Many years ago， there lived a very rich man who wanted to do something good for the people of his town. But first he wanted to find out if they deserved(值得)his help. So he put a very large stone in the middle of the main road into the town. Then he stood behind a tree waiting and watching.

Soon an old man came along with his cow. “Who put this stone in the center of the road?” said the old man， but he didn't try to move the stone away. He passed around the stone with some difficulties and continued on his way. Another man came along and did the same thing；then another came and another. All of them complained about the stone in the center of the road but nobody tried to move it.

Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone and said, “It will be dark at night. Some people will come along later in the dark and will fall over the stone and get hurt.” The young man then began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled and tried everything he could to move it out of the road. But to his surprise， under the stone he found a bag full of money and this message, “This money is for the person who moves this stone from the road. The person deserves help.”

    One sunny day, I decided to go for a walk with my husband. I was wearing a special1 ring that day. It was my 20th birthday gift from my grandmother.

    As we were walking in the park, I just looked 2 at my hand and found the diamond on my ring was missing. I was really 3 so I went back to look for it. I knew how small the chances were of finding it, but I still wanted to give it a try.

    As I was fixing my eyes on the ground, I ran into an old gentleman 4.

    “What's the matter, love?” he asked nicely.

    “Sorry that I ran into you,” I said. “But I lost something important. I'm really nervous.”

    I explained about the missing diamond and showed him the5 in my ring.

    “That's not going to be easy to find it,” he said. “Tell you what, love, I take a walk here every day. I'll6 my eyes open for it.”

    I thanked him, expecting7. However, a few days later, my husband and I met the old man again in the park.

    “Guess what,” he said. “I found your diamond!”

    I couldn't believe what I saw when the gentleman handed the diamond back to me. Then my husband8him money for his help, but he refused.

    As the diamond is worth several thousand dollars, the old man could have easily kept the diamond 9sold it, but he did neither of these.

    Now thanks to this man, I always look at my ring and remind10 that there are still kind and generous souls out there. I'll spend more time trying to do something equally nice for other people.

    Mr. Brown got up late this morning. He was going to be late for work. It was raining hard and the streets were wet. He drove so fast that he didn't see the red lights. He couldn't stop his car and hit a car. An old man got out of the car and called out angrily, "What are you doing? How can you drive so fast? "

    "I'm sorry, sir," said Mr. Brown, "l didn't see the lights turn red." Then he brought out a bottle of wine and gave it to the old man.

    "It's cold today, sir," said Mr. Brown. "Please drink a little, and then you'll get warm. "

    The old man drank some wine and became happy. He asked, "I'm feeling much better now.

    Why don't you drink any? "

    "I can't drink anything now, sir," answered Mr. Brown, "I'm waiting for the policeman. Only drunkards（酒鬼）make accidents（交通事故）, you know! "

    Linda was a sixteen-year-old girl in Canada. She was feeling bad for several days. Her mother took her to a hospital and the doctors found out that she had cancer(癌症). Linda's life changed. She began to go to the hospital often for treatment(治疗), and she also became depressed.

    The hospitals and the doctors were good, but Linda did not have hope herself. Linda's mother called a flower shop close to the hospital. "I want some beautiful flowers for my daughter. She is a teen girl with cancer. "She told the shop owner.

    Later, the flowers arrived. Then Linda saw something unusual. It was a card. It read, "Linda, I own(拥有)this flower shop. I had cancer when I was fifteen years old. I am 24 years old now. Good luck. My heart goes out to you.

Yours,

Alice

    Linda smiled. She finally felt some real hope. She found the will(意志)to live. Little things make a big difference. All of us can give little things like kindness encouragement and hope to others.

    Sally was a student. Her mother's birthday is coming. She wanted to buy her a nice and cheap present(礼物).

    She went shopping after a quick and simple lunch. After she looked for half an hour, she found a shop. It was selling cheap umbrellas, and she decided to take a black one.

    She thought, "Mom can carry it when she is wearing any clothes." So she bought a lovely black umbrella and took it to school with her.

    On her way home on the train she felt hungry because she ate little for lunch. So she went to the buffet car(餐车). She left the umbrella on her seat. But when she got back. She couldn't see the umbrella!

    Sally began to cry. The other passengers felt very sorry for her and asked what was the matter. She told them she couldn't find the black umbrella, and she had to get off at the next station. After the three passengers heard this, they asked her for her mother's address(地址)so that they could send the umbrella to her if someone took it and brought it back.

    After a week, Sally got a letter from her mother. It said "Thank you very much for your lovely gifts, but why do you send me three black umbrellas?"