Once there was a man traveling in a faraway village. As he was passing the elephants, he stopped at once. He found that these huge elephants were being held by only a small rope tied to their front legs. No chains, no cages. It was clear that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their ropes but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and didn’t try to get away. “Well,” the trainer said, “when they were very young and much smaller, we used the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it was enough to hold them. As they grow up, they still believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can hold them, so they never try to break free.”

How could it be? These animals could at any time break free from their ropes. But because they were always stuck right where they were, they believed they couldn’t.

Just like the elephants, how many of us go through life believing that we cannot do something, just because we failed in it once before?

_________ . We should never give up the struggle (斗争) in life.

Peter Jones is a 92­year­old, short, calm and proud man. Every morning he is fully dressed by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably combed and face perfectly shaved even though he is unable to see anything. He would move to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years old has recently passed away, making the move necessary.

After hours of waiting patiently in the entrance hall of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready. As he moved his walking stick skillfully to the elevator, the nurse provided a visual description of his tiny room. “I love it，” he stated with enthusiasm. “Mr. Jones, you haven't been in the room，” said the nurse.

“That doesn't have anything to do with it，” he replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged... it's how I arrange my mind. I have already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice: I can spend the day in bed complaining of the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.”

Each day is a gift, and as long as we are alive. We'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories we've stored just as Mr. Jones does.

Once there was a king who had given his daughter a beautiful diamond necklace. However, the necklace was stolen. Some said a bird might have taken it. The king then asked all his people to search for it. And he put up a reward of￡50,000 for anyone who found it.

One day, a man was walking along a river. Suddenly, he saw something shiny in the river. He thought that it might be the diamond necklace. So he decided to get it so that he could get the reward. He put his hand into the dirty river and tried to grab the necklace, but somehow he missed it. Having taken his hand out, he saw that the necklace was still there. Then he walked into the river and put his arm in to grab the necklace. He still missed it!

He came out and decided to walk away. Just when he was about to leave, he saw the necklace again. This time, he jumped into the river and searched everywhere, yet he failed to find the necklace. He came out, puzzled.

Then a wise man saw him and asked him what had happened. The man told him nothing, thinking he might take the necklace for himself. Nevertheless, the wise man could see that he was in search of something. He asked him again, and promised that he wouldn’t tell anyone. After hearing this, the man told the wise man about the necklace and how he had tried to grab it, but kept failing. The wise man then told him that perhaps he should look up, towards the branches of a tree. The man raised his head, only to see the necklace on a branch of the tree. What he had been trying to get was just a reflection of the necklace all the time.