When I first came to New York, I didn't have many friends. I got upset easily. Luckily, one of my co-workers (同事), Frank, took great care of me. Actually, he changed me.

    I used to be shy. I had a hard time talking Io strangers. Frank knew it.  And he helped me deal with it.

    One day we were at a restaurant.  I dropped a piece of pizza on my shirt while eating. Frank told me to borrow a Tide pen (去污笔) from someone. I was nervous, but Frank encouraged me. So I went to ask for help. In the end, I was not only able Io clean my shirt, but also made friends with a stranger.  It was a good start for me.  I became more and more confident (自信的).

    Frank was optimistic about life. He always finds a way to change the bad things into something good.

    Because of a new job, I moved to a new city. Frank and I communicated with each other less and less. Then, one day, I got a call from a friend. Frank had passed away. It was one of the worst moments in my life. There was nothing I could do to deal with my sorrow (悲伤) except go lo sleep.

    I looked at a lot of videos about Frank. At the end of one video, Frank said, "After the rain, the sun shines through the clouds." I remembered Frank's optimism. Then I stopped crying. I decided to smile a bit wider and love fife more.

    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 is an old man in a house. In the house there are many mice. The old man has a cat. Every day the cat catches the mice and eats them.

    One day, the old mouse says, "All mice must come to my room this evening. We must find a way to deal with (对付) the cat."

    All the mice come. Many mice speak, but they don't know what to do. At last, a young mouse stands up and says, "We must put a bell (铃) on the cat. When the cat comes near, we can hear the bell and run away. So the cat can't catch us." "Who can put the bell on the cat?" asks the old mouse. But no one answers.

    One Sunday, Jim went to town to buy new clothes. First he tried on a sweater. He didn't like it, so he returned it to the storekeeper. Then he tried on a T-shirt that had the same price as the sweater. Jim was satisfied with the T-shirt, and he left the store with it. Before he climbed on his horse to go home, the storekeeper and the assistant ran out at the same time.

    "You didn't pay for the T-shirt!" said the storekeeper.

    "But I gave the sweater in exchange for the T-shirt, didn't I?" replied Jim.

    "Yes, but you didn't pay for the sweater!" said the storekeeper.

    "But I didn't buy the sweater." said Jim,

    "I am not so stupid to pay for something that I have never bought."