A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.” There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and put them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to be full of coins. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized(辨认出) his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?”

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.”

What he had written was: “Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it.”

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first one simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. However, the second one told people that they were able to enjoy the day. It told them they were lucky and they were not blind.

There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story.

The first is: Be thankful for what you have. Someone else has less. Help whenever you can.

The second is: Think differently. There is always a better way!

There are many mice in a house. The man of the house gets a cat. The cat kills many of the mice. The oldest mouse says，“All the mice must come to my room and we will think what we can do about this cat. ”All the mice come. Many mice speak，but no one knows what to do. At last a young mouse stands up and says，“We must put a bell（铃）on that cat. Then when the cat comes near，we shall hear the bell and run away and hide. So the cat will not catch any more mice. "Then the old mouse asks，"Who will put the bell on the cat？”

No mouse answers. At last he says，“It is not hard to say things，but it is hard to do them. ”

John is eight years old, and he is a very funny boy. He works hard, so he is good at his subjects. His teachers and parents like him very much. But he has a very big head. Last year, he spent (渡过)ten days at his uncle's home during(在……期间) the summer holiday. His uncle lives in a mountain village and it's about four hundred kilometers away from his city. He took the subway to a small town, there his uncle waited for(等侯)him and took him to his house by bike.

John made some friends soon. They played together. But one afternoon he cried (哭)to his uncle, “All the children make fun of me. They say I have a big head.”

Don't listen to them, "his uncle said. " You have a beautiful head. Now stop crying and go to the store to buy some potatoes.”

John asked, “Where is the shopping bag?” “Oh, dear, I don't have one. Use your hat.” his uncle said.