One day, a young man was taking a walk with a professor(教授). As they went along, they saw a pair of old shoes lying on the road. They thought the owner of the shoes must be a poor man who worked on the farm nearby. The student said to the professor, "Let's take away his shoes, and hide (躲藏) ourselves behind those trees and wait to see what will happen when he cannot find them. That must be very interesting."

    "My young friend," answered the professor, "we should never make fun of others who are poor. But you can put a coin (硬币) into each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch what change (变化) will happen to him."

    The student did so, and they went to hide themselves behind the trees.

    The poor man soon finished his work, and came back. When he was putting on his coat, he put his foot into one of his shoes. He felt something hard and found the coin. Surprise was seen on his face. He found the coin and looked at it again and again. He then looked around, but there was no person. He now put the money into his pocket (口袋). When he put on the other shoe, he was surprised again to find the other coin. He fell on his knees (膝盖), looked up to the sky and said aloud some thanksgiving words to the person who gave him the coins.

    The student stood there, and his eyes were full of tears (眼泪),"You have taught me a lesson that I will never forget. Now I understand:      ▲       ,"he said.

Jim went to school to study history, but when he finished his first year, he didn't pass the exam and the teacher said to him, “You have to leave school.”

When the boy's father heard this news, he was much worried. He came to the school to see the teacher. He found the teacher in the office and asked the teacher to let Jim go on with his studies the next year.

“He is a good boy. He always does well in history,” said Jim's father, “and if you let him pass the exam this time, he will do better next year and pass the exam.”

 “No, no, that's impossible!” answered the teacher, “Last month I asked him when Napoleon（拿破仑）died and he didn't know.”

“Please sir, give him another chance.” said Jim's father, “You know we don't have any newspapers in our house, so nobody in our family knew that Mr. Napoleon was ill.”

    When Jason's parents saw him for the first time, they were shocked（震惊）.This lovely little baby with shining blue eyes and curly hair was born disabled（残疾的）. But soon the young couple accepted this fact: Jason's arms are just half without hands and his legs aren't fully grown either. They even forgot to think of him as disabled.

    At the age of six, he told his mother he wanted to get down from the prosthetics（假肢）and play with other kids. This was the last time Jason had worn them. He now has an electric wheelchair（轮椅）, but he never uses it at home or when it is easy for him to move using only his body.

    Jason learned handwriting and coloring at school, holding the pen between the ends of his arms. He also learned to eat with forks at home. When he was ten, he fell in love with football. He never had a pair of shoes in his life because of the shape of his feet. He only wore socks on the football field. He never won a match, but he refused to give up. His strong arms and body, as well as some fantastic ways made him a respected（受尊重的）player on the school team. He went to a famous university after high school.

    Now Jason still faces many hardships in life, but he will make you believe that you can do what he has done. “Never be afraid of any difficulty”, Jason often encourages others in his speeches.

    Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally, there was only one family between the ticket office and us. This family made a big impression on me.

    There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. You could tell they didn't have a lot of money. Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children talked excitedly about the clowns. It was clearly a very important day out for them. The father and mother seemed happy as they could be.

    The tickets lady asked how many tickets the father wanted, he proudly answered," Please let me buy eight children's tickets and two adults' tickets, so I can take my family to the circus."

    The ticket lady told him the price.

    The man's wife lowered her head. There was no longer a smile on the man's face. He quietly asked," How much did you say?"

    The ticket lady again told him the price.

    The man obviously didn't have enough money. But how could he tell his kids the bad news?

    Seeing what was happening, my dad took a $20 note from his pocket and dropped in on the ground. (We were not rich ourselves at all!) He then tapped the man on the shoulder and said," Excuse me, sir, you dropped this."

    The man understood my father was helping him. He picked up the money, looked straight into my dad's eyes, and in tears replied." Thank you. This really means a lot to me and my family."

    Although we did not go to the circus that night, we didn't go without.

    Today was not a good day. Everything went wrong. First, I slept late and Mum shouted at me to wake up. I tried to wake up but I couldn't. I just went back to sleep, and she had to come and shout at me again.

    When I finally got out of bed, I went to the kitchen for breakfast. There was no cereal (谷类食物). I decided to have some toast (烤面包片) instead, but I burned it. I had to eat it anyway because there was no more bread. There was no juice, either. I just had a glass of water.

    When I was almost at the bus stop, I realized that I had forgotten my wallet, so I had to go back home and get it. Of course, I missed the bus and had to wait for the next bus.

    I was late for school and the teacher told me to stay in the classroom at lunchtime to catch up on (补上) the schoolwork I had missed.

    After lunch, it was the time to give the teacher our homework. I reached into my bag to get it, but it wasn't there. I had left it at home. I was in trouble again.

    When I got home, I went straight to my room to catch up on my homework. Mum cooked fish for dinner. She knows I don't like fish, but she thinks it is good for her son. I am going to bed early so that nothing else can go wrong. It was a terrible day. I hope tomorrow will be better.