My friend Mr. Smith is a famous doctor and has a hospital. So he has enough money to travel all over the world. And he's been to a lot of places of interest. He likes to play with children and has a lot of little friends. They often ask him to tell them all kinds of funny things he saw. It makes them happy and his room is always full of children when he's free.

    It was my little son's seventh birthday yesterday. The boy wanted to ask his old friend Mr. Smith to the party. He called Mr. Smith himself and told him about it. The doctor accepted his invitation happily.

    Mr. Smith came on time, with a nice present in his hand. After dinner the children sat around the traveler and asked him to tell them some funny stories. Mr. Smith agreed and his stories made them laugh again and again. At last he told them the funniest story. He said, “Once I reached a city on a foggy day. The fog was the thickest in the world…”

    “Please wait a moment, Mr. Smith,” said my son, “It's said that the fog in London is the thickest in the world.”

    “You're right, my clever boy.” said the funny doctor.” The city had much fog that day…” “What's it, then?” the boy couldn't wait to ask again.

    “The fog was so thick that I couldn't see it at all.” the funny doctor said with a smile.

    There was a very rich man named Mike. In his house, he had a very large room. "If anyone can fill my room in one day, I will give him 20,000 dollars." he said. Everyone in the town wanted to have a try.

    Mark tried to fill the room with stones. At the end of the day, he was very tired, but the room was still not full. Martin tried to fill the room with wood. He worked all day, but the room was not full. "That room is too big, no one can do this." he said. Alan said, "I can do it. It's easy." Everyone laughed. They thought he could not do it. Then, he went to the park and played all day. His friend asked him, "Why are you playing, you should be working." The man said, "Don't worry." At 8:00 at night, the man came to the room with a small bag. The rich man said, "That bag is too small. How will you fill the room?" The man took a candle out of the bag. He lit the candle and said, "You see, the whole room is filled with light!"

    Whenyou enter my home for the first time, you will always be impressed with a smalland white envelope（信封）. No name, no address. Ithas hung on our Christmas tree for about 10 years.

    Itall began because my husband Mike hated Christmas. He didn't hate the truemeaning of Christmas, but the commercial（商业的） way ofit, spending too much on the usual Christmas gifts, such as rushing into astore to buy a tie for Uncle Harry.

    Knowinghe felt this way, I decided not to buy the usual gifts, such as shirts andsweaters. I reached for something special for Mike. The idea came in an unusualway.

    Ourson Kevin, 12, was wrestling（摔跤） at the school. BeforeChristmas there was a match against a team helped by a city church, mostly poorkids. As the match began, I was surprised to see the other team wrestling onlywearing the old clothes because they couldn't afford the wrestling uniforms, whileour boys in their blue and gold uniforms. Of course, we ended up with beatingthem.

    Mike,seated beside me, shook his head sadly," I wish just one of them couldhave won. In fact, they could if they had worn the uniforms. They have talentfor wrestling, but losing like thiscould take the heart right out of them."

    Mikeloved kids-all kids and he knew them, having trained kids football andbaseball. At that time, I thought of the idea for the gift.

    Thatafternoon, I went to a store and bought some wrestling uniforms and sent themto the city church for the kids without leaving my name.

    OnChristmas Eve, I put the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mikewhat I had done and telling him that this was his gift from me. His smile was thegreatest thing about Christmas that year and the next years.

    Yousee, we lost Mike now. But every Christmas Eve I would put an envelope on thetree, and in the morning, three more joined it. Each of our children hadsecretly put an envelope on the tree for their dad.

    Mike'sspirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.

    Andrew Holleman, a 12-year-old boy, loved playing in the open land near his home. The land was wet and forested, and made a home for birds, other animals and many different plants.

    It made the perfect place for him to study and get to know nature. He had seen some red-tail hawks, red foxes, wood turtles and other animals. He also found special native flowers.

    Suddenly it was reported that the "empty" land would be improved by a lot of houses on it. The plants would be removed, the animals would run away and most would probably die. Then the wet soil would be covered with extra grounds.

    When he heard about the news, he was not happy. He was very worried that the land and water would be polluted. Andrew wrote down clearly all the research he had done about the area, and how the houses would affect(影响)the local environment. He sent letters to members of local government and television reporters. He also called on his neighbors to oppose the building of the houses.

    Although he was only 12 years old, he had the courage and wisdom of a person much older.

    Andrew's teachers described him as a gentle, shy and active. His classmates also admired how much he knew about local animals and plants, and the environment. Each day after school, Andrew went door-to-door, to ask the people to sign(签字), who did not want the houses to be built. In only one month, he got the signatures of 250 people.

    In the end, the land remained a safe place for birds, animals and plants that belonged there.

    Andrew won many prizes for his brave and great work to stop the houses being built, and he helped save the environment.

    James Cleveland Owens was the son of a farmer and the grandson of black slaves. His family moved to Cleveland when he was 9. There, a school teacher asked the youth his name. "J.C., "he replied.

    She thought he had said "Jesse", and he had a new name.

    Owens ran his first race at age 13. After high school, he went to Ohio State University. He had to work part time so as to pay for his education. As a second-year student in the Big Ten games in 1935, he set even more records than he would in the Olympic Games a year later.

    A week before the Big Ten meet, Owens accidentally fell down a flight of stairs. His back hurt so much that he could not exercise all week, and he had to be helped in and out of the car that drove him to the meet. He refused to listen to the suggestions that he give up and said he would try, event by event. He did try, and the results are in the record book.

    The stage was set for Owens victory at the Olympic Games in Berlin the next year, and his success would come to be regarded as not only athletic but also political. Hitler did not congratulate any of the African-American winners.

    "It was all right with me," he said years later. "I didn't go to Berlin to shake hands with him, anyway."
    Having returned from Berlin, he received no telephone calls from the president of his own country, either. In fact, he was not honored by the United States until 1976, four years before his death.

Owens' Olympic victories made little difference to him. He earned his living by looking after a school playground, and accepted money to race against cars, trucks, motorcycles and dogs.

    "Sure, it bothered me," he said later." But at least it was an honest living. I had to eat."

    In time, however, his gold medals changed his life. "They have kept me alive over the years," he once said. "Time has stood still for me. That golden moment dies hard."