There was once a lonely girl who wanted love very much. One day while she was walking in the forest, she found two dying birds. She took them home and put them in a small cage. She was happy to have two “friends”. She looked after them with love and the birds grew strong. One day the girl happened to leave the door of the cage open. The larger and the stronger of the two flew out of the cage. The girl was afraid that it would fly away. She caught it quickly. She felt glad that she caught the bird before it could fly away. Suddenly she couldn’t hear a sound from the bird. When she opened her hand, the bird was already dead. Her love killed the bird!

Then she noticed the other bird jumping up and down inside the cage. She could feel its great need for freedom (自由). It wanted to fly into the clear, blue sky. So she lifted it from the cage and let it fly away high. The bird circled once, twice, and three times. The girl watched as the bird flew. She didn’t care about losing the bird any more. She wanted it to be happy. Suddenly the bird flew closer and landed softly on her shoulder. It sang the sweetest song she had never heard.

The fastest way to lose love is to hold on it too tightly, and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

“It’s a waste of time,” I said when my mom told me to join Madcaps, a mothers and daughters club that helps charities (慈善机构). When she told me I had to volunteer at a homeless shelter, I thought that things could not get worse.

We got there late and walked to the dirty homeless shelter, where we saw a lady shouting at the security guard (保安人员). He dealt with her and then led us to the kitchen, where we ran into our five fellow Madcaps mothers and daughters.

Then homeless people started to walk in and a little girl, around 5 years old, walked up and pointed to the food I was handing out. I handed her a cold sandwich and she nodded to say thanks. She then walked over to her parents, who were seated at a large table.

As she walked away, I thought about how much I had. I go to one of the top schools in San Diego, I have a great house by the water, and I have a warm meal every night. Then I thought of how little she had. She probably didn’t go to school, and this is where she sleeps and eats every day. It took that little girl to make me realize just how lucky I am.

After that moment, I had a change of heart. Now, I love Madcaps and don’t miss one meeting. I have become easy-going and now have many friends in the club.

I believe that if you have an open mind about things, you can learn a lot about yourself and the people in your community. You can make new friends and realize just how lucky you are. I believe you can make a difference just by doing something that you don’t want to do.

Once, there was a shepherd (牧羊人). 【小题1】 He was very happy and hoped these wild sheep wouldn’t leave.

It snowed that night. The next morning, the shepherd couldn’t take his sheep to the mountains. Instead, he had to feed them inside. 【小题2】 But he gave more of the food to the wild sheep. He thought the extra (额外的) food would stop them from leaving.

It snowed for several days. During that time, the shepherd’s sheep ate very little. 【小题3】 At last, the snow stopped, and the shepherd took all the sheep out. As soon as they got to the foot of the mountain, the wild sheep started to run away.

“Wait! 【小题4】 Why do you run away?” the shepherd shouted.

One wild sheep stopped and said to him, “We’re leaving because you fed us better than your own sheep. 【小题5】 Yesterday, you were kind to us, but tomorrow you might be different. If more wild sheep join your herd (牧群), you will give us less food, too.”

The shepherd finally realized his mistake. He was sorry that he didn’t take good care of his own sheep.