Mrs. Smith is an unusual teacher. Once she told each student to bring along a few potatoes in plastic bag. On each potato the students had to write a name of a person that they hated And the next day, every child brought some potatoes. Some had two potatoes；some three；some up to five.

 Mrs. Smith then told the children to carry the bags everywhere they went, even to the toilet, for two weeks. As day after day passed, the children started to complain(抱怨)about the awful smell of the rotten（腐烂的）potatoes.

 Those children who brought five potatoes began to feel the weight trouble of the bags. After two weeks, the children were happy to hear that the game was finally ended. Mrs. Smith asked,“How did you feel while carrying the potatoes for two weeks?” The children started complaining about the trouble loudly．

Then Mrs. Smith told them why she asked them to play the game. She said,“This is exactly the situation when you carry your hatred（仇恨）for somebody inside your heart. The terrible smell of the hatred will pollute your heart and you will carry something unnecessary with you all the time. If you cannot stand the smell of the rotten potatoes for just two weeks, can you imagine how heavy it would be to have the hatred in your heart for your lifetime? So throw away any hatred from your heart, and you'll be really happy．

    Miya, nine years old, and her six-year-old sister Tiffany were in the swimming pool in the back garden of their house. Their father David was with them. It was a lovely day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

    Suddenly David shouted. He was in trouble. It was his leg His legs weren't right. He was in pain. Then he was under the water. The girls weren't scared but they were worried. Was it just a joke or was he really in trouble? Twenty seconds later, he was still under the water. Now Miya was scared.

    There was no time to wait. In seconds, Miya was under the water with her father. He was heavy but with the help of the water, she was able to pull him to one side of the pool. Now his head was out of the water. He was alive but he wasn't conscious(苏醒).

    There was a mobile phone in the house. Tiffany called 911 as quickly as she could. Ten minutes later, doctors came. Soon their father was conscious again. The girls were relieved.

    David still doesn't know what was wrong with his legs on that day. But he knows that his daughters were heroes and thanks them every day for saving his life He is a very proud father.

    About 10 years ago, I started a job as a trainer. In one of my first classes, the head trainer told us a story.

    He began by drawing a man standing in the middle of a circle. To make it more interesting, he drew things like a house, a car, and a few friends inside the circle.

    He asked the question," Can anyone tell me what this is？"In a long silence, one guy decided to speak out," The world?" The trainer said, "That's close. Actually, this is your Comfort Area. Inside your circle, you feel very comfortable. You have all the things that are important to your home, your family, your friends and your job. People feel that inside this circle they are safe from any danger."

    " Can anyone tell me what happens when you step out of this circle？"A strong silence came over the room. At last, the same guy started," You are afraid." Another guy said," You make mistakes." The silence continued and the trainer smiled and said," When you make mistakes, what can the result be?" The first guy shouted," You learn something."

    "Quite right, you are learning." The trainer turned to the board and drew an arrow（箭头）pointing from the man to the outside of the circle.  He continued to say," When you leave your Comfort Area you put yourself out there, in front of the world to be in situations that you are not comfortable with. The end result is that you have learned something that you did not know and you slowly become a better person." He turned again to the board and drew a bigger circle around the first one, and added a few new things like more friends, a bigger house, etc.

    The moral of the story is that if you stay inside your Comfort Area, you will never be able to expand your horizons（开阔视野）and learn. When you step out of your Comfort Area you will finally make your circle bigger and your mind grow stronger, and all in all a better person."

    Last summer I spent some time off with my mother in Beidaihe. We stayed there from July 15th to August 5th. It is really a wonderful place. It is one of the most famous summer resorts（避暑胜地）in China. The buildings there are tidy, with some trees and flowers around therm. It is famous for its beaches, so lots of tourists from all over the world go there every year.

    There are many interesting places, such as the Olympic Park, the Geziwo Park and the Tiger Rock Park. In the Olympic Park. there are some athletes' statucs（运动员的雕像）and champions' fingerprints and footprints. Everything in the park is about Olympics. The Geziwo Park becomes famous because it is one of the best places to watch the sunset（落日）. Thousands of people go to watch the sunset every day. People can also see different kinds of birds.

    We enjoyed ourselves there. We are hoping for the next holiday.

    Jimmy is a very kind young man. He works in a big supermarket. His workmates like him very much. Last month Jimmy caught a bad cold, and he stayed in bed for about two weeks. But after he got well, something happened-he couldn't stop winking(眨眼) . When he stayed at home, he was all right as usual. But if he went out, he couldn't stop his eyes from winking.

    Jimmy went to work the next morning. On the way he met a policeman and winked at him. The policeman felt surprised but said nothing. Then he met an old man and winked at him. The old man thought he must be mad. But still he didn't say a word.

    Real trouble started when he met women. First he met a young lady. He winked at her. The woman's face turned red, and ran away as fast as she could. And then he met an old woman who carried a walking stick. Jimmy winked at her. She looked closely at him. Jimmy winked again.

    Without saying a word, she hit Jimmy on the head with her walking stick. "Take that!" she cried out. "This is a lesson(教训) for you."

Poor Jimmy! How could he explain it? He ran away quickly. From then on, he always wears a pair of dark glasses when he goes out.

    These days picture news is very popular with young people. Here are some chosen from the Internet by Jack. Read on to find out which one you like best.

    SPRING is coming, together with butterflies(蝴蝶)!On March 31, the Natural History Museum in London, UK, had a butterfly show. Children came over and played with these beautiful creatures. They also got to know how butterflies grow up. Colorful butterflies flew freely at the show. They sometimes landed on visitors. Look! A large blue butterfly sits on the nose of the girl.

    Earlier in April 2014, Sanlian Taofen Bookstore became the first 24﹣hour bookstore in Beijing. It hopes to encourage more people to read books.

    "We welcome everyone who loves to read books at any time." The general manager of the store told China Youth Daily.

    Although many people can now buy books online, many readers still like the feeling in bookstores. They can touch the books and smell the print.

    This year, many children in the UK will have a new language to study: Chinese.

    Starting in 2014, students aged 7﹣11in the UK need to study one of seven foreign languages. They can choose from French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek(希腊语) and Chinese.

    The British government is offering to train a group of Chinese﹣language teachers. They will teach Chinese to more than 3, 000 primary school students.

    China and the UK work together in many fields. So it's important that the future generation(一代人) can speak Chinese.