One cold winter night in Shanghai, I was walking home at one in the morning after long tiring work. I was having trouble with my job in the bank. As I walked, I thought seriously about giving up living there. City life had become too much for me.

 As I walked down empty streets, I felt very small and cold. I began running, both to keep warm and to keep away any possible danger. Very few people were still out except a few sad-looking homeless people under blankets（毛毯）.

 Suddenly, I heard a sound behind me. I turned quickly, all I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me nervous, so I started to run faster. When I reached home, I realized what the noise had been. It had been my wallet falling to the sidewalk.

 Now I wasn't cold or tired anymore. I ran back to where I'd heard the noise. Although I searched carefully for fifteen minutes, my wallet was nowhere to be found.

Just as I was about to give up the search, I heard the garbage truck（垃圾车）come to me. When a voice called from the inside, “Alisa Chen?” I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? The door opened, and out jumped a small red-haired man “Is this what you're looking for?”he asked, holding up a small square shape.

 It was nearly 3 a. m. by the time I got into bed. But I had got my wallet back. I also had got back some enjoyment of city life. I realized that the city couldn't be a bad place as long as people were willing to help each other. 

    A young and successful man was driving down a street in his new Jaguar (捷豹汽车). He was going too fast. As his car passed, a brick (砖块) knocked into the Jaguar's side door. He was very angry and drove the car back to the place where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver jumped out of the car and stopped the nearest kid, shouting, "Who are you? What are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do that?"

    The young boy was apologetic. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do," he said. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop."

    With tears dropping down his face, the young boy pointed to a place just around a parked car. "It's my brother," he said, "he fell out of his wheelchair (轮椅) and I can't lift him up."

    Crying, the boy asked the man, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me." Moved deeply, the driver hurriedly lifted the disabled boy into the wheelchair.

    "Thank you and God bless you," the thankful child told the man. And the man simply watched the little boy push his brother down the sidewalk toward their home.

    It was a long and slow walk back to the Jaguar. The dent (凹痕) was very noticeable, but the driver didn't want to repair the side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention.

    God speaks to our hearts every day. Sometimes when we don't have time to listen, he has to throw a brick at us.

B

    Many years ago in Japan, a farmer and his wife had three children, two boys and a girl. The boys helped their parents on the farm. The girl was small and weak. She was often ill. She spent her time drawing cats. Her parents didn't like her, so they took her to the temple ( 寺庙 ) .

    In the temple the girl drew cats all day long. The other people in the temple tried to stop her, but she didn't listen. So they asked the girl to leave the temple.

    The girl came to a town. She didn't have any money, so she had to stay in an empty house outside the town. Inside the house, there was only a mat (垫子 ) on the floor, a light near the window, and a large paper screen ( 屏风 ) . The girl drew some cats on the paper screen. She drew cats of every kind. When the screen was full of cats, she lay down on the mat and went to sleep.

    The next morning, when the girl woke up, she was very surprised - there was a very large dead mouse in the middle of the house! People in the town said, "The girl's cat drawings came to life ( 复活 ) at night. They saved the girl from the large mouse."

    The girl left the town and went on her way. Everywhere she went, people wanted to buy her cat drawings. Soon, she became one of the most famous artists in Japan. When you visit Japan, you might be able to see one of her pictures.

    There once lived a rich businessman who had a lazy son. The businessman wanted his son to realize the value of labor.

    One day, he told his son, "Today, I want you to earn something. If you fail, you won't have your meal tonight."

    The boy didn't want to find a job, so he asked his mother for help. She gave him a gold coin. In the evening, when the father asked his son what he had earned, the son showed him the gold coin. The father then asked him to throw it into the well (水井). The son did as he was told.

    The father guessed that the gold was from the boy's mother. The next day, he sent his wife to her parents' home and asked his son to earn something. Since no one helped him, the son had to go to the market to look for a job. A shopkeeper told him that he would pay him a coin if he carried heavy tools for him. The son accepted. As he returned home and gave the coin to his father, he was asked to throw it into the well. The boy cried, "Dad! My body is aching. I'm tired. How are you asking me to throw my hard-carned coin into a well?"

    The businessman smiled. He told his son that one feels pain only when the fruits of labor are wasted. The son realized the value of hard work. He promised not to be lazy any more.

    John and Tina come from different countries. They are interested in Chinese food. They usually eat Chinese food in restaurants and often talk about it.

It's Saturday today and it's sunny. John asks Tina to have dinner at Ms. Brown's House. It's the first time that Tina goes there for dinner.

    "Hi, John. Are there different kinds of food at Ms. Brown's House?" Tina asks.

"Of course. There're all kinds of noodles  such as chicken and cabbage noodles, mutton and potato noodles, tomato and egg noodles and beef and carrot noodles," John says.

    "Sounds great! I like tomato and egg noodles very much," said Tina.

"Me, too. There are also delicious dumplings and specials. After dinner, we can have ice- cream and fruit. They are on sale."

    "Ice-cream? I know a new kind of ice-cream. It is delicious. And you can keep it for an hour."

    "Great! But there isn't any at Ms. Brown's House."

    "I know where to buy it. Let's go after dinner."

    "OK."