【推荐1】The last few days before Christmas passed quickly and it was soon Christmas Eve. That night when everyone went to bed, Bunny couldn’t sleep. He still couldn’t think of what he wanted his Christmas gift to be. He wondered how Father Christmas would know what to bring him if he didn’t know himself.

“Yes,” replied the animal, “my name is Ralph.”

【推荐3】A driver stopped his car on a street side to have a rest. As he lay down in the seat and closed his eyes, a man came up and knocked at the window to ask the time. The driver opened his eyes and looked at his watch. "It's 8 a. m." he said. Then he went to sleep again.

But soon he woke up because a second person was knocking at the window. "Sir, do you have the time?" he asked. The driver looked at his watch again, and told the man it was 8: 30 a. m.

At this rate (照此下去), he could not have a good rest, so he wrote a short note (字条) and put it up on the window for all to see. It said, "I don't have the time."

Again the man lay down in the seat for his sleep. A few minutes later, a third person came along and began knocking at the window. "Hey, sir," he said. "It's a quarter to nine."

【推荐1】A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox(沙池).He had with him a box of cars and trucks，and a red plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the sand，he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.

The boy dug around the rock，trying to get it out of the sand. With many struggles，he pushed the rock across the sandbox by using his feet. He was a very small boy and the rock was very huge. When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox，however，he found that he couldn’t roll it up and over the little wall.

Determined，the little boy shoved and pushed，but every time the rock tipped(倾斜) and then fell back into the sandbox. Finally，he burst into tears of frustration. All this time the boy’s father watched from his living room window. At the moment his tears fell，a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy’s father.

Gently but firmly he said，“Son，why didn’t you use all the strength that you had available？” Defeated，the boy answered，“But I did，Daddy.   I used all the strength that I had！”“No，son，” said the father kindly.“You didn’t use all the strength you had. You didn’t ask me.” With that the father reached down，picked up the rock，and removed it from the sandbox.

Do you have “rocks” in your life that need to be removed？Are you discovering that you don’t have what it takes to lift them？There is one who is always available and willing to give us the strength we need. Isn’t it funny that we try so hard to do things all by ourselves?

【推荐3】How to Be a Winner

Sir Steven Redgrave

Winner of 5 Olympic Gold Medals

“In 1997 I was found to have developed diabetes (糖尿病). Believing my career (职业生涯) was over, I felt extremely low. Then one of the specialists said there was no reason why I should stop training and competing. That was it-the encouragement I needed. I could still be a winner if I believed in myself. I am not saying that it isn’t difficult sometimes. But I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t finished yet. Nothing is to stand in my way.”

Karen Pickering

Swimming World Champion

“I swim 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. I manage that sort of workload by putting it on top of my diary. This is the key to success—you can’t follow a career in any field without being well-organized. List what you believe you can achieve. “Trust yourself, write down your goals for the day, however small they are, and you’ll be a step closer to achieving them.”

Kirsten Best

Poet ＆ Writer

“When things are getting hard, a voice inside my head tells me that I can’t achieve something. Then, there are other distractions, such as family or hobbies. The key is to concentrate. When I feel tense, it helps a lot to repeat words such as ‘calm’, ‘peace’ or ‘focus’, either out loud or silently in my mind. It makes me feel more in control and increases my confidence. This is a habit that can become second nature quite easily and is a powerful psychological (心理的) tool.”