Polly Goodman, 82-year-old, was a rich old woman. Her husband was a businessman and left her a large fortune after his death, so she had no problems supporting herself. The only problem was that her son who was a doctor busy with his work seldom had time to visit her, leaving her living lonely.

One day, Polly was walking along the beach, like she did every evening near her seaside house, when she noticed a young boy and his little sister playing there. As she was passing by them, she heard their mother calling out to them. “Corey! Daisy! Be careful! Stay away from the water!”

Polly noticed their mother resting on a bench, appearing sick and tired. The dark circles under her eyes were quite obvious, and she coughed frequently. Polly always had a desire to have a chat with someone. So she walked carefully towards the mother with a kind smile on her face.

“Hi, I’m Polly. I live by the beach.” Polly said.

The mother looked up at Polly, feeling a little surprised. The mother told Polly she was Lydia and had worked as a waitress. Lydia further said that she and her children had only recently moved to that location because her children had always wanted to see the ocean. Then Lydia stopped to cough heavily. After she calmed down, it seemed she wanted to say something, but stopped as if there was something difficult to tell. Polly did not follow up, saying goodbye and left.

When Polly went to the beach the next day, she saw the kids again, but this time their mother wasn’t with them. She observed them playing by themselves until late in the evening before heading home. The third day came and again the two kids played at the seaside until late in the evening, still without their mother s company. Then the elder brother was about to lead the sister back home. Out of curiosity and care Polly decided to follow them to their house.

Undoubtedly, Mother Nature is always attractive to kids. In our childhood, how often did we turn a deaf ear to our parents’ advice? Very often! Thus, we landed ourselves in a situation where we greatly regretted our act of not having listened to the advice of the wise.

Such an unforgettable experience I had at the age of 7 gave me an invaluable lesson, after which I deeply understood why my gentle mother was repeating the boring suggestions and I would try to take her suggestions seriously.

In my childhood, I was so crazy about nature that even playing among the colorful flowers in our garden could make my day. Our house was next to the woods which had always stirred up(激起) great curiosity in me in wanting to find out what was within. Every time I saw fascinating butterflies dancing from the woods, my curiosity grew.

But my mother didn’t like me wandering off on my own and always ensured that I was within her sight. Even if she allowed me to explore the surrounding area on my own, it was only to be somewhere near the house. Being as curious as the cat, I always desired to explore the woods. It seemed as if my mother had understood my desire, so she had warmed me on lots of occasions never to enter the woods alone.

“Mom, can I go out and play in the garden?” I asked.

“Sure,” she would reply each time. “Kate, you can play in the garden but you must promise me one thing—only when I’m with you can you go into the woods. There are no cases of animal attacks on humans, but it’s still dangerous for a little kid like you. It’s too easy to get lost in the woods.”

“Sure, you’ve said that many times!” I answered without patience at her repeated reminders.

However, curiosity got the better of me one morning.

“Kate?” Behind the trees covered by the rays of the setting sun came my mother’s voice.

There was once a troubled family. The parents spoiled their children. The son, John, loved to play video games all day long when summer vacation was around and he did not like to study. The daughter, Emily, on the other hand, loved studying without play. To her, video games were for foolish people who were unable to achieve anything useful. Life went on with parents complaining and not changing anything.

One day two new neighbors arrived in their neighborhood. One lived on the right side of John’s house while the other lived on the left side of John’s house. These two people were twins. They did not communicate with anyone other than themselves. John and his family felt uncomfortable living right between them. Strange sounds came from their houses every midnight until the afternoon. People heard and saw thunder and lightning coming from the house. After a couple of weeks of lightning flashing, machines roaring, this disturbed every household. Everyone could not help but wonder what their new neighbors were doing. It was whispered that they were inventing a time machine in secret.

