An Englishman, a Frenchman and a Russian were discussing happiness. "Happiness," said the Englishman, "Happiness is when you return home tired after work, yet find your slippers(拖鞋) warming by the fire."

"You English have no romance," said the Frenchman. "Happiness is when you go on a business trip, find a pretty girl who entertains you －then afterwards you part without regrets."

"You are both wrong," said the Russian. "True happiness is when you are at home in bed and at 4 a.m., you hear a hammering at the door and outside stand the secret police, who say to you, 'Ivanovitch, you are under arrest', and you say, 'Sorry, Ivanovitch lives next door.'"

When an earthquake hit a small town,many houses fell down.After the earthquake,all the newspapers reported many stories about some of the families who were in trouble.

One Sunday,when I was reading a newspaper,a special picture touched me.It gave the clothing sizes of each family member.I thought that this would be a good chance to teach my children to help those who were less lucky than themselves.I said to my seven-year-old twins,Brad and Brett,and three-year-old Meghan,“We have so much,but these poor people now have nothing.We’ll share what we have with them.”

I filled a box with foods and clothes.While I was doing this,I encouraged the children to choose their toys and donate some of their less favorite things.Meghan watched quietly as the boys took out their old toys and games and put them together.Then she walked away.A few minutes later she came back with Lucy,her much-loved doll.She put the doll on top of the other toys.“Oh,dear,” I said,“you don’t have to give Lucy.You love her so much.” Meghan said,“Lucy makes me happy,Mommy.Maybe she’ll make another little girl happy,too.”

I looked at Meghan for a long moment.She taught me a lesson.It’s easy to give something that we don’t want any more,but hard to give what we cherish,isn’t it?