Joe was an old man. The 75-year-old lived very happily in a village and had a beautiful family. Joe had four grandchildren, and they visited him during their holidays.

During one vacation, Joe was preparing his home for the kids: cleaning and buying their favorite foods. After he finished working, he realized he lost his favorite watch. The watch was a gift from his wife when their first child was born. Joe loved the watch very much, especially after his wife's death. He was very upset about losing it.

    Once his grandchildren came, they promised him they would find the watch.

    One granddaughter asked: "Grandpa, do you remember when you saw the watch last before it went missing?"

    "I guess when I was cleaning the barn(谷仓)!" Joe replied.

    The children looked for more than two hours with Joe, but they could not find it. The kids were now also sad, but they tried to comfort(安慰) their grandfather.

    One grandson went back to the barn to search again. Joe asked why he was going there a second time. But the little boy just asked the others not to follow him and to remain silent.

    He was there for about fifteen minutes and then rushed to his grandfather. He found the watch and happily gave it to Joe.

    Joe was surprised and asked how he was able to find it. The little boy replied: "I sat there without making a noise, and the barn was so silent. After a few minutes, I heard the ‘tick, tick' sound and found the watch."

    Joe hugged and thanked the little boy.

    When my brother and I were children, we spent a few weeks each summer in the countryside with our uncle. He was a geologist and loved to go on long walks to find stones to add to his collection at the university. More often than not, we followed him.

    One day, we left early and this time, our uncle gave us two backpacks. "You can help me carry the samples（样本）," he explained.

    Sure, why not? The whole day, we walked around the countryside, and every now and then, our uncle put stones in our bags. We were a bit surprised that sometimes he also took some stones out from our bags, but thought he had just found better samples.

    We reached the house in the late afternoon. The backpacks were so heavy that we were really tired out when we put them on the ground. Yet our uncle's backpack was half-empty.

    "Why did you give us so many stones?" we asked. "I didn't. You did, "he said, waiting for a while before continuing." You did not know it, but I made you go through a little attitude（态度） test today."

    "What do you mean an attitude test?" we wanted to know.

    "It is something someone once did to me. You see, I listened to every word you said. And whenever you complained（抱怨） about anyone or anything, I added a stone to your bags. And whenever you talked about something in an attitude of positive thinking, I took out a stone. And now look at your backpacks." We did. They were full. "I hope you remember this little attitude test. You see, your negative（负面的） thoughts are like stones. You carry them in your mind just like those stones in a backpack. The more negative thoughts you have, the heavier your mind is. So look at those bags and start paying attention to what you say and how you say things."

    This little lesson was one of the most important I ever had. And I remember my uncle with great love for teaching us one of the most important lessons in life-the power of attitude.

    One day, when I arrived at school, an ice cream truck was parked in the schoolyard. Ice cream men usually drove their trucks to primary schools. I had never thought one ice cream truck would come to bring ice cream to us older kids. When I went up to the truck, I was quite surprised to hear the man call out, "Free ice cream!" To make sure of his words, I asked, "I'm sorry. What did you say?"" Free ice cream. Choose whichever you like," he said, smiling.

    After I was certain that the man was just giving away the ice cream, I talked with him for a long time. He told me that his dream was to travel around, giving away ice cream, and that's what he was now doing. With his mother's support, he kept doing what he loved even during hard times. Now, some large companies were helping him with his plan.

    The man said he wanted to encourage people to do exactly what their hearts told them to do during their lives. I kept asking him, "So your dream was just to drive around and give away ice cream? It seems like a very unusual goal." "Yes, just meeting people and making them smile," he replied. At that point he handed me my ice cream. I thanked him, but what I got from him was much more than just ice cream. It can't easily be expressed in words. I believe what he was doing is exactly what great people do all the time: small acts of big love.

    To travel around the world is the dream of many adventurous people. But very few people can afford a global tour because hotels, food and airplane tickets are too expensive. Some people, however, have thought of some ways to realise their dreams.

    Laura Cody and Tanbay Theune, a couple from Britain, decided to travel around the world. They have found a good way to pay for their trips. They look after pets for rich house owners. In exchange, they can stay in the houses for free. They have looked after horses, cows, cats, dogs and fish. In two years, the couple has been to Australia, Germany, Spain and Italy. They have stayed in big cities and small villages. The home owners are usually very generous and give them food, wine and day trips.

    Another person who tries to realise her travel dream is photographer Rhiannon Taylor. She travels around the world to visit, review and take photos of the best hotels. She shares the places she stays in and the food she eats on the Internet with tens of thousands of followers.

    With these ways of making money, travelling around the world is no longer a dream. More and more young people are thinking creatively to make their dreams come true.

    A student was going to spend his holiday in a cool mountain village. That evening he stayed at an inn (小旅馆) near the railway station (火车站). Before going to bed, he went to the boss of the inn and said, "Excuse me, sir. Will you please wake me up at a quarter to five tomorrow morning? I'll take the five o'clock train."

    "Oh, sorry, sir," the boss said in a hurry, "I'm afraid I can't. I won't be able to get up so early." The student was disappointed. When he began to return to his room, be stopped and asked, "Have you got an alarm-clock (闹钟)? Maybe it can help me."

    "Wait a minute, then." The boss said and brought out an alarm-clock. "Here you are, sir." "Thank you very much." The student said happily. But he found it was rusty (锈的) when he had a look at it. And it sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. He asked, "Will it ring in time?" "I don't know, either." said the boss, "But it doesn't matter. You just give it a good shake at a quarter to five. And it will ring on time."