People were beginning to dislike them. Every moment they heard these noises, they felt like something was going to explode soon. To deal with this problem John and Emily’s parents walked to both houses to speak with the owners. But on each door hung a sign that said, “DO NOT DISTURB!” They tried knocking the door and no one responded or came out from the house. The machine noise kept going but once in a while it did stop for a small break before it continued. They tried nearly every day to get the attention of their new neighbors. But in the end they gave up. They decided to send their kids to get their attention instead. So they made a plan and the kids successfully entered the neighbor’s houses.

Unexpectedly, the kids both experienced a journey to their own future there.

After returning from the neighbor’s houses, the two kids changed totally.

Amy was very excited. She was going to a big birthday party on Saturday night. There would be music, dancing, food and lots of new people to meet. Amy knew she would have a great time, but what was she going to wear? All her friends at school were talking about it. Imogen and Chloe had new dresses. Sally had expensive new jeans...

Amy requested her mother to buy her something new but was refused. Amy felt frustrated, so she turned to her granny. Then, on Saturday, her granny took her to the shopping mall.

They went into the first store and began to look at the clothes. Granny pulled out dresses, tops and jeans. Amy chose six things and went to the fitting room to try them on. When she came out, Granny was waiting. She asked, “Anything nice?”

Amy shook her head. “No. The dress was quite nice, but it wasn’t really special. I want something special, Granny.”

“I know you do, my love. It’s a special party! Don’t worry — this is just the first shop. There are plenty of others. Come on!”

Amy found nothing on Floor 1. So they took the elevator up to Floor 2 and began again. In every shop, Amy tried on clothes while Granny was very patient and she never got cross.

“Take your time, love,” she said. “I want you to be happy.”

They took the elevator to Floor 3 and granny squeezed Amy’s hand. “You will find something,” she said. “There are five floors in this mall. We will keep going until we find your special thing.” Saying nothing, Amy hung her head, exhausted. But Granny kept looking and never stopped smiling.

They searched all the shops on Floor 3 then went up to Floor 4. But there, her heart suddenly felt very heavy. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she began to cry. “I’m never going to find it, Granny,” said Amy. “I want so much to find something special, but nothing is right and I’m so tired. I just want to go home, but I can’t go home with nothing.”

Granny passed her a tissue and comforted her gently.

“You already have it,” Granny whispered something in Amy’s ear.

A 12-year-old boy saw something in a shop window that set his heart racing. It was a necklace with shining pearls. But the price, five dollars would buy almost a week’s groceries for his family.

Reuben couldn’t ask his father for the money. Everything his father made through fishing went to his mother, Dora, who struggled to feed and clothe her five children.

Nevertheless, he opened the shop’s door and went inside. Standing proud and straight in his flour-sack shirt and washed-out trousers, he told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding, “Once we went to New York, my mum saw a same one. I know she liked it very much, because she fixed her eyes on it. I will buy it for her. But I don’t have the money right now. Can you please hold it for me for some time?”

“I’ll try,” the shop owner smiled. “People around here don’t usually have that kind of money to spend on such good-looking but costly things. It should keep for a while. ”

Reuben respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out. He had made up his mind to raise the five dollars and not tell anybody.

Hearing the sound of hammering from a side street, Reuben had an idea. He discovered that he could collect the hessian sacks (麻袋) thrown away in the street and sell them back for five cents a piece.

Every day after school, Reuben walked down the town, collecting the hessian sacks. On the day when summer holiday began, no student was more delighted than Reuben. Now he would have more time for his “work”.

All summer long, Reuben kept on his secret task. Soon the leaves fell and the winds blew cold. Reuben wandered in the streets, diligently searching for his hessian treasures. Often, he was cold, tired and hungry, but the thought of the object in the shop window supported him.

Eventually, the time had come! It was Mothers’ Day. He poured the coins out and began to count. Then he counted again. He made it! Exactly five dollars, not a cent more, not a cent less.

Holding the money in hands tightly, Reuben headed for the shop.

Mother opened the box carefully, and a shining necklace appeared.