"Do you like my dress?" she asked a stranger. "My mum made it just for me," she said with tears in her eyes.

"Well, I think it's very pretty, so tell me, little girl, why are you crying?" The little girl answered in a low voice, "After mum made me this dress, she went away. My dad says that she's up in heaven now with Grandfather."

Finally the woman realized why she was crying. She felt very sorry for the little girl and gently held the child in her arms.

Then suddenly the little girl did something a bit strange. She stopped crying, walked back from the woman and began to sing. She sang softly. It was the sweetest sound the woman had ever heard, almost like the song of a very small bird.

After the child stopped singing, she said to the lady, "My mum often sang that song to me before she went away, and she asked me to sing it whenever I started crying and it would make me stop."

"See," she said loudly, "it did, and now my eyes are dry!"

Just before the lady wanted to go, the girl showed her a spot (印迹) on her dress, and said, "Right here is where my mum kissed my dress, and here," pointing to another spot, "and here is another kiss, and here, and here. Mum said that she put all those kisses on my dress so that I would forget my sadness."

Then the lady realized that she wasn't just looking at a dress, no, she was looking at a mother. The mother knew that she was going away and would not be there to kiss away her daughter's hurts any longer.

So the mother gave all her love to her beautiful daughter and put it into this dress. Now her child was wearing it so proudly.

The lady no longer saw a little girl wearing a simple dress. She saw a child wrapped (包) in her mother's love.

Growing up in a family of traditionalism, I found my voice later in life. I discovered that I could be so much more than a wife or mother. I could be anything I want to be. And I decided not to leave it to someday but do it today!

   In the first forty years of my life I loved everyone else and forgot all about me. I had been taught that loving and caring for oneself was "selfish". Then a light shone out of a personal tragedy, a suicide (自杀) of a loved one, which taught me the lesson of self-love. Learning to love yourself is the greatest lesson of all. I couldn't truly love anyone else if I didn't take the time to love and care for myself. How simple it sounds but how difficult it is to accomplish. Embracing that truth gave me my life back.

   Education and knowledge is power. Through education in a university I am powerful and lead my life that I choose, answering only to myself. With that responsibility I have become a better, gentler person. Without judgment I smile when I see other people's foolishness. I keep my mouth shut when I observe someone learning their lessons. If asked I try not to tell the persons what they should do, and how they should do it. Instead, I share with them my experiences and how I settled a particular challenge.

   Sixteen years ago, after a life time in theatre, I wanted to write a play about a tragedy happening to some very dear friends. Maybe someday my play will give comfort to other parents who are going through a similar trouble. Today I have written several stage plays and a series of fairy tales. The university delivered my heart's desire and I continue to do so every day and I am filled with gratitude.

I like watching butterflies. Sometimes I think I’m the only girl who notices these quiet but beautiful things. But if it hadn’t been for a crowded restaurant, I wouldn’t have ever noticed Valeri.

Valeri was a new student. She walked to class with her books against her chest and her head down. She talked only when the teacher asked her a question. After a month at our school, she hadn’t made any friend.

One day at lunch, most tables being full, I had nowhere to sit. Valeri sat alone, book in hand. I walked over to her, “Is that a good book?” Valeri gave a small nod and went back to reading. “What’s it about?” I asked. After seconds of silence, she looked at me, her eyes shining, “Well, it’s about a dragon! This boy, Eragon, finds this dragon egg when he goes playing one day. He thinks it’s a rock! The egg hatches（孵化）and Eragon hides the dragon from his cousin and uncle until it gets too big .”

Two weeks later, I was sitting in the auditorium（礼堂）enjoying the talent show. Then a shy girl walked on stage. I recognized her immediately. Valeri held a violin in one hand and a bow in the other. She started to play. The notes formed a soft, sweet tune. The auditorium fell completely silent until we realized the music was finished. I smiled to myself. Valeri wasn’t just “a quiet girl”. She knew about wonderful books and could play the violin like nothing I’d ever heard. Like a butterfly, she was beautiful and amazing when you looked closely.

Everyone needs friends. We all like to feel close to someone. It is nice to have a friend to talk, laugh and do so many things together with. Surely, there are times when we need to be alone. We donˈt always want people around. But we would feel lonely if we never had a friend.

No two people are the same. Sometimes friends donˈt get along well. That doesnˈt mean that they no longer like each other. Most of the time they will go on being friends. Sometimes friends move away. Then they feel very sad. We miss them very much. But we can call them and write to them. Maybe we would never see them again. And we can make new friends. It is surprising to find out how much we like new people when we get to know them. Families sometimes name their children after a close friend. Many places are named after men and women, if they are friendly to people in town. Some libraries are named this way. So are some schools. We think of these people when we go to these places.

Thereˈs more good news for people, if they have friends. These people live longer than those who donˈt have friends. Why? It could be that they are happier. Being happy helps you stay well. Or it could just know that someone cares about you. If someone cares about you, you take better care of yourself.

When my sister Martie told me she had put out tomato plants last summer, I was quite impressed.

   She was a garden-beginner. Once they were planted, she tended to water them daily, anxiously awaiting the juicy tomatoes to appear. But, day after day, her plants were tomato-less while all of her neighbors who had also put out tomato plants were already enjoying the fruit of their labor.

   Frustrated, Martie gave in and went to the market to search fresh tomatoes. While paying, Martie told the farmer her troubles. The farmer paused to think for a moment and then asked, "Well, what kind of tomatoes did you plant?"

   "I think they were called Big Boy," Martie remembered.

   "Well there's your problem," the farmer explained. "Big Boy and Better Boy tomatoes have a 95-day gestation (孕育) period whereas regular tomato plants produce fruit in as little as 70 days...you just have to wait a little longer for the Big Boys."

   With that new knowledge, Martie went home with excitement, knowing they would be worth the wait.

   Thinking about my sister's gardening experience, I had to smile. She just didn't know that Big Boy tomatoes took longer--neither did I--but once she discovered that information, she was no longer discouraged and upset about the lack of tomatoes on her plants. Instead, she was encouraged and excited to

see them a few weeks later.

   It makes me wonder how many of us have "Big Boy' dreams in our hearts, yet we just don't realize that they are of the "Big Boy" variety so we are discouraged and worn out with the waiting process. Instead of waiting with excitement, we give up on our dreams and figure we must have done something wrong to stop them from coming to pass. Frustrated, we see other people's dreams coming true, and we wonder why ours haven't yet been achieved.

D

Envy seems to be bad－but it doesnˈt have to be. Researchers are finding that, if approached the right way, there can actually be an advantage.

Psychologists classify envy in two ways: negative and positive. With positive envy, you are motivated by another personˈs success and struggle to follow it. With negative envy, you want to cut the advantaged person down so you look better by comparison. Letˈs say you feel sufferings of envy after your rival(对手) at another firm gets promoted. Negative envy might drive you to destroy his success, but positive envy would inspire you to work harder and get promoted, too.

Studies show positive envy can be a great motivator(动力). In a 2011 study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, researchers in the Netherlands conducted a series of experiments with more than 200 university students. Researchers found that when they caused feelings of positive envy----as opposed to admiration or negative envy----in the students, it drove them to want to study more and perform better on a test measuring creativity and intelligence. While admiration may feel better, the researchers found, it doesnˈt motivate performance like the pain and frustration of envy.

“Those painful sufferings of envy are there for an evolutionary(进化的) reason,” says Texas Christian University researcher Sarah E. Hill, “warning us that someone has something of importance to us.” Building on this theory, Dr. Hill and others conducted a series of experiments, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, to test whether envy improves attention and memory----the tools needed to copy a rivalˈs steps to success. In one experiment, half of the participants were asked to recall past feelings of envy; the other half werenˈt. The two groups were then shown mock(模拟的) interviews of imaginary peers. The group filled with envy paid closer attention and better recalled details about the interview subjects. In other words, envy made them more astute（机敏的）. Not only can envy motivate us to reach for higher goals, it may even give us the cognitive push to get there.

 Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and s o on. Why? Because those who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads at their free time. In fact， happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school， your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons， your parent s are always taking good care of your life and your health; when you get success， your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong， people around you will help you to correct it. And when you do something good to others， you will feel happy， too. All these are your happiness. If you notice them， you can see that happiness is always around you. 　　Happiness is not the same as money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor， you can also say you are very happy， because you have something else that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties， you can say loudly you are very happy， because you have more chances to challenge yourself. So you cannot always say you are poor and you have bad luck. As the saying goes， life is like a revolving(旋转 ) door. When it closes， it also opens. If you take every chance you get， you can be a happy and lucky person. 　

A passenger told an air hostess that he needed a cup of water to take his medicine when the plane just took off. She told him that she would bring him the water in ten minutes.

      The air hostess was kept so busy that she forgot to give him the water. As a result, the passenger was held up(延误) to take his medicine. Thirty minutes later, when the passenger’s ring for service sounded, she hurried over to him with a cup of water, but he refused.

      In the following hours on the plane, each time the air hostess passed the passenger, she would ask him with a smile whether he needed help or not. But the passenger never answered a word.

      When he was going to get off the plane, the passenger asked the air hostess to hand him the passengers’ booklet. She was very sad. She knew that he would write down sharp words, but with a smile she handeditto him.

      Off the plane, she opened the booklet, and smiled, for the passenger put it.“On the flight, you asked me whether I needed help or not for twelve times in all. How can I refuse your twelve sincere smiles?”

      That’s right! Who can refuse twelve sincere smiles from a person?

We usually work from 9: 00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. However, for some people, it’s bedtime. These people are night workers. Working at night brings particular problems: Family life is difficult, social life is limited and it’s bad for people’s health. With all these problems, who choose to work at night, and are they planning to stay in their jobs?

“I work at night because I like stars very much. I’m the happiest when I’m looking through my telescope. The stars are amazing, and it’s great taking pictures of them. Honestly, I’m never going to change my job. Of course, my social life is poor, but I’m going to make friends with people abroad online. They are awake when I’m working.”

--Robert Moore

“My work involves repairing railway tracks, so I have to work at night. It’s not so bad, our team spirit is great and we get paid extra. However, I’m going to leave this job. It’s tiring and I have to find a normal job because I will become a father next month. I hope to be a builder in the future. It’s hard work, but no more nights!”

--Tony Baggio

“When I came to this country, the only work I could find was as a night doorman. This job is boring because it’s so quiet, but I’ve decided to turn this problem into an advantage. I’m going to start a degree in literature by distance learning. I’m going to read my course books during the long quiet nights! I want to be a teacher in the future.”

--John Millar

“I work in a call center in India, but I answer calls from people in the UK. So I have to work at night. It’s a good job with a good salary. It’s also interesting because I use my English and talk with different people every day.”

--Peter Patel