A poor farmer had a friend who was famous for the wonderful apple trees he grew.

    One day, his friend gave the farmer a young apple tree and told him to plant it. The farmer was pleased with the gift, but he did not know where to plant it.

    He was afraid that if he planted the tree near the road, strangers would steal the fruit. If he planted the tree in one of his fields, his neighbours would come at night and steal some of the apples. If he planted the tree near his house, his children would take the fruit. Finally he planted the tree in his woods. But without sunlight and good soil(土壤), the tree soon died.

    Later the friend asked the farmer why he had planted the tree in such a poor place. "What's the difference?" the farmer said angrily and then told what he had thought.

    "Yes, "said the friend, "but at least someone could have enjoyed the fruit. Now you not only have robbed everyone of the fruit, but also you have destroyed(毁掉) a good apple tree!"

    Every year on my birthday since I was 11, a white gardenia (栀子花) was sent to my house. No card ever came with it. Calls to the flower shop were not helpful at all. After some time I stopped trying to find out the sender's name and was just pleased with the beautiful flower, in soft pink paper.

I couldn't stop imagining who the giver might be. Some of my happiest moments werespent daydreaming(幻想 )about the sender. My mother encouraged these daydreams. She'd ask me if I had been especially kind to someone. Perhaps it was one of my classmates Perhaps it was the old man who I once helped. As a girl, I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy that I had met.

    A month before my high school graduation(毕业), my father died. I was so sad that I became completely uninterested in my coming graduation dance, and I didn't care whether I had a new dress or not. My mother, in her own sadness, would not let me miss (过) any of those things. She wanted her children to feel loved. In fact, my mother wanted her children to see themselves much like the gardenia: lovely, strong and perfect.

    My mother died ten years after I was married. That was the year the gardenia stopped coming.

    Huang Qingyun spends her life telling stories to children. Now though she is in her nineties, she has no plans to stop.

    "I did this for children, from the first day I started to write stories. I am old now, but I still want to go on telling stories to children," Huang said.

    Born in Guangzhou in 1920. Huang spent her childhood in Hong Kong and her favourite hobby was making up stories for her elder sister.

    In 1935, Huang went to university and studied Chinese. During this period, she was greatly influenced by the well-known Chinese educator Tao Xingzhi and decided to become a primary school teacher. However, instead of being a teacher. Huang found another way to educate children. During World War Ⅱ, Huang often told stories to homeless children at the Little Children Society, a charity (慈善机构) set up by a professor from the University of Hong Kong.

    Huang also started a column (专栏) called "Sister Yun's Mail Box" in Xin Er Tong, a children's magazine set up in Hong Kong in 1941. From then, Huang officially started writing and created a large number of stories for children. Huang spent about 30 years at the magazine working as chief editor (主编) in Guangzhou.

    Huang retired in 1987. She moved to Hong Kong and went on creating stories for children, including I Love Hong Kong, Children from Hong Kong and Shoes Brothers.

    "What l wrote were all for children, and for me, writing fairy tales is my favourite," Huang said.

    The doctor handed me my medicine and said sorry to me because his register had already closed. He asked if I would mind using the register at the front of the store. I told him not to worry and walked up front. One person was in line ahead of me, a little girl no more than seven with a bottle of medicine on the counter. She held a little green and white coin purse closely to her chest.

    The purse reminded me of the days when, as a child, I liked dressing myself up in my grandma's clothes. One day, wearing her large clothes and hat, I went out to buy something. I gave a fake dollar to the shop owner, but he handed back some real coins for my purse. "Keep the change!" he told me with a smile.

    Now, with both hands shaking, the little girl pulled out a dollar bill and some coins for her medicine. As she tried to count her money, I could see right away that she was about a dollar short. Quickly, I put a dollar bill onto the counter. The child collected her change into her coin purse and ran out.

    As I walked to my car, I felt a tug on my shirt. There was the girl, looking up at me with her big brown eyes. She gave me a smile, and put out her little hand. It was full of coins. "Thank you," she said.

    "That's OK," I answered, smiling. "Just keep the change!"

    There were many plants in a forest. When spring came, a pine tree saw a red rose nearby and said, "What a beautiful flower! I wish I were that lovely."

    The rose proudly said, "It seems that I am the most beautiful flower in this forest." Then the rose looked at a cactus (仙人掌) and said, "Look at that ugly plant full of thorns(刺)!"

    "What a proud flower!" thought the trees.

    As the days passed, the red rose often looked at the cactus and said bad words about it, like "This plant is useless. How sorry I am to be his neighbor!"

    The cactus never got angry and even tried to advise the rose, saying, "God did not create any form of life without a purpose."

    Spring passed, and the weather became very hot. As there was no rain, the red rose began to wilt(枯萎).

    One day the rose saw birds put their beaks (喙) into the cactus and then fly away. The red rose asked the pine tree what the birds were doing. The pine tree explained that the birds were getting water from the cactus.

    "The cactus has water?" asked the rose.

    Yes, you can also drink some from it. The birds can bring water to you if you ask the cactus for help."

    The red rose felt too ashamed to ask for water from the cactus. But finally it did ask for help. The cactus kindly agreed.

    The rose learned a lesson and never judged (评价) anyone by their appearance again.