We stared at the black smoke rising above the burning building.

I woke up this morning, my mom breakfast.

An early spring morning I woke up with a strange thought" Something's going to happen. "The weather was beautiful and the morning promised a perfect day. I was still in bed, enjoying the sun and fresh air. I got it and a strange voice said:

"Good morning. Are you sleeping yet?"

I wondered who it was. It was a nice woman's voice with a special accent(口音). That phone call made me think a lot. A few minutes later I forgot this. I had breakfast and went out for a walk. The weather was warm. I was walking through the park.

Just then, I saw a young boy taking a wallet from the ground. It seemed to me that I had seen this wallet before. First, I thought that he had dropped it, but his next actions made me think the opposite. After that, he ran as quickly as he could. I didn't know what to do, so I began to scream loudly. I hoped there would be somebody nearby to catch him. But there was nobody around. I ran after him, but he disappeared somehow.

Then I checked my pocket and realized that the wallet was mine. Maybe I had dropped it. That was a very awful day.

Suddenly, while I was sitting on a bench, a beautiful young woman appeared. She asked me what had happened to me. It was the same voice which I had heard that morning on the phone. The same special accent. I couldn't believe my eyes.

At that moment I felt someone shaking me and saying: "Wake up, wake up. It's getting late. Wake up!" I opened my eyes and saw my mother. I jumped out of bed immediately and checked where my wallet was. Thank God! It was there. It had only been a bad dream.

Do you think you're a lucky person? Let's see what Professor Richard Wiseman, a famous psychologist (心理学家), has discovered about luck.

Ten years ago, I carried out the research on luck. I wanted to know why some people were always in the right place at the right time, while others always experienced bad luck.

Many people volunteered for my research. Over the years I interviewed them, watched their lives and had them take part in my experiment.

I carried out a simple experiment to discover why there were differences in their ability to find opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside.

I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying, "Tell the researcher what you have seen and win $50."

This message took up half of the page and was more than two inches high. I was staring everyone straight in the face, but unlucky people tended to (倾向) miss it and lucky people tended to spot it.

Unlucky people are just more nervous than lucky people. They are busy looking only for what they need and this stops them from noticing the unexpected. As a result, they miss out opportunities.

Lucky people tend to be more relaxed and open. They can see everything that is in front of them, rather than just what they are looking for.

My research shows that lucky people live by several principles (原则). Here are some of these principles:

1 Opportunities are always given to those who are prepared.

2 Be open to new experiences and break your normal thought patterns(模式).

3 Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well.

4 See yourself being lucky before an important meeting or a phone call.

When he was 15, Owen Lima drove a car after he had been drunk. Soon after, he rolled down the car and had a serious head injury. When he finally woke, he discovered that the injury had done plenty of damage to his brain—a difficulty he has continued to deal with for the past 40years.

Lima's condition has made it difficult for him to understand others, especially when they speak quickly, which makes him worried. Because of his brain injury, Lima lives with Blue, a 10-year-old mixed-breed(混种的) service dog that helps keep him calm. One of the biggest problems Lima has been facing is finding a job. "I had gone to apply for(应聘)jobs with my dog, " he said of past experiences, " and they laughed at me. "

Lima's luck finally turned when they applied for a job at a Lowe's home in Regina, Saskatchewan." we asked what the dog was for, and then he told us the story and we went on with our interview like anybody else," said the store manager Paulo Gallo.

Now, Lima and Blue both work in the store. During the store's opening, the pair were there to greet new customers when the doors opened. Lima said he's grateful to his new workmates, both for the chance to work and for letting Blue along. "I'm just so happy to work here, to be treated like a normal person."

Dave of the office and found himself face-to-face with the boss.

I realized that l my English textbook at home when I got to school.