This story happened three years ago. Jack was an eight-year-old boy at that time. He was a good pupil. He was good at every subject at school. But he could not get up early. He often slept until nine or ten o'clock in the morning. So he was often late for school.

    Jack's mother didn't want him to be late for school again. So she bought him a clock. She said to him,“ You must get up when you hear the clock ring.”

    “Yes, Mum.” said Jack. After that Jack got up at twenty to seven when he heard the clock ring.

    One day his mother forgot to make the clock ring at the usual time. And the next morning Jack didn't get up. It was six forty-two at that moment. It was time for breakfast. Mother went to see him. Jack was still in bed and his eyes were open.

    “Why didn't you get up?” Mother was angry.

    “You told me to get up when I heard the clock ring. So I am waiting for the bell.”

    “Mum, is the clock still sleeping?” Jack asked.

    Jack Brown, an office worker, lives in Washington. He inherited（继承）a million dollars when he was 23, but he wasn't happy at all. When his college friends were looking for their jobs, he didn't have to. Jack decided to keep living a simple life like everyone else. He gave $ 10,000 of his money to a charity to help poor children live a happy life. Today he is 36. He still wears cheap shoes and clothes and drives a small car only, but he is very happy.

    Up to now Jack has helped some children from poor countries all over the world, by sending them each $200 a month. The money is used for the children's study, food, medicine and clothing. Jack receives a report each year on the children's progress(进步）They can write to each other, but usually the children do not speak English.

    When Jack first heard about these children, he wanted to help them. “It was nothing special,”he said.“Until I went to these countries and met the children I was helping, I didn't know anything about their life.” Once Jack went to meet a little girl in Africa, he said that the meeting was very exciting. “When I met her, I felt very, very happy,”he said.“And I saw that the money was used for a good cause. It brought me happiness. I want to do everything I can to go on helping these children.”

    Once upon a time, there was a tree which wanted to become a treasure box. One day, a farmer cut it down and sold it to a carpenter(木匠). The tree was happy because he thought the carpenter would make it into a treasure box.

    To its surprise, the carpenter made it into a feed box for animals. The tree felt very disappointed because that was not its dream. Several years later, the feed box was thrown away. Someone picked it up and placed it into an old temple. The tree forgot its dream little by little.

    One day, a couple came to the temple. The woman gave birth to a baby boy. There wasn't a bed in the temple. So they placed the baby in the feed box. They loved him and regarded him as their treasure. The tree suddenly realized that it became a real "treasure box" at that time.

    Sometimes you may think your dream will not come true. Don't forget your dream. It may be realized in another new way.

    A farmer was put in prison(监狱). One day, he got a letter from his wife. "I am worried about our farm," she wrote. "It's time to plant potatoes, but I can't do all the digging(挖) by myself." The farmer thought over and then had an idea. He wrote to his wife, "Don't dig the fields. This is where my gold(金子) is. Don't plant potatoes until I come home." A few days later, the farmer got another letter from his wife. It said, "Two days ago, about ten prison guards(监狱看守) came to our fields. It looked as if they were looking for something. They have dug our field." The farmer wrote to his wife at once. "Now you can plant our potatoes," he wrote.

    James Cleveland Owens was the son of a farmer and the grandson of black slaves. His family moved to Cleveland when he was 9. There, a school teacher asked the youth his name. "J.C., "he replied.

    She thought he had said "Jesse", and he had a new name.

    Owens ran his first race at age 13. After high school, he went to Ohio State University. He had to work part time so as to pay for his education. As a second-year student in the Big Ten games in 1935, he set even more records than he would in the Olympic Games a year later.

    A week before the Big Ten meet, Owens accidentally fell down a flight of stairs. His back hurt so much that he could not exercise all week, and he had to be helped in and out of the car that drove him to the meet. He refused to listen to the suggestions that he give up and said he would try, event by event. He did try, and the results are in the record book.

    The stage was set for Owens victory at the Olympic Games in Berlin the next year, and his success would come to be regarded as not only athletic but also political. Hitler did not congratulate any of the African-American winners.

    "It was all right with me," he said years later. "I didn't go to Berlin to shake hands with him, anyway."
    Having returned from Berlin, he received no telephone calls from the president of his own country, either. In fact, he was not honored by the United States until 1976, four years before his death.

Owens' Olympic victories made little difference to him. He earned his living by looking after a school playground, and accepted money to race against cars, trucks, motorcycles and dogs.

    "Sure, it bothered me," he said later." But at least it was an honest living. I had to eat."

    In time, however, his gold medals changed his life. "They have kept me alive over the years," he once said. "Time has stood still for me. That golden moment dies hard."