It was on Christmas Eve, Bobby was sitting out in his backyard in the snow. He wore a pair of thin sneakers which had a few holes. Bobby didn’t have his own boots because he was poor.

Bobby had been in his backyard for about an hour already. Try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for his mother’s Christmas gift. He shook his head as he thought, “This is useless. Even if I do come up with an idea, I don’t have any money for a gift.”

Wiping tears from his eyes, Bobby started walking down to the street where the shops were. It wasn’t easy being six without a father, especially when he needed a man to talk to.

Bobby walked from shop to shop, looking into each decorated window. Everything seemed so beautiful but so out of reach. It was starting to get dark and Bobby reluctantly turned to walk home when suddenly his eyes caught the glimmer of the setting sun’s rays reflecting on something on the roadside. He reached down and discovered a shiny dime (一角硬币).

Never before has anyone felt as wealthy as Bobby did at that moment. As he held his newly-found treasure, warmth spread throughout his entire body and he walked into the first store. His excitement quickly turned cold when the salesperson told him that he could not buy anything with only a dime.

He saw a flower shop and went inside to wait in line. When the shop keeper asked if he could help him, Bobby presented the dime and asked if he could buy one flower for his mother’s Christmas gift. The shop keeper looked at Bobby and his ten-cent offering. Then he put his hand on Bobby’s shoulder, saying, “You just wait here and I’ll see what I can do for you.”

The sound of the door closing as the last customer left pulled Bobby back to reality. All alone in the shop, Bobby began to feel alone and afraid.

Finally the shop keeper asked Bobby to come to the counter.

Bobby thanked the shop keeper and left excitedly, bunch of beautiful roses in hand.

One day, six-year-old Pete stepped out of his house to buy a lollipop(棒棒糖). It had rained all night long. But now the sun was shining, and the wind was blowing all over the pavements， blowing the rain away. Pete got on his tricycle(三轮脚踏车) and rode away. He felt excited since this was the first time he had gone to a shop on his tricycle. “I’ll ride through every puddle(水坑),” he said to himself.

He rode right through the first puddle, and splashes of water flew up in the air. But when he looked around, the puddle was still there. Behind his tricycle was a long black line. His front wheel had made it when it came out of the puddle. Pete noticed it and he was pleased. “I meant to do that,” he laughed. (But he hadn’t really.) So he rode right through the next puddle, and his black line shone behind him. But now, when he looked around, instead of one black line there were three, because this puddle was a very big one, and all three of the wheels had gone right into it. “I’m an engine-driver,” cried Pete. “And those are my railway lines. Oooo! Ooooooo!”

And he pedaled through every puddle he could see. Sometimes it was a small puddle, and then there was only one railway line. And sometimes it was a middle-sized puddle, and then there were two railway lines. And sometimes it was a very big puddle, with a lot of sky in it, and then the whole tricycle went through it, and there were three railway lines.

Suddenly Pete remembered that he was going to the shop on the corner to buy a lollipop. He put his hand in his pocket to make sure his two pennies were still there. One of them, two of them… Pete felt each of them with his fingers. “It was good of me to remember,” he told himself. “I’m a very good rememberer.”

As he stopped for a break, a little cat came out of a house.

Just then a lady ran out of the house.

“Did you hear what happened to Adam Last Friday?” Lindsey whispers to Tori. With her eyes shining, Tori brags, “You bet I did, Sean told me two days ago.” Who are Lindsey and Tori talking about? It just happened to be yours truly, Adam Freedman. I can tell you that what they are saying is (a) not nice and (b) not even true. Still, Lindsey and Tori aren’t very different from most students here at Linton High School, including me. Many of our conversations are gossip.

An important negative effect of gossip is that it can hurt the person being talked about. Usually, gossip spreads information about a topic—breakups, trouble at home, even dropping out—that a person would rather keep secret. The more embarrassing or shameful the secret is, the juicier the gossip it makes. Probably the worst type of gossip is the absolute lie. People often think of gossipers as harmless, but cruel lies can cause pain.

If we know that gossip can be harmful, then why do so many of us do it? The answer lies in another effect of gossip: the satisfaction it gives us. Sharing the latest rumor (传言) can make a person feel important because he or she knows something that others don’t. Similarly, hearing the latest rumor can make a person feel like part of the “in group.”

Gossip also can have a third effect: it strengthens unwritten, unspoken rules about how people should act. Professor David Wilson explains that gossip is important in policing behaviors in a group. Translated into high school terms, this means that if everybody you hang around with is laughing at what John wore or what Jane said, then you can bet that wearing or saying something similar will get you the same kind of negative attention. This pressure will certainly force you to pay special attention to your own words and deeds. The dos and don’ts conveyed through gossip will never show up in any student handbook.

The effects of gossip vary depending on the situation. The next time you feel the urge to spread the latest news, think about why you want to gossip and what effects your “juicy story” might have.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________