There is an elephant and a monkey. They're friends. But one day they want to know who is stronger （更强壮）. One of them says, "Who can get apples from the tree across the river, who is stronger."The monkey says, "I can't swim." The elephant says, "I can swim. Please sit on my back."Thus they go across the river. The apple tree is very high. The elephant can't reach the apples on the tree. The monkey climbs（爬）up the tree and gets many apples. Now they know they should help each other.

    It was 8:30 and I was lying in the sun, listening to my CD.

    Then my mum came out. She wanted me to go out with her. She told me about this place called Give Kids the World. It's a special place for families to spend a vacation when a child had a life-threatening（致命的）illness. There were several jobs she did there, like gift giving and ice-cream serving. Mum said I would enjoy it, but I thought this was a boring job.

    Mum told me we were going to take a toy and an ice-cream to every child in the village. We got to the first house and I knocked on the door and shouted, "Gift Giving", and a woman answered it. Sitting in the middle of the bedroom was a boy in a wheel chair. I gave him the gifts, and his face lighted up with happiness. I walked out and thought," That must be boring, unable to jump around."

    As I came into the second house with gifts, it seemed a little strange that the child didn't see me. His mum said something was much wrong with his eyes, so I needed to go and stand in front of him.  When I did that, he became very excited and made a sign for "thanks", though his legs couldn't move at all.

    When we went back home, Mum told me these kids might not live to see tomorrow. Suddenly, I understood I should be more thankful that I don't have these illnesses. I no longer wanted to be at home listening to my CDs. I would rather be doing this, maybe making a difference in these kids' lives.

    A dog on a surfboard is something you might enjoy seeing in a funny video. But would you believe that a real surfing dog could help raise money for those in need? A dog named Lucky is using her special talents to do just that.

    Lucky's trainer started coaching her to become a service dog when she was a puppy. Lucky did well during training. She learned how to turn on lights, open doors, and do other jobs. These skills would be useful for her to help a person with special needs.

    Judy, the dog s trainer, concentrated (关注) on Lucky's positive qualities. Like most dogs, Lucky loved water, so Judy look her to the beach. Lucky quickly became good at surfing. Her talent got people's attention. Judy decided that instead of being a service dog. Lucky would become a" surfing" dog. The idea was that Lucky could use her surfing talent to raise money to help people.

    Lucky's first charity event was in 2009. She starred at an activity to help a teenager named Patrick. Patrick was unable to walk, but he had always dreamed of surfing. At the event, Patrick's and Lucky were supposed to use their own surfboards. Lucky decided to jump on Patrick's board, however. They surfed together and raised $10, 00. The money helped pay for Patrick's medical treatment and his own service dog.

    Encouraged by this event, Judy started the organization named Surfing for Paws-abilities. Lucky now travels to different places and surfs at events t0 raise money for the organization that helps people in need.

    Not only does Lucky raise money, but also what she has done inspires many other organizations to help both people and animals. She's surfed to make money to buy pet masks for fire departments. She's surfed al charity events to help fight human and animal cancer. She's even shown off her surfing skills to raise money to buy teddy bears for children in hospitals and people in nursing homes. As of 2012, this amazing dog has raised $250, 000 to help those in need.

    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 taxi hit a truck. A policeman spoke to the taxi driver and the truck driver. He also spoke to Tom. Tom was a witness(目击者). This is what they said.

    Truck driver: I was driving from the airport to Newtown. A car crossed the road, so I slowed down. I did not stop. A taxi hit the back of my truck. Nobody was badly hurt but both vehicles were damaged.

    Taxi driver: I was driving behind a truck a few kilometres from Newtown. The truck stopped suddenly. The driver did not give me a warning. I was driving very slowly. I could not pass the truck because there were two cars coming near from Newtown. My taxi hit the truck, and some glass cut my left hand.

    Tom: I saw the traffic accident about a kilometre from the airport. A truck was going to Newtown. It was not going very fast. There was a taxi about two hundred metres behind the truck. It was going fast. When the truck slowed down, the taxi hit it. The taxi driver was not looking at the truck. He was looking out of the window at something. My friend saw the accident too.

    Tom's friend spoke to the policeman and agreed with Tom.