One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. She could not afford a present, so she sat down and cried.
Jim and Della had two possessions (财产) which they were both proud of. One was Jim's gold watch that was from his father and his grandfather. The other was Della's beautiful hair. It fell about her, and reached below her knee.
Della put on her old brown jacket and her old brown hat. Then she went out of the door and down the stairs to the street.
She stopped at a store. The sign in front of the store read "Hair Goods". "Will you buy my hair?" asked Della. "Twenty dollars." the woman said.
Then Della searched through the stores looking for a present for Jim.
She found it at last. It was a watch chain. The bill was twenty - one dollars. At seven o'clock, the coffee was made and dinner was ready. Jim was never late. Della heard his steps on the stairs.
The door opened and Jim walked in. He stopped inside the door. His eyes were fixed on Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read.
"Jim," she cried," don't look at me that way. I sold my hair to buy you a Christmas present. "
Jim drew a box from his pocket and put it on the table.
Della opened it. There lay the set of combs (梳子) that she had always wanted. Now they were hers, but her hair was gone.
She smiled and held out Jim's present. "I hunted all over town to find it. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it. "
Instead of obeying (服从), Jim sat down, put his hands behind his head and smiled. "Della," he said," I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. "
I had the meanest (最刻薄的) mother in the world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal (谷类食物) and eggs. When others had Coke and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. But at least I wasn't alone. My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did.
My mother knew where we were at all times. She knew who our friends were.
We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath every day. The other kids got to wear the same clothes days.
We had to be in bed by 9:00 pm and up at 8:00 am. We couldn't sleep till noon like our friends. So while they slept, our mother gave us work to do. We had to wash dishes, make beds and learn to cook. I am sure she lay awake at night thinking up mean things to do to us.
Through the years, things didn't improve a bit. We could not lie in bed "sick" like our friends did in order to miss school.
My mother was the meanest mother. Out of four children, a couple of us went on to higher education. None of us have ever done bad things. She forced us to grow up into educated and honest people. I am trying to raise my children like this. I will feel proud when my children call me mean, because, you see, I am so glad I had the meanest mother in the whole world.
When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book, and a poor man got it.
The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum(羊皮纸)on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone".
The touchstone was a small pebble(鹅卵石)that could turn any common metal into pure gold.
The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this. The real stone would feel warn, while ordinary pebbles are cold.
So the man sold his house, bought a tent, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up normal pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebbles hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold—throw it into sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. The days stretched into months and the months into years.
One day, however, about midafternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He was used to throwing each pebble into the sea as soon as he picked it up. So when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.
So it is with opportunity(机会). Unless we are vigilant, it's easy to fail to realize an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it away.
My teacher said to a student: "Give me your phone."
We all looked in surprise. Kyle, a student who I never saw text in class, gave the teacher his phone.
When the teacher left, two students who I often saw text in class started boasting about how they sent text messages and never got caught.
"Kyle, you stupid! I put my phone under my desk so it looks like I'm looking at my textbooks," one of them said.
"Isn't it funny that we always text and never get caught?" the other one laughed.
They must have thought they were smart, because they never got caught and Kyle did. But which situation is worse: getting caught, or getting away with it? Rules are there for a reason.
These two students might not get caught, but neither of them had good grades. They didn't pay any attention to the class, and I think they will keep doing this.
People don't just break big rules and get thrown into jail(监狱) overnight. They take it one step at a time. Kyle might have gotten caught, but at least he learned a good lesson. He will not break the rules in the future, so he will learn more in class and stay out of trouble. It's smarter not to break small rules.
One day, while I was waiting for my father, I saw a little boy, around two years old, running freely on the grass as his mother watched from a short distance. The boy had a big smile on his face as if he had just been set free from some sort of prison(监狱) . The boy would then fall to the grass, get up, without looking back at his mother, run as fast as he could, again, still with a smile on his face, as if nothing had happened.
At that moment, I thought to myself, "Why aren't most adults this way?" Most adults, when they fall down, make a big deal out of it and don't even make a second attempt. They would be so embarrassed that they would not try again if someone saw them fall. Or, because they fall, they would find a good excuse for themselves that they're not fit for it. They would end up being too afraid to attempt again for fear of failure(失败) .
However, with kids, when they fall down, they don't consider their falling down as a failure, instead, they treat it as a learning experience. They try again and again until they succeed. The answer must be that they have not connected "falling down" with the word "failure". What's more, they probably think to themselves that it's quite okay to fall down and that it's not wrong to do so. In other words, they allow themselves to make mistakes, so they remain energetic.
I was deeply impressed by the boy's persistence(坚持不懈) and the manner in which he did.
Happiness is important for everyone. Most people want to be happy, but few know how to find happiness. Here is a story to help you.
Once a bird lived unhappily. So it traveled far away to look for its happiness.
It flew and flew. Suddenly it saw a spider climbing up a wall. The spider fell off the wall halfway. But it kept climbing again and fell off again. Even so, the spider didn't give up. The little bird asked the spider in surprise. "Why don't you have pain but happiness on your face though you fail again and again?"
"Because I keep making my efforts. I'm happy." said the spider.
Then the little bird saw it happiness is a will in the heart.
The bird continued flying and saw a lame duck help a little duck who got lost to find the way back home. Although it was disabled, it had a smiling face.
"I'm happy because I can help others." said the lame duck.
So the bird saw it happiness is a love in the heart.
The bird went on flying and suddenly saw a little dying flower, whose face was full of smile. The bird didn't know the reason. So it asked the little flower, "You're going to die. Why are you still so happy?"
"Because my dream will come true," said the little flower.
"What is your dream?"
"To produce sweet fruit."
The little bird saw it: happiness is a hope in the heart.
So the little bird no more looked for happiness because it had seen the truth happiness is not in the faraway place but in your own heart. You are the maker of your own happiness.
