Sally was a student. It was going to be her mother's birthday. She wanted to buy her a gift that would be nice and useful but not expensive.

    A week before her mother's birthday， she went shopping after a quick and simple lunch. When she had been looking for half an hour， she found a shop that was selling cheap umbrellas， and decided to take a black one， since her mother had lost hers the month before.

    She thought， “You could carry that when you are wearing clothes of any color.” So she decided to buy a lovely black umbrella and took it back to school with her until her classes had finished.

    On her way back home in the train that evening， she felt hungry because she had such a small lunch that she went along to the buffet car（餐车） for another sandwich and cup of coffee. She had left the black umbrella above her seat in the compartment（车厢）， but when she got back， it had gone! When she had left the compartment， there had been no other passengers in it， but now there were three.

    Sally began to cry when she saw that the umbrella was no longer there. The other passengers felt very sorry for her and asked what the matter was. She told them that the black umbrella she had bought for her mother was gone， and that she had to get out at the next station. After the three other passengers heard it， they asked her for her mother's address so that they could sent the umbrella to her if someone had taken it by mistake and brought it back after Sally had got out of the train.

    The next week， Sally heard from her mother. It said， “Thank you very much for your lovely gifts， but why did you send me three black umbrellas?”

    A'Layah Robinson lives in Oklahoma, USA. She is only seven years old, but already she has big ideas for helping other kids!

    One Saturday morning when A'Layah was five, she noticed some teenagers who had a lemonade stand(柠檬饮料摊位). They wanted to raise money to help some of their friends. A'Layah wanted very much to help kids too, especially foster kids(寄养儿童)! You see, A'Layah and her brother were both foster kids. The little girl's birth mother was a drug addict (吸毒成瘾者), so she was taken to a foster care centre. Luckily, she finally found a forever home in the Robinson family.

    But A'Layah still couldn't forget the day when her brother came to live with them. She felt sad that he only had old clothes and shoes that were too small. She thought maybe she could help with a lemonade stand! That way she could raise money so that other foster kids could have a toy and a few other things of their own.

    A'Layah's first lemonade stand made $132! A'Layah was so excited to go with her mother to buy things for the foster kids. She decided they should have a toy, a toothbrush, a blanket and a book. Her first donation(捐赠物) was for 24 kids!

    A'Layah wanted to help more kids, so her mum helped her start a charity called A'Layah's Lemonade for Love. Till now, it has already raised over$17, 000! A'Layah hopes someday she will be able to send a toy to every kid in foster care.

    Spiderman is one of the most famous comic book heroes of all time. He was created by Stan Lee in 1963 and was first introduced to the world in the pages of Marvel comic books.

    Spiderman's story is the story of Peter Parker, a child who lost his parents and lives with his aunt and uncle. Peter is a shy, quiet boy wearing glasses and has few friends. One day, on a high school class trip to a science lab, he gets bitten by a special spider. Soon Peter realizes he has amazing powers. He is as strong and quick as a spider and also has a type of sixth sense.  He no longer needs his glasses and he can use his super power to fly through the city streets! Remembering something his Uncle Ben has told him, that "with great power, there must also come great responsibility(责任 )," Peter decides to use his powers to fight enemies who do cruel things to people. And so, Spiderman is born.

    Life is not easy for Peter even though he is a superhero. He is in love with Mary Jane but cannot tell her about his amazing powers. Besides, his best friend Harry hates Spiderman! Peter' is also short of money and time. He has to sell photos of Spiderman (himself) to a newspaper and he keeps losing his other jobs because he's so busy saving people! Yet he has to fight different kinds of cruel enemies.

    As we know, elephants are very cute animals, and many people like them very much. But do you hear of an elephant that can draw?

    Shanti is an elephant and she is good at drawing very much. Somebody has actually paid 2,000 dollars for a painting done by her.

    Shanti has painted 12 paintings so far but now she refuses to paint more. The director of the Prague gallery came up with entirely(完全地) improbably reason why she stops drawing.

    The director said, "She starred as an elephant named Bimbo in a movie. She is a very famous artist in it. Now she is in some sort of depression(抑郁). We will just have to wait for her next wave of creativity."

    Shanti does a good thing. Shanti's paintings bring money which helps elephants in Sri Lanka.

    There was a boy and his family was very rich. One day his father took him on a trip to a place. He wanted to show his son how poor people were there. They spent several days on a farm. There were many poor families living on the farm.

    On their way home, the father asked the son, "How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad," the son answered. "Did you notice how poor people were there?" asked his father. "Oh, yes," said the son. "So, tell me," said his father. The son said, "Well, we have one dog and they have four. We have a pool in our garden, while they have a river that has no end. We have expensive lanterns, but they have stars above their heads at night. We have only a small piece of land to live on, while they have the endless fields. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have high walls around our houses to protect us, but they don't need walls, because their friends will protect them.

    The father had nothing to say. Then the boy added, "Thank you, Dad, for letting me see how poor we are."