever,” people say. “No other painters have ever done that!”

    One day someone asks Jimmy, “Please tell me, Jimmy, why do you only paint on the bottom (底) half of the paper, but not on the top half?”

    “Because I'm small,” Jimmy says, “and my brushes can't reach very high.”

    Children often ask for money from their parents. But in the US, some students work as babysitters(临时保姆) to get money. Noa Mintz, a 15-year-old girl in the US, has her babysitting shop.

    About three years ago, Mintz, worked for some time as a babysitter. She found that there was no good way for families to find babysitters. So she wanted to do something about it. Mintz started Nannies by Noa in her summer vacation. It helps families and babysitters to find each other quickly.

    At first, Mintz helped write down the names of her friends and classmates who wanted to babysit(当保姆). Later, Nannies by Noa became a big shop. It now has 25 full-time nannies(全职保姆) and 50 babysitters.

    When talking about her work, she feels proud(自豪的). She knows it's just a start. “It's good to see that I give people jobs. It's great to see what I can do.” said Mintz.

    Mike is a factory worker. He is often very tired after a day's work. His wife(妻子), Jenny, has no job, so she stays at home to cook the meals. Every day he can have his dinner when he gets home from his factory.

    One day, Mike came home very late because he was very busy in the factory. He was very hungry when he got home.

    He was not happy when he found his dinner was not ready. He was very angry with his wife. He shouted out, "I'm going out to eat in a restaurant." "Wait for five minutes," said his wife. "Why? Do you think that dinner will be ready in five minutes?" asked Mike.

     "Of course not," she answered. "But I can be ready to go with you in five minutes."