I first met Windy, a six-year-old girl, on the beach near where I lived. She was building a sand house there. She looked up, and her eyes were as blue as the sea. Every time when I felt unhappy, I drove to the beach.  

      "Hello, Miss Agnes," she said. I answered, but I didn't really want to stop her. "I'm building," she said. I saw that.

    "What is it?" I asked her. "Oh, I don't know. I just like the feeling of the sand." Oh, that's good, I thought, and took off my shoes to join her. A sandpiper (一种叫做鹬的水鸟) flew by. She told me that it would make me happy. I felt better then.

      A week later on my next visit, I learned that Windy lived in a cottage (小屋) and didn't go to school. Soon after that, my mother died, and I rushed to the beach to be alone. I didn't want to say anything when Windy came up to me. "Why?" she asked.

      I turned to her and shouted, "Because my mother died!" "Oh," she said quietly, "then today is a bad day."

      A month later, I went to the beach but couldn't find Windy. I missed her so much that I visited her house. I learned that Windy had died of leukemia (白血病), but she left a picture of a sandpiper for me.

    My grandfather is seventy-five years old this year. But he looks very young. He looks like a sixty-year-old man. Now he can do everything all by himself. For example, he cooks, washes clothes, does the housework and so on.

    Every morning, my grandfather goes out with a radio. He listens to the music or the news and goes to the park to play taijiquan. In the park, he talks and laughs with other old people. After coming back from the park, he begins to have breakfast and then he goes to the university (大学) for the old. He learns drawing there. In the afternoon, he plays on the computer for about one or two hours. After supper he watches TV and learns about the world. He goes to bed at about eight o'clock. He never stays up. He likes to share his ways of keeping healthy with others.

    Are you healthy? If not, what do you learn from my grandfather's secret of keeping healthy?

    Sarah is thirteen years old. She comes from Manchester in the UK; but now she is living in Geneva in Switzerland. Her father works for the UN and because of that she and her parents have to move a lot.

    Sarah has lived in five different countries: the US, Morocco, Turkey, Switzerland and the UK. But she doesn't remember the UK very well, because they moved to the US when she was only two years old. Still, she visits it often during vacation. She usually stays at her grandparents' house in Manchester. She likes visiting her grandparents, because they often take her to the Peak District National Park. It is very beautiful. Sometimes she stays with her uncle in the little town of Penzance in Cornwall. Sarah likes Penzance, too, but it's often very cold and windy. Penzance is very different from Geneva. In Geneva it is much warmer (更暖和的) in summer, but. also colder  in winter.

    Sarah likes going to new places. But every time she moves, she has to leave behind her old friends. She always needs to make new friends, and then leave them again. Luckily, they can write e-mails to tell each other about their lives.

    Eric didn't know he was going to help a blue whale today. As soon as he finished his homework, Eric jumped onto his bicycle and rode off in the direction of the beach. While he was riding along, he thought about the blue whales. He hoped he would see them again today.

    After he got to the beach, Eric hid his bicycle behind a bush (灌木丛) so that no one could see it from the road. Then he ran down onto the sand. The sky was growing dark. Eric frowned (皱眉). If it rained, he wouldn't be able to see the blue whales because they would stay in deeper water. He hurried along the beach to the rocks. They were the best place to watch me blue whales because of their height. Before Eric reached the rocks, he felt a drop of water on his head. "Oh, no! Now the blue whales will stay in the deep water and l won't be able to watch them!"

    But just then he saw a large shape on the beach. It was a young blue whale! The whale had come too close to the shore and got stuck (被困) on the beach! At first the blue whale didn't move at all and Eric thought it was dead. Then he saw its tail move weakly. Eric turned and ran through the rain as fast as he could back to his bicycle. He had to get help to get the blue whale back in the water soon, or it would die and Eric couldn't let that happen…

    To travel around the world is the dream of many adventurous people. But very few people can afford a global tour because hotels, food and airplane tickets are too expensive. Some people, however, have thought of some ways to realise their dreams.

    Laura Cody and Tanbay Theune, a couple from Britain, decided to travel around the world. They have found a good way to pay for their trips. They look after pets for rich house owners. In exchange, they can stay in the houses for free. They have looked after horses, cows, cats, dogs and fish. In two years, the couple has been to Australia, Germany, Spain and Italy. They have stayed in big cities and small villages. The home owners are usually very generous and give them food, wine and day trips.

    Another person who tries to realise her travel dream is photographer Rhiannon Taylor. She travels around the world to visit, review and take photos of the best hotels. She shares the places she stays in and the food she eats on the Internet with tens of thousands of followers.

    With these ways of making money, travelling around the world is no longer a dream. More and more young people are thinking creatively to make their dreams come true.