Peter woke up early in the morning. He went downstairs in a hurry and started to have hisbreakfast as quickly as possible.

“Why are you in such a hurry, early bird?" Mum asked him. “We will have an English spelling test today, Mum," Peter said. “Mr. White promised to offer prizes to those who get 100 scores. I've been studying the word list since last week. Although the words are difficult, I am well prepared for them.”

Peter reviewed the spelling of each word once more carefully when Dad drove down.

Thirty words later, the test papers were collected by Mr. White. “I am to mark your papers now," he told the class. After marking the test papers, Mr. White said, “Three of you won a prize today for excellent test scores. Peter. David and Mary got 100 percent on the spelling test!" Mr. White praised them. Meanwhile, he gave the three students each a dictionary. Peter's was an English-Chinese dictionary—the one he liked best. Peter was so excited that he held it high when his classmates cheered. "This is my happiest moment,” Peter thought.

After Mr. White gave the test paper back, Peter had a look at the words, feeling proud of his spelling. All of a sudden, the word “contribution" confused him. It didn't seem right. Peter began to compare them after taking out the wordlist. “C-o-n-t-r-i-b-u-s-i-o-n，”he whispered. He had spelledit wrong.

“What am I to do?” Peter said to himself. “I expect my classmates to think I'm a master in spelling. If I tell Mr. White one of my spelling words is wrong, I'll have to give my prize back, or I will become an example for telling a lie". Staring at the red sign “100%” which was written at his test paper, Peter was lost in thought. After a while, he remembered a lesson Mum used to teach him, “We ought to be an honest person.”

Jack still remembers that one morning when he was only ten years old. He was at home with his elder sister Lily. Jack was doing his homework when he heard raised voices. At first, he thought nothing of it since customers' voice in the motorcycle shop directly below their flat often became loud, but he soon realized this time it was different.

“Quick! Quick! Remove the motorcycles from the shop.” someone shouted.

Then a thick burning smell filled the air. When Jack opened the front door of their flat to investigate, a thick cloud of smoke greeted him. The motorcycle shop had caught fire and people were running and crying.

Lily, who had been playing the violin in her room, hurried to the living room. They rushed out of the door and along the corridor through the smoke.

They were heading towards the stairway at the far end of the corridor when Lily stopped in her track. She turned around and headed back the way they came. Jack had no idea what she was doing, but he followed her.

Lily had suddenly remembered the lady in her 70s who lived next door to them, who they called Makcik, Malay for auntie. Lily began banging on Makcik’s door, but got no answer. As the smoke thickened around them, Jack could see many of their neighbors — some still in their pyjamas — running for safety. The thought of fear crossed his mind.

“She might have run for safety like everyone else!” Jack cried. However, Lily refused to give up. “I know Makcik's still inside.” She said she was familiar with Makcik's daily routine and was certain she would still be sleeping. She pounded the door. “Go downstairs. Go now! Go!”

Just at that time, Jack noticed the flame was reaching up.

Luckily, all the neighbors went downstairs and an ambulance came.

I walked to Mrs. Windsor’s house and waited outside. She was working with another student, and I was not supposed to bother them by ringing the bell. I stood against the wall and daydreamed what I’d rather be doing. I had been tutored enough to read, understand, and even write some musical compositions, but I just didn’t have a gift for it. Mrs. Windsor had offered to give me the lessons for free, so I felt it my duty to try.

The door opened and Wendy Barton came out. I walked in, sat down on the piano bench and began to sort through my sheet music. Today Mrs. Windsor introduced her niece Pasha to teach me.

With a smile, Pasha sat beside me on the piano bench, opened my sheet music to the beginning page and asked me to play. I arranged my fingers on the keys. Then I frowned (皱眉) and concentrated to make the notes on the page match the finger movements. I had to admit I was a rather mechanical (不加思考的) pianist.

After about a page or two, Pasha gently put her hand on top of mine as if to calm my fingers. There was a long pause. “What are you hearing in the music?” I looked at her rather strangely and admitted I didn’t know what she meant. “Like a story. Here, let me try and you listen,” Pasha advised.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting her fingers dance lightly over the keys. Then, she began to play. “See, it begins here beside some kind of river. Hear the water flowing beside you?” Her fingers rose and fell gently on the keys. “Now a princess appears and she’s picking flowers from the water’s edge.” A happy piece of music filled the air in time to Pasha’s dancing fingers.

One weekend in July, Jane and her husband, Tom, had driven three hours to camp overnight by a lake in the forest. Unfortunately, on the way an unpleasant subject came up and they started to quarrel. By the time they reached the lake, Jane was so angry that she said to Tom, “I'm going to find a better spot for us to camp” and walked away.

With no path to follow, Jane just walked on for quite a long time. After she had climbed to a high place, she turned around, hoping to see the lake. To her surprise, she saw nothing but forest and, far beyond, a snowcapped mountain top. She suddenly realized that she was lost.

“Tom!” she cried. “Help!”

No reply. If only she had not left her mobile phone in that bag with Tom. Jane kept moving, but the farther she walked, the more confused she became. As night was beginning to fall, Jane was so tired that she had to stop for the night. Lying awake in the dark, Jane wanted very much to be with Tom and her family. She wanted to hold him and tell him how much she loved him.

Jane rose at the break of day, hungry and thirsty. She could hear water trickling (滴落) somewhere at a distance. Quickly she followed the sound to a stream. To her great joy, she also saw some berry bushes. She drank and ate a few berries. Never in her life had she tasted anything better.

As she picked her way carefully along the stream, Jane heard a helicopter. Is that for me? Unfortunately,the trees made it impossible for people to see her from above. A few minutes later, another helicopter flew overhead. Jane took off her yellow blouse, thinking that she should go to an open area and flag them if they came back again.

To celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday, Luke Fortune drove from a small town in Central Oregon to Portland, where he parked his car in a paid garage overnight. The next morning, he discovered that the car’s window had been smashed, along with his dreams for the future: His backpack and computer were gone.

“Everything important to me was on that computer,” said Fortune, 21, who is studying to become a paramedic(护理人员). “My classwork, every paper I’d written, and all the programs I needed for my paramedic tests. Every letter I was working on for job applications. I felt sick.”

Two days after the theft, another young man was standing outside his apartment, also in Portland. Masoud Almazrouei, 29, is an exchange student from the United Arab Emirates. He had been approached by a man who said he had a computer for sale. Only $200. Almazrouei, who had been in the United States for only a year, admits now that he was naive(天真). But he needed a computer, so he bought it, took it home, and turned it on. Within seconds, he saw files and photographs.

“I wondered who would sell a computer with all of this on it,” he said. “I realized it could be stolen.” Almazrouei found what appeared to be the owner’s cellphone number and called it.

“This guy with a thick accent told me he had my computer,” Fortune said. “He told me the story and said it was his fault. I thought it was a scam(骗局). I told him if he really had the computer, he should take it to the police.”

Soon after, a police officer called Fortune to say that a man had dropped the computer off and had said he was sorry. He passed along the man’s number.

Fortune called and thanked Almazrouei and insisted on paying him a reward of $200, the money he was out.

A story about the two young men’s encounter(邂逅) made it to the local papers.

My mother was a supporter of physical punishment, but for all her talking she has never spanked (打屁股) my siblings and me only once. Instead，she found ways of punishment that left a more lasting memory than giving us a spanking. One of the most memorable of these occasions occurred when I was four.

In the early 70’s my mother attended college during the day and I was in daycare. One day at daycare I watched an extremely tired mother attempt to pick up her daughter. The little girl asked, “Momma, are we going to McDonald’s for dinner?” The mother replied, “Honey, not tonight. Momma has to run a few errands (差事) and then we have to go home and cook dinner for Daddy.” “But I wanna go.” “Susie, I said not tonight. Maybe, if you are a good girl, we can go tomorrow.” Susie immediately dropped to the floor, kicking and screaming, “I want to go to McDonald’s.”

No amount of pleading (恳求) or scolding, her mother tried stopped Susie’s tantrum (发脾气). Finally her mother gave in, “Okay, Susie, let’s go to McDonald’s.” Susie stopped yelling and smiling she grabbed her mother’s hand and they left. To say I was amazed would be inaccurate; I was delighted that anything I wanted could be had by throwing a tantrum.

That day my mother picked me up early from daycare because we were going to a store to purchase some Christmas items. I was excited by the lights and decorations, and as we walked through the toy section on the way to the counter, I saw a toy I had to have. It was a white and red telephone whose bells rang as it was pulled along on a string. Looking lovingly up at my mother I asked, “Mama, can I have that telephone?”

She replied, “Baby, not now, but if you are a good girl, maybe Santa will bring it to you.” “But Mama, I want that telephone right now.” Her eyes narrowed and her hand tightened on mine. “Becky, you can’t have that telephone today, but if you misbehave, you can have a spanking.”

By now we were standing in the long holiday line to pay the bill, and I figured it was a good chance.

“Mama, stop. Mama, get up,” I tearfully pleaded.