Just as I came back home. I heard a sound coming from the bedroom upstairs—it was from my favourite violin.

“Thief （小偷）！”

 I rushed upstairs and saw a boy in dirty clothes pulling my violin down. At first sight, I found a new pair of shoes missing. It seemed he was surely a thief.

However, when I saw his eyes full of fear, my anger disappeared. I smiled and asked, “Are you Mr. Ram's student Rubens? I'm his butler（男管家）. I've heard Mr. Ram say his student will come. It must be you.”

“Has my teacher gone out ?”the boy said, “I think I'd better visit him again in a while/”

 I nodded and asked him, “Do you like playing the violin?”

“Yes, but I'm too poor to afford one.” the boy replied.

“Then, I'll give you this violin." The boy looked at me surprisingly, but he picked up the violin. While going out of the room, he suddenly saw a huge photo of me playing the violin at the Grand Theatre of Sydney on the wall. His face turned pale. He stood there for a moment and ran out. He must have understood what had happened because no master（主人）would put up the butler's photo on the wall of his living room.

 A few years later, at a music competition in Melbourne, I was invited to be the judge （评委）. Finally, a violin player called Merritt won the first prize.

 After the prize-giving, Merritt ran to me holding a violin box, his face red, and asked, “Mr. Brian, do you still know me? You gave me the violin, which I have treasured ever since! Today, I want to say sorry and give back this violin to you without regret…”

 He was just the “Mr. Ram's student”!

The secret of happiness

    An old man walked slowly with a cane(手杖)into the restaurant .His old jacket, worn-out shoes and warm personality made him stand out from the usual crowd.

    A young waitress watched him move toward a table by the window. She ran over to him, and said: “Here, sir……let me help you with that chair.”

    Without saying a word, he smiled and nodded(点头)a thank you. She pulled the chair away from the table and helped him sit. Then she put his came against the table.

    “Thank you, miss.”he said, kindly.

    “You're welcome, sir.”she said.

    After he had finished his breakfast, the waitress brought him the change(零钱)from his bill. He left it on the table. She helped him up and walked with him to the front door.

    When she went to clean his table, she found a business card under his plate and note on a napkin(纸巾). Under the napkin was a 100-dollar bill.

    The note on the napkin read: “Dear miss, I respect you very much and I can see you respect yourself, too. It shows by the way you treat others. (3)You have found the secret of happiness. Your kindness will shine through to all those who meet you.”

    The man she had waited on was the owner of the restaurant where she worked. This was the first time that she or any of the other workers had ever seen him in person.

    By Steve Brunkhorst

    I sat down to read under an old tree in the park. I felt my life was hopeless, I didn't take an interest in anything. I thought that my whole world was dark.

    A young boy ran up to me, out of breath. He stood right before me with his head down and said excitedly, "Look what I found!" in his hand was a flower, and what a poor sight! The flower was dry and dead. I gave him a small smile and then turned my eyes away so that he could take his dry flower and go off to play. I didn't want to talk with him at all.

However, he sat next to my side and placed the flower to his nose and said in surprise, "It smells sweet and it's beautiful, too. That's why I picked it. Here, it's for you." The flower before me was dead. But I knew I must accept it, or he might never leave. So I accepted the flower, and replied, "This is just what I want, thank you." Just then, for the first time I noticed that the boy could not see — he was blind.

    Tears came down my face as I thanked him for picking the best one. "You're welcome." he smiled, and then ran off to play. I sat there and wondered how he was able to learn about my pain.

    Through the eyes of a blind child, at last I could see the problem was not with the world; the problem was me. And for all those years I myself had been blind. In fact I never found there is always something beautiful around me in life. I decided to see the beauty of life, and enjoy every second of my life. And then I held that dry flower up to my nose and breathed in the smell of a beautiful rose.

    A young man from a village called Nawalapitiya married a young woman from Maiyuwa, a small village. They lived with the man's big family-his parents, his brothers, their wives and children.  The family kept an elephant, in which the woman soon took a great interest. Every day she fed it with fruit and sugar.

    Three months later, having quarreled with her husband, the woman went back to her parents' home. Soon the elephant refused to eat and work.  It appeared to be ill and heartbroken. One morning after several weeks the animal disappeared from the house.

    It went to the woman's home. On seeing her, the elephant waved its trunk and touched her with it. The young woman was so moved by the act of the animal. So she went back to her husband's home.

A Teacher's Gift

    That day I arrived at my class in the morning. Immediately I felt upset and uncomfortable. Today was the day when our teacher would leave and move to another school.

    Mr. Smith was very easy to talk with and to have fun with. He was cool, relaxed, and was always friendly when you would see him. I couldn't even imagine how things were going to be without him.

    "Thank you everyone for my time here. I will forever keep these memories and friendships I've made in the past five years." He took a deep breath and said," As a moment for me leaving, please look under your seats."

    Confused, I slowly checked under my seat to see a yellow block of wood that read "Love" on it .I quickly got it and began to study it. After seconds of watching the block, I realized that it was a Jenga block（积木块）

    Tears ran down my face and fell on the Jenga block. I heard my classmates sobbing（抽泣）That was to say, everyone in my class had a Jenga block with the word "Love". We hadn't found a way to express our sadness and also we couldn't find a way to express our love to the respectable man. "This is a reminder to always love others." Mr. Smith said slowly.

    Maybe that day wasn't the worst day, and it was just a moment of my life and l was too young to understand Mr. Smith. What Mr. Smith taught us is that whenever and wherever we are. We should love others. The Jenga block acts as a reminder, encouraging me to give a hand to those in need of help. As time goes on, "Love" others has been a habit