The robin (知更鸟) stood on an old climbing plant, and sang his most beautiful song. Suddenly the wind made the plant move, and Mary saw something under the dark green leaves. The thick, heavy plant was covering a door. Mary's heart was beating fast and her hands were shaking as she pushed the leaves away and found the keyhole. She took the key out of her pocket, and it fit the hole. Using both hands, she managed to unlock the door. Then she turned round to see if anyone was watching. But there was no one, so she pushed the door, which opened, slowly, for the first time in ten years. She walked quickly in and closed the door behind her. At last she was inside the secret garden!

    It was the loveliest, most exciting place she had ever seen. There were old rose trees everywhere, and the walls were covered with climbing roses. She looked carefully at the grey branches (枝条). Were the roses still alive? Ben would know. She hoped they weren't all dead. But she was inside the wonderful garden, in a world of her own. It seemed very strange and silent, but she did not feel lonely at all. Then she noticed some small green shoots coming up through the grass. So something was growing in the garden after all! When she found a lot more shoots in different places, she decided they needed more air and light, so she began to pull out the thick grass around them. She worked away, clearing the ground, for two or three hours, and had to take her coat off because she got so hot. The robin hopped around, pleased to see someone gardening.

    George works in a small hotel. One day, it was raining heavily, an old couple (老夫妇) came to the hotel and asked for a room. George said to the old man, "I am sorry, sir, now all the rooms in the hotel are full, but I have another room left." Then George went to do some cleaning in the room and showed it to the old couple.

    The next day, the old couple wanted to pay for the room. George said, "It is free because it is my own room. I think there may be no rooms in all the hotels in the city. But it was not good to let you out in a heavy rain." The old man said, "You are so kind, and you are the best worker of the hotel." The old couple thanked George and left.

    A few months later, George got a letter with an air ticket to New York and a job offer (工作聘书). When George got to New York, he saw the old man. The old man showed him a large and beautiful hotel and said to George, "This is my hotel. I hope you would take charge of it for me." Then George became the manager (经理) of the big hotel in New York.

    In fact, the old man was quite rich. He had the big hotel and believed George could do the job well.

    I'm a girl, Rosie. Racing on the 1,500-meter track (跑道), I'm so tired. I want to stop but a voice is repeating in my head, "No one knows what the result will be. Everything is still possible." Today, I have to fight with myself.

    Nine years ago, when I was a 6-year-old girl, my mother took me on a trip. We went to the foot of a high mountain which she told me that we would climb. I had never done this before and the thought of it made me very happy.

    At the beginning, I was so excited, and climbed fast. But half an hour later, when I was thirsty and tired, I just stopped and sat on the ground, completely silent. My mom came and sat next to me.

She said, "Get up and go on!"

    Crying, I almost shouted, "Never! It's too tiring and I am thirsty. I want to go back home now."

    Patiently she explained, "Listen, my dear. If you try your best, anything is possible. If you don't try, your dream will never come true. You will never know how beautiful the sights look unless you reach the top of the mountain."

    Hearing her words, I stopped crying and started to climb again. Finally I did reach the top of the mountain and enjoyed the fantastic view.

    Today I'm on the racing track. I'm going to keep running because I know it's always valuable. And in the end I made it — I got through the finish line.

    Although it was really difficult and I did not win, I did finish it. "Never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined (命定的) place."

    It started as a game. Wendy and Peter were in River Park. They watched the boats in the river and visited the zoo. They played on the slides and swings. They watched the merry-go-round, but they did not have money for a ride. They ate their sandwiches at a picnic table. Suddenly Wendy jumped up.

    "I know what to do." she said. "Look at all that junk under the tables. Let's pick it up."

    So they picked up paper and empty boxes and cans. They put them in the green cans marked "Litter". Peter's dog Stoopy picked up some paper and ran away with it. Peter called him back and took it from him. Then they taught Stoopy to carry trash for them. They put it in the cans. They worked until there was no trash left on the picnic grounds.

    The next day their friends Mario and Andy came to the park with them. They helped to tidy the picnic grounds again. Then they ran all over the park looking for litter. They tried to see who could find the most. After that, it was a game they played every time they came to the park.

    One day, a man came with a camera. He watched what they were doing. He asked to take a picture for them. Then he took them all for a free ride on the merry-go-round, even Stoopy. The next day their picture was in the newspaper. It said, "Five Litter Lifters at River Park". After that all their friends wanted to be litter lifters. It was the beginning of a club that was a model for others to follow.

    A friend's grandfather came to America from Britain. He went into a cafeteria in Lower Manhattan to get something to eat. He sat down at an empty table and waited for someone to take his order. Of course nobody did. At last, a woman with a plate full of food sat down in front of him and told him how a cafeteria worked. "Start out at one end," she said. "Just go along the line and pick out what you want. At the other end they'll tell you how much you have to pay."

    "I soon learned that's how everything works in America," the grandfather told a friend. "Life is like a cafeteria here. You can get anything you want only if you like to pay the money. You can even get success, but you'll never get that if you wait for someone to bring it to you. You have to get up and get it yourself."