One day a lonely girl found two weak birds while she was walking in the woods (树林). She took them home and put them in a small cage. She fed them with love and the birds grew strong. Every morning they greeted her with a beautiful song. The girl loved them very much and wanted their singing to last forever.

One day the girl left the cage's door open. The 1arger and stronger of the two birds flew out of the cage. The girl watched worriedly as it circled (盘旋) high above her. She was afraid that it would fly away and she would never see it again. So when it flew close, she grasped (抓) at it wildly. She was very happy that she held it tightly within her hand! Suddenly, she felt something had happened to the bird. She opened her hand and was surprised to find the bird was dead. Her love for the bird killed it.
She noticed the other bird jumping in the cage. She could feel that it wanted to be free. It hoped to fly into the clear, blue sky. She lifted (举起) it from the cage and flew it into the air. The bird circled once, twice, three times …
When the bird was flying happily in the sky, she was so glad. Just then the bird flew closer and sat softly on her shoulder. It sang the sweetest song she had ever heard.
The fastest way to lose love is to hold it tight. The best way to keep love is to let it fly!

    Mrs. Green is going to hold a birthday party for Mary. Mary is her daughter. She is going to be thirteen years old. Mary's friends are going to come to the party. They are all girls.

    Mrs. Green is getting ready for the party. Mrs. White is helping her.

    "That's a nice cake," says Mrs. White.

    "Thank you very much," says Mrs. Green.

   Mrs. Green is going shopping now. She's buying fruit for the party. She buys a lot of pears, apples, oranges and bananas. Then she goes home.

    It's three o'clock in the afternoon. Now the first girl comes, then another. The party is going to start after thirty minutes.

C

    Many years ago, a French naturalist, Comte de Buffon, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics（批评家）did not like them.

    Thomas Jefferson did not like what Comte de Buffon had said about the natural wonders（奇观）of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that Comte de Buffon had spoken of natural wonders in America as if（好像）they were unimportant.

    This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He was also a naturalist, as well as a farmer, an inventor, a historian, a writer and a politician（政治家）. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.

    In 1788, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Comte de Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word—belittle. He said, “Comte de Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic（大西洋）.”

    Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in the English language dictionary in 1806, “Belittle—to make small, unimportant.”

    Americans had already accepted Jefferson's word and started to use it. In 1797, the Independent Chronicle（独立纪事报）used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. “It is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they please.”

    In 1872, a famous American word expert decided that the time had come to kill this word. He said, “Belittle shouldn't become English. And more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it.”

    This expert failed to kill the word. Today, belittle is used where the English language is spoken.

    A girl complained to her father about her hard life．She didn't know what she had to do and wanted to give up．She felt tired of fighting and fighting．One problem had been finished but another came over．

    Her father，a cook，took her into the kitchen．He poured water into three pans and boiled(煮沸) them．After boiling，in the first pan was put some carrots，the second was put some eggs and the last was put with coffee．

    The girl waited impatiently (不耐烦的)，confused by what her father did．About 20 minutes later，her father took out the carrots and put them in a bowl．He took the eggs and put them in a bowl．After that the coffee was poured into a cup．“My sweet heart，what do you see？” he asked．

    “Carrots，eggs and coffee，” she replied．

    Her father told her to close her eyes and asked her to touch the carrots．She did so and felt that the carrots were soft．After that he asked her to take the eggs and break them．After peeling (剥开) them，she got the eggs，cooked and hard．The last，the father let her smell the coffee． She asked，“What did you do this for，Father？” He explained that each had the same unlucky experience—the boiling water，but each had a different result． The strong and hard carrots had become soft and weak．Thefragileeggs became hard after being cooked． The coffee was very special，they could change water．“Who are you？” asked her father．“When bad luck knocks at your door，what is your decision? Are you carrots，eggs or coffee？”

    In the 1950s, a female swimming athlete set a goal for herself. She decided to swim across the English Channel before she retired. If she could make it, she would be the first person in the world who did it.

    On that day, she jumped into the sea without any hesitation and swam towards the opposite bank.

    In the journey, she faced heavy fog, heavy rain and heavy waves. Though she was very tired, she carried on swimming.

    But in the end, she gave up. And what she didn't know at the moment she gave up was that the opposite bank was only I mile away.

    Later people asked her about the reason. And she said: "The reason why I gave up is that I could not see the destination which I was so close to."

    Too many success stories have been lecturing us about courage and persistence(坚持). But they never told us where to find courage and persistence.

    You can have courage only when you know where your goal is. You can manage to persist only when you know where your goal is, and prepare yourself well mentally(心理上).

    Courage and persistence never fall from the sky. They come from weighing between input and output.

    A life without goals is like a ship without a compass. It goes nowhere. There is no courage or persistence in a life without goals.