英语故事1.A barber was in his shop, busily cutting a man's hair, when a handsome young stranger came in. He had a small boy with him. They sat down together and waited until the barber had finished. Then the young man told the barber to shave him and to cut the small boy's hair.The barber said,“Do you want me to cut the boy's hair first, or to shave you?”“Oh, shave me.”said the young man.“Then I'll go down the road and have a glass of wine while you're cutting the boy's hair.”The young man sat down in the barber's chair, and the barber began to shave him.When he had finished, the young man got up and said,“I'll go down the road now and have my wine while you're cutting the boy's hair.”“All right, but I won't take long.”the barber warned him. The youn g man went out, the small boy obediently sat down in the barber's chair，and the barber began to cut his hair.As he had said, he soon finished, and then the boy sat down and waited. At the end of half an hour, when the young man had still not come back, the barber said to the boy,“It is a pity that your daddy's taking such a long time. Where is he likely to be now?”“I can't guess,”answered the small boy.“And that man wasn't my daddy.I've never seen him before in my life. I was playing in the street this morning, and he came up to me and asked me whether I'd like to have my hair cut without having to pay anything. I said I would, because my hair was rather long, so he brought me here.”2.A young man and an old man were waiting for a bus at a station. They sat next to each other.“What's that in your bag?”asked the young man, pointing to a big bag beside the old man.“Gold, nothing but gold,”answered the old man.The young man could hardly believe his own ears,“What?”he said to himself in surprise.“So much gold? My God! How I wish to be able to get so much gold!”Then he began to think about how to get the gold.The old man looked tired and sleepy and it seemed that he could hardly keep his eyes open.“Are you sleepy, sir?”asked the young man.“Then you'd better lie down on the chair and have a good rest. Don't worry about the bus. I'll wake you up in time.”“All right. It's very kind of you, young man.”The old man lay down and before long he fell asleep.The young man took the big bag gently. But when he was about to run away, he found a corner of his fur coat was under the old man's body. Several times he tried to pull it out, but he couldn't. At last he took off his coat and went away with the bag.The young man ran out of the station as quickly as his legs could carry him. When he reached a place where he thought the old man couldn't find him, he stopped and quickly opened the bag.To his surprise, there was nothing but a lot of small stones in it. He hurried to the station at once. But when he got there, he found the old man was gone.3.God's CoffeeA group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversationsoon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchenand returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking,some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up,leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups. Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define,nor change the quality of Life we live.Sometimes, by concentratingonly on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."God brews the coffee, not the cups.......... Enjoy your coffee!"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."Live simply.Love generously.Care deeply.Speak kindly.Leave the rest to God.上帝的咖啡一群事业有成的同学回去看望他们的大学老师，很快他们开始抱怨生活和工作中的压力。