When I spent the summer with my grandmother, she always sent me to a store with a long shopping list. How could I hope to find all these things? In the store, there was a tall lady with black glasses on her nose. There wasn't a smile on her face.

    “Excuse me,” I said. She looked down and said, “I'm Miss Bee.”

    “I need to get these.” I said, holding up my list. “So? Go to get them. ” Miss Bee pointed to some shelves. “There's no one here, only you and me, so get yourself a basket and get all these things yourself.”

    That summer I visited Miss Bee twice a week. Sometimes she gave me wrong change. One afternoon I corrected her, “That bag of beans is only twenty-nine cents!”She just looked at me over her glasses and changed the price. Going to the store was more like going into battle. I got into the store just like General Patton getting into North Africa.

    Soon I learned how to find the product on the shelf… At the end of the summer, the shopping trip only took me 15 minutes. Before I left, I stopped in the store to get some candy.

    “All right, little girl,” she said. “What did you learn this summer?” Before I could answer. Miss Bee laughed and said, “I know what you think of me. Well, I don't care! My job is to teach every child some life lessons. When you get older you'll be glad you ever met Miss Bee. Haha!...”

    I didn't think of her words. Years passed, one day my daughter came to me with her homework. “It's too hard,” she said. “Could you finish my math problems for me?”

    “If I do it for you, how will you ever learn to do it yourself?” I said. Suddenly, I was back at that store and I knew what I learned from the old lady that summer.

    Friends are very important in everyone's life because friends are always there when we need them. It's great to have many friends, and I can't think about my life without my friends.

    My best friend is Lisa. When I first met her, I was five. She is one year older than me. Now she is in the same class with me, in the 8th grade. She is tall and quite thin. She has long curly blond hair and blue eyes. Lisa and I like doing a lot of things together and talking about different things. She always helps me with my math and I sometimes help her with her English and history, I had to do a report(报告)on science once, but I didn't understand(理解) what the teacher said. The next day, I read it in front of the class. But the teacher told me that my report was wrong and my classmates laughed at me. I felt very bad about myself. Lisa was the only one who didn't laugh at me. She tried to be nicer than anybody else and made me happy.

    Lisa is friendly and everybody loves her. I am happy to have a friend like her.

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    In our life, we may meet persons with different personalities(性格).{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Read about the following and find out!

    A Dreamer thinks there is a "right" way to do things. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Many are good listeners and like to help others. Many Dreamers work as teachers, and often lead others. Famous Dreamers: Mahatma Gandhi (圣雄甘地), Angelina Julie.

    A Partner wants to be in a group. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} They consider tradition to be of great value. Partners are often serious, careful people. Many do well as teachers, managers and police officers. Famous Partners: Queen Elizabeth II, Mother Teresa.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} They like to deal with problems and make new things. Thinkers can also be active. They like to win. They have very strong opinions. Many Thinkers work as scientists, inventors and engineers. Famous Thinkers: Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking.

    Artists want to be free. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} They also like trying new things. Like Thinkers, many Artists have strong opinions. They are creative and do well as musicians and actors. Famous Artists: American famous singer Madonna.

    If you lose 12 times, will you just give up? Dale Carnegie, a pioneer in public speaking and self-development, kept trying. And he became famous by showing people how to be successful.

    Carnegie was born in 1888 in the central United States. As a son of a farmer, the boy had to get up at 4 a.m. every day to milk the cows. When Carnegie first entered college, he felt hopeless because of his clothes and ordinary (普通的) looks. His mother encouraged him, "Why not try to be better in other things instead of just dress and good looks?"

    Carnegie tried to be more active in college. He joined the debate (辩论) team. But one after another, he lost 12 times. The young man was so disappointed in himself that he even thought of ending his own life for so many failures.

    But soon Carnegie was seen practicing public speaking on the riverside. His hard work brought good results at last. In 1906, Carnegie won a famous speech match and became widely famous.

    The young man made his own words come true: "Believe that you will succeed, and you will." In order to share his success, Carnegie started schools and wrote books. More than 50 million copies of his books have been printed in 38 languages. They are still helping people on the road to success.

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