There are four people in the twins' family. They are the twins, their father and their mother.

The twins' names are Lucy and Lily. They are fourteen. They are in the same class in the NO.1 Middle School. They are very good students. They not only work very hard but also sing very well. They want to join the music club. Lucy wants to play the piano. Lily can play the guitar.

      Their father, Mr. King, is a teacher. He teaches English in a school near his home. Their mother, Mrs. King, is a teacher, too. She teaches Chinese. Mr. and Mrs. King are in different schools. But they have the same hobby — play the guitar.

    When I was a kid, I often played basketball. So I was thin but healthy. When l was about 15, I stopped playing basketball. I also started to drink a lot of drinks high in sugar and eat much more than before. Between 15 and 17, I put on a lot of weight-about 50 kg.

    I didn't know how big I was until I saw a photo one day. In the photo, I had a fat neck and my stomach was out there. I hated the way I looked. I knew I needed to lose some weight.

    I started to drink only water, and eat less and healthier. I ate mainly vegetables and only one piece of meat every day, and stayed away from sugar.

    I also started to exercise. Every day, I ran for 30 minutes first, and then I did some push-ups (俯卧撑) for 10 minutes. I also jumped rope for 15 minutes every day.

    I kept exercising the whole winter. When March came, many people said to me, "Oh, Dave, you've been a different person!"

    It was true. I had lost 25 kg in three months. I liked taking photos, and I noticed the difference in my looks.

    I loved the three months. It felt good to lose weight, and it felt even better to set a goal (目标) and go for it.

    I'm Marie. I work in a nursing home (养老院) and my job is to look after the old people. Alice is one of them. She's a very nice old woman.

    This year, Alice had a hard time. She went to hospital twice. In November, I finally could get her back to her home.

    Alice hoped that her daughter could come to visit her on Christmas Eve because she wanted to be with her family, like the old days. But her daughter was coming after Christmas, so she was very sad. I also felt sad because she would be alone on the holiday.

    On Christmas Eve, I took her to a candlelight service (烛光礼拜) at a church that night. I didn't take her to my church. Instead, I took her to the church in her old neighborhood. We got there early and I let her sit near the door, so people could see her when they came in. A few minutes later, some of her friends came to the church and they all talked to her and sat with her.

    Alice got a lot of love from her old and new friends there. She said she loved the gift like this. That night, I thought I got the best gift: the smile on Alice's face.

    There are two twin boys. They are very different. One of them is happy and outgoing. He always looks on the bright side of things. His brother, however, is sad and unhappy. He has a negative outlook on life. The parents want to cheer up the sad child. They came up with a plan and put the two boys into different rooms.

    The sad boy was put in a clean room with all kinds of wonderful, interesting toys, while the happy boy was put in a dirty room with a lot of horse manure（马粪）.

    After an hour, the parents opened the door into the clean room. To their surprise, the sad boy was sitting, crying. He even didn't move or play with any toys.

    "Why are you crying?" asked the parents.

    "I don't have anyone to play with." he said.

    The parents then opened the second door. They were amazed. Their son was running excitedly around the room, and throwing handfuls（一把）of horse manure into the air. "What are you doing?" they asked.

    "Well, "said the excited little boy." With all this horse manure lying around, I guess there may be a baby horse hiding in this room and I'm going to find him!"

    If we have a positive（积极的）attitude, difficulties are easy to overcome.

    Chip was in the first grade when I arrived at his school as a counselor(辅导员). It was shocking to me that he was described as an angry, uncontrollable and evil(道德败坏的)boy. How could such a little boy, after being in school only one year, be considered "evil"?Over the next several months, I came to know Chip well enough to see that he was neither evil nor uncontrollable.

    But, one day, Chip threw a chair at his teacher and was sent to my office. I asked him what made him do this. He replied that his teacher hated him. He felt there was no way to ever get her to like him. I asked him if he would tell his teacher this. He nodded, and we called her into my office.

    When the teacher came,           . He then said that he knew he was a very, very bad boy, and he didn't think anyone could ever like him. His teacher listened to him with heartfelt compassion. Then she gave him a big warm hug, telling him she didn't hate him at all and, actually, she cared very much about him. Only sometimes Chip's behaviour really scared her. It was clear to both Chip and me that she really meant it.

    I put my left arm on his shoulders and the right hand on his heart. I told him how wonderful and lovely I saw him to be. I praised how special and brave he was to express his hurt feelings.

    As I was speaking to him, his whole body came to rest on my right hand next to his heart. It was a moment in time unlike anything I had experienced before. From then on, I'm pleased to see his behaviour improved through the rest of school years.

    A child's mind is clear and sensitive(敏感的). He receives whatever others say without protection. It is as easy to consider someone hopeless as it is to consider him able in his own special way.

    Mr. Henry is an old man. He has no sons or daughters. He lives alone and feels very lonely. On last Thanksgiving Day, he passed the Whites' door, and Mr Whites' family invited(邀请) him to have a big dinner. He was the first guest(客人) to pass by that day. He ate a lot of turkey and pumpkin pie. Most of families in the town knew Mr. Henry well. They all asked him to eat some delicious food. Mr. Henry tried to refuse, but it didn't work. The people thought he was sky(害羞的) and pushed him in.

When the night was coming, people saw a car carrying an old man to the hospital. He was sick in hospital because he ate too much food.