Do you know this girl?

    I went to the park with my older sister, Cathy, on Friday. My sister left her jacket on a bench (长椅) when we played games. When we went back to the bench, a little girl in a red T-shirt was sitting there. She looked like she was 8 or 9 and had long blonde hair. She had some money in her hand. When she saw us, she got up and walked away.

    I asked my sister, "Did you have any money in your jacket?"

    "Yes, Anna, I did."

    I said, "Have a quick look in your jacket."

    Cathy looked in her jacket, but her money was not there.

    "That girl stole (偷) it!" I said, and we ran after her. We caught (抓住) her soon.

    My sister was very angry and she said, "Give me the money!" The girl gave the money to Cathy and ran away. Then we went home. But before we could tell our parents, my mother said to Cathy, "You left your money at home. It's on the table in the kitchen." So the girl in the red T-shirt was not a thief (小偷)! Maybe she thought we were bad girls.

We felt      

    Please call us if you know this girl. We would like to say sorry to her and give the money back to her. Our number is 512667. Thank you very much.

                                                               Anna and Cathy

    A businessman was once deep in debt（债务） and could see no way out. He sat on a park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company.

    Suddenly an old man appeared in front of him. "I can see that something is troubling you," he said. After listening to the businessman's trouble, the old man said, "I believe I can help you."

    He asked the man his name, wrote out a check（支票） and pushed it into his hand, saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time." Then he turned and disappeared.

    The businessman saw his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller. One of the richest men in the world.

    "It can solve my problem at once!" the businessman realized. But instead, he decided to put the check in his safe. Just knowing it was there that might give him the strength（力量） to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

    After that, he did better in his business. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

    Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the check. At the agreed-upon（约定的） time, the old man appeared. But just as the businessman was about to hand back the check and share his successful story, a nurse came running up and caught the old man.

    "I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been troubling you. He's always escaping from the hospital and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller."

    And then she led the old man away by the arm. The businessman just stood there, suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence（自信心） that gave him the strength to achieve anything he went after.

    Once, Einstein gave a lecture in a university. After his speech, the audience started asking questions.

    A girl asked, "Do you think you're a giant of science？" Einstein said with a smile, "A giant is a person who is tall in height. You see I'm so small, how can I be a giant? Maybe I see a bit farther, only because I stand higher！"Then a boy asked, "You mentioned you stand higher than the others. It reminds me that you had a talk with a lady on the top of the Alps (阿尔卑斯山).I don't want to ask what you talked, but I want to know whether you realised you have been a top in the history of science when you stood on the top." Looking at the boy carefully, Einstein replied, "Well, my height cannot become a top. And there is no top that no one can get to, so we don't want to be a top, but we want to be a person to climb the top!"

    Then he took up a piece of chalk and wrote on the blackboard, "Standing on the top, you are not tall, but even smaller！"Then he said, "Though I stand tall, in the eyes of the world I'm still small! Finally, I can tell you a sentence, which was the last one I told the lady on the top of the Alps, 'Any top can be reached, for there is no giant in the world but the one who stands higher！'"A storm of applause(掌声) sounded. The lady who listened to Einstein's instruction on the Alps that year was no other than Madam Curie!

    Long ago there was a man with the name Smith. He made a living on making caps. One day he went to sell his caps. He went through a forest. There were many monkeys in it. It was very hot and the man wanted to rest a little. He came up to a large tree, put his caps on the ground, took one of them and put it on his head. Then he lay down and soon fell asleep.

    "Where are my caps?" Smith cried when he woke up. He looked up and saw many monkeys in the trees and each monkey had a cap on its head.

    "Give me back my caps!" The man shouted at the monkeys. But the monkeys didn't understand him. They only laughed. The man got very angry, took off his own cap, threw it on the ground and cried, "If you want all my caps, you may take this one, too!"

    And what do you think happened? The little animals did the same. Each monkey took off its cap and threw it on the ground. The man was very glad. He quickly collected all his caps and went on his way.

    One day, I walked into a stranger as he walked by me. "Oh, excuse me." I said. He replied with a smile and said, "Please excuse me, too. I wasn't watching out for you." We apologized(道歉) and went our own ways.

    Later that day, when I was cooking, my daughter was standing too close to me. When I turned to reach for some milk, I nearly knocked her over. "Move out of the way." I shouted. She walked away sadly. But I didn't feel like I had to apologize to her.

    While I was in bed that evening, my husband said to me, "Dealing with a stranger, you were polite, but with a daughter you love, you were unkind. Your daughter brought you some flowers that she picked herself this afternoon. You'll find them in the kitchen by the door. Have you seen the tears in her eyes?"

    I quietly went and knelt down by my daughter's bed. "Honey, I am so sorry." I said, "Are these the flowers you picked for me?" She said, "I found them by the tree. I picked them because they're pretty like you. I knew you'd like them especially the blue ones." I tearfully replied, "Sweetie, I'm really sorry for the way I acted today. I shouldn't have shouted at you." "It's okay. I love you anyway." she said as she kissed me on my cheek.

    If we can be polite to strangers, why can't we be kind to the ones we love?