His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day late in the afternoon, while working to support his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby pond(池塘). He dropped his tools and ran to the pond. There, up to his neck in the water, was a terrified boy, crying and struggling to free himself. Obviously the boy did not know how to swim. Fleming jumped into the pond and quickly swam toward the boy. He saved the boy who could have been a terrible death.

    The next day, a very cool carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's house. A well-dressed noble man stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Fleming saved the day before.

   “I want to repay you,” said the nobleman. “You saved my son's life.”

   “No, I can't accept any payment for what I did,” the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer.

    At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the farm house, confused by who was visiting them.

  “Is that your son?” the nobleman asked.

  “Yes,” the farmer replied proudly.

  “I'll make you a deal. Let me take him with me. I promise you that I will give him a good education. If the boy is anything like his father, he'll grow up to be a man you can be proud of.”

    And he did. In time, Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London and went on to become a famous doctor.

    Years later, the nobleman's son became seriously ill. Who saved him? The farmer's son did.

    It's important to help people no matter how successful you are in life. You never know when you are going to be the one who needs the help.

Cell Phone Madness

    When I opened the box at my 12th birthday party, I couldn't believe my eyes. I had really got a cell phone!

    As soon as I got to my school the next morning, I showed off my phone and asked everyone for their number. It felt like I didn't even exist in that class anymore. I wouldn't pay much attention to the teachers because I was too busy on my phone. Luckily I didn't get caught using it. I was pretty sure that the teacher did notice that I stopped paying attention to her because a week later we took a test and I got Grade D for the first time. To make matters worse, my mom had to sign the test. It was hard to show my mom the paper. She never expected “D” on my tests. Well, finally, I showed her and she couldn't believe it. She was angry but most of all, she was disappointed(失望的).

    Weeks passed and my parents started to dislike the fact that I had a phone. They would say, “We have noticed that you never pay attention to us. It's like you have your own little world now and we don't communicate as much with your phone.” I acted like they were wrong, but then I started to wonder if it was true that I was spending too much time on the phone.

    A week later I tried going a whole day without a cell phone and it didn't go that badly. I had so much fun because I was actually spending time with my family and paying attention to them. From that day, I had a different point of view towards cell phones.

    Phones really take you away from the rest of the world．I'm not saying that phones are bad and not to use them, but you do have to spare some time to spend with your family and not get stuck with your phone all day. My phone took away time from my homework and from my family. It also affected my grades.

    I will keep using my phone, but I will have it under better control.

    The cold wind blew strongly outside. Amaya was warm in her house, thinking about an article she'd read at school. The article was about kids who helped out their communities, and she thought it would be really cool to help her own town, Harvard.

    The only problem was that she wasn't sure how to help. In the article, the kids had grown food for people who needed food, but it was winter. She couldn't start a garden. Amaya was deep in thought when her mom said it was time to go shopping.

    As they drove along the road, Amaya saw a family walking on the sidewalk( 人 行 道 ), wearing only light jackets. How cold they must be! That gave her an idea! She could collect winter coats, hats and gloves for people who needed them.

    She shared her idea with her mom, who thought it was great. But how would they spread the idea to get plenty of winter clothing? Amaya decided to talk to her teacher, because then she could share her idea with her classmates at least.

    Ms. Monroe agreed when Amaya talked about her idea. They decided to call the project Hats in Harvard. Then they wrote a letter explaining the project. Ms. Monroe even said she could help Amaya talk to the headmaster about  it, so they could get the whole school to join in it. They met with the headmaster during lunch time. He was excited about the idea, and said he would make sure copies(复印件) of the letter went home with all the students.

    They collected enough winter clothing in only one week. Then they left the clothes around two parks, so families who needed clothes could get them there. Three days later, Amaya and her mom went shopping again. She saw the same family that had given her the idea for Hats in Harvard. This time, though, the family looked nice and warm in some new coats, hats and gloves. Amaya felt warm in her heart, and was very glad she could help others.

    One Sunday, Jim went to town to buy new clothes. First he tried on a sweater. He didn't like it, so he returned it to the storekeeper. Then he tried on a T-shirt that had the same price as the sweater. Jim was satisfied with the T-shirt, and he left the store with it. Before he climbed on his horse to go home, the storekeeper and the assistant ran out at the same time.

    "You didn't pay for the T-shirt!" said the storekeeper.

    "But I gave the sweater in exchange for the T-shirt, didn't I?" replied Jim.

    "Yes, but you didn't pay for the sweater!" said the storekeeper.

    "But I didn't buy the sweater." said Jim,

    "I am not so stupid to pay for something that I have never bought."