【推荐1】A man took a pair of shoes to a shoe repair shop and said to the shoemaker. “I’d like you to repair these shoes for me, please.”

“Certainly, sir.” the shoemaker said.

“When will they be ready?” the man asked.

“I’m a bit busy but they will be ready for you on Thursday,” he said.

“That’s fine.” the man said and left the shop.

The next morning he received a letter, offering him a job in another country. Within(在……内) 24 hours he was on an airplane to his new job.

Twenty years passed and he returned to his hometown. He remembered his shoes.

“That was a good pair of shoes,” he thought, “if the shoemaker is still there and still I have them. I’ll go and see.”

The same shop, although he was an old man by now.

“Good morning.” he said to the shoemaker. “Twenty years ago. I brought in a pair of shoes. Do you still have them?”

“Name?” the old shoemaker asked.

“Smith.” the man said.

“I’ll go and see. They may be in the back.”

The shoemaker went out to the back of his shop and a few minutes later, he returned, carrying a pair of shoes.

“Here they are,” he said. “One pair brown shoes, I’m a bit busy now, they’ll be ready on Thursday.”

【推荐2】One day a big red hen is playing with her chickens in the garden. After some time, she wants to eat something and she takes out her chickens to look for food.

When they are eating, she finds a grain of wheat(小麦). So she asks her chickens to plant it in the back garden. But no one wants to do it. The big red hen has to do it herself.

After a few months, they get a lot of wheat. She says to her chickens, “Who will take the wheat to the store to get some flour(面粉)?” But they don’t want to do it. So she takes the wheat to the store and brings the flour home.

After she gets home, she says,” Who will make some bread with the flour? “They all say they are too busy to do it.

When she makes the bread, she says to her chickens,” Who wants to eat the bread?”

“I will,” they say. “No, you can’t. You don’t want to do anything before I make the bread. You must know ‘No pains, no gains’.”She doesn’t give any bread to her chickens and she eats the bread herself.