Two brothers took a trip in the forest together. At noon they took a rest and fell asleep. When they woke up, they saw a stone next to them. There were words written on the stone: Let whoever finds this stone go into me forest. In the forest a river will appear. Let him swim across the river to the other side. There he will see a bear and her baby. Let him take the baby from her and run up the mountain with them. On the top of the mountain he will find happiness."

    After reading the words, the younger brother said, "Let us go together. We can find happiness."

    "I am not going into the forest," said the elder brother. "It's too dangerous. We may get lost. We may be eaten by the bear. Instead of finding happiness, we may die at last."

    "In my opinion," said the younger brother, "you are wrong. If you do not make an effort and try hard, nothing in the world will be achieved."

    Then the younger brother set off, and the elder remained behind.

    The younger brother did all the things. When he reached the top of the mountain, the people came out of their houses to meet him and made him their king. He had been a king for five years. In the sixth year, another king captured his country. The younger brother became an ordinary man again.

    One day, the younger brother arrived at the house of his elder brother. The elder brother was living m a village, neither rich nor poor. "You see," said the elder brother, "l was right. Though you may have been a king, you have nothing now.

    "I don't think so," replied the younger brother. "I may have nothing now, but I shall always have something to remember, but you have no memories at all."

    Miss Mitra didn't want to be a Sunday school teacher any longer. The students there were all rude and never listened to her. "I give up." She shouted at the students. "Cool." Rick said. He was the most impolite kid in this school. Two months later, Miss Betty Ray came to the school. She looked young. The students thought that she wouldn't stay very long.

    "Have any of you ever been out of state?" She asked in a friendly tone. A few hands went up.

    "Anyone has traveled to California?" One hand went up as the disrespectful(无礼的) laugh reduced.

    "Anyone visited outside the country?" No hands went up now. The silent kids were puzzled.

    Betty took a map of the world from her bag.

    "What else do you have there? Lunch?" Someone cracked.

    Betty smiled lightly and answered, "Cookies for later." "Cool," Rick quipped(困惑的).

    Then she pointed at a place on the map, "I was born here, and I lived here until I was about your age."

    "Is that Texas?" Someone asked.

    "No. Quite a long way from here. It is Mumbai in India."

    Betty fumbled again in her bag, this time pulling out some old wrinkled pictures along with a box of chocolate chip cookies. They passed the pictures around, viewing each with great interest.

    The kids studied them as they bit into the sweets.

    The hour quickly slid by as she told them her stories about faraway places and what the people were like there and how they lived.

    "Wow, this is as exciting as TV!" One young girl told her.

    Sunday after Sunday, Betty came to class, tying her lessons to their everyday lives. She told the kids how they could make a difference right now. The students grew to love her.

    Betty taught that Sunday school class for thirty years. At last, her hair grew into a natural gray.

    Every now and then, she received a letter from a former student. There was a doctor, a research scientist, a homemaker, a businessman, and many teachers among them. One day she pulled out a blue envelope from her mailbox. And there was a photo in it. Squinting her eyes, she smiled at the man in the photo, still seeing the boy in him. Standing in the rubble(瓦砾), in the city of Delhi, India, he came to help the homeless people in the earthquake. Some words were written in the upper part of the photo, "Because of you, I am here now."

    Some children are flying kites near the river. They are very high and Peter can see them in the classroom. His mother's friend Mrs White came to see his mother this morning and brought a kite to him. She gave it to him after lunch. It looks like a bird. He wanted to fly it but his mother didn't let him do so.

    "It's time to go to school," said his mother, "or you will be late. You can fly it after school."

    The boy was sad, but he said goodbye to Mrs White and went to school. Now he's in the classroom but he's looking out of the window. He doesn't listen to Miss Black. She writes something on the blackboard and then turns to the class and finds this.

    "Name nine things with milk in them, Peter," she says.

    The boy doesn't hear her and still sits there. A boy behind him taps his back and he knows it. He stands up and Miss Black asks him the question again. He thinks for a while and then says, \ madam. Tea, coffee, cake and... er.. six cows."