My parents seldom encouraged me to ask for help, so I trained myself to become as independent ( 独立的) as possible. I thought if I asked for help, I would be a problem to other people.

A few years ago, I was on a trip. In order to save money, I planned to stay in a stranger’s house as a couchsurfer ( 沙发客). When I arrived at the host family ( 寄宿家庭), it was rainy. It was also very cold.

My host was very friendly. She gave me a warm welcome and offered me a hot meal. After the meal, she invited me to go on a walk with her around her city. At that time, I didn’t even have the right shoes for the bad weather. I wanted to ask her whether she had any shoes for me. But I didn’t want to trouble her. Finally, I said nothing.

It was really cold outside, and the heavy rain made my shoes wet. When we got home three hours later, I had lost all feelings in my feet. That night, I had a bad cold. That was all because I couldn’t ask for help. In fact, it was very easy.

From that day on, I tried hard to get through my fear of asking. It has taken me a long time. From my experience, I have discovered that people are always happy to offer help. And I have realized that asking for help is not a sign of weakness. Asking gives you the chance to discover the kindness of others.

Once upon a time, there was a great king. He had a smart servant and he always took the servant everywhere.

One day, the king got bitten（咬）by a dog. He asked the servant, “Is this some kind of bad luck?”

The servant said,” Good or bad, hard to tell. ” Then one day, the king lost his finger. He asked the servant again,”Is this some kind of bad luck?” The servant still replied,“ Good or bad, hard to tell. ”

The king got very angry to hear the same words again. So he sent the servant to jail（监狱）.

A few days later, some barbarians（野蛮人） caught the king. They wanted to kill the king for sacrifice（祭祀）. However, they found that the king’s fingers were not complete, so they decided to set the king free.

The king set the servant free as soon as he went back. He finally understood the servant’s words” Good or bad, hard to tell. ”He said sorry to the servant but the servant wasn’t angry with him at all. He told the king, “Something that seems to be bad can be good in later. If you didn’t put me in jail, I would have to go with you and the barbarians would have killed me. ”

Fred was a poor man who lived alone in a small village. He was lazy so he didn’t want to find a job. He had no friends or relatives. He used to beg (乞讨) for food for his living.

Fred dreamed that he was dancing happily in his large house. He felt so excited that he kicked in air and his leg hit the bowl on the table. The bowl with rice dropped and broke into pieces. The noise woke him up. At once, Fred realized that everything that happened was just a dream. He also realized that he could get nothing if he didn’t make a change. Then he decided to get rid of (改掉) his laziness. Soon, he found a job, worked hard and gradually lived a better life.