The Power of Your Actions 
 
One day, when I was a freshman¹ in high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd." I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friend the following afternoon), so I shrugged² my shoulders and went on. 

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. 

My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him, and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, I saw a tear in his eye. 

I handed him his glasses and said, "Those guys are jerks³. They really should get lives." 

He looked at me and said, "Hey, thanks!" There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude⁴. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. It turned out he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before coming to this school. 

I would have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play football on Saturday with me and my friends. He said yes. We hung all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him. And my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "Damn⁵ boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!" He just laughed and handed me half the books. Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. 

When we were seniors, we began to think about college. Kyle decided⁶ on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our class. 

I teased⁷ him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak. ( to be continued)

　　中文：

　　当我还在上高一时，有一天，我看到我们班的一个孩子正步行回家。他叫凯尔。他似乎背着所有的书。我心想：“为什么有人在周五就把所有的书都带回家呢？他肯定是个书呆子。”我的周末计划得非常详细（先是派对，在第二天下午和我的朋友踢足球）。因此我耸了耸肩，走开了。
 
　　正走着，我看到一帮孩子朝他跑去。他们追上他，把他所有的书都从怀里扔到地上并把他绊倒，结果他摔在污泥里，眼镜也被打飞了，我看到它落在离他10英尺远的草地上。他抬起头时，我看到他眼里极度悲伤的表情。

　　我的心也随他而去。因此，我慢步向他跑过去。在他爬着寻找眼镜时，我看到了他眼中的泪水。

　　我把眼镜递给他，说道：“那些家伙都是些蠢蛋，他们真该遭到报应。”

　　他看了看我，说：“嗨，谢谢了！”笑容在他脸上展现。正是这样的笑显示出了真正的感激。我帮他捡起书，问他住在哪里。原来他住得离我很近。于是我就问他，怎么以前我从没有见过他呢，他说在来这所学校以前他上的是私立学校。

　　以前，我从不与私立学校的孩子交往。我们一路聊着回家，我帮他拿着书。他原来竟是一位非常讨人喜欢的孩子，我问他是否周六想跟我及我的朋友一起踢足球。他答应了。整个周末我们都在一起，对凯尔了解得越多，我越是喜欢他。我的朋友也都这么认为。到了周一早晨，凯尔又要背上那个巨大的书包了。我制止他，说：“傻孩子，你每天背这么一大堆书，想练就一身强壮的肌肉呀！”他只是笑，并把一半书都递给了我。接下来的四年里，凯尔和我成为最好的朋友。

　　到了高年级后，我们开始考虑上大学的事。凯尔决定去乔治敦，而我要去杜克。我知道我们永远都是朋友，距离决不会成为问题。他以后想当一名医生，而我则要用足球奖学金经商。凯尔是我们班致告别词的学生代表。

　　我总是取笑他是一个书呆子。他必须为毕业准备一个演讲。我很庆幸不是我要站在那儿演讲。（待续）

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