"Everything happens for the best." Whenever I faced disappointment, my mother would say this to me.

    After I graduated from college in 2002, I decided to find a job in radio as a sports announcer (播音员 ).I went to Chicago and knocked at the door of every station. But unluckily, I was refused every time.

    At one station, a kind lady told me that big stations wouldn't hire(雇用) an inexperienced person and suggested that I try my luck at smaller stations. Following her advice, I went back to Dixon. There were no radio-announcing jobs in Dixon, and my father said a newly-opened store wanted a local sportsman to work for it. I applied for the job, but I was refused again.

    "Everything happens for the best," Morn reminded me. I tried WOC Radio in Davenport, Lowa. The program director, Peter, told me they had already hired an announcer.

    I left his office, and felt totally disappointed. While I was waiting for the elevator, 1 heard someone calling. It was Peter. "What do you know about sports? Do you know anything about football?" Then he asked me to broadcast (播报) an imaginary game. Pleased with my performance, he offered me a chance to work there.

    On my way home, I thought on my mother's words, "If you carry on, one day something good will happen. Something wouldn't have happened if not for that previous (先前的) disappointment. "

    Bob and Sue are in the same school, 1 they are in different 2. They go to school on weekdays. 3 school, Bob and Sue often play games with 4 friends.

  Class begins 5 eight in the morning. Now Bob and Sue are in their own(自己的) classrooms. They are listening to their 6. Bob's studying English. His teacher is talking 7 English. Sue's 8 a Chinese class. Her teacher is talking 9 writing. They study hard. They love their teachers and they like their 10.

    In ancient times, there was a king who loved flowers, His palace was always decorated with beautiful orchids (兰花) and other flowers. As the king grew older, he knew that one day he would have to give up his throne (王位). So he had to find someone to rule the country.

    The other day, the king had an idea. He asked his servants to travel to every part of the country and give every citizen a single orchid seed (种子), He then announced that the person who grew the most beautiful orchid would take his throne.

    Everyone in the country then got their own seed. One young man named David was especially excited about the news, because he had experience in growing flowers himself.

    David planted his seed in a pot and put it in a place where it would get lots of sunlight. He watched it carefully every day. But as hard as he tried, his flower simply would not grow.

    Finally, it was time for everyone to give their flowers to the king. David took his empty pot to the palace. "Your Majesty (尊敬的陛下), I am sorry to say that I could not grow an orchid, But I hope you can see that I tried my best," he said.

    The king was moved by David's honesty. Although he did not choose David as the new king, he gave David a job as a royal court judge (法官).He believed that David's honesty would make him the right person to make sure the justice (公正) in the country.

Somebody Loves You

    One cold rainy night, I was working on my Legos in my bedroom. I was dreaming of the day when I have earned enough money to buy my favourite set. To help me, my father rewarded me one dollar a day after I jogged with him in the morning.

    Suddenly, the doorbell rang. I jumped from my chair and raced to the top of the steps, wondering who would visit us on such a rainy night. My mother opened the door. Surprisingly, she found a very untidy man. Overcome by pity, my mother invited him inside to the living room.

    I went downstairs quietly so I could get a better look. I couldn't hear clearly what they were saying, but I saw the man holding his head in his hands and crying, which made my chest ache.

    I raced back to my room, grabbed the one-dollar coin I had got that morning, ran back to the man, put the coin in his hand and gave him a hug. At that moment, I had no idea why I did so. Feeling embarrassed, I stood still.

In a while, the stranger sat quietly with his head bowed. Tears streamed down his face as he tightly held that coin. Finally, he said, ―I just thought nobody cared about me. For the last twenty years, I have been so alone… I have no family. That was the first hug I have gotten in — hmmm… I don't know how long. It's hard to believe that somebody cares.

    Being a kid, I hadn't thought about what I was doing that night. I just had the reaction to the sight of someone else's pain. On our earlier morning jogs, my dad and I had talked about the importance of giving, but I hadn't had any idea of what it really meant.

    Before the man left that night, my parents asked him why he had knocked on our door. He said that as he was walking along the streets, hopeless and ready to die, he had noticed a bumper sticker on the car in front of our house. The bumper (保险杠) sticker on the car read: SOMEBODY LOVES YOU.

    For a 6-year-old kid, what he or she wants most may be delicious food and enough playtime. Sometimes we think children only have some simple wishes. ______ , a 6-year-old girl in the kindergarten(幼儿园) surprised her teacher.

    An Internet user Katt has a little sister called Peyton. Last week, Katt shared her sister's teacher's note(便条) online.Mrs. Petree shared Peyton's act of kindness(善良). It really touched many people's hearts. Here is the thing. Peyton did very well in class and the reward(奖赏)she chose was to sit with a friend at lunch. The teacher thought for sure who Peyton would choose. But Peyton picked a little boy who never got picked for anything. What a surprise! Mrs. Petree said kids learned to be kind when they saw Peyton's kindness. After that, other kids started to play with the boy. The boy is very different now and he's more and more outgoing

    After reading the note, Katt thought her little sister was great and that she would make the world better one day.

    They say that "travel is the best teacher" and there is no better example of this idea than the Ming dynasty travel writer and geographer Xu Xiake (1587-1641). His book The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake, not only encouraged a love of travelling among Chinese people but provided important scientific information about the country's land and geography.

    Born into a wealthy Jiangyin family, Xu became interested in books about different places at anearly age and wanted to travel. When he was 18, however. Xu's father died and so, it seemed, did his travelling dreams. He now was responsible for the family farm and taking care of his 60-year-old mother as tradition required.

    But his mother had different ideas. Understanding her son, slove of travel and valuing the knowledge he could get from such experiences, this modern-thinking woman refused to keep her son at home. She agreed that Xu could travel for three months every year, when there was less farm work.

    So at the age of twenty and with his mother's support, Xu set off for the first time, leaving behind not only his mother but his new wife as well. He would repeat this goodbye each year for most of the next 30 years. During this time, he travelled throughout the Ming kingdom, carefully studying the lands he passed through and recording his experiences and many discoveries in a diary. This diary, which once had over 500,000 words, would eventually become The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake.

    Although rich, Xu avoided comfortable travel, preferring to go almost everywhere on foot. This way he could research the environment in detail and get a true picture of the natural world. Many of his trips were to hard-to-reach mountain areas, and through wild forests where few people lived. His willingness to face hardships came at a cost however. Progress was slow and tiring and he was frequently sick, robbed and beaten during his journeys

    Sadly Xu became seriously ill during his last and longest journey, a 4-year trip through the Southwest of China. He died in 1641, soon after returning to his hometown for the last time. When his diary was finally printed years after his death, much of it had been destroyed or lost. Although incomplete, it still made Xu a travelling legend around the world.