“就是他，”金发女人说，“是他偷了我的皮夹。”
他突然想到，他甚至无法向警察证实自己的身份。
时隔两星期之后——他不再那样尴尬和恼怒，家庭律师的报酬已经支付，家里的风波也已经过去——他的钱夹在上午送来的邮件中意外地出现了，没有附任何解释。皮夹原封未动，钱一点也没少，所有的证卡都在。尽管松了口气，但他觉得，在自己今后的人生旅途中，他在警察旁边会感到内疚，在女人们面前会感到羞愧难当。
精美的餐具Exquisite tableware
Recently I gave a dinner party for some close friends.To add a touch of elegance to the evening，I brought out the good stuff--my white Royal Crown Derby china with the fine blue-and-gold border.When we were seated，one of the guests noticed the beat-up gravy boat I‘d placed among the newer，better dinnerware.
“Is it an heirloom？”she asked tactfully.
I admit the piece does look rather conspicuous.For one thing，it matches nothing else.It’s also old and chipped.But that little gravy boat is much more than an heirloom to me.It is the one thing in this world I will never part with.
The story begins more than 50years ago，when I was seven years old and we lived in a big house along the Ohio River in New Richmond，Ohio.All that separated the house from the river was the street and our wide front lawn.In anticipation of high water，the ground floor had been built seven feet above grade.
Late in December the heavy rains came，and the river climbed to the tops of its banks.When the water began to rise in a serious way，my parents made plans in case the river should invade our house.My mother decided she would pack our books and her fine china in a small den off the master bedroom.
The china was not nearly as good as it was old.Each piece had a gold rim and a band of roses.But the service had been her mother‘s and was precious to her.As she packed the china with great care，she said to me，“You must treasure the things that people you love have cherished.It keeps you in touch with them.”
最近我举办了一次晚宴，招待几位亲密的朋友。为了给那个晚上增添一点优雅的情趣，我摆出了一件奇珍异宝——绘有精美蓝边和金边的白色王冠德比牌的瓷器。大伙儿就座后，其中一位客人注意到了这只残破的船形肉卤盘——我已把它放在了满桌新颖而别致的餐具当中。
“这是一件传家宝么？”她机敏地问道。
我承认这只盘子看起来确实惹人注目。首先，它跟其他任何东西都不相匹配；再者，它古老而且伤痕累累。但对我而言，这只小小的船形肉卤盘绝不只是一件传家之宝。它是这个世界上我一生都不会放弃的珍爱之物。
故事发生在50多年前，当时我才七岁，我们家住在俄亥俄州新里士满俄亥俄河边的一幢大房子里。房子跟河水只隔着一条街道和房前宽阔的草坪。考虑到河水有上涨的可能，房子一楼的地板安装得比地面高出七英尺。
12月下旬下起了大暴雨，河水涨到河沿上。河水刚开始猛涨时，我爸妈就作出了各种应急方案，以防河水淹进我们的房子。妈妈决定将我们所有的书籍以及她的精美瓷器搬出大卧室，放在楼上的小书斋里。
这些瓷器丝毫也显不出年代久远的痕迹。每一件都绘有金边和玫瑰花束。这套餐具是我外婆遗留下来的，对我妈来说十分珍贵。她一边小心翼翼地把它们包好，一边对我说：“你必须珍惜这些你所爱的人曾经珍惜过的东西。这可以保持你同他们的联系。”
最美的心The Most Beautiful Heart
One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley.A large crowd gathered，and they all admired his heart for it was perfect.There was not a flaw in it.
Suddenly，an old man appeared and said，“Why，your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.”
The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart.It was full of scars，it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in，but they didn‘t fit quite right，and there were several jagged edges.In fact，in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.
The young man laughed.“Comparing your heart with mine，mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars.”
“Yes，”said the old man，“Yours looks perfect but I would never trade with you.You see，every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love.I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them，and often they give me a piece of their heart that fits into the empty place in my heart.But because the pieces aren’t exact，I have some rough edges，which I cherish，because they remind me of the love we shared.
“Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away，and the other person hasn‘t returned a piece of his or her heart to me.These are the empty gouges --giving love is taking a chance.Although these gouges are painful，they stay open，reminding me of the love I have for those people too，and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting.So now do you see what true beauty is？”
The young man walked up to the old man，reached into his perfect heart，and ripped a piece out.He offered it to the old man.
The old man placed it in his heart，then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart.It fit，but not perfectly，as there were some jagged edges.
The young man looked at his heart，not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever，since love from the old man‘s heart flowed into his.
They embraced and walked away side by side.
一天，一位年轻人站在城镇的中央，宣布他的心是整个山谷中最美丽的心。围观的人很多，他们都称赞年轻人的心的确是完美无缺，并没有一点伤痕瑕疵。
突然，一位老人出现在人群中，说：“你的心不如我的美丽。”
围观者和年轻人都朝老人的心看去：它布满了伤疤，有的地方被挖去又重新填补上，但修补得不甚完整，留下一些参差不齐的疤痕。实际上，有的地方缺失了整块，甚至露出很深的豁口。
年轻人笑了起来：“我们两人的心相比，我的是那么完美，而你的却是一堆伤疤。”
“是的，”老人说，“你的心从表面来看很完美，但我绝不会跟你交换。你看，每个伤疤都代表我为别人献出的一份爱——我掏出一块心给他们，他们常常会掏出自己的一块回赠给我，以填补我的空缺。但由于这两块不完全一样，伤口的边缘就留下了疤痕，不过我十分珍惜这些疤痕，因为它们使我想起我们共同拥有的爱心。”
“有时我送出了一瓣心，其他人并没有回赠给我，因此就出现了这些豁口——献出爱也是需要冒风险的。尽管这些豁口很疼，我还是让它们敞开着，因为它们能使我想起我付出的爱。我希望有一天，得到爱的人们能够回来填补上我心里的空间。你现在明白什么是真正的美丽了吧？”
年轻人默默走近老人，把手伸进自己完美的心中，撕下一块来，把它献给这位老人。
老人接过馈赠，把它放进自己的心里。然后他从自己疤痕累累的心里掏出一块，放在年轻人心里的那个伤口上。正好放进去，但不是特别吻合，也出现了一些疤痕。
年轻人看着自己的心，看起来不再完美但比以前更美丽了，因为老人心中的爱也流淌到了他的心里。
他们拥抱着，肩并肩离开了。
以诚为贵To Tell the Truth
“Who did this？”asked my teacher.Thirty children tried to think about not only what they had done，but also what our teacher may have found out.“Who did this？”asked my teacher once more.She wasn’t really asking，she was demanding an answer.She seldom became angry，but she was this time.She held up a piece of broken glass and asked，“Who broke this window？”