Down by the salley gardens

my love and I did meet;

She passed the salley gardens

with little snow-white feet.

She bid (请求) me take love easy,

as the leaves grow on the tree;

But I, being young and foolish(傻的),

with her would not agree.

In a field by the river

my love and I did stand,

And on my leaning shoulder(肩膀)

she put her snow-white ______.

She bid me take life easy,

as the grass grows on the weirs(河堰);

But I was young and foolish,

and now am full of tears(眼泪).

    A few days ago I got a call from my old college friend whom I haven't seen for a very long time. We talked about all the good old times that we had. Then he started talking about his father. His father was badly ill in hospital and couldn't sleep at night, he often talked to himself and made a lot of noise. My friend was angry about this and shouted at his father to stop talking, but after his father stopped talking, he died a few days later.

    My friend was very sorry for speaking the ill words towards his father, he was so sad that he cried like a baby on the other end of the telephone. He said that from that moment on, he prayed every day, asking God to let his father forgive him.

    Sometimes, we complain our parents, but do we realize that our parents take care of us and always stay around us from the day we were born to our adulthood (成年), imagine how sad our parents will be when they hear an unlucky word of "no" come out from our mouths.

    There are so many unlucky children who have neither fathers nor mothers. My dear friends, we can make promises to ourselves that from now on there will be no bad words that come out from our mouths to our parents, take good care of our parents, even if it takes only a second to stay with them, they will be very happy.

    My grandfather Jack is 96 years old, and he has an interesting life. He has travelled a lot in his life in the Far East. He visited the Taj Mahal in India and the Pyramids, in Egypt. He hunted (狩猎) lions in Africa, and rode a camel in the Sahara Desert. He says the most beautiful place he has travelled to is Kathmandu in Nepal.

    Jack has married twice. His first wife died when she was 32. He met his second wife Maria while he' was cycling round France. They have been married for 50 years, and they have lived happily in a small village since they got married.

    Jack says that he has never been ill in his life. The secret of good health, according to my grandfather, is exercise. He goes swimming every morning. He has done this since he was a boy. He also has a glass of wine every night! Perhaps that is his secret!

    Zheng He was an amazing man. He was born in 1371. Eleven years later, he was caught by the army of a rich young man called Zhu Di and made to work for him. Over time the rich man saw that Zheng He was very clever and strong and they became close friends. In 1403 Zhu Di became the emperor of China and he asked Zheng He to join his government.

    The emperor wanted to learn more about the world and show other countries his power. He ordered many new ships to be built and made Zheng He their leader. Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led seven sea trips to different parts of the world. He certainly travelled to India, Africa and the Middle East. A few people think his ships have even reached South America and Australia.

    Each trip lasted between two and four years and it is believed that he sailed more than 50,000 kilometres during the years of his travels. Zheng He led a fleet with about 28,000 men and over 300 ships, such as boats for food, water and even soldiers' horses.

    On these trips he brought with him many Chinese goods like silk and medicine to give to foreign kings or to sell for local goods. He returned from each trip with boats which were filled with expensive things such as gold and treasure, foreign guests and strange animals like a giraffe.

    It is a pity that we may never learn everything about Zheng He's travels. The Columbus of the East, Zheng He, died in 1433. After that, the new emperor had these trips stopped and he burned almost all the books about Zheng He's travels, because he believed the trips were unlucky and too expensive. It is only in the last 50 years that historians have begun to carefully study the adventures of great Zheng He.

    There is an elephant and a monkey. They're friends. But one day they want to know who is stronger(更强壮的). A rabbit says. The one who can get apples from the tree across the river is stronger. The monkey says, "I can't swim." The elephant says. "I can swim. Please sit on my back. So they go across the river. The apple tree is very high. The elephant can't reach the apples on the tree. The monkey climbs up the tree and gels many apples. Then they know they should help each other.