Long ago, Adana lived in a small village in Africa. Everyone in the village had jobs to do, and the villagers depended on one another. When Adana turned ten, her mother let her come around.

“Adana, it is time for you to take your place in the village. You shall be the water girl. Each morning, we need you to go down to the spring, fill these buckets with water, and bring them back to the village before noon.”

Adana took pride in being given such an important job. She picked up the yoke with the buckets, flung it over her back, and walked to the spring. When she arrived, she took a drink and then filled the buckets with clean, cool water. Adana looked at the sun. It was nearly noon and she knew the villagers were depending on her.

She turned to a water girl from a nearby village and asked, “How long will it take to carry this water back to my village?”

The girl thoughtfully replied, “If you go slowly, it will not take very long. But, if you go fast, it will take you all day.”

Adana listened, and thought about what the girl had told her. She did not believe the girl, and she climbed back up the bank and headed down the path toward her village. Adana started off slowly, but increased her speed with each step. Soon, she was slowly jogging back toward her village. Half way home, she stopped to take a little sip of water. When she did, she saw that the buckets were only half full. Water had been sloshing out along the path as she travelled.

Disheartened, Adana turned back toward the spring. Once again, she filled the buckets with nice, clean water. Then, she walked slowly back toward the village.

From that day forward, Adana walked quickly to the spring each morning. On her way home, she walked slowly and carefully.

【推荐2】Many years ago, there lived a very rich man. He wanted to do something for the people of his town. But first he wanted to find out whether(是否) they were good enough to get his help. So he put a very large stone(石头) in the center of the main road into town. Then he hid(隐藏) behind a tree and waited.

Soon an old man came along with his cow. “Who put this stone in the center of the road?” said the old man, but he did not try to move the stone away. Then he left. Another man came along and did the same thing; then another came, and another. All of them complained(抱怨) about the stone in the center of the road, but none of them tried to move it away.

Late in the afternoon, a young man came along. He saw the stone and said, “It will be very dangerous at night. People can’t see it, so they may hurt themselves.”

The young man then began to move the stone. He tried his best to move it to the side of the road. But imagine his surprise when he found a bag full of money and this message under the stone, “This money is for you, the kind person, because you take this stone away from the road. Thank you.”