It was Mother's Day morning last year and I was doing my shopping at our local supermarket with my five-year-old son, Teayson. As we were leaving, we found that only minutes earlier an elderly woman had fallen over at the entrance and had hit her bead on the concrete. Her husband was with her, but there was blood everywhere and the woman was embarrassed and clearly in shock.

    Walking towards the scene, Tenyson became very upset about what had happened to the couple. Ile said to me. “Mums it's not much fun falling over in front of everyone.”

    At the front of the supermarket a charity group had set up a stand selling cooked sausages and flowers to raise funds. Tenyson suggested that we should boy the lady a flower. “It will make her feel better,” he said. I was amazed that he'd come up such a sweet idea. So we went over to the flower seller and asked her if we could buy a flower for the lady to cheer her up. “Just take it,” she replied. “I can't take your money for such a wonderful gesture.”

    By now paramedics(救援人员) had arrived, and were attending the injured woman. As we walked up to her, my son became intimidated by all the blood and medical equipment. He said he was just too scared to go up to her.

    Instead I gave the flower to the woman's husband and told him. “My son was very upset for your wife and wanted to give her this flower to make her feel better.”

    At that, the old man started crying and said, “Thank you so much, you have a wonderful son, Happy Mother's Day to you.”

The man then bent down and gave his wife the flower, telling her who it was from. Though badly hurt and shaken, the old lady looked up at Tenyson with love in her eyes and gave him a little smile.

    Shyness is the cause of much unhappiness for a great many people. Shy people are anxious and self-conscious; that is, they are concerned with their own appearance and actions too much. Negative thoughts are constantly occurring in their minds: What kind of impression am I making? Do they like me? Do I sound stupid? Am I wearing unattractive clothes?

    It is obvious that such uncomfortable feelings must affect people unfavorably. A person's self-concept is reflected in the way he or she behaves and the way a person behaves affects other people's reactions. In general, the way people think about themselves has a deep effect on all areas of their lives.

    Shy people, who have low respect, are likely to be passive and easily influenced by others. They need faith that they are doing "the right thing". Shy people are very sensitive to criticism. It makes them feel inferior（自卑）.They also find it difficult to be pleased by praises because they believe they are unworthy of praise. A shy person may respond to a praise with a statement like this one: "You're just saying that to make me feel good, I know it's not true.” It is clear that, while self-awareness is a healthy quality, overdoing it is harmful.

    Can shyness be completely got rid of, or at least reduced? Fortunately, people can overcome shyness with determination since shyness goes hand in hand with lack of self respect. It is important for people to accept their weakness as well as their strengths. Each one of us has his or her own characteristics. We are interested in our own personal ways. The better we understand ourselves, the easier it becomes to live up to our chances for a rich and successful life.

    Phil White has just returned from an 18,000-mile, around-the-world bicycle trip. White had two reasons for making this epic journey. First of all, he wanted to use the trip to raise money for charity, which he did. He raised ＄70,000 for the British charity, Oxfam. White's second reason for making the trip was to break the world record and become the fastest person to cycle around the world. He is still waiting to find out if he has broken the record or not.

    White set off from Trafalgar Square, in London, on 19th June 2004 and was back 299 days later. He spent more than l,300 hours in the saddle(车座)and destroyed four sets of tyres and three bike chains. He had the adventure of his life crossing Europe, the Middle East, India, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Americas. Amazingly, he did all of this with absolutely no support team. No jeep carrying food, water and medicine. No doctor. Nothing! Just a bike and a very, very long road.

    The journey was lonely and desperate at times. He also had to fight his way across deserts, through jungles and over mountains. He cycled through heavy rains and temperatures of up to 45 degrees, all to help people in need. There were other dangers along the road. In Iran, he was chased by armed robbers and was lucky to escape with his life and the little money he had. The worst thing that happened to him was having to cycle into a headwind on a road that crosses the south of Australia. For 1, 000 kilometres he battled against the wind that was constantly pushing him. This part of the trip was slow, hard work and depressing, but he made it in the end. Now Mr. White is back and intends to write a book about his adventures.

Perhaps you think you could easily add to your happiness with more money. Strange as it may seem, if you're unsatisfied, the issue is not a lack of means to meet your desires but a lack of desires—-not that you cannot satisfy your tastes but that you don't have enough tastes.

    Real riches consist of well-developed and hearty capacities to enjoy life. Most people are already swamped with things. They eat, wear, go and talk too much. They live in too big a house with too many rooms, yet their house of life is a hut.

    Your house of life ought to be a mansion, a royal palace. Every new taste, every additional interest, every fresh enthusiasm adds a room. Here are several rooms your house of life should have.

    Art should be a desire for you to develop simply because the world is full of beautiful things. If you only understood how to enjoy them and feed your spirit on them, they would make you as happy as to find plenty of ham and eggs when you're hungry.

    Literature, classic literature, is a beautiful, richly furnished room where you might find many an hour of rest and refreshment. To gain that love would go toward making you a rich person, for a rich person is not someone who has a library but who likes a library.

    Music like Mozart's and Bach's shouldn't be absent. Real riches are of the spirit. And when you've brought that spirit up to where classical music feeds it and makes you a little drunk, you have increased your thrills and bettered them. And life is a matter of thrills.

    Sports, without which you remain poor, mean a lot in life. No matter who you are, you would be more human, and your house of life would be better supported against the bad days, if you could, and did, play a bit.

    Whatever rooms you might add to your house of life, the secret of enjoying life is to keep adding.

When it comes to emergencies, children are sometimes unsure what to do. 1 9-year-old Aria Lamen was fully 2 when she faced such an emergency. Her mother collapsed in the house and her quick 3 saved her mother's life. She immediately called her father and then called 

911. 

However, she has been 4 most for her calmness. On February 2nd, 2023, when Aria was finishing her homework in the dining room, her mother, Caron Lamen, collapsed. "Out of nowhere, I just 5 . . . I was on the floor and couldn't move or feel my entire left side," said the mother. 

"In the ambulance, they 6 to know my allergies（过敏症）, medications and all that," said Caron. "Aria said, ‘Well, here I have my mother's phone. I know all that 7 is on her phone; let me 8 it. '" At that moment, all that 9 to Aria was that her mother needed 10 . 

Even the police were 11 to hear Aria was so calm on the call. "I've taken calls for 30 years," said Tracie Whalen, the 911 dispatcher（调度员）. "I don't see most adults do as well as Aria did. "

After getting to 12 about what Aria did, Mayor（市长）Richard Irvin rewarded her for her 13 , "Your courage and calmness made all the 14 . Congratulations, young lady. " Hearing that, the 9-year-old is 15 that she knows what to do in emergencies. 

All students have bad times. What do they usually do when they get into trouble?

My mom is like my friend. I talk about everything to her. Whenever I have some trouble, I can get good advice from her. I have another good friend — my diary. It knows all my secrets. Talking with my two friends always makes me feel better. 

 —— Linda

Laughing helps me when I'm upset. I usually watch funny movies and TV shows. I also love spending my hard time with my best friend Dave. He is humorous and always makes me laugh. 

 —— Peter

Every time I feel bad, I go climbing alone. The study says exercising can help cheer one up (精神振奋). And the beautiful view at the top of the mountain makes me forget all my troubles. Sometimes I shout at the mountain top. It feels fantastic. 

 —— John