This year a new student named Danny had moved into the class I taught. He was the oldest of five chil－dren. Danny’s dad was a truck driver and not home much, and his mom worked odd jobs1 when she could to help make ends meet2. In October, I gave Danny a pair of mittens3 and hat, never thought he would be so proud when he received his hat and mittens—because these are a few of the things he actually owned. He wore them to the playground between classes and care－fully put them in his desk when he came in. After school, I found his mittens and hat in his desk. When I questioned him whether he forgot to bring them home, he explained that stuff got easily misplaced at home with so many kids and he didn’t want to lose his only hat and mittens.
　　 Danny didn’t have a lot to be proud of. He wasn’t a very goodstudent, but he tried hard. His best sub－ject was art.I incorporated4 several artprojects into the reading curriculum5 that year to boost his self-es－teem6.
　　 Soon it came time for Christmas. Parents decided to collect twenty-five cents from each child who could afford it and buy a present for me. I wasn’tsupposedto know, but not much gets by a teacher in her own classroom, especially at lunchtime, the child would get back the changes, took out a quarterthen giggle7and put it in their inner pocket. Danny was on free lunch forunderprivileged8 children; so I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be bring a quarter. But that is the beauty of this kind of present. I would never know who con－tributed and who did not. The card would be signed by the whole class.
　　 The day of the party was unusually exciting. We watched a Christmas movie in the afternoon. We ex－changed gifts, and then the students presented me with my gift. Before that, Danny asked me for a piece of pa－per and a piece of tape. Although I was a little sur－prised why he wanted those things during a party, I happily provided the items9. I went back to my office af－ter the children left. On my desk, I found a folded piece of red art paper. I opened the hand-made Christmas card up and couldn’t hold my tears.
　　 The notes said, “To my favorite teacher. You have always been there for me, and I really appreciate it. I couldn’t afford to get you anything so I am giving you everything I have. Merry Christmas. Danny.”
　　 Inside the card was taped a dime—everything Danny had.
　　 今年我教的班上来了一个新学生叫丹尼。他是家里五个孩子中最大的，父亲是卡车司机，经常不回家，母亲则靠打零工来贴补家用。十月到了，我送给他一副手套和一顶帽子，没想到他是那么自豪——因为这是他拥有的不多的几样东西之一。每到课间他都带着帽子和手套到操场上去，上课后又小心地把它们放回课桌里。放学后我在丹尼的课桌里发现了他的帽子和手套。当我问他是否忘记带它们时，丹尼回答说：家里孩子多，东西经常会被乱拿，他怕失去自己惟一的手套和帽子。
　　 可以让丹尼感到自豪的事情不多，尽管很努力，但他不是一个拔尖的学生。他惟一的长项是美术。这学期，我在阅读课程里穿插了图画作业，来增长丹尼的自信心。
　　 很快圣诞节到了，家长们决定让可以负担得起的孩子每人出25美分，作为给我买礼物的钱。他们本来要瞒着我的，但是在自己的班级里发生的事又怎么会逃过一个老师的眼睛呢？尤其是午饭时间，当学生们拿到买午餐找回的零钱，他们会神秘地一笑，然后把25美分放进贴身口袋里。由于家境困难，丹尼的午餐是免费的，我当然知道他没有买礼物的25分钱。但孩子们凑钱买礼物的好处是：我不知道到底谁参与了，谁没有，卡片上会写上全班的名字。
　　 开圣诞晚会那天，教室里热闹非凡。下午我们先看了一部关于圣诞节的电影，同学们之间交换礼物，最后全班把我的礼物送给我。在这之前丹尼向我要了一张图画纸和一块透明胶带。尽管很奇怪他为什么要这些东西，我还是愉快地给了他。孩子们回家后我来到办公室，在书桌上发现了一张折起来的图画纸。打开这个用手工制作的贺年卡，我的眼泪禁不住流下来。
　　 卡片上写着：“送给我最喜欢的老师，需要时您总是在我身边，我非常感谢。因为买不起什么礼物，我现在要把我所有的全都送给您。圣诞快乐。丹尼。”
　　 卡片里用胶带粘着一个10美分的硬币——丹尼所有的一切。