Tina was not like many of her friends. She didn't listen to pop music, but her friends liked rock and pop music. When Tina asked her friends to try classical music, they all looked at her strangely. "Classical music is for old people," they said. Tina was worried if something was wrong with her.

Tina decided to talk to her father. In the study(书房), asked her father, “Dad, am I strange?”"Of course not,”he answered. "Why do you ask that?”"Because I don't like the same things as my friends do. They want to listen to Mariah Carey's music. I like Yo Yo ma's.”" I can understand. Tina, it's all right to be your own person. You don't have to copy(模仿) what other people do. Everybody has different tastes.”After talking with her father, Tina felt better. She realized that doing different made her special. It was an important lesson for her to learn.

     Nick and his friends were talking about things that can bring them luck. “I have a lucky red pen,” said Andy. “I have a lucky coin,” said Peter. “Every time I take a test, I carry my lucky coin.” Nick thought for a moment, and said, “My blue socks.” “Blue socks?” the boys were surprised and asked together. Nick said that every time he wore his blue socks to school before a test, he got a good mark.

    The next day Nick had a Chinese test. He was sad because he couldn't find his blue socks. “Mom!” shouted Nick. “Where are my blue socks? I have a Chinese test today, and I need to wear them.”

  “Don't be silly,” Nick's mom said.“They need to be washed.” “When I wear them, I get a good grade.” Nick said.

  “Did you prepare for your test?” asked Mom.

  “Yes.”

  “Then don't worry about it. Just do your best.” Mom encouraged.

    A few days later, Nick's teacher told him that he got 95 in his test. Nick was so excited that he couldn't wait to tell Mom he did well in his test. Mom said, “It wasn't the blue sock s that made you success. In fact, it was made by yourself.”

      Once upon a time, there lived a rich man. He had a servant (仆人). He and the servant loved wine（酒）and good food very much. Each time the rich man left his home, the servant would drink the wine and eat up all the nice food in the house. The rich man knew what his servant did, but he had never caught his servant doing that.

      One morning, when he left home, he said to the servant, “Here are two bottles of poison (毒药) and some nice food in the house. You must take care of them.” With these words, he went out.

      But the servant knew that the rich man had said was untrue. After the rich man was away from his home, he enjoyed a nice meal. Because he drank too much, he was drunk and fell to the ground. When the rich man came back, he couldn't find his food and his wine. He became very angry. He woke the servant up. But the servant told his story very well. He said a cat had eaten up everything. He was afraid to be punished（惩罚）, so he drank the poison to kill himself.

    17-year-old Brennan Agranoff, a colorblind boy, started his custom sock business in middle school, with a small loan(贷款)he got from his parents. Up till now, he has sold over $1 million worth of socks online in the last four years.

    Brennan thought of the idea for his custom sock company at just 13 years old. He was attending a high-school basketball game in his hometown of Sherwood, Oregon, and noticed that many kids his age were wearing the same white Nike sport socks. The boy told himself that if these white plain sacks were so popular with kids, then some cool custom designs would surely be an even greater hit.

    But the boy didn't tell his parents about the business idea immediately. He spent six months researching things like printing machines and technology and drawing up a business plan. Only when he had everything planned out did he ask his parents for a loan. "They thought the idea was a little out there," Brennan recently told CNN Money, but he kept pushing, and finally received a $3,000 loan to start his company. Then he began to work on his own designs. The fact that he was colorblind didn't stop him and he has created aver 200 designs now.

    Business was slow the first year, but then Brennan started pushing his HoopSwagg products heavily on the Internet. Orders soon started coming in in large numbers, and HoopSwagg became a popular brand among custom sock lovers. Right now, his designs can be found on HoopSwagg website, Amazon and eBay.

    Four years after starting his business, Brennan has achieved great success while balancing(平衡)school, house chores and his social life. And he says he loved every minute of it.

    "It looks so good on you," said my friend. I was trying on a bathing suit. Then the topic of conversation turned to going on a diet(节食).

    I wanted to become pretty and thin. So I decided to stick to the diet. I didn't eat my lunch. Some people asked me where my lunch was. I lied to them and made up excuses.

    I did the same with breakfast. I tricked(欺骗) my dad into thinking that I ate my bread, but I fed it to the cat. My weight dropped fast, but when I looked at myself in the mirror, I still thought I was not thin enough.

    Finally, dark circles formed under my eyes. I wore thick clothing in hot weather, but I was still cold. That didn't matter. I still needed to be thinner.

    About a month after I bought the bathing suit, I tried it on again, and it fell right off me. My mother told me to look in the mirror. I could see my eye sockets(眼窝). That was the day I realized how skinny I was.

    I went to see a doctor. My total weight loss was about twenty-five pounds in one month. It took one year for my body to start working normally again.

    Sometimes I want to go back to being thin, but I will never do what I did again. It's not worth it. Please don't go on a diet when you're young. You will regret it. Don't judge and compare yourself with others. Try to love yourself for who you are, not for what you look like.