Life is like a train ride. We get on. We ride. We get off. We get back on and ride some more. There are accidents and there are delays（延误）. At certain stops there are surprises. Some of these will change into great moments of joy, some will have bad results.

When we are born and we first get on the train, we meet people whom we think will be with us for the whole journey. Those people are our parents! Sadly, this is far from the truth. Our parents are with us as long as we completely need them. They, too, have journeys they must complete. We live on with the memories of their love, emotion, friendship, and so on.

There are others who get on the train and who become very important to us after a long time, in turn. These people are our brothers, sisters, friends and someone we know, whom we will learn to love, and take care of.

Some people consider their journey like a pleasant and happy tour. They will just go merrily along. Others will encounter many upsets, tears and losses(失落) on their journey. Others still, will stay on to offer a helping hand to anyone in need.

Some people on the train will leave a deep impression when they get off. Some will get on and get off the train so quickly, they will hardly leave a sign.

We will sometimes be upset that some passengers, whom we love, will choose to sit in another compartment（车厢）and leave us to travel on our own. Then again, there’s nothing that says we can’t seek them out anyway. But when we found them, we may not even be able to sit next to them because that seat will already be taken.

That’s okay …everyone’s journey will be filled with hopes, dreams, challenges, difficulties and goodbyes.

Parents can be very important teachers in our lives. However, they are not always the best teachers. Parents may be too close to their children emotionally (感情上). Sometimes they can only see their children through the eyes of a protector. For example, a teacher might see a trip to a big city as a valuable experience. However, it might seem too dangerous to a parent.

Another problem is that parents may expect their children’s interests to be similar to their own. If they love science, they may try to force (强迫) their child to love science too. But what if (要是……又怎样) their children’s true love is art, or writing, or car repair?

Parents usually want to pass on their values to their children. But should children always believe what their parents do? When children are young, they believe that their parents are always right. But when they get older, they will have different ways of thinking.

The most important thing to realize is that we all have many teachers in our lives. Our parents teach us, our teachers teach us, and our friends teach us. Books and newspapers and televisions also teach us. All of them are valuable.

Think of life as a game in which you are playing with five balls in the air. You name them work, family, health, friends and spirit and you keep all of them in the air. You will soon understand thatwork is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will jump back.

But the other four balls, family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be broken. They will never be the same. You must understand that and try to have the balance in your life. But how?

Don’t look down on your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different and each of us is special.

Don’t let other people set goals for you. Only you know what is best for yourself.

Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Don’t be afraid of difficulties. We learn how to be brave by taking chances.

Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible. The quickest way to receive love is to give it; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been, but also where you are going.

Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is a treasure, you can always carry easily.

Don’t use time or words carelessly. You can’t get them back. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift; that’s why we call it “the present”. Life is not a competition, but a trip, step by step.

My father woke me up early one summer morning when I was fourteen and said: "Get up, you're going with me to cut the grass in the garden."

   The idea that my father thought f was old enough to help him in his business made me feel proud and excited. From sunup to sundown, my father, my younger brother and I worked in the large garden. By the end of the day I was too tired to say a word but I felt good. This was my first time to help my father in his business. I got $6 for my work that day.

   One day my father found some leaves I had missed and pulled me aside. "Take away these leaves!" he said, "and don't make me have to tell you to do it again." The message was clear. Today I value the importance of doing a job well the first time. It will never fail to impress(给……留下印象) the person you are working for.

   After two years, my father told me and my brother that he felt we were old enough to cut the grass by ourselves. Every Saturday during my last two years of high school, we set off early in the morning with the same strong wish we had gained while working under our father.

   Looking after the garden Was neither exciting nor high paying, but that didn't matter. It taught me that any job was a good job and that whatever I was paid was more than I had before.

   A newspaper reporter once asked me how someone could possibly live with hard work and low pay. "If you're only thinking about hard work and money, you probably don't want to do any better than you are doing." I answered. In every job, from cutting the grass to washing dishes, I've learned much. I've learned something that helps me in my next job. If you work hard enough, you can learn from any job you do.

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In the middle of a dark forest，there lives an owl(猫头鹰）. All the animals know that he is the wisest among all of them. So they often go to him and tell him their troubles. Then the owl always teaches them what they should do.

One day，a little bird goes up to the owl. She is crying. “What’s wrong with you?”asks the owl.

“I’m not happy at all. “I don’t want to be a bird,” the bird says.

“Why don’t you want to be a bird?” asked the owl.

“I am so small，weak and useless，” she cries.“I want to be big and strong like the lion. He

is very important , but I am not.”

      Then the owl whispers(耳语）something in her ear. At once the bird dries her tears and goes away. One week later, the bird came back. “Oh, thank you very much. You are a very wise owl，” she says to the owl.“I am very happy now. Every day，I sit on top of the tallest tree and watch for(监视）lions and tigers. When they come near, I shout at the top of my voice. Then my friend all run and hide. They are very thankful to me. I am useful and important now.”

      The wise owl smiles and says，“No one in this world is useless.”

Starling is a little bird. He lives in the forest. His favorite thing is singing. He feels very happy because all the animals love his songs. They say,”Your songs are very lovely and they make us relaxed and happy.”

But one day, another bird comes in the forest. Her name is Nightingale. She can sing softly(温柔地) and sadly. All the animals are moved by her songs. They say,“You are the best singer. Nobody can sing like you.”When Starling knows this, he isn’t happy. Then he thinks hard and has a good idea. Every morning, he gets up early and practices singing skills of Nightingale.

The next month, he sings the songs slowly and softly in front of the animals. But all the animals go away one by one. They don’t like his songs. The frog jumps out and shouts“Stop! Stop! Don’t sing, please!”Starling is so sorry that he wants to cry. He asks,“Why don’t you like my songs?”The frog answers,“Different people have different styles (风格). You needn’t copy others. The right is the best.”

When you make a mistake, big or small, cherish (珍视) it like it’s the most valuable thing in the world, because in some ways, it is.

Most of us feel bad when we make mistakes, beat ourselves up about it, feel like failures, get mad at ourselves.

And that’s only natural. Most of us have been taught from a young age that mistakes are bad, and we should try to avoid mistakes. We’ve been blamed (责备) when we make mistakes—at home, school and work. Maybe not always, but probably enough times to make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious (无意识的) reaction.

Yet without mistakes, we could not learn or grow. If you think about it that way, mistakes should be cherished and celebrated for being one of the most amazing things in the world. They make learning possible; they make growth and improvement possible.

By trial and error—trying things, making mistakes, and learning from those mistakes—we have thought about how to make electric light, to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, to fly.

Mistakes make walking possible for the smallest toddler, make speech possible, and make works of talent possible.

Think about how we learn: We don’t just use up information about something and know it at once or know how to do it. You don’t just read about painting, or writing, or computer programming, or baking, or playing the piano, and know how to do them right away. Instead, you get information about something, from reading or from another person or from watching, then you build a model in your mind...then you test it out by trying it in the real world...then you make mistakes...then you make a mistake and repeat, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, until you have pretty much learned how to do something. That’s how we learn as babies and toddlers, and how we learn as adults. Mistakes are how we learn to do something new—because if you succeed at something, it’s probably something you already knew how to do. You haven’t really grown much from that success—at most it’s the last step on your journey, not the whole journey. Most of the journey is made up of mistakes, if it’s a good journey.

So if you cherish learning, if you cherish growing and improving, then you should cherish mistakes. They are amazing things that make a world of great brightness possible.

There once was a very honest shopkeeper. He would open his shop at 8:00 a.m. after having his breakfast and at 1:00 p.m. he would go for lunch. In the evening at 8:30 p.m. he closed his shop.

However, to get time for lunch was really difficult because he didn’t have anybody to help him at that time. So any customer who was shopping at 1:00 p.m. would be asked to watch the shop until the shopkeeper returned from lunch.

One day, four thieves planned to steal from his shop while he was gone for lunch. One of the thieves went at 1:00 p.m. He hoped to be asked to watch the shop.

The thief, pretending (假装) to be a customer, went in at 1:00 p.m. And started buying several things. As planned, the shopkeeper asked the thief to sit on his chair for thirty minutes until he returned. The thief agreed and sat on the chair.

Then, the other three thieves quickly came and told the pretended customer to help. But something had changed in his mind. He knew that if he was given responsibility, he should not perform any dishonest acts during that time. His friends did not agree and began stealing things. The now-honest man tried to stop them. Then a fight started. And at the same time the shopkeeper returned and asked why they were fighting. The now-honest man explained the whole thing.

The shopkeeper had been searching for an honest man to watch the shop. The shopkeeper realized that he had found the right man.

A punctual person is in the habit of doing a thing at the correct time and is never late for anything.

An unpunctual man never does what he has to do at the right time. He is always in a hurry and in the end loses both time and his good name. A lost thing may be found again, but lost time can never be got back. Time is more useful than material things. In fact, time is life itself. An unpunctual man is always wasting his most important things as well as others’. An unpunctual person is always saying unhappily that he finds no time to answer letters or return calls. But the man who really has much to do is very careful of his time. He knows that he can not finish all his work unless he carefully does every piece of work.

Being unpunctual is the sign of disrespect(不尊重) towards others. If a person is invited to dinner and arrives later than the time when he should be there, he keeps all the other guests(客人) waiting for him. Usually this will be thought as a great disrespect to the host and all the other guests.

Not like a punctual person, an unpunctual one can’t do his duty wonderfully, whether it is public or personal. Imagine how it would be if those who should do important tasks failed to be on time. A man who is known to be often unpunctual is never believed by his friends or fellow men.

 Sometimes people come into your life and you know at once that they were sure to be there.They serve some certain purpose，teach you a lesson or help find out who you are or who you want to become.You never know who these people may be：your classmate，neighbor，teacher，long­lost friend or even a real stranger.But you know that every moment they will influence your life in some serious way.

Sometimes things happen to you. At the time they may seem terrible, painful and unfair. But later you realize that without overcoming those difficulties, you would have never realized your further ability and advantages.Everything happens for a reason and nothing happens by chance or with good or bad luck.

The people you meet influence your life，and the success and failure you experience create who you are.Even the bad experience can be learned from.In fact，they are probably the most poignant and important ones.

Enjoy every day even every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can，for you may never be able to experience it again.Talk to people whom you have never talked to before，and really listen.You should set your goals high，hold your head up，tell yourself you are a great one and believe in yourself.

You can make your life anything you wish.Create your own life and then go out and live it.