The great Zen（禅宗）teacher, Benzei had many pupils. One day, one of them was caught because of stealing things by other students. And they reported him to Benzei, but he took no action against the boy.

    A few days later, the same boy stole another student's things and was again caught. And again Benzei did nothing. This made the other students angry, and they wrote a petition(请愿书) to ask the teacher to send away the thief from school. They all threatened to leave if the boy was allowed to stay.

    The teacher called a meeting of the students. When they had arrived, he said to them, "You are good boys who know what is right and what is wrong. If you leave, you will have no trouble in joining any other school. But what about your brother who does not even know the difference between right and wrong? Who will teach him if I don't? No, I cannot ask him to go even if it means losing all of you. "

   Tears coursed down(流下) the cheeks of the boy who had stolen. From then on, he never stole again and became an honest man.

    One day, a woman traveled alone in the mountains．When she was walking, she found a precious (珍贵的) stone．She was very happy and put the stone into her bag.

    The next day, the woman met another traveler．The traveler was hungry and the woman opened her bag to s hare her food with him．The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and said, “How beautiful the stone is! Can I have a look?” The woman gave it to the traveler．The traveler looked and looked, and then he asked the woman whether she would like to give it to him．She gave the stone to him without hesitation (犹豫).

    The traveler left．He was very happy because he knew he could get lots of money by selling the stone and he could live a rich life．But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman.

    “I know how precious the stone is,” the traveler said． “But I gave it back．I hope that you can give me something even more precious.” “Even more precious? What is that?” the woman asked． “Your beautiful mind is more precious than the stone,” the man said.

    Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One early morning, I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 a. m. When I arrived to collect my passenger, I saw a small woman in her eighties standing before me. I took her suitcase to the car and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly towards the car.

    She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing," I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way l would want my mother treated."

    "Oh, you're such a good man," she said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, "Could you drive me throughout the downtown (市中心)?"

    "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.

    "Oh, I'm in no hurry," she said. "I'm on my way to hospice (末期病人安养所). I don't have any family left. The doctor says I don't have very long time." I quietly shut off the meter (计价器). For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, and the neighborhood where she had lived. Sometimes she asked me to slow down in front of a special building and she would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

    As the day broke, she suddenly said. "I'm tired. Let's go now."

    We drove in silence to the address she had given me.

    "How much shall I give you?" she asked.

    "Nothing," I answered.

    "You have to make a living," she said.

    "Oh, there are other passengers," I said.

    Almost without thinking, I bent down and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly and said, "You gave an old woman a little moment of happiness."

    Esperanza lives in a poor Latino(拉丁美洲人) neighborhood in Chicago, .America. She dreams of having her own house one day. Her parents told her that when they moved from their last house, they would have a new' and shiny(亮闪闪的) house. But the house is small and old.

    Many people live in Mango Street in a big old house. Esperanza lives behind it with her family. A lot of the people who have come from Mexico don't speak English. Many miss their home country. Esperanza understands their sadness, but she also feels at home in America. She is an American, but her roots(根) will always be Latino,

    Esperanza is young. Like her friends, she has to grow up fast. She is stuck between being a girl and being a woman. In the poor and dangerous area where she lives, this is difficult for her. Mexican people usually live in a close neighborhood. This means that people live packed(挤塞的) in together. Everyone knows everyone else. So Esperanza knows other older girls that do things she is not comfortable doing. It is just a fact of her life.

    But Esperanza has good friends too. She becomes friends with two sisters named Lucy and Rachel. They ride bikes and have adventures together. Esperanza is also friends with a girl named Alicia. Alicia is afraid of the rats in her apartment. She shares her poems with Esperanza.

    I heard that Lijiang was a very famous place for its beautiful sightseeing. When I was young. So I travelled there with my parents during the last winter holiday.

    We went there by plane. I saw there were many mountains when I got out of the plane. The air was fresh. On the first day, we went to the old of lie bought some interesting things and had a good meal there. On the second day, we went to Yulong Snow Mountain. It was beautiful, and the land was covered by the white snow. It was my first time to see snow. I played with the snow happily. My father told me that it was a famous place in China. Many people came here every year. I seldom go travelling, but this time I was very happy during this trip. I also met some foreigners here, and I even tried to talk with them. Though it was not easy for me to talk in English fluently (流利地), I was still glad to make a try. We took many beautiful photos about the scenery and my family.

    "It's time to wake up, Emily," my mom sings from the kitchen. I pretended to open my eyes. Why didn't the alarm on my cell phone ring?

    Soon, I realized it was April 8, the day for my program: "A day without technology." I didn't realize what I had gotten myself into until I was driving to school in my car. No radio blasting my favorite songs. I had to sing to myself.

    As soon as I got to school, I went to the library to print out my English project from my flash drive. "Uh-oh," I thought. "This isn't expected." Finally, I had to spend nearly an hour writing the report again.

    The school day went on and I finally got used to the rules. This wasn't so hard! I could do this every day.

    I drove home in silence again, and my mind eventually went into after-school mode (模式), depending on what I would eat for supper and who would be voted off (被淘汰出局)American Idol later that night. The last thing I knew, I was chat with friends on Face book, check email and watch a video on YouTube, all at the same time!

    My mom walked in and her jaw dropped.

    "What happened to no homework?" she asked me. I froze for the second time that day and ordered myself to go back to reality. I had failed.

    This experiment, which many teenagers would never have the courage to try, was actually convenient to me. Even though my attempt(尝试) at going about my day without these luxuries (奢侈品) was a failure, I realized that if I really tried, I would be completely successful without my addiction to technology.

    These devices suddenly make my life easier, and I'm sure I wouldn't practice getting rid of them altogether, but I do believe the lives of today's teenagers would be dramatically different without our tech dependence.