I have been very lucky to make many trips to China. Though I have had some trouble with the language, I have never had a problem I couldn't solve. As a native English speaker（土生土长的说英语的人），I can go almost everywhere in the world and find someone to communicate with. I never thought that someone who speaks only Chinese would have a lot of trouble in my country.

Recently, the King family that I had met in China moved to Canada. I met them at the airport. My wife and I made meals for them and showed them around where we live. Everything seemed to go smoothly for the first two days as we looked for a car for them, showed them the way to different stores and the nearest city, Victoria. Mr. and Mrs King had a two-year-old son and soon we became Nainai (grandmother) and Yeye (grandfather). We were having a good time but we didn't realize Mr. King can't speak English.

Luckily, Mrs. King can speak very good English. Many people with Chinese background live near us. In fact, none of them speak Chinese. Mr. King can't even buy a mobile phone without his wife's help. He can't talk to me, of course. By the third day, he felt lonely and worried. And on the fourth day, we decided to take them to a large Chinese community.

Now, we often visit them and they visit us too. Sometimes Mrs. King would still like to live near us but Mr. King cannot. I feel bad because he seems very nice and smart but I can't talk with him. It seems that neither of us will learn the other's language because of our ages, maybe we will never have a friendly conversation. But we will think of each other as friends.

    Mr. and Mrs. Su don't often go out in the evening, but today they go out for a walk after supper. They go to the park and have a good time there. On their way home, Mr. Su says to Mr. Su, "Look! A woman is running in the street and a man is running after her." Mr. Su says, "What's the matter? Let's go and help her."

    Now the woman gets near them. Mr. Su asks, "Shall we help you?" "No, thank you," the woman says, "My husband（丈夫） and I are running home, and the slower (较慢的) one does the housework."

    A few years ago, I worked at a church（教堂） and since my son was home schooling, he went with me to the church every day. Most mornings, we'd stop at a local convenience store, getting a chocolate drink for him and a cup of coffee for me.

    The clerk at the store we chose to visit refreshed our lives each day, and so we returned again and again. She had found her own way of enjoying life and her job. I'm not even sure that she was realizing that her energy put a smile on the face of each customer.

    When a customer brought cookies to the counter, any other clerk could have asked, "Would you like some milk with those cookies?" Instead, she inquired, "Would you like a lottery ticket（彩票） with those cookies? "

    She might have asked me if I wanted a donut with my coffee. But instead, she asked, "Would you like some batteries（电池） with that coffee?"

    Yes, life is what you make of it. This clerk's