"Can I see my baby?" the happy new mother asked. When the baby was lying in her arms and she moved the cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped(吃力地喘着气). The doctor turned quickly and looked out of the hospital window. The baby had been born without ears. Luckily, time proved that the baby's hearing was perfect. Though the misfortune(不幸)happened to him, he grew into a handsome boy. Yet he felt ashamed when he communicated with others.
    "You should get in touch with other young people," his mother told him, with a kindness in her heart. The boy's father talked with the family doctor about his ears. "Could nothing be done?"the father asked. "I believe I could give him a pair of outer ears, if they could be got," the doctor replied.
    Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, "You are going to the hospital, Son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need, but it's a secret."The operation is a big success. Later he married and entered the diplomatic(外交的) service. One day, he asked his father, "Who gave the ears? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him or her."
    "You could, my son," said the father, "but the agreement was that you are not to know…not yet."
    The years kept their secret, but one of the darkest days did come. He stood with his father over his mother's casket(棺材). Slowly, the father stretched forth(伸出) a hand and raised the thick, reddish brown hair to reveal the mother had no outer ears.
    "Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut," his father whispered gently, "and nobody ever thought mother less beautiful, did they?"

      Three travelers, Allan, Carl and Paul were sitting on the chairs in a train station. They were waiting for a train that was late.

      To pass the time, they began talking to each other.

      At first, they talked about the weather and their work. Then Paul said, “Tell me-what would you most like to do if your doctor tells you that you have only three months to live?"

      The other two men thought about this for a while, then Carl spoke.

      "Well," he said, "if I have only three months to live, I'll take all my money out of the bank and go to foreign countries for holidays with my best friend, Erik. I'd like to travel to the places in the world as many as possible. And I'll stay at the best hotels and then eat the best food. I think I'll have a wonderful time."

      "That's very interesting." Paul said. With these words, he turned to the other man, saying, "And what about you?"

"I'll tell you a secret," Allan said. "I always want to be a racing driver. So if I have only three months to live, the first thing I'd like to do is to sell my house. With the money I'll buy the fastest car in the world. Maybe I can enter all the big motor races. " Then he laughed, "I might even end up with (以......而告终) a world champion."

      "Now it's your turn," Allan went on. "If your doctor tells you the bad news, what would you most like to do?"

        "Oh," said Paul with a smile. "I'll go and see another doctor."

    Long ago, a farmer, hard-working, had a wonderful olive orchard(橄榄园). Unluckily, his three sons cared less about his olive orchard. They couldn't wait to be wealthy in a short time.

    When the farmer was old, and felt that his time had come to die, he called the three sons to him and said, "My sons, there is a pot of gold hidden in the olive orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it."

    The sons tried to get him to tell them in what part of the orchard the gold was hidden, but he would tell them nothing more.

    After the farmer was dead, the sons went to work to find the pot of gold. Since they did not know where it was, they agreed to begin in a line at one end of the orchard, and to dig until one of them should find the money.

    They dug until they had turned up the soil from one end of the orchard to the other, round the tree-roots and between them. But no pot of gold was to be found. The three sons were disappointed to have all their work for nothing.

    The next olive season, the olive trees in the orchard bore more fruit than they had ever given. When it was sold, it gave the sons a whole pot of gold.

    And when they saw how much money had come from the orchard, they suddenly understood what the wise father had meant when he said, "There is gold hidden in the orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it."

    Alex, Nicole and Vickie are friends. They live in the same neighborhood. They want to make some money to buy Christmas presents.

    "We need to print out fliers（传单） and pass them around to all the houses, "says Nicole. Alex's dad helps them print out fliers. The three friends go to all the houses and put a flier in everyone's mailbox.

    "It's winter," says Vickie. "There is lots of snow on the ground. Maybe people will need us to sweep the snow for them."

    First, Mrs. Jones hires the children to sweep the snow from her driveway（车道）. She says, "I have twin baby girls. I am much too busy to sweep the snow myself."

    Then, Mrs. Smith calls them. She says, "I am very old, and the snow is much too heavy for me to move."

    Then, Mr. Lee visits them. He says, "My garden is much too big to sweep all by myself. Can you help me?"

    The children work very hard sweeping the snow. It is cold, but they also have great fun. They make 30 dollars in all. Now they can buy nice Christmas presents for their friends and families.

D

    Night after night，she came to help me sleep，even long after my childhood years．

    I don't remember when it first started making me a little angry-my mom's hands pushing my hair that way．But it really made me uncomfortable，for they felt rough against my young skin．Finally, one night，I shouted at her．"Don't do that anymore．Your hands are too rough!" She didn't say anything, but she never did it again．

    Years later, I missed my mother's hands and her goodnight kiss on my face. I was not a little girl anymore. My mom was in her mid—seventies, and her rough hands were still doing things for my family and me．   

    Now my own children have grown up．It was late on Thanksgiving Eve．As I slept in my bedroom，a familiar hand ran across my face to push the hair from my head. Then a kiss，ever so softly, touched my forehead．

    Taking my mom's hand，I told her how sorry I was for that night I shouted at her．But my mom didn't know what I was talking about．She had forgotten it for long．

    That night，I fell asleep with a new appreciation for my mother's caring hands. And the guilt that I had carried around for so long was nowhere to be found．