Once upon a time, there was a king. He ruled a very rich country. One day, he went on a trip to some faraway areas of his country. When he came back, he said that his feet were in great pain because he had walked a long way and the roads were rough (不平) and were full of stones.

He was angry and then came up with an idea. He asked his people to cover every road in the country with leather (皮革). But that would need so much leather and cost lots of money.

One of his advisors was very clever. He came forward to tell the king, “My dear king, I have a simple way to solve the problem. You don’t have to spend so much money. Why don’t you just cut a piece of leather out to cover your feet?”

The king was surprised. But he still followed the advice and had shoes made of leather for him.

There is a great lesson of life in this story. One problem may have different solutions (解决办法). If you look at the problem from different points, you may find the best solution.

Once upon a time, in a lovely garden, there lived a beautiful ladybug (瓢虫). She had won some any garden beauty contests that she had become very proud of herself. She showed off her beauty every day and her neighbors had all become bored with her. One day, a spider decided to teach her a lesson.

She went to see the ladybug. In front of many others, she told the ladybug that she wasn’t really that beautiful. The beauty contest judges﹣all ladybugs﹣were unfair by choosing her as the most beautiful insect in the garden. “In fact,” the spider added, “I’m more beautiful than you are!” The ladybug felt angry. She looked at the spider in the eye and told her, “You choose the judges for the next beauty contest and let’s see who is really more beautiful!”

“Okay,” the spider answered. “See you on Saturday!”

That Saturday morning, everyone who was living in the garden went to watch the beauty contest. The ladybug arrived confidently. She was sure that she would win again until she saw the judges. There were not only ladybugs but also bees, ants, worms and spiders. None of them knew the ladybug or the spider well, so it was a very fair contest. After a few rounds, most of the judges turned out to like the spider more﹣the spider won!

The ladybug couldn’t believe this result. She said that she would never again enter a beauty contest. The spider 　　1　　. The two became good friends and the ladybug learned to be modest (谦虚的). A few weeks later, she won the garden modesty contest.

One day, a baby snail (蜗牛) found that he had to carry a big and heavy shell at any time. He was confused (困惑的), so he went up to his mother and asked, “Why was I born with a shell that grew so hard and heavy?” His mother said, “Because we don’t have bones to hold us up. We can only move slowly, so we need a shell to protect us.”

The baby snail asked again, “The caterpillar (毛毛虫) has no bones either. Why can she live without a shell?” The mother snail answered, “That’s because a caterpillar will become a butterfly (蝴蝶). She can fly high into the sky. The sky can protect her.”

The baby snail had one more question, “But the earthworm (蚯蚓) moves like us. He has no bones and he won’t turn into a butterfly. Why doesn’t he carry a hard and heavy shell?” His mother said, “He can dig a hole and hide in the ground, and then the earth can protect him.”

The baby snail then cried, “We are so poor! We have no protection from the sky or from the ground!” His mother smiled at him, “My dear, imagine that if we don’t have the shells, what will happen to us? Hot sun will dry out our bodies and we’ll have nowhere to sleep. What’s worse, we’ll die in the heavy rain. How terrible it is! We don’t depend on the sky or the ground for protection. We should depend on ourselves.”