Mr. Smith lives in a village, but he works in a big city. He goes to work by train every morning and comes home in the same way.

    This morning, when he is reading his newspaper on the train, a man behind him says "hello" to him and begins to talk to him, "Your life is not interesting, is it? "You take the same  train  every  morning,  and  you  always  sit  in  the  same  seat  and  read  the  same newspaper." "How do you know all that about me?"Mr. Smith says angrily （生气地）.

    "Because I always sit in the same seat behind you." the man answers.

    A bus arrived and an old woman got on it slowly. She wore no shoes.

    A little boy pointed at (指) the old woman and said to his mother, “Look, Mum. She isn't wearing shoes.” “Don't point at others, Tom. It's rude,” the mother said and then looked out of the window.

    “She must have children,” said a woman in a fur coat. “Her children should buy shoes for her.”

    “People should learn to save money,” said a well-dressed man. “If she saved money when she was young, she wouldn't be so poor now.”

    Then all the passengers (乘客) on the bus stopped talking.

    At the next stop, a young man got on the bus. He was listening to music. When he saw the old woman, he stopped moving. He carried his eyes from her feet to his own. He was wearing his expensive new trainers. He saved money for months to buy them. Unexpectedly, the young man took off his trainers and socks. He stood before the old woman. “Madam,” he said, “I see you have no shoes. Well, I have.” Carefully and gently, he put his socks and fine trainers on the old woman's feet.

    Just then the bus arrived at the next stop. The young man got off the bus and walked away, wearing no shoes in the snow.

    “Who is he?” one asked. “He must be an angel (天使),” said another. But the honest (诚实的) little boy said, “No. He was only a man.”

    Something caught my eyes when I was walking down the street. Two silver coins were shining in a melting snow bank, so I dug through the snow looking for more. Of course, I just ended up with really cold hands. I slipped the two coins into my pocket and went home, colder but richer. I began to think about how to spend the money.

    Two days later, Mary and her little sister were searching the snow banks. "Finders are keepers" was my first thought. I didn't want to hand them out even though Susy was already crying." I dropped them right here," she said between tears. Her hands were cold and red for digging in the snow. "Maybe they slid down the street with the melting snow. Let's dig over here. "Mary's voice sounded confident.

    "They'll never know" was my second thought, and I walked past them. "Phil, have you seen two silver coins?" asked Mary. Susy looked up from digging. Her eyes were hopeful.

    "Tell a lie" was my third thought. As a matter of fact, I hesitated," I dug two coins out of that snow bank just a few days ago. I wondered who might have lost them." Susy hugged me with a big smile, "Oh, thank you, thank you."

    One Sunday evening, it was quite dark when old Stanley went for his walk. He was walking along the sidewalk. Suddenly, he saw a white car coming around the corner at high speed. It was going too fast and crashed into a red car in the street where he was walking. He rushed up to the cars to see if anyone was hurt and needed help.

    The two drivers were arguing.

    "You came around the corner too fast," one man said.

    "No!" said the driver of the white car, "That's not true! Your car was parked in a wrong place."

    Stanley listened to their argument and then said the white car driver was wrong to drive too fast. The driver of red car asked Stanley to prove he was right in court(法庭). Stanley gave the driver his name and telephone number.

    Next Thursday morning, Stanley was asked to go to the court. The lawyer for the driver of the white car asked him a lot of questions about what he had seen. Then he asked Stanley how old he was.

    "I'm eighty-two," answered Stanley.

    "Do you usually wear glasses?" asked the lawyer.

    "Yes, I do," answered Stanley.

    "Were you wearing them on the night of the accident?" the lawyer asked.

    "No," replied Stanley.

    Then the lawyer said, "Why should the court believe you? You are eighty-two years old, you were not wearing your glasses, and it was dark. How far can you see in the dark?" Stanley thought about it for a minute. "Well," he said, "when it's dark, I can see the moon. How far is that?"

    Tony loves his grandma. She often tells him stories about Santa Claus(圣诞老人).

    Today is December 24. Tony's grandma takes him to Kevin's Store to shop. She gives Tony fifty dollars and says, "Take the money and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car."

    Tony thinks of everyone he knows: his family, friends and classmates. Then he thinks of Bobbie. Bobbie sits behind Tony. He doesn't have a warm coat. Tony knows it because Bobbie never goes out to play in winter. So Tony buys a blue coat for him. It looks really warm.

    In the evening, his grandma helps Tony put the coat in a Christmas box, and writes, "To Bobbie, From Santa Claus" on it. "Santa always helps people but never lets them know," Tony's grandma says. They put the box in front of Bobbie's house and then go back home.

    That night Tony knows Santa Claus is real, and they are on his team(队伍).

    There once lived in China a very foolish king and queen. One day the queen had a baby daughter. When they saw their baby, they both cried out, "My goodness! How small it is! It's hairless and toothless! It's a monster!" They sent for all the doctors in the country and ordered them to prepare some medicine for her.

    "When she drinks your medicine, she must grow to the right size and have hair and teeth," the king said, "If you don't do this, you'll have a beating."

    The doctors thought it impossible, but they dared not say anything against the king's order. Just then and old doctor stepped forward. "Oh, we shall certainly obey your order," he said, "but it takes time. We have to dig a mineral (矿石) from the KunLun Mountains when the snow melts for the second time. The snow melts on those mountains only once in six years. So we need twelve years."

    At last the king agreed and the doctors took away the little princess. On her twelfth birthday, they brought her back to her parents with long black hair and beautiful teeth. The king and queen were very happy and gave the doctors expensive presents.