Maybe everyone likes dogs, and almost everyone likes to read stories about dogs.
　  I have a friend. He has a large police dog named Jack. Police dogs are very clever. Every Sunday afternoon my friend takes Jack for a long walk in the park. Jack likes these long walks very much.
　  One Sunday afternoon a young man came to visit my friend. He stayed a long time. He talked and talked. Soon it was time for my friend to take Jack for his walk. But the visitor still stayed. Jack became very worried. He walked around the room several times and then sat down in front of the visitor and looked at him. But the visitor paid no attention to Jack. He went on talking. At last Jack got angry. He went out of the room and came back a few minutes later. He sat down again in front of the visitor, but this time he took the visitor's hat in his mouth. The visitor saw it and was surprised. He laughed and left.

    One day while driving from my home to work. I noticed a car in front of me had a wobbly(不稳定的) wheel. It was clear that the wheel had been changed recently and had not been fixed correctly. On a slow road this would not show much of a problem but I knew a highway was coming soon. There the traffic would move much faster and the driver would be in danger as the wheel could come off at that speed.

    I was driving a large jeep at the time and the car in front was a small one driven by a young lady on her own. So as I tried to flash(闪) my lights and wave her to pullover,  I was worried that she wouldn't pull over on the road side when she found in her mirror a single man chasing(追) her down in a jeep and waving for her to pull over.

    Thankfully. she trusted more in the good nature of people and pulled over where I could explain the problem. She said the wheel was changed only the night before and that she would pull into the nearest garage(修车间) where the repairman had tools to fix the wheel correctly.

    My belief is that the act of kindness was hers and not mine. How so? Well, it was she who chose to believe in the possibility that people are good over the belief that bad things would come from being waved over to the side of the road by strangers.

    I am glad I was able to wave her down in time and so a serious accident might have been avoided. But I am even happier that she believed in a stranger.

    My summer holiday began on July 5th. I didn't want to stay at home and did nothing in the hot summer. I called my grandma, and she asked me to go to her village. I was very happy with it. After four hours, I got to my grandma's house by bus. There are many trees around her house. I liked to play games with other children during the day. At night, people in the neighborhood often came and sat together to chat. My grandma liked telling stories. My new friends and I enjoyed her stories very much.

    There is a pool in the village. My friends and I often went there with some food and caught fish in the pool. Then we cooked the fish and had dinner there. It was not easy to catch fish, but it was interesting and exciting. I stayed there for about a month, and then I went back home.

    The Sixth Time I Went to the Principal's Office

    When I was in the seventh grade, I had problems behaving. My heart was in the right place, but I couldn't always follow the rules. I played many tricks on my schoolmates. Once, I even pulled a girl's hair on the school bus to get her attention. As a result, I was repeatedly sent to the office of the principal（校长）.

    Although I hated going there, I did not hate the principal, Mr. Ratcliff. Mr. Ratcliff was a kind, elderly man. When he spanked（ 打屁股） me for putting some ants into a classmate's pencil box, it didn't hurt at all, but it did hurt my feelings. I thought so much of him and moments like that seemed to prove I was hopelessly bad.

    When I got called to Mr. Ratcliff's office for the sixth time, I had no idea what I had done. I felt disappointed as I walked down there. I went into his office, sat down, and looked at the floor. Then he said the last thing I expected to hear:” Kevin, I've heard you've been behaving really well lately. I want you to know how proud I am of you, and I just called you down to my office to give you a peppermint.”

    “Really?” I was surprised.

    “Yes. Now you can take that peppermint and go back to class.”

    I carried the peppermint with me as if it was a gold coin. When I got into my classroom, I bragged （ 吹嘘） to my classmates about my turnaround, excitedly. I wasn't so bad after all.

    Mr. Ratcliff was really kind. He made me realize that I was just a kid who had problems with behavior. He bought some peppermints and took the time to notice me when I got something—anything—right. Mr. Ratcliff gave me some hope by giving me some love. I will just remember him for the rest of my life.