3. A similar misfortune befell a girl, too. One night her mother, who suffered from chronic2 mental illness disappeared. So her father went out looking for her mother, leaving her alone at home. She tried to prepare meals for her parents, only to overturn the kerosene3 light on the stove, resulting in a fire which took her hands away. Though her elder sister who was studying in another city, showed her willingness to take care of her, she was determined to be completely independent. At school, she always studied hard. Most of all she learned to be self-reliant. Once she wrote the following in her composition: “I am lucky. Though I lost my arms, I still have legs; I am lucky. Though my wings are broken, my heart can still fly.”
4. One day, the boy and the girl were both invited to appear on a television interview program. The boy told the TV host about his uncertain future at being left on his own, whereas the girl was full of enthusiasm for her life. They both were asked to write something on a piece of paper with their toes. The boy wrote: My younger brother’s arms are my arms；while the girl wrote: Broken wings, flying heart.
5. They had both endured the same ordeal4, but their different attitudes determined the nature of their lives. It is true that life is unpredictable5. Disasters can strike at any time. How you handle misfortune when confronted with it, is the true test of your character. If you choose only to complain and escape from the ordeal, it will always follow you wherever you go. But if you decide to be strong, the hardship will turn out to be a fortune on which new hopes will arise.
1. 在一次事故中，作为家中顶梁柱的父亲永远地离去了，他也因此失去了双手。从此弟弟的手便成了他的手。为了照顾他，弟弟从小到大总是形影不离地跟在他的身边，他除了学会了用脚趾头写字做作业外，生活上完全不能自理。
2. 有一次，他因肠胃不好，半夜起来要上厕所，于是他叫醒了弟弟。弟弟帮着他进了厕所后，就回宿舍躺下了。由于太劳累，弟弟闭上眼就睡着了。结果他在厕所里等了整整两个小时，才被查夜的老师发现。慢慢长大了的两兄弟也有了烦恼和争执，有一天弟弟终于提出要离开他，因为弟弟要和很多正常人一样需要过自己的生活。为此，他很伤心，不知如何是好。
3. 无独有偶，另一个女孩也有着同样的遭遇。因为妈妈长期患有精神病，在一天晚上无故出走，爸爸去找妈妈了，家中便只留下她一人。她决定做好饭菜等爸爸妈妈回来吃，却不小心将灶台上的煤油灯打翻，结果双手便被大火夺走了。虽然在外地读书的姐姐愿意照顾她，可倔强的她一定要自己照顾自己。在学校，她不但读书认真，更重要的是她学会了生活自理。她曾在一篇作文里写道：我幸福，虽然断了双手，但我还拥有一双脚；我幸福，虽然翅膀断了，但心也要飞翔……
4. 有一天，他们被一家电视台邀请到了演播室。面对主持人，男孩表现出了对前途的迷茫，而女孩则对生活充满了热情。主持人要求他们分别在一张白纸上写一句话。他们分别用脚趾头夹起了笔，男孩写的是：弟弟的手便是我的手。女孩却写下了：翅膀断了，心也要飞翔。
5. 他们俩都经受了同样的苦难，但不同的人生态度却决定了其生活的本质。是的，人生多变幻，苦难总是在不知不觉中骤然降临。如何应对苦难，是对你的性格的真正考验。面对苦难，如果选择抱怨与逃避，苦难就永远如影随形；但如果选择坚强，苦难便会化作甘泉，滋润美好的希望。
Colorful Shades Of Gray绚烂的灰色
1. Moths are very ugly creatures. At least that is what I always thought until a reliable source told me otherwise. When I was about five or six years old, my brother Joseph and I stayed overnight at our Aunt Linda’s house, our favorite relative. She spoke to us like adults, and she always had the best stories.
2. Joseph was only four years old, and still afraid of the dark, so Aunt Linda left the door open and the hall light on when she tucked us in to bed. Joe couldn’t sleep, so he just lay there staring at the ceiling. Just as I dozed off to sleep, he woke me up and asked, “Jennie, what are those ugly things near the light?”(I had always liked that he asked me questions because I was older and supposed to know the answers. I didn’t always know the answers, of course, but I could always pretend I did.) He was pointing to the moths fluttering around the hall light. “They’re just moths, go to sleep,” I told him.
3. He wasn’t content with that answer, or the moths near his night light, so the next time my Aunt walked by the door he asked her to make the ugly moths go away. When she asked why, he said simply, “Because they’re ugly and scary, and I don’t like them!” She just laughed, rubbed his head, and said, “Joe just because something is ugly outside doesn’t mean it’s not beautiful inside. Do you know why moths are brown?” Joe just shook his head.
4. “Moths are the most beautiful animals in the animal kingdom. At one time they were more colorful than the butterflies. They have always been helpful, kind, and generous creatures. One day the angels up in heaven were crying. They were sad because it was cloudy and they couldn’t look down upon the people on earth. Their tears fell down to the earth as rain. The sweet little moths hated to see everyone so sad. They decided to make a rainbow. The moths figured that if they asked their cousins, the butterflies, to help, they could all give up just a little bit of their colors and they could make a beautiful rainbow.
5. One of the list moths flew to ask the queen of the butterflies for help. The butterflies were too vain and selfish to give up any of their colors for neither the people nor the angels. So, the moths decided to try to make the rainbow themselves. They beat their wings very hard and the powder on them formed little clouds that the winds smoothed over like glass. Unfortunately, the rainbow wasn’t big enough so the moths kept giving a little more and a little more until the rainbow stretched all the way across the sky. They had given away all their color except brown, which didn’t fit into their beautiful rainbow.
