A few weeks ago, a friend from an unknown Smile Groups sent me $120 to do good things. Since then I have used the money in the US. It has helped families and strangers generally raise a lot of smiles. They have warmed my heart, but none was so much as the gift I was able to give an hour ago.

I was in a charity shop, looking at the second-hand books. It happened that the bookshelves were next to the toy shelf. I noticed a group of poorly dressed women standing behind me. As they looked through the cloth shelf, a little girl about three years old came over to the shelf. There was a toy pram(手推车) on the shelf. The girl loved it very much. She spoke to her mother and she asked the shop assistant how much it cost. $3 was the answer.

The mum looked down at her child, perhaps thinking what she still had to buy and how much money she has left. Then she shook her head. The child did not behave(表现) as badly as some might. Being told “no” was not new for her but she could not keep the disappointment (失望的)from her face.

I had a total of $5 in my pocket. I touched the mother on the shoulder, put the money in her hand and said, “Buy her a doll, too”.

I did not wait to see the end. After all, it was not about being thanked. I walked out of the shop and into the sunshine.

The money the friend gave me was to help me find happiness of the world. Was there any better way, I wondered, to get so much happiness for so little money than to buy a little girl a toy and a doll to sit in it?

Do you know what “pay it forward” means? It’s not paying for (为……而付钱) something before you buy it. “Pay it forward” is to do something nice for another person for no reason. Then that person can do something nice for someone else.

You may think it doesn’t seem like much. But this kind act can spread(传播) really fast.

Last December, a woman was buying McDonald’s in Florida, US. She also bought the next person’s meal. Well, that person did the same thing, and the next person did too. Soon, 250 people bought meals for another person!

You can “pay it forward” by doing some other nice things for anyone around you. Just look for little things, like helping your mom clean the house without her asking. It can make a person’s day. Then, tell them to do three kind things for someone else. This way, anyone can make the world a better place.