Can you write down a Chinese word being read to you? Sometimes it can be difficult when you find the word is not included in most dictionaries.

    Lu Jialei, 14, from Hangzhou Foreign Language School, won the CCTV Chinese Character (汉字) Spelling Contest on Oct 18^th, 2013. About 160 people competed. The host read a word to the contestant, explained its meaning and gave sample sentences. The contestant was required to write down the word.

    Winning the contest was a “surprise” to Lu. “I was not the smartest one,” she said. “But I paid attention to details.” To prepare for the contest, she and her teammates studied the Modern Chinese Dictionary for 10 days. There are more than 56,000 entries (词条) including characters, words and phrases in it. She also had a secret weapon. She studied how Chinese characters were formed.

    “When others paid attention to the plot of a story, she looked at how authors use words and sentences to express themselves,” said Su Yunsheng, Lu's Chinese teacher. Su is happy to see students like Lu find the beauty of Chinese language.

    “Besides using something Chinese and having Chinese traditional festivals, learning to write Chinese characters is also an important part of inheriting (传承) Chinese culture,” said Su.

    Once Effendi had a joke with the Prime Minister (宰相). He said that the Minister would die the next day. The next day, the Minister fell to the ground from the horse and really died. When the king learned this, he got angry and sent his men to catch Effendi at once.

    When Effendi was brought to him, the king shouted angrily, “Effendi, since you knew when my Minister would die, you must know the date of your own death. Say it out, or you'll die today.” Effendi looked at the king for a while. Then he answered, “But how can I know？I'll die two days earlier than you.” The king was afraid that if he killed Effendi, he himself would die after that. He thought he must keep Effendi alive as long as possible, so he let Effendi go.

    Keesh lived at the North Pole a long time ago. He was a bright thirteen-year-old boy with a strong, healthy body. His father was a brave man who had died during a food shortage. His father tried to save the lives of his people by fighting a giant polar bear. The meat from the bear kept the people from hunger.

    Keesh was his only son, and he lived alone with his mother. But people soon forgot how Keesh's father had saved their lives. They were forced to live in the poorest house in the village.

    One night there was a meeting in the chief's large house. At that meeting, Keesh showed how much courage he had. He rose to his feet and went on steadily, “Because my father, Bok, brought home more meat than any other hunter, everyone received a fair share, but now my mother and I were given meat filled with bones.” The hunters were shocked to hear a child speak to them that way.

    Keesh waited calmly until the shouting died down. “My mother has no one except me, and therefore I must speak. My father put his life in danger and died, to offer food to this village. It is only right that I, his son and his wife should have enough good meat as long as there is plenty of good meat in this village. I, Keesh, the son of Bok, have spoken.” He sat down. They threatened to punish him by not giving him any food at all. Keesh's eyes flashed(闪烁) and the blood pounded(冲击) under his skin, he jumped to his feet.

    “Listen to me, you men!” he shouted. “I shall never speak in this meeting again—not until you come to invite me to speak. My father was a great hunter, and so will I be.”

    They laughed and shouted at Keesh. But Keesh said nothing more. He walked away with his head raised, looking neither to the left nor the right……

— be based on a story by Jack London

    One day, when I arrived at school, an ice cream truck was parked in the schoolyard. Ice cream men usually drove their trucks to primary schools. I had never thought one ice cream truck would come to bring ice cream to us older kids. When I went up to the truck, I was quite surprised to hear the man call out, "Free ice cream!" To make sure of his words, I asked, "I'm sorry. What did you say?"" Free ice cream. Choose whichever you like," he said, smiling.

    After I was certain that the man was just giving away the ice cream, I talked with him for a long time. He told me that his dream was to travel around, giving away ice cream, and that's what he was now doing. With his mother's support, he kept doing what he loved even during hard times. Now, some large companies were helping him with his plan.

    The man said he wanted to encourage people to do exactly what their hearts told them to do during their lives. I kept asking him, "So your dream was just to drive around and give away ice cream? It seems like a very unusual goal." "Yes, just meeting people and making them smile," he replied. At that point he handed me my ice cream. I thanked him, but what I got from him was much more than just ice cream. It can't easily be expressed in words. I believe what he was doing is exactly what great people do all the time: small acts of big love.

Nearly everybody enjoys chicken, and the most famous name in chicken is Kentucky Fried Chicken. Mr Sanders, the man who started this1 was not always very rich. At one time, he2 a small gas station next to a highway(公路). Many truck drivers3 there to get gas and take a rest. Mr Sanders realized they were often4 , so he began serving sandwiches and coffee.5 the sandwiches tasted good, and didn't6 too much money, more and more7 came to eat at his place.8 Mr Sanders began to serve fried chicken. People9 it very much, and his new business grew quickly. Not long after, however, another highway was open, and many drivers didn't go to Mr Sanders' restaurant. So he had to10 it. Then he traveled around the country trying to sell his idea of opening fried chicken restaurants. He finally made it. By 1967, there were almost 5000 Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. And now, when you go to any place in the United States, you will see one. If you like chicken, I'm sure, you' ll enjoy eating Kentucky Fried Chicken.