Do you know what is real happiness (快乐、幸福) ? Different people have different ideas about it. Some people liked money better than anything else in the world in the past. They thought if they were rich, they would have happiness. These years some think if they are healthy, they’ll have happiness. Others think if they help people in trouble, they will have happiness. So the real happiness is a feeling in our hearts.

As we know, everyone in the world needs happiness. Everyone wants to own happiness. Many people always look for happiness. Many people live in happiness, but they don’t realize (认识到) it.

So we must have our own answers to happiness. In fact, happiness is everywhere. For example, working is happiness; playing is happiness; reading is happiness...As a result, the happiness is also in what we do.

Always be careful!

An old man was good at climbing trees. He made a living by training young people to do it.

One time, the old man was training a group of young boys. On the last day of the training, the boys took their final test. The old man took them to a tall tree that was very difficult to climb. He said to them, “If you succeed in climbing this tree, then you can easily climb any tree in the world.”

After that, the boys started climbing the tree one by one. The old man said nothing while they were climbing up the tree. But when they were halfway down or just about to reach the ground, he said, “Take it easy and slow down. Be careful.” Following the old man’s instruction (指导), all the boys climbed down the tree safely.

Then a boy went to the old man and asked, “Master (师傅) , you told us to be careful while we were climbing down the tree. Why not while climbing up the tree? It was more difficult.”

The old man said, “Look, it is very difficult to climb to the top of the tree. I know this, and so do you. When climbing up the tree, you were already careful enough. But when you were climbing down, you might feel relaxed because the work was about to be completed (完成) soon. So it was easy for you to make mistakes at that time.”

In life, this can often happen to us. Something can always go wrong at the last moment. So we should always be careful until everything is completed.

Let’s say you are taking a walk along the road and you happen to see one or two waste bottles lying on the grass beside the road. What would you do?

You may have different choices. Firstly, you can leave the bottles there as they are. It was not you who threw them away. Why should you do something about it? This is quite OK. Secondly, you can pick them up and throw them into a dustbin （垃圾箱）. By doing this, you have walked a step further to help make our home clean. This action is a better choice. Thirdly, you might want to pick them up and give them to an old man or woman who collects waste for a living. If this is your choice, you have walked even further. You’re not only thinking about doing something for the environment, you’re also developing yourself to be a person who would think of others and help them.

As for young kids, they may always have such a question: “When do I grow up? ”Yes! When does a child grow up? And how can a kid know he or she has grown up? These are interesting questions. As for us, fifteen-year-olds, who are finishing middle school, we’re no longer younger children. We should know whether or not we have grown up. When we start to have a sense of offering a helping hand for a cleaner city and greener world, and when we have a loving heart to think more of others than of ourselves and are ready to help them, we can say that we have grown up.

Remember: If we help others, others will help us. If we do our best for nature, nature will offer its best to us in return!

If you happen to see some bottles, what would you do? Maybe you can 【小题1】 to leave them there because it is not your fault. But by 【小题2】 them up and throwing them into the dustbin, you can help our home clean. You also can give them to the old people who collect waste to make a 【小题3】. For children, if they know when to start to 【小题4】 build a cleaner city and greener world, or think more of others than of 【小题5】, we can say that they have grown up.