More and more people think it necessary to study in an English-speaking country and it didn't take long at all for me to decide to come and study in UK.

      I have been used to school life since I came here two months ago, and I am starting to enjoy most of my time in here. School starts at 9 o'clock every morning, and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we have long days, in which we have 9 lessons and school finishes at 4 o'clock. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday we have short days, in which we have only 6 lessons and finish at 1 o'clock. After lessons, we have  hours of activity time, when you can choose from a number of activities, including many sports, such as rugby(英式橄榄球) , football, basketball and tennis.

As a boarder(寄宿者), the quality of food is something I consider very important, and Merchiston has not let me down. The school kitchens are run by a professional company, and the quality of food is excellent, and they are always trying to make the diet healthy. One of the obvious advantages of being a boarder is that we can have breakfast in the school, which means we don't have to pull ourselves out of bed as early as the day pupils!

    Sixteen years ago a boy gave me an important gift. It was a smile.

    It was the early autumn of my first year at a middle school, and my old school was far away. As a result, no one knew who I was. I was very lonely, and afraid to speak to anyone.

    Every time I heard the other students talking and laughing, I felt my heart break. I couldn't talk with anyone about my problems.

    Then one day, when my classmates were talking happily with their friends, I was sitting at my desk unhappily as usual. At that moment, a boy entered the classroom. I didn't know who he was. He passed by me and then turned back. He looked at me, with a smile.

    Suddenly, I felt the touch of something bright and friendly. It made me feel happy and warm. That smile changed my life. I started to talk with other students and made friends. Day by day, I became closer to everyone in my class. The boy with the lucky smile has become my best friend now.

    One day I asked him why he had smiled, but he couldn't remember doing so!

    It doesn't matter because all the dark days have gone. I believe that the world is what you think it is. If you think it is lonely, you might always be alone. So smile at the world and it will smile back.

    When our son Bradley was ten, the new bicycle he had received earlier that year was stolen. Owning a bicycle was a big deal to our children when they were little. They spent hours and hours, day after day, on their bicycles, riding up and down the footpath, and at the front of the house. We also rode together as a family a lot. Bicycling was a great way to get the kids out of the house and into the fresh air without spending any money.

    Bradley had discovered that his bicycle had been stolen from our backyard in Campbelltown, South Australia, when he and his sister went outside for a morning ride. He couldn't believe that someone would do this.

    He got a large piece of cardboard, painted a sign begging for the bicycle to be returned, and tied the sign to the letterbox. The following morning, when I went out to collect the mail, I found a white envelope with the magical words, "Buy yourself a new bicycle". There was a $100 banknote inside.

    We were very touched that someone had the heart to do this, We've never been able to thank the person but we suspect(猜想) that it may have been one of our wonderful neighbors. Bradley painted a big"______!"on the sign and we left it outside for a couple of weeks afterwards, hoping the kind stranger would drive down our street.

    A delighted Bradley was able to buy a new bicycle. As the years went on, the bicycles became bigger and more expensive but remained just as important for those family bicycle rides. Now Bradley is 25. Sometimes I miss the days when receiving a bicycle was the best thing in the world to them.

    All these years later we are still thankful for the stranger's kindness. We were a young family with three little children and it meant a lot to us. We still talk about it and, even now, wonder who the kind stranger was.

    Mulin is a boy from Hubei. He is a(n) 1 boy. His parents divorced（离婚）when he was two years old. He lived with his 2 and grandmother. 3 the age of 5, his father died of heart disease. He had to live with his grandmother. Unfortunately, there was 4 wrong with his grandmother's head. He 5 his grandmother well. At the same time, he got 6 grades at school. When he was ten, he took his grandmother to see a 7 in Wuhan with some people's help. They lived in Wuhan for a month. He had 8 time to go out because he had to look after his grandmother.

    He called 9 a "Sunshine Boy". He 10 happy every day. But when the reporter asked him 11 he was really so happy，he said he wasn't. He didn't want to show his unhappiness to his grandmother. He told the 12 that when he was unhappy，he wrote the unhappy things on the paper with which he folded a model 13.When the plane flew away, he felt relaxed.

    When the reporter asked him if he felt sorry to 14 so many lessons because of going to Wuhan, he said the lessons he missed could be learned later, but if his grandmother missed the best time to cure, there would be nothing to get the chance 15.

What a good boy! We should learn from him.

Sometimes I really want to know if （是否） there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy making money for our life. One day, my mother was sewing a quilt （缝被子）. "Mum, is there 1 between you and dad?" I asked. 

With surprise in 2 eyes, my mum stopped her work for a moment. Then she said, "Susan, look at this thread （线）. You can't see it easily, 3 it's really there. It makes the quilt strong. If life is a quilt, love should be a thread. Love is inside."

The next spring, my father 4 ill. After they were back from hospital, my mother helped my father walk 5 the country road every day. They were kind and happy. 

After two months, my father still couldn't 6 . "Dad, how are you feeling now?" I asked him one day. "Susan, don't 7 me," he said, "I just like walking with your mum. I like this kind of life." 8 his eyes, I knew he loves my mother 9 . 

Now I know that love is just a thread in the quilt of our life. Love is inside. It makes life strong and 10 .