It was Christmas Eve. When everyone went to bed, Bunny couldn't fall asleep. He still couldn't think of what he wanted as a special Christmas present. He wondered how Santa — Father Christmas would know what to bring him if he didn't know himself.

    As he was sitting up in bed, Bunny heard a big noise on the roof and a sound downstairs. It was Santa Claus, he realized. Bunny jumped out of bed and ran down the hall to the stairs. He hoped to take a look at the old m an before Santa left for his next stop.

    By the time Bunny was at the bottom of the stairs, everything was silent again. Lots of presents were put under the Christmas tree, but Santa was gone. A little disappointed(失望的), Bunny turned to climb back upstairs when he heard a cry.

    “Hello,” said Bunny. “Is somebody there?”

    He was answered by another cry. Bunny looked around the big pile of presents to see what was making the noise. Right under the tree was a funny looking brown animal with big feet and sad eyes. It also had antlers(鹿角) on its head. Bunny almost mistook it for a dog.

  “Are you a reindeer（驯鹿）?” asked Bunny.

  “Yes,” replied the brown animal with antlers. “My name is Ralph.”

  “And you were pulling Santa's sled(雪橇)?”

   “I was until I got air-sick,” replied Ralph. “Santa had to leave me here and go on with the other seven reindeer.”

   “Isn't it a bit unusual for a reindeer to get air-sick? I mean, isn't flying what reindeer are famous for?”

   “Not me, I'm afraid. It makes me frightened. I always feel sick when it comes to flying,” replied Ralph. “But everyone wanted me to pull Santa's sled, so when it was my turn I gave it a try. I'm afraid I just wasn't cut out for the job. Now I'm trapped here and I don't know how to get back to the North Pole .”

“Well, if you like, you can stay with us as a friend,” said Bunny. As he made the offer, Bunny suddenly realized the special present he wanted from Santa was a new friend!

    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.

    A farmer had a cow. He took very good care of this cow and one day when it was ill, he was very worried. He telephoned the vet.

    "What's the problem?" The vet asked him when he arrived.

    "My cow's ill," the farmer said. "I don't know what's the matter with her. She's lying down and won't eat. She's making a strange noise."

    The vet looked over the cow. "She's certainly ill," he said, "and she needs to take some very strong medicine."

    He took a bottle out of his box, put two pills into his hand and said, "Give her these. The pills should make her better."

    "How should I give them to her?" the farmer asked.

    The vet gave him a tube (管子)and said, "Put this tube in her mouth, then put the pills in the tube and blow. That'll make it."

    The next day the vet came to the farm again. The farmer was sitting outside his house and looked more worried.

    "How's your cow?" the vet asked.

    "No change," the farmer said, "and I'm feeling very strange myself."

    "Oh?" the vet said, "Why?"

    "I did what you said," the farmer answered. "I put the tube in the cow's mouth and then put two pills down it."

    "And?" the vet asked.

    "The cow blew first," the farmer said.

    On September 13th, I woke up in the best mood. It was a late start, so I got to sleep in. Not only did I get my full eight hours of sleep, but an additional two more hours as well. I got ready, danced in my room to my favorite music while I picked out my clothes, made my breakfast, and was on my way to school. I arrived at 9: 50 a. m. Little did I know, in the next 20 minutes, my life would change forever. As I got out of my classroom, there he was, holding the gun.

    Although everything happened so fast, in a matter of about 4 minutes, I remember it clearly. I remember every face I saw, and I remember every sound I heard. I remember the fear and the panic of the unknown. And lastly, I remember running. Running for my life. I ran down the stairs, out of the school's front doors, and down the street to the primary school. I remember looking down at my feet. As I looked down, I thought to myself, "How am I running so fast?"

    I finally made it to a safe classroom, and 20 other students and I settled in for lockdown. We stayed close to one another and cried. It felt as though the tears going down our faces would never stop. We passed our phones around to text our loved ones that we were safe and that there was a school shooter, shots were fired, and 4 students were injured thus far.

    The lockdown lasted about 30 minutes, even though it felt like forever. Our headmaster made his way to our room and explained that the shooter had been caught and we were all going to make our way to the football field.

    One day in a restaurant, the American writer Anne Herbert wrote this sentence on a piece of paper: "Random(任意的) actions of kindness." Later she repeated it in an interview on a TV show, and it soon caught people's eyes and made people think about how small "kind" actions could make our daily lives better.

    One rainy night, a woman was standing at a bus stop waiting for the bus. A man came by on a motorcycle and offered to give her a ride. Of course, the woman said no. It would be crazy to accept a ride from a stranger on a motorcycle. Suddenly the man reached out and put a 50-dollar bill in her hand. He said, "Please take a taxi. It hurts me to see you standing here in the rain." Before she could refuse, he left quickly on his motorcycle.

    Kind actions can be contagious. Once, a woman was going through a toll station(收费站) on a highway. Instead of paying for one ticket, she asked for two. She said to the toll collector, "The second ticket is for the car behind me." She didn't know the person in that car. She just did it without thinking more. So when the next car came up, the toll collector said to the driver, "You don't have to pay. The woman in the blue car just paid for you." The driver was so surprised that he decided to pay for the person behind him. This continued with 14 drivers that day.

    So just imagine what the world will be like if we all practice random actions of kindness from time to time?

    The story about Miss Evans is a true story.

    On the way to England from the U.S. in April 1912, a new large ship hit an iceberg (冰山) and water began to come over it.

    Everyone came out and went up to the higher part of the ship. The man put down some lifeboats into the water and helped the women and the children to get on them. Suddenly a woman shouted and wanted to stay with her children in the boat, but there was no more room for her. At that moment Miss Evans let that woman take her place. Soon after that the ship went down. Miss Evans lost her life.

    If you speak about Miss Evans in Boston today, nobody knows more about her than that, but she is one of the greatest women in America.