When an ice cream sundae(圣代冰淇淋) cost much less, a boy entered a coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.

    "How much is an ice cream sundae?"

    "Fifty cents," said the waitress.

    The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it. "How much is a dish of plain ice cream?" he asked.

    Some people were waiting for a table, and the waitress was not patient. "Thirty-five cents," she said angrily.

    The little boy again counted the coins. "I will have the plain ice cream," he said. The waitress brought the ice cream and walked away. The boy finished, paid the money, and left.

    When the waitress came back, she was surprised at what she saw. There were fifteen cents placed beside the empty dish. That was her tip.

    Jack Brown, an office worker, lives in Washington. He inherited（继承）a million dollars when he was 23, but he wasn't happy at all. When his college friends were looking for their jobs, he didn't have to. Jack decided to keep living a simple life like everyone else. He gave $ 10,000 of his money to a charity to help poor children live a happy life. Today he is 36. He still wears cheap shoes and clothes and drives a small car only, but he is very happy.

    Up to now Jack has helped some children from poor countries all over the world, by sending them each $200 a month. The money is used for the children's study, food, medicine and clothing. Jack receives a report each year on the children's progress(进步）They can write to each other, but usually the children do not speak English.

    When Jack first heard about these children, he wanted to help them. “It was nothing special,”he said.“Until I went to these countries and met the children I was helping, I didn't know anything about their life.” Once Jack went to meet a little girl in Africa, he said that the meeting was very exciting. “When I met her, I felt very, very happy,”he said.“And I saw that the money was used for a good cause. It brought me happiness. I want to do everything I can to go on helping these children.”

We usually have three meals a day——breakfast, lunch and dinner. Different people have different food for breakfast. Some children tell us about their breakfast food. 

Simon is an American boy. He usually eats cakes and drinks milk with sugar (糖) for breakfast. He loves sugar. He is short. He doesn't like to drink juice for breakfast.

Jack is from the UK. He usually has bread and a glass of juice for breakfast. His favorite is apple juice, but his family like orange juice. They usually have eggs and hamburgers. 

Lucy is a Chinese girl. She usually has soup (汤) and baozi with meat for breakfast. She doesn't have bread and cakes for breakfast.

Once or twice, there was crying and sighing (叹息) from a little leaf, as leaves often do when the wind is blowing. The tree said, "What's the matter, little leaf ?"

"The wind, " said the leaf, "just told me that one day it would pull me off and throw me on the ground. "

" Don't be afraid, " the tree said. "Hold on , and you shall not go off until you are ready. "

So the leaf stopped sighing and went on singing. It grew all summer long until October. When the bright days of autumn came, the leaf saw all the leaves around growing very beautiful. Some were yellow, some were brown, and many were colorful. Then the leaf asked the tree what this meant (意味着).

The tree said, " All these leaves are getting ready to fly away, and they have put on these colors because of their joy (快乐). "

The little leaf started to want to go and grew colorful thinking of it. Then it saw that the branches (树枝) of the tree had no bright colors on them and asked why.

"We must keep on our working clothes because we don't finish our work, " said the tree, "but your clothes are for holidays because your work is now over. "

Just then, the wind came, and the leaf let go (放手) without thinking. The wind took it up and turned it over and over. Then it fell slowly down on the ground, among hundreds of leaves.