1 . Dr. Clark was a very busy man. He always worked hard. He often forgot his family’s birthday. Yesterday afternoon he remembered it was his wife’s birthday. He loved his wife. He wanted to give her a present. On his way home from his hospital he bought some beautiful flowers in a shop. When got home he gave his wife the flowers and said, “Happy birthday to you, dear! It’s September 28 today. I remembered your birthday this year.” Mrs. Clark laughed and said. “My birthday was the day before yesterday. But thank you all the same. Better late than never!”

3 . One day, Tony walked into a restaurant and asked the waiter to offer him a light meal for dinner. Thirty minutes later, a group of three people came in.

To his surprise, the group took their food first. They laughed at Tony because Tony had to wait so long. Tony was unhappy and decided to leave. He told the waiter he didn’t want his food any more, but the waiter said, “The boss (老板) is preparing something special for you by himself. It’ll take more time.”

In fact, the boss was Tony’s old friend. They had long time no see. The boss wanted to give him a surprise, so the boss changed his light meal to a five-star meal for free. The three people were shocked (震惊的) and felt sorry for what they did before.

Some people may laugh at you and talk about how they’re better than you. Don’t worry! You have to wait patiently (耐心地) because yours must be special.

4 . Do you like taking music lessons? A study shows music lessons can make children have better memories (记忆力) than others. The Canadian study shows that after one year of training in music, children could get good grades in memory test than others. There were two groups of children aged between 4 and 6 in the study. One group of children took music lessons outside school, and the other group didn’t take any lessons. In one year, they took four tests at different times. The results showed that the children taking music lessons not only did better in music listening but also made much progress in other subjects, such as English and math.

People say music is the medicine for a sad heart. Now it shows music can also help us with our memories. We are sure to find more in the wonderful world of music.

6 . Chores were not popular at my house. My children didn’t like to do chores. They always saw me do chores, but they hardly ever helped me do them.

A year ago, I made a game called “The Endless Chore Game”. It is really great. Here’s how the game works.

I make a card with forty squares (方框), and I write a different chore on each square. These chores can be easy and interesting like making dessert. Then my family rolls the dice (骰子) to decide what chores we have to do. The card also has a few squares with fun things, like watching TV and singing. If you are lucky, you can watch TV when the others are doing the chores.

My son likes the game very much. He goes to the kitchen happily every morning to do the game. It is really a good way to make my children do chores. You can have a try if you have the same problem with me.

Are you looking for something fun and would you like to help others in your spare time? Then join us to be a volunteer! We’re a non-profit (非赢利的) organization. We have volunteer jobs of all ages. Anyone, from twelve-year-old children to people in their seventies can become a volunteer.

You can help people in many ways. Schools need help with taking care of children while parents are working. Hospitals need volunteers to look after children while their parents are seeing a doctor. Animals lovers can help take care of those dogs and cats without homes. There is something for everyone.

“As a volunteer, I don’t want to get anything. Seeing the children’s happy faces, I’m happy, too.” said Carlos Domingo, an old woman of 62. “I often played computer games in my spare time before. Now I help older people learn how to use computers.” said another volunteer at the age of 18.

If everyone helps out a bit, we’ll have a better world to live in. Interested? Call us 1-800-555-5756 or visit our website: www. activol. com.

8 . One day, many years ago, when I was working as a doctor in England, a teacher brought David into my office. He looked sad and he looked at his own feet. Then I heard his sad experiences from the teacher.

David lost his father when he was two years old and then lived with his mother and grandfather. When he was at the age of 13, his grandfather died and his mother was killed in a car accident. He refused to talk to others from then on. How could I help him?

David didn’t say a word. As he was leaving, I said, “Come back next week if you like.” To my surprise, he came again. I asked him to play chess with me. He agreed. After that we played chess every Friday afternoon in complete silence. Usually, he arrived earlier than the time we agreed. It seemed as if he liked to be with me. But why didn’t he ever look at me?

Months later, when I looked at his head, he suddenly looked up at me. “It’s your turn,” he said. After that day, David started talking. He finally got friends at school and he even joined a Chinese club. He wrote to me a few times. Now he is living a new different life.

Maybe I gave David something. But I learned a lot from him. All we need is a friendly touch and an ear that is used to listen.

9 . Would you like to be volunteers? Many people think volunteering is not easy. However, when I became a volunteer, I thought it was great fun.

During the summer camp, there were many parents joining in. They wanted to spend time with their kids and hoped to take a rest from the busy life.

You could see these parents everywhere from the time they arrived. They worked hard in the camp by doing the dishes, buying things, cleaning rooms, taking kids to see the doctor. They know how to take care of kids. I learned a lot from them.

For example, if the kid’s face looks a bit red and his head feels very hot, maybe he has a fever. We should take his temperature. If the kid has a cough and a sore throat, he should drink some hot tea with honey. If the kid has a stomachache, he should lie down and rest. If the kid cut himself by accident, he should put some medicine on it.

All the people had a good time during the summer camp. At the end of the camp, it was so difficult to say goodbye to each other. I really thanked them.

10 . Two traveling angels (天使) stopped to spend the night in the home of a rich family. The family were rude and refused to let the angels live in the comfortable room. Instead, the angels were given a small and cold room. As they were making the bed in the dark room, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, “Things aren’t always what they seem like.”

They left the next morning and they came to a house of a very poor family at night. The farmer and his wife were very kind. After sharing a little food they had, the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest. When the sun came up the next morning, the angels found the farmer and his wife were crying. This was because their only cow that the poor family lived on was dead in the field.

The younger angel was angry and asked the older angel, “The rich family had everything, yet you helped him to mend his wall,” he continued, “the poor family had little but were friendly to share everything, and you let the cow die.” “Things aren’t always what they seem like.” the older angel replied, “When we stayed in the rich man’s room, I noticed there was lots of gold in that hole of the wall. But the owner didn’t know the secret. Since the owner was not kind and didn’t share his things with others, I mended the wall so that he wouldn’t get the gold for ever. Last night, when we were resting in the poor farmer’s house, the God who controls death came for his wife. I used the cow’s life to exchange the kind woman’s . Now you see, things aren’t always what they seem like.”