One night, when I was eight, my mother gently asked me a question I would never forget. “Cindy, my company wants to promote (升职) me but needs me to work in Brazil. This is like your teacher telling you that you've done well and allowing you to skip (跳) a grade, but you'll have to leave your friends. Would you say yes to your teacher?” She gave me a hug and asked me to think about it. I was lost in thought. The question kept me wondering for the rest of the night. I had said “yes” but for the first time, I realized the difficult decisions adults had to make.

     For almost four years, my mother would call us from Brazil every day. Every evening I'd eagerly wait for the phone to ring and then tell her everything happened during the day. A phone call, however, could never take her place and it was difficult not to feel lonely at times.

During my fourth-grade Christmas break, we flew to Rio to visit her. Looking at her large empty apartment,   ▲  It was then I started to understand the difficult choices she had to make. She needed to think about both family and work. Faced with difficult decisions, she used to tell me, you wouldn't know whether you make the right choice, but you could always make the best out of the situation, with a positive attitude.

     Back home, I reminded myself that what my mother could do, I could, too. If she managed to live in Rio all by herself, I, too, could learn to be independent. I learn how to take care of myself and set high but achievable goals.

My mother is now back with us. But I will never forget what the experience has really taught me. I've learned a lot because of this separation. There are lots of difficult decisions that we have to face in our life. We need to have a positive attitude no matter what happens.

    A driver stopped his car on a street side to have a rest. As he lay down in the seat and closed his eyes, a person came up and knocked at the window to ask the time. The driver opened his eyes and looked at his watch: "It's 8:05," he said. Then he went to sleep again. But soon he was woken up again because a second person was knocking at the window. "Sir, do you know the time?" he asked. The driver looked at his watch again, and told him it was half past eight.

    In this way, the driver thought he could not have a good rest, so he wrote a short note(纸条) and stuck(贴) it on the window for all to see. It said, "I don't know the time."

    Again, he lay down in the seat for his sleep. A few minutes later, a third person came and began to knock at the window, "Hey, sir," he said. "It's a quarter to nine."

    William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. His father was an important man in the town, so Shakespeare had a good childhood. Shakespeare probably went to school but not university. He got married to Anne Hathaway when he was 18 and the couple had 3 children.

    Shakespeare wrote 39 plays and 154 sonnets (a kind of poem). He began working in his hometown of Stratford, but by 1592, he began writing in London. He became rich enough to buy a house in the capital and another in Stratford. He wrote sad stories called tragedies, like Romeo and Juliet, funny stories or comedies, romantic stories and stories about history, such as Julius Caesar.

    Shakespeare died in 1616, about 400 years ago. But why are his works still popular today?

    His works looked at common human themes, such as murder, lust, power, ambition and love. Even until now, these memes are still part of human nature. We can also see the themes in modem soap operas and Hollywood films. Even though his theatre, The Globe, burnt down in 1613, it was rebuilt in London in 1997 and you can still see his plays performed there today.

    Shakespeare's influence on me English language can still be felt today. We talk about "fair play", meaning honest behaviour, but this phrase was first used by Shakespeare. And it was Shakespeare that came up with the expression of "disappear into thin air". And we still use it today when we lose something. Besides, Shakespeare's works have been translated into many languages in the world. And perhaps we'll still be as fascinated by his works 400 years from now as we've been for almost the last 400 years.

    Steven is six years old. He gets some money from his mother every week. He buys a lot of things from the shops, but he doesn't really need them, and he puts them everywhere. One day his mother gives him a notebook and says, "Now, Steven, when you buy things, write their names down in the notebook, and also write down how much they are. Then you can look at it again when your money is all gone (花光了), and you don't waste (浪费) so much money next time."

    After a week, Steven says to his mother, "Do you know, Mum, before I spend (花) any money now, I really stop and think!" His mother is very happy and thinks, "Well, my son knows the value (价值) of money now. "But then she hears him say, "Mum, before I buy something, I always ask myself, 'Can I spell (拼写) that word and put it down in my notebook?'"