A man stopped at a gas station and bought a soft drink. He stood by his car to 1 and he watched a couple of men 2 along the roadside.

    One man would dig a hole two or three feet 3 and then move on. 4man came along behind to fill in the hole. While one was digging a new hole, the other was about 25 feet behind 5 in the old hole.

    The man with a soft drink was confused. "I can't stand this," said the man walking toward the men. "Stop it," he said to t e men. "Can you tell me what's 6 here?"

    "Well, we work for the county government," one of the men said.

    "But one of you is digging a hole and the other is filling 7up. You're not accomplishing anything. Aren't you 8 the county's money?"

    "You don't understand," one of the men said.

    "Normally (通常地) there are 9 of us: I Rodney and Mike. I dig the hole Rodney sticks in the tree and Mike here puts earth 10."

    "Yeah," said Mike. "Today Rodney is sick. But that doesn't mean we can't work, does it?"

    I was walking along a busy road when I noticed a young man standing near the crossing selling toys.1 I would hurry past such sellers. But I found this young man was 2 so I stood for some time without crossing the street. I wanted to see how he sold his things.

    Soon, a young mother with a little girl came by and the child set 3eyes on one of teddy bears. The mother asked for the4 and it was only one dollar. She 5 out a 10-dollar note from her handbag and told the young man that she was giving him 10 dollars and wanted the6 back. I was wondering how he was going to do it. He told the young mother to put the money in the bag 7 around his neck and take out her change.

    I realized that this young man depended on believing people not to cheat him. There was no way for him to know 8 someone would take out more than they should have. I was so 9 I bought a car model from him that I did not need. As I walked down the street, I gave the car model to a kid walking with his father.

    I kept thinking that the world would be a better place if we could all learn to 10 others more, like the young blind street seller.

    On 28 of March Richard Byrd stood outside the small house. He shook hands with the men who were leaving. They were heading back to the main camp on the coast of Antarctica (南极洲).

    He would 1 to work at the base camp.

    "I don't like leaving you here alone," Pete Demas said." I'll be 2,"Byrd replied.

    He was looking forward to the challenge of spending the winter at the base camp. He would be recording the weather. There was plenty of food and fuel (燃料) in the tiny house. He felt sure 3would go wrong.

    But something did go wrong. Byrd was burning the fuel for 4. But the fumes (有毒气体) were not leaving the house. Slowly he was being poisoned (中毒). On May 31 he broke down.

    When he came to, he made himself into his sleeping bag. Three days later he 5it was a

    Sunday. The men would be 6 his radio message. Byrd moved hard out of bed and 7 the call. He didn't want the men to know how 8he was. It was too dangerous for them to come to save him.

By will-power alone, Byrd managed to stay alive. He was so 9that he could hardly walk. But he forced himself to do the basics. He 10food and made myself eat. He took 11 of weather and sent radio messages. But by late June, the men 12that something was wrong. Most of the time, Byrd's messages made no sense.

    On August 11 Demas and two others reached the base camp. They 13 recognized (认出) Byrd. He was very thin and looked terrible. Byrd 14 them and then fell to the ground. The men had arrived in time. After two months of care, Byrd's good 15 returned. He and his men worked together again.

    Mickey was a nice, cheerful and optimistic （乐观的）boy. No one could remember ever having seen him angry; he didn't mind  1  people said to him. Even his teachers2his good character. Everyone thought that Mickey must have a special3.

    One afternoon, Mickey invited his favorite teacher, Mr Anthony, to tea. When they had finished, Mickey showed Mr Anthony4the house. When he opened his bedroom door, the teacher got 5 and a big smile appeared on his face. The huge far wall was a collage （抽象拼贴画）of thousands of colors and shapes!

    "Some people at school think I never think6of anyone.Mickey started to explain," they believe nothing troubles me,7that's not true. I'm just like anyone else. I used to get8than all the other kids. But years ago, with the help of my parents, I started a small collage. I could use9material and color for it."

    The teacher looked closely at the wall. In each one of the small pieces he could10, in tiny letters, "fool", "11" and a thousand other negative （消极的）things.

    "This is how I started12all my bad times into a chance to make a new piece for my work of art. Now I like the collage13much that each time someone makes me angry, I couldn't be happier."

    That day they14many things, but the teacher never forgot that an ordinary boy's secret to be happy is to change the bad times into a15to smile. How special the secret is!

    A young man was interested in jade (玉) stones. So he went to Mr Smith, a gemologist (玉石家), to learn from him. Mr Smith refused because he feared that the young man would not have the1to learn. The young man asked for a chance again and again. 2Mr Smith agreed and told him, "Be there tomorrow."

    The next morning the young man came. Mr Smith put a jade stone in the young man's hand and told him to 3 it. He then went about his work. The young man sat quietly and waited.

    The following morning, Mr Smith again 4 a jade stone in the young man's hand and told him to hold it. On the third, fourth and 5 day, Mr Smith did the same thing and repeated his 6. On the sixty day, the young man held the jade stone, 7 he could no longer stand the silence. "When am I going to learn something?" asked the young man.

    "You will learn," said Mr Smith and went about his work.

    Several more days went by and the young man felt very 8. One morning he was asked to do it once more. As soon as he held it, the young man shouted 9 looking at his hand, "This is not the same jade stone!"

    "You have begun to 10," said Mr Smith.