Mr. Brown works on a farm. Mr. Green works in a park. But they don't know each other. Today is Sunday. Mr. Brown comes to the park. He feels tired. He wants to have a little rest. He sees a red chair under a tree over there. So he walks to the chair. Mr. Green is behind him. Mr. Green runs to the chair with a board when he sees Mr. Brown come to the chair. But Mr. Brown runs faster（更快） than Mr. Green. Then he sits on the chair. Mr. Brown is very happy. But Mr. Green doesn't say anything. He gives the board（板子） in his hand to Mr. Brown. It says, "Wet Paint(油漆未干). "

A Mystery (神秘的) Artist

    The first time I saw Suzy Khan, I knew I had to help her. All I knew was that she was an orphan, who had no parents, from Africa. She had just been adopted (收养) by a family, and they thought that the best way for her to learn American ways of life is to be with American kids.

    Suzy was really small for her age of 12. The boys in my class often laughed at her. She would open a book, pretending to read, with tears dropping on the open page. I looked down at this small girl and promised myself that I must help her.

    But how could I help her fit in with us? There had to be a way.

    One day, when I went into the classroom, I saw that Suzy had opened her geography book to a picture of a train, and in her notebook, she had made a perfect copy.

    I was surprised and thought that she could do something in the coming talent show. So, I took her to see the art teacher, Miss Parker, and showed her what Suzy had drawn. “Why, it's wonderful,” said Miss Parker, and then showed us a poster she had painted for the talent show. “I need more of these, but I just don't have enough time. Could you help me, Suzy?”

    On the day of the talent show, Suzy's posters were everywhere — all over the hall and all over the school, each one different.

    “And finally,” said Mr. Brown, the schoolmaster, at the end of the show, “We have a special award. I'm sure you've all noticed the wonderful posters.” Everyone nodded. “One of our own students painted them.”

    I could hear everyone whispering. “Who in our school could draw that well?”

    Mr. Brown waited for a while before saying, “Since this student worked so hard on the posters, she deserves a prize, too. Our mystery artist is our new student — Suzy Khan!”

    Mr. Brown thanked her for all the wonderful posters and gave her a professional artist's set. “Thank you,” she cried.

    I realized, at that time when I was looking at her excited face, she had probably never owned anything in her whole life.

    Everyone started to clap their hands. Suzy Khan gave them a shy smile. I knew then Suzy was going to be all right.

    Most of us have ever imagined the life on a desert island. We sometimes imagine a desert island to be a sort of paradise(天堂) where the sun always shines. Life there is simple and good. Ripe fruit falls from the trees and you are free to sit around without any work. This is really a beautiful picture, isn't it? However, the other side of the picture is quite the opposite. Life on a desert island is awful. You either starve to death or live like Robinson Crusoe, waiting for a boat which never comes.

    Perhaps there is some truth in both these pictures, but few of us have had the chance to find out. We can only experience it in the story like the following.

    Many years ago, two men spent five days on a coral island and they wished that they could stay there longer. They were driving a badly damaged boat from the Virgin Islands to Miami to have it repaired. During the journey, their boat began to sink(下沉). They quickly put food, matches, and cans of beer into a rubber dinghy(救生筏) and rowed for a few miles across the Caribbean until they arrived at a tiny coral island.

    There were hardly any trees on the island and there was no water, but this did not seem to be a problem. The men collected rainwater in the rubber dinghy. As they had brought a gun with them, they had plenty to eat. They caught lobster and fish every day, and they thought they lived just like a king. Five days later, a tank passed by and saved them. However, they felt sorry that they had to leave.

    When I was in high school.I worked part-time helping Dad sell fruits and vegetables at a matket. One day，as I was preparing the fruits. A little boy came by with his mom and sister. He was  about eight years old，and the girl.five or six. They were looking the fruits in front of me. I heard the kids say to their mom(in French),"They're good!" I knew it was French. Because I can speak and understand it.

    Then I noticed how mom was picking the fruits.At first I thought she was really looking at the fruits because she was facing them. But then I noticed how much she had to feel and smell each one as she picked them out. And often asked her son if it looked okay, but looked way above where his face was. Putting what I saw together,I was sure she was blind.

    Both of the kids continued to help their mom pick out the fruits .The son made sure the fruits were not obviously bad, and the daughter handed them to her mom. The woman then felt each one and smiled, and the daughter would put them into their basket .The kids were smiling while helping their mom pick the fruits out.

    Their smile and gentle manner moved me in a way that never happened before .It was so beautiful to see such young kids so willingly help. Most kids that age would be picking out candies or toys in a store for themselves, instead of helping their mom pick out fruits as the two kids did.

    It was great to witness the moment, but not so great because I didn't tell the mom how beautiful her children were in their language .this is what I regret to this day.

No one knows when the first kite was made. The first record of a kite was more than 2,000 years ago in China. Han Xin, the leader of an army, wanted to bring down a king. He decided to dig a tunnel (隧道) into the king's palace. He flew a kite over the wall of the palace to make sure the length of its string (线). In this way, he could determine how long the tunnel should be. His men in the tunnel took the kite string with them. When they reached the end of the string, they knew to dig up.

  Kites have been flown in Japan for hundreds of years. In the 1700s, kites were flown in autumn to give thanks for a good harvest. They were also flown to send good wishes to couples who had their first son. Today in Japan, kites are often flown as part of a celebration, such as the beginning of a new year. And kite festivals are held each year in many parts of the country.

  Kites have been used for scientific purposes in the western world. In 1752, Benjamin Franklin tied a key to a kite and flew it in a storm to find out that lightening was a form of electricity. In the 1890s, Lawrence Hargrave invented the box kite to test ideas about flight. From 1898 until 1933, the United States Weather Bureau (气象局) used box kites to collect weather data. The Wright brothers also experimented (试验)with kites. What they learnt helped them make the first airplane flight in 1903.

People around the world work together to help our planet on Earth Day, April 22. But in fact, lots of people protect the Earth all year long. They are Earth heroes(英雄). And some kids do, too. We have four kids here, telling you that you can help even if you are a child.

Saving the frogs

John is from the USA. He always loves frogs. When John was 5, he learned their living places were in danger. So John started a group, For the Love of Frogs. They sold toy frogs to collect money to help frogs. John is now 10 and the group has more than $ 20,000 to protect frogs!

Growing right

Mandy lives in a city in India. She saw a wasteland near her house at 15. She turned it into a garden. She used native plants that lived or grew around her city. Native plants could make insects like butterflies and animals come to her area.

Mandy is now 18. She is teaching people about native plants." The way to reuse the wasteland is not just to plant any tree," she said." It is to make sure that you grow the right plants in the area."

Cleaning up

Zhang Min, 13, and Zhang Jie, 15, live in a city in China. To fight plastic pollution, they made a plan. They wanted to clean up plastic waste in the Pearl River.

Zhang Min and Zhang Jie put up posters at school to make people care more about plastic waste." You need to have people talk to one another," Zhang Jie said," Everyone can do something to help."