an apple tree
A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and lay around it every day. He climbed to the tree top, ate the apples, took a nap under the shadow… He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him.
Time went by… the little boy had grown up and he no longer played around the tree every day. One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad. “Come and play with me,” the tree asked the boy. “I am no longer a kid, I don't play around trees anymore.” The boy replied, “I want toys. I need money to buy them.” “Sorry, but I don't have money…but you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money.” The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy never came back after he picked the apples. The tree was sad.
One day, the boy returned and the tree was so excited. “Come and play with me,” the tree said. “I don't have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?” “Sorry, but I don't have a house. But you can chop off my branches to build your house.” So the boy cut all the branches off the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the boy never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and sad.
One hot summer day, the boy returned and the tree was delighted. “Come and play with me!” the tree said. “I am sad and getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?” “Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.” So the boy cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time. The tree was happy, but it was not true.
Finally, the boy returned after he left for so many years. “Sorry, my boy. But I don't have anything for you anymore. No more apples for you…” the tree said.
"I don't have teeth to bite,” the boy replied.
"No more trunk for you to climb on.”
"I am too old for that now,” the boy said.
"I really can't give you anything… the only thing left is my dying roots,” the tree said with tears.
"I don't need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years.” The boy replied.
"Good! Old tree roots is the best place to lean on and rest. Come, Come sit down with me and rest.” The boy sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears…
This is a story of everyone. The tree is our parent. When we were young, we loved to play with Mom and Dad… When we grown up, we left them, and only came to them when we need something or when we are in trouble. No matter what, parents will always be there and give everything they could to make you happy. You may think that the boy is cruel to the tree but that's how all of us are treating our parents.
Recently I learned from the radio an unpleasant incident about a well known singer. She is very charming with a sweet beautiful voice and very famous for singing the song.“Devotion of Love”。 Not long ago,she was invited to Zhejiang Province to give performance. The moment she was to appear on the stage,she suddenly asked for more reward. Worse still,after her request was satisfied, she didn't begin to sing at once. Instead,she took her time to count all the money piece by piece. Thus she kept the audience waiting for half an hour. So when she at last showed up and started to sing “Devotion of Love”，a man rose up from his seat and shouted at her,“You don't have any devotion of love. You are not qualified to sing this song ! ”Hearing this, the singer stopped singing and began to shout abuses with her finger pointed at the man. At this time the whole audience burst into an uproar.
How disappointed her keen listeners were when they learned this! It is the singer herself who spoiled her beautiful image in the eyes of others.
Now, I'm coming to another true story. It's about a poor, ordinary looking old woman. She was a widow without any children, living barely from hand to mouth by picking odds and ends from rubbish heaps. However,she took in more than ten homeless orphans successively and managed to bring them up. Every day she labored from morning till night. In order to earn as much money as possible to raise the children and to keep them in school,she even went to a hospital regularly to sell her blood. She got so weak for the loss of blood that she sometimes fell in a faint on her way home.
When asked why she chose to burden herself with so many children,she smiled and simply answered,“Oh,I love children and I like to have their company. ”
Though the old woman was poor materially, she was full of affection and rich in spirit. She was loved dearly by her children. She was also highly appreciated by the local government, and truly respected by people in her community.
Maybe you can't help wondering, “What makes that ordinary woman so extraordinary?” It is nothing else but her inner beauty, her true devotion of love without any thought of rewarding. What a sharp contrast there is between the great woman and the selfish singer.
So,to answer the question “What is real beauty?”,I declare definitely,it is the beauty lying in one's heart of hearts and embodied in his actions and deeds,that is,the inner heauty!
Stress
Psychologist tell us that stress is a state of worry caused by the problem of living , such as too much work or study , heavy responsibilities , and quickened pace of life .
Statistics show that stress comes from every detail in our life . Financial problems , poor health , being laid off may be the stress that most adults now suffering . As students in the university , we are also under our special stress . While study , having to take various tests and submit a project against a deadline may put a great pressure on us . And the things make us felt stressed may be our parents's greater expectations on us than we could reach . Later , when we are likely to graduate , some other problems will also annoy us . I think we will worry a lot about our ability to compete in the job market and how we can best use what we've learned at college in our future job .
The chief problem we should face to is our atitude towards stress .People usually say they can not live in the sun except they escape from stress . It's unwelcome ! Yes , however , very necessary . Just image a world where stress does not exist and people lead their life in a very comfortable way . But is this kind of living condition as perfect as we hope ? Without stress , they may feel very satisfied with the current life but lack of power to discover new things . Too much satisfaction result in nothing except a countermarch of the society . No stress , no development . So a certain amount of stress is good . It can stimulate us and increase our level of alertness .
And our answer to stress is another vital problem . How to do with ourselves when stress suddenly break into our life ? To wave the white flag and admit our unability , to give up to our ideality , or worstly , just to suicide as to put an end to everything. Of cause not . The principle is to tackle with stress gentlely and harmoniously. We should try our best to release ourselves . Such as to do some exercise , to linsen to traditional Chinese music or classical music to ease our minds and to learn to view these changes of life as challenges .It's no use crying over spilt milk . Only to accept what has happened can solve the problem .
Ok , I think I was under large stress 3 minutes before , but now I am here and have finished my speech . Here is the last thing I want to add to my topic ,face to it and overcome it ,stress is also a piece of cake .
That is all . Thank you very much.
This summer, I was supposed to go to my favorite camp. But instead, I decided to go to the John Kerry office every day. Kids can really help!
On , we have an interactive presidential quiz. There are 270 questions for the electoral votes John Kerry will win. Plus, 25 questions to make up for Florida from the last election.
Our next goal is to have a petition for “National No Name-Calling Day,” a day that the candidates don't say anything negative about one another. When our Vice President had a disagreement with a Democratic senator, he used a REALLY BAD word.
If I said that -- If I said that word, I would be put in a “time-out.”
I think he should be put in a time-out.
The last time I saw John Kerry, he grabbed my arm and said, “See you at the convention.” And here I am!
What will be even more amazing will be the inauguration in January, when we have a new President, knowing that kids have made a difference in this election.
To summarize, Teresa Heinz Kerry: Inspirational, amazing!
John Kerry: American hero, next President.
Kids need-Kids need positive-Kids need positive role models in politics. And our Vice President deserves a long time-out.
Kids-Kids, this is about our futures. Make sure all adults you know get out and vote.
We can have a voice today!
Thank you!
What Is Real Beauty?
It is human nature that all of us should be fond of beauty. Everybody was born with a heart for beauty.
Today in China,with the rising of our living standard, people's requirement of beauty has been heightened accordingly. Some people spare no money or energy on beautiful clothes, fashionable hair styles,the decoration of their houses and even the improvement of their looks. But it seems to me,all these are more or less confined to the beauty in appearance,or rather,the outward beauty.
In my opinion,we shouldn't only pay attention to beautiful appearance and neglect the beautification of the mind and what we are after should be the perfect unity of the outward beauty and the inner beauty. As we all know,so far as objects and animals are concerned,there is only beautiful appearance to be mentioned, but to us humanbeings, although the outward beauty really matters, the inner beauty is much more important. This was confirmed by a famous Russian writer in words much like this: “A person is not lovely for being beautiful but beautiful for being lovely. ”
Here, I'd like to quote two typical instances and I'm sure, my dear friends,from them you'll find out what real beauty is.