【推荐1】A famous teacher was speaking to the students at our school. He began his lesson by holding up a ￡100 bill. Then he said to the three hundred students, “Who would like to have this ￡100 bill?” The students began to put up their hands at once.

Then he said, “I am going to give this bill to one of you, but first, let me do this.” He then made this bill into a ball. Then he said, “Who wants it?” Hands went into the air.

“Well,” he said, “What if I do this?” and he dropped it on the floor and stepped(踩) on it. He picked up the dirty, crumpled(弄皱) bill and said, “Who still wants it?” Hands went back into the air.

“My friends,” he said, “You’ve learned a valued lesson today. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it didn’t go down in value. It was still worth ￡100.”

Many times in our lives, we’re dropped, crumpled, and stepped on by the chances we take and the things that happen to us. We feel as if we are worth nothing. But remember, no matter what has happened to you, you will never lose your value: you are always valuable to those who love you. Your value doesn’t come from what you drop or whom you know, but WHO YOU ARE .

You are special and valuable. Don’t ever forget it!

【推荐2】Last semester in my final year of high school, I had a kind teacher whom I can never forget. I was not the best student when it came to writing tests. I had to work extra hard to get good marks, although I enjoyed learning. Anyway, this class that I truly enjoyed still had me struggling to do well on my tests. My teacher willingly helped me and was always willing to answer my questions, and I greatly appreciated it. He was a remarkable teacher, always reaching out to students and helping them achieve their greatest potential.

I remember the day of writing my final exam, I was the last one still writing in the exam room as always, reviewing my exam paper, while everyone else had already finished and left the room. After turning in my exam-paper, I started to leave the classroom, but decided to turn around and say what I had meant to say.

What I did right then was that I sincerely thanked my teacher for everything. What I said to him lastly meant a lot more to him than I thought it would —“I really enjoyed this class.” I did not think much about it. I was just being honest with him, but the look on his face was remarkable. He seemed really touched and appreciated my simple comment, just knowing that one of his students had truly enjoyed his class. That is what I call a simple, yet very meaningful act of kindness to brighten a teacher’s day, because they work so hard for us and truly inspire us to learn.

It is what we say and do to show concern to others that can make somebody else’s day extra special. I believe that a simple praise can mean a lot more than one can think.

【推荐3】After long hours of waiting for my friend at the bus station, I got tired and wanted to just leave and plan another meeting.

As I was still deciding, there came a man selling shoes and started showing them to me so that I could buy or something. I just smiled and said “thank you”. I don’t know if it was the smile or what but the young man stepped closer and stood beside me and started talking to me. “You know I didn’t just end up like this, selling shoes. I had a life… had a family but one day life just turned upside down and all was gone just like that,” he said. In short, his wife stole all his money, sold his car and house. It was really a hard time for him and he was psychologically anguished. A lot happened and then he decided to pick up the pieces of his life. That’s when he started making and selling shoes to earn a living.

As I stood there listening to him pour out his heart and story of his life. I was still surprised how in the world can someone be so open to a total stranger like that and it occurred to me that some people get relieved that way. You see, a lot of times we meet people and most of them have burdens in their hearts and some of them don’t even have a person to talk to, so I’ve learned to be good to all people and always give them my time to listen to what they have to say. By doing this it will not only help that particular person but also the one who listens since you get to learn something and see the other side of life.

【推荐2】I have beard that it takes many more muscles to frown（皱眉头）than to smile. Is it true，and does that mean that smiling is easier?

Phil Discarson, Preston, England

I read on a website (www.straightdope.com) that the opposite is true. According to someone called Doctor Song, a plastic surgeon, you use 12 main muscles for a genuine smile, but only 11 for a frown. But he says that even though we use more muscles to smile, ifs actually easier because, since we smile more often than we frown, our smiling muscles are in better condition.

Carl Preston, San Francisco, USA

It depends what you mean by smiling. Remember that line from Shakespeare, “a man may smile and smile and be a villain' —I think it^ from his play Hamlet. Anyone can look as if they are smiling by using the zygomaticus major and minor (they pull up the comers of the mouth), the levator labii super ions (which pull up the mouth and the comers of the nose) and the risorius (which pulls the comer of the mouth to one side). But that's not a real smile. A real smile uses the orbicularis oculi, which encircle each eye, and so when you smile like this, these muscles tighten the skin round the eye to give that ‘crinkling’ effect which creates ‘laughter’ lines. That’s a REAL smile!

Sarah Green (Dr), Birmingham, UK

Counting the muscles，it takes to smile and frown isn’t the issue，for me. I am more interested in the fact that you can find examples of the saying that ‘it takes less effort to smile than to frown’ as far back as the 19th century. That’s because it’s a piece of advice, not a scientific fact. ‘Smile, and the world smiles with you? is another saying like that. Others say that if you smile, you will almost always feel happier. So which comes first, the smile or the happiness?

Well I just read some research, which said that when we smile (or frown), our bodies get the message, even if we are only pretending. Apparently, they got some people to pretend to be angry, sad, sick, etc., and use the appropriate facial expressions, and measured what happened to their bodies. And the unbelievable thing was that even though the test subjects knew they were acting, their bodies didn't. Their heart rates increased, their skin temperature got hotter and there were signs of sweating—all physical signals of real anger, etc.

Felicity Poole, Amsterdam, Holland

【推荐1】Potatoes, Eggs and Coffee

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.

He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, felt puzzled and waited impatiently, wondering what he was doing.

After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked, “Daughter, what do you see?”

“Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,” she replied quickly.

“Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to try the coffee. Its rich taste brought a smile to her face.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity-the boiling water. However, each one reacted differently. The potato went in strong and hard, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak. The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard. However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

“Which are you,” he asked his daughter. “When misfortune knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

【推荐2】Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson Arizona. My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and family, but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him, as a schoolgirl and young adult I feared him and felt bitter about him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A’s and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as “successful” as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.

On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father’s friends for lunch at an outdoor café. We walked along that afternoon, did some shopping, ate on the street table, and laughed over my son’s funny facial expressions. Gone were my father’s critical (挑剔的) air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?

The next day, my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I’m at last seeing another side of my father. And in doing so, I’m delighted with my new friend. My dad, in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was.