The "Chair"
There was once a boy called Mario who loved to show off how many friends he had at school. One day his grandfather said to him, "Mario, I bet you a big bag of popcorn you don't have as many friends as you think. I'm sure many are nothing more than acquaintance ( 略有交情， 熟人) or partners."
Mario agreed to the bet without a second thought. However, he wasn't sure how to test who were real friends, so he asked his grandpa. "Take this. It's an invisible (透明的) ‘chair'. If you take it to school and manage to sit on it, you can tell who your real friends are." his grandpa said.
Mario took the special "chair" to school. At break time he asked everyone to form a circle, and stood in the middle, with his "chair". Mario tried hard to sit on the "chair". Having difficulty seeing it, he missed and fell down many times. Everyone had a pretty good laugh.
"Wait, wait, just a small problem," he said. But again he missed the seat, causing more surprised looks. Mario tried many times until, suddenly, he sat in mid-air...
Then he finally experienced the magic that his grandfather had been talking about. Looking around, Mario saw George, Lucas, and Diana—three of his best friends—holding him up with their strong arms, so he wouldn't fall. Meanwhile, many others he had thought of as friends had done nothing but making fun of him, enjoying his every fall.
And there the show came to an end. Leaving with his three friends, he explained to them the magic "chair" test. And he learned true friends are those who care for us, and not just any acquaintance who happens to be passing by. A real friend would be less likely to make fun of us.
