“Oh boys, don’t throw stones at the poor bird,” said an old grey-headed man.

“Sir,” said a little fellow, “she makes such a loud noise that we can’t suffer from her.”

“Yes, but she uses the voice which nature gave her, and I am afraid the stone will rebound(弹回), and hurt you as long as you live!”

“Rebound! We don’t understand you, sir!”

“Well, come and I will tell you a story.”

“Is it a true story?”

“Yes, every word is true.”

“Fifty years ago, I was a boy like you. I used to throw stones very accurately.” 

“One day I went to work for an old couple. They were very kind to everybody and everything. Few had so many birds making their nests under the roofs of their houses. The birds seemed to love the couple. For seven years a bird had come, after the long winter was over, and built her nest in the same place, and raised her young chicks there. She and her mate had just returned when I went there to work, and the couple welcomed them heartily.”

“During the day, I thought I would try my skill upon her. She sat on a pole and looked at me trustfully. I found a nice stone, and I threw it with my utmost skill. It struck the bird on the head and she dropped dead!”

“I said nothing to the old couple about it. But one of their grandchildren told them what I had done. I could never look at them in the face afterwards. Oh, that I should have told them how sorry I was!”

“They have been dead many years, and so has the poor bird; but don’t you see how that stone rebounded, and hit me? How much the memory of it has hurt me! My dear boys, I would pay a great deal today if I could undo what I did!

“For fifty years I have remembered it. I have never spoken of it before, but if what my words will prevent you from throwing a stone that may rebound, I will be happy.”

The boys at once dropped the stones they had in their hands, and the bird had no more trouble from them.

We have to make certain our limited money is well spent. But what should we spend our money on? A 20-year study conducted by Dr. Gilovich, a professor at Cornell University, reached a powerful and straightforward conclusion: don't spend your money on things.

The trouble with things is that the happiness they provide peters out. We get used to new possessions, and what once seemed exciting quickly becomes the norm. We keep raising the bar and always look for an even better one. Possessions, by their nature, cause comparisons. We buy a new car and are thrilled with it until a friend buys a better one — and there's always someone with a better one. Most of us usually assume that the happiness we get from buying something will last as long as the thing itself. It seems intuitive (直觉的) that investing in something we can see, hear, and touch on a permanent basis delivers the best value. But it's not the case at all.

Gilovich has found that experiences deliver more-lasting happiness than things. Experiences become a part of our identity. Everyone's experience is unique. We are not our possessions, but we are the accumulation of everything we’ve seen, the things we’ve done, and the places we’ve been to. “Our experiences are a bigger part of ourselves than our material goods,” said Gilovich. “You can really like your material stuff. You can even think that part of your identity is connected to those things, but they remain separate from you. In contrast, your experiences really are part of you. We are the sum total of our experiences.”

Besides, we don't compare experiences in the same way that we compare things. It’s hard to quantify the relative value of any two experiences, which makes them that much more enjoyable. And expectation of an experience causes excitement and enjoyment, while expectation of obtaining a possession causes impatience. Experiences are enjoyable from the very first moments of planning, all the way through to the memories you keep forever. The temporary happiness achieved by buying things can be regarded as “puddles of pleasure”. In other words, that kind of happiness evaporates quickly and leaves us wanting more. Things may last longer than experiences, but the memories that remain are what matter most.

I was having breakfast, when "OUCH!" I screamed. “Why do you pinch （捏）me?”

"You're not wearing green/' said my little brother; Tex. “Everyone knows you get pinched if you don’t wear green on Saint Patrick's Day!"

I was mostly mad about getting pinched, but also a tiny bit glad about being reminded that it was Saint Patrick's Day.

I panicked. "What am I going to do? I don't have time to change. I'll get pinched all day long!" "Well,", Tex said, taking the old green baseball hat off his head, "you could borrow my lucky hat.”

"But it's your favorite!" I said.

"I know,” said Tex. "Just promise to give it back after school."

"No problem," I said, glancing in the mirror on my way out the door. "I look like a fool in this thing !"

"A lucky fool.” said Tex.

"Hum." I grabbed my backpack. "Thanks, I think?'

Now, before I go on, you should know that I'm not a superstitious （迷信的）person. I don't believe that thirteen is an unlucky number or that breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck.

Anyway, I was racing to catch the school bus, and I saw a dollar on the sidewalk! I looked around to see if anyone was looking for it, but people just kept stepping on the poor thing, so I decided to rescue it. I had found pennies before, but never a dollar!

My luck didn't stop there. Carlos and Jackson were sitting behind me, quizzing each other on spelling words.

I turned around and said, "You guys know that test isn't till tomorrow right?"

"It got switched to this morning," said Jacsksn. "Remember?"

"That's right. I totally forgot!" I said. "I'm so lucky that I sat in front of you. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have found out till it was too late!”   I got out my spelling words, studied all the way to school. And ended up getting a good mark in the test!

The minute I got home, I gave Tex a big hug.

“This is the luckiest hat in the world,” I said. "I'm never taking it off!

"But you promised to give it back!" said Tex.

"Please—oh—please let me borrow your lucky hat for one more day!" I begged.

"Tomorrow I'm auditioning （试演）for the school play, and I need every bit of help I can get.” "OK," said Tex. “One more day. But you'd better be really nice to me."

"I will," I agreed. "In fact, here you have my lucky dollar!” Tex cried with joy, then started dancing around and waving his gift in the air.

The next day turned out to be super lucky. My audition couldn't have gone better.

"Wow, Arizona!" said my friend Mareya. "I can't believe how amazingly you just did! You are so getting a major part in this play!"

"Thanks! But honestly. the only reason I did OK is because I had my lucky hat.”

"What lucky hat?” asked Mareya.

“This one,” I said, reaching into my backpack, where I thought I'd put Tex's hat since I couldn't

wear it for the audition. But it wasn't there! " Oh no!" I cried. "It's gone! What am I going to tell Tex?”

Mareya helped me look for it. Luckily, we found Tex's hat in my locker. Also luckily. I discovered that I could be lucky with or without a goofy-looking hat.

"So it wasn't the hat," said Mareya. "This is just a wild guess, but maybe it was all those hours you spent practicing over the past month.”

"Hmm,” I said. “It's possible.”

So, dear friend, I guess you could say that luck is a combination of being prepared, believing in yourself... and maybe just a tiny bit of magic! In other words, luck may come your way, but you have to be ready for it when it does!