Only a Ribbon

    In one of the London hospitals，a short time ago，there was a young doctor. He noticed one of the patients，a ten-year-old poor girl called Katie，who had a very painful illness.

    Katie lay in her bed，day after day，with nothing to help her forget her pain and cheer up. One day the doctor noticed her trying to make a doll of her finger, and speaking to it. But she was soon tired of it，and lay back into her bed.

    That afternoon，the young doctor saw a beautiful ribbon in a shop window. He thought that it might help cheer the little girl up，so he went in and bought it for her. When he handed the ribbon to the girl，she was too surprised to speak. There were tears in her eyes. This little gift made her feel rich and happy.

    The nurse later told the doctor that the girl played with the ribbon all day long. She twisted（盘绕）it round her head. She held it in her hand while she slept.

    Some weeks later，Katie's illness became worse，and it was necessary to perform a dangerous operation. When Katie was brought into the operation mom，she cried out for the young doctor. He was brought，and he held one of the girl's hands，while the other tightly held the ribbon.

    During the operation，the ribbon fell off Katie's hand. As soon as she woke up and opened her eyes，she looked at her friend and said in a low voice，“My ribbon.”The doctor gave it to her and she smiled happily.

    It was only a little gift，but it made the girl's stay in the hospital bright with beauty and love.

    Hannah walked alone in the woods and felt sad . She was nine years old but she had already seen many changes in her short life. They weren't all bad things, some were pretty wonderful. Hannah loved having her new little sister and her stepmother ,Emma, was just lovely. She had to start at another school soon, but she was always able to make friends. Even so, her secret self wished that things didn't have to change at all.

    " Why do people have to leave, families move, a little girl grows up?”These thoughts made her feel worried .

    Hannah kicked a stone on the path and it hit a huge oak tree. She walked nearer to the tree. "Am I dreaming ?” Hannah rubbed her eyes. The tree was moving! Its big branches were reaching out to her. Soon, she was encircled by branches and leaves. Then she became one with the tree. Her brown hair grew longer and longer, as it curled around the leaves. Her body grew lean and strong and it mixed with the outer covering of tree until they shared one trunk. Her arms and legs reached out finger and higher. Finally, Hannah's spirit softly settled into its new home and she became a forest goddess.

    Hannah was now part of the woodland. Seasons changed and brought wonder and warmth to her. Winter was quiet and peaceful. In the springtime, she breathed in the rich smell of the soil and enjoyed the green new life in the forest. Her favorite season was autumn. Her leaves became magnificent colors and she loved to watch them dancing in wind.

    Hannah observed how things didn't stay the same in nature's world. She saw young animals born and the spirit of old creatures pass on. Within the tree, she spent hours watching the clouds move across the sky. Sometimes it was fair, and sometimes heavy and gray .In the evening she watched the stars twinkle against the night sky. As part of the forest, Hannah came to love the changing world around her.

    Suddenly, a nut hit her head. A squirrel hid from the tree quickly. Oh , she realized herself  napping under the oak tree. What a wonderful dream! Hannah learned her cheek against the bark and gave thanks for their time together. Then she went back home, thinking and smiling.……

    A man was visiting a rich person's house. As he went along, he saw a box of apples on the side of the road. He said, "I do not want to eat those apples. The rich man will give me very nice food to eat." Then he took the apples and threw them away in the dust(尘土).

    He went on and came to a river. The river had gotten so high, and he could not get through it. He waited for some time and said," I cannot go to the rich man's house today, for I cannot get over the river."

    He started to go home. He had eaten no food that day. And he was very hungry. He came to the apples, and he was glad to take them out of the dust and eat them.

    Do not throw good things away. You might be happy to have them later.

    Nearly all students want to have a good memory so that they can study well. Yan Jiashuo, a young girl, is quite lucky. She has received the honor of "International Master of Memory". About 300 people have been honoured as masters. Yan Jiashuo is the youngest among them.

    Yan Jiashuo always has a good memory. And the good memory comes from good training. When she was 4 years old, her parents asked her to recite ancient poems and books. She has practised a lot. So when she is at school, it is easy and quick for her to recite texts in class. What's more, she loves reading. When she was in the third grade, she could read one book a day.

    Yan Jiashuo is good at not only Chinese, but also maths. For her, numbers are not boring at all. She can make up stories with these numbers. She compares remembering a lot of numbers to watching a movie. Every group of two numbers is imagined to be a picture of the story. And these pictures are made up into a movie in her mind. She said everyone could have a good memory by training and there were plenty of ways to train your memory.