Just as I came back home. I heard a sound coming from the bedroom upstairs—it was from my favourite violin.

“Thief （小偷）！”

 I rushed upstairs and saw a boy in dirty clothes pulling my violin down. At first sight, I found a new pair of shoes missing. It seemed he was surely a thief.

However, when I saw his eyes full of fear, my anger disappeared. I smiled and asked, “Are you Mr. Ram's student Rubens? I'm his butler（男管家）. I've heard Mr. Ram say his student will come. It must be you.”

“Has my teacher gone out ?”the boy said, “I think I'd better visit him again in a while/”

 I nodded and asked him, “Do you like playing the violin?”

“Yes, but I'm too poor to afford one.” the boy replied.

“Then, I'll give you this violin." The boy looked at me surprisingly, but he picked up the violin. While going out of the room, he suddenly saw a huge photo of me playing the violin at the Grand Theatre of Sydney on the wall. His face turned pale. He stood there for a moment and ran out. He must have understood what had happened because no master（主人）would put up the butler's photo on the wall of his living room.

 A few years later, at a music competition in Melbourne, I was invited to be the judge （评委）. Finally, a violin player called Merritt won the first prize.

 After the prize-giving, Merritt ran to me holding a violin box, his face red, and asked, “Mr. Brian, do you still know me? You gave me the violin, which I have treasured ever since! Today, I want to say sorry and give back this violin to you without regret…”

 He was just the “Mr. Ram's student”!

    A group of old classmates, who have succeeded in their work, got together to visit their teacher. Their conversation soon turned to complaining(抱怨) about the stress(压力 ) in their work and life. The teacher went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and many cups. Some of the cups are expensive and lovely, but some are cheap and not beautiful.  The teacher told them to help themselves to the coffee.

     When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the teacher said, "Have you noticed all the nice looking expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the cheap ones? It's OK for you lo want only the best for yourselves, but that is why you have the stress in your work and life even if you're very successful now. "

    "All of you really wanted the coffee, not the cups, but you cheese the beast cups and were eyeing each other's cups.

    "Now think about this: life is the coffee, and money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold life. They do not change the quality (质量) of life. Sometimes, we just care about the cups, and we fail to enjoy the coffee. So, don't let the cups drive you; enjoy the coffee instead. "

    Every boy wants to find treasure．And Tom was no different.  One summer day Tom told Huck about his idea．

    "Where can we look for treasure？"asked Huck．

    "It's hidden on islands，under dead trees，but mostly under the floors in haunted（闹鬼的） houses．"

    So，one Saturday afternoon Tom and his friend went to look for treasure as the haunted house on Cardiff Hill．It was a quiet and lonely which made the boys feel very frightened．They entered quietly，and explored downstairs．Everything was old，broken and dirty．They threw their tools in a corner and walked upstairs，but there was nothing there．They were just about to go downstairs and start digging when Tom stopped．

    "What is it？"whispered Huck，going white with fright．

    "Keep quiet! There's someone downstairs．"

    The boys lay down，looking through the holes in the wooden floor．There were two men downstairs．One was an old Spaniard in a wide sombrero hat and the other was duty and unpleasant﹣looking．

    Tom and Hack shook with fear when they heard the Spaniard speak because they found it was Injun Joe He said，

    "It's time for us to move，partner．What will we do with the 650formtherobbery（抢劫）？""Let'skeep30each and leave the bag here．"

    The dirty man went to the fireplace and moved a stone．Then he lifted out a bag full of money and look out some coins．The two boys forgot all their fears when they saw there was real treasure downstairs．

    Then Indian Joe started digging a hole with his knife and the knife hit something．

    "What is it？"asked the other man．

    "It's a box，"said Indian Joe．And he put in his hand and pulled out a handful of gold coins．The other man found the boys'tools，and they soon pulled out the box．

    "Where's thousands of dollars in there，"Said Indian Joe．

    "The Murrell Gang used this area one summer，"said his partner．

    "They most have hidden their money here．"

    "What will we do with this，Joe？Will we bury（埋）it again？"

    "No，someone might find it，"said Indian Joe．"Let's bury it in the member two den（巢穴）．"

Tom and Huck got up as soon as the two men left．They decided to watch out for the"man in the sombrero"when he came to town and find out where the member two den was．

    One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas. The father said, "Look! There's a horseshoe. Pick it up arid put it in your bag. "Thomas said." It isn't worth(值得) the trouble. "His father said nothing but he picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the few pennies he bought some cherries(樱桃).

    The father and the son continued their way. The sun was well up in the sky, and there wasn't a house or even a tree where they could have a rest. Thomas felt too thirsty(口渴的) to walk on. At the moment, his lather dropped a cherry on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it. After a while, his father dropped another cherry and once again, his son picked it up and put it in his mouth.

    And so they went on. The old farmer dropped the cherries and the son picked them up. When Thomas had caught' up all the cherries, his father said to him," My dear son, if you had bent(弯腰) down in the beginning to pick up that horseshoe, you wouldn't have bent so many times for the cherries. Always remember this lesson：If someone don't worry about the little things, he will find it impossible for him to do the great things."

    An old man lived with his little grandson. Every day the old man got up early to read books.

    One day the grandson asked, "Grandpa, I want to read books as you. But I always forget what I read. What are the advantages of reading?

    The grandfather didn't answer him, but he said to the boy, Take this little basket to the river and bring back a basket of water for me. "The boy went to the river to fill the basket with water but all the water leaked out before he got back home. The boy was sad, but his grandfather laughed and said, "You'll have to walk faster next time.

    The next time the boy ran faster, but the basket was still empty before he retumed home. The boy said, "See, Grandpa, it's no use!"

    "Is it useless ""the old man said "Look at the basket."

    The boy looked at the basket and found that the basket was different. It was much cleaner.

    That's what happens when you read books. Maybe you can't understand or remember everything. Something will change in your mind after you read. Just like the basket.