There was a student named Lily who studied at high school. She had excellent grades and was considered as one of the top students in her school. However, Lily had a rather irritable (易怒的) personality. Because her parents gave her high pressure that she must keep her top place in her school. her mind was only focused on her grades, leaving little room for anything else.

One day, after receiving a lower grade than she expected on an important test. Lily was falling apart. Sad and overwhelmed, she even started considering her failure was due to her parents. She quarreled with her parents and kept them out of her room.

Lily’s parents turned to the school teacher Mr. Thompson for help. They poured out all the bad present situations to him. Mr. Thompson was a professional teacher with a deep understanding of the importance of a balanced lifestyle. He recognized that it was Lily’s too much worry about grades that was having a bad effect on her and the parent-child relationships.

Mr. Thompson advised Lily’s parents to calm down first. And after school, he approached Lily and gently suggested they go for a run together. At first, Lily refused, saying that it would take her too much time. Besides, she couldn’t understand how running could be beneficial to her academic success.

“Believe me, Lily,” Mr. Thompson said, and finally Lily agreed to give it a try.

Seeing Lily’s change. Mr. Thompson recommended her to give a speech to her classmates.

“Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. I’ve been saving up for the past month and I’m going to buy my mother a lipstick she loves,” Cherry, my friend, said on the way home from school. “See you tomorrow!”

We waved goodbye as she went into a gift shop. But her excitement reminded me that I hadn’t prepared anything special for my mother yet. I continued walking along the road, carefully thinking about what gift I should choose. I had planned to buy her some flowers and chocolates. Now, compared with my friend’s lipstick, they seemed to be too simple.

“Maybe I should go to the gift shop, too.” I told myself.

I pushed open the door to a nearby shop and tried to find a perfect gift. I picked up a lipstick but immediately put it back after seeing its price. I could never afford that! Then I walked into another shop and saw a very lovely cup.

“It’d be a wonderful gift and Mum would love it!” I thought.

I picked it up and turned it over to see the price, hoping it was not too expensive. Once again, I couldn’t afford it. Feeling sad, I continued to wander around the shops until darkness fell outside. Eventually, I gave up and went home. When I opened the door, I was greeted by the good smell from the kitchen.

“Mum, I am home!” I pretended to be cheerful.

Mom turned around and kissed me lightly on the cheeks, saying, “Dinner is almost ready. Today, I happened to be able to come home a little bit earlier. I have made some of the snacks you loved when you were a kid. I really missed the happy time we spent together!”

Just then and there, I had a good idea.

Early in the morning, I was woken up by the gentle knocks on my door.

Nola Ochs was born in Kansas in 1911. There were many farms and everybody had a job to do. Nola Ochs was raised under the endless sky, and the long arc (弧线) of the sun marked her chore-filled (满是工作的) days. Her life was common. She grew and married, had children and grandchildren, taught in country schools, and lived the quiet Midwest life. But she was different in one way: After her husband died in 1972, Nola began taking classes and finally earned her associate degree (准学士学位) at the age of 77.

“I still want to go to school. It is fun to go to classes. And if I have homework to do in the evening, that takes up my time in a pleasant way,” she recalled. After some years went by, Nola decided to keep going and get her master’s degree in Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, where her granddaughter studied. She emailed the university for admission (入学), mentioning that she was 80, and had prepared for studying further.

A week later, she got an mail back for her admission.

On the day of her graduation, Nola was chosen to be a spokesperson.

“Look at this,” I said to my friend Mandy, holding up the paper I had got as we entered the library. “There’s a five-day art camp at White Cliff this summer.” Mandy took the paper and glanced at it. “That’s the same time as the Hill County Fair. But we always go to the fair,” she said.

Later, I called my friends Emily and Yoshiko. Yoshiko was going to the fair, and Emily would be out of town in July. I sighed and dropped my head down on the red paper.

“Will I attend the art camp? Probably not,” I said to myself. “None of my friends are going.” I had a hard time jumping into something with no familiar faces around.

“Maybe next year.” I sighed. “I’m going outside to draw the Westons’ pine tree. I’ll be out front.”

I opened the door and blinked (眨眼睛) at the bright sunshine as I sat on the front steps. I thought about art camp and wished I felt a little braver. By the time I started drawing, I had convinced myself I was happy to skip the camp. I drew the pine’s strong trunk. I added the beautiful branches, making sure the upper ones lifted gently toward the sun. Once I started drawing, I didn’t notice the fly buzzing around me or the sound of the lawn mower(割草机) a few houses down. That’s why I jumped when Mr. Weston said, “You’ve done a great job showing the strength of that tree on paper.”

“Thanks.” I smiled, glancing up. Mr. Weston was out for a walk. He used a cane (拐杖) , and I cut the grass for him every week.

“That pine was there when we moved in,” Mr. Weston said, “You have to spread out the roots near the surface so the tree can get enough water and grow tall. If you plant the root ball too deep, the tree will die.”

I just wanted to share something that happened last Friday afternoon. I was at a restaurant eating with my family. As we finished up, a homeless man entered with a handcart (手推车) full of his belongings, who was clearly very hot from walking outside and clearly hungry and thirsty.

When we got up to leave, he walked past us and sat at the table we’d just left and started eating the food we had left.

We noticed the restaurant workers signed to each other to take away the plates from the table. As we walked out, we heard someone say “excuse me”.

It was the man sitting at our table. He noticed that I’d left my purse behind and he was walking towards us to give it back.

I said thank you from my heart. My husband then ordered him a meal and a few drinks to express our thanks.

On our drive home, I took the opportunity to explain to my six-year-old son what had happened and the importance of helping others, as well as being thankful to have food to eat and a house to live in.

In a further shaming and annoying turn, two days later I looked in my purse for a card and found I had $50 in cash in it. I so badly wished I could have given it to him! He could easily have taken it but he didn’t. I was just too busy trying to explain the importance of kindness to my child and it never crossed my mind to check the purse in the first place.

My son suggested buying more things for the homeless man.

I advised him to live a normal life and offered to help him find a new job.

On a sunny day with no clouds, Sally sat on a chair in the garden, hemming (缝边) a handkerchief. All of a sudden, there came a little ant. It was in such a hurry. Finally it ran across the small stone table and stopped by her side. The sewing was not done, for Sally easily got a little bit distracted by this little ant. Suddenly, she dropped her thimble (顶针) over the little ant by accident while she was looking at it.“Can it mind? But it is only such a little tiny thing,”said Sally in doubt.

Then Sally ran away, for her mother called her to have lunch, and she forgot all about the ant under the thimble and the handkerchief outside. There the little ant was, running round and round in the dark place, with little horns on its head quivering, little perfect legs bending as beautifully as those of a racehorse, and it was very scared.

If Sally had remembered the ant, she would have heard this little ant say, “I can’t get out! I can’t get out! Is there anyone out there? Can someone help me out?” But unfortunately, till the bedtime, Sally failed to hear the little ant's silent calling and just went to sleep. In the midnight, there was thunder, lightning and heavy rain. The next day, when Sally woke up, she came to the garden, only to find the handkerchief was soaked (湿透的) as if somebody had been crying very much. When she was about to fetch it as soon as the sun shone, it suddenly came to her who was under the thimble. “Oh, how could I forget that little ant? I hope the little ant is doing fine,”said Sally, running with her worried face.

But when she lifted up the thimble, what came to her sight was the little tiny an t lay stiff and still. It seemed like this little poor thing was away from this world. “Oh, did it die of being under the thimble?”Sally said aloud with her trembling voice. “Why did you do that, Sally?”said her father, who was close by and looked unsatisfied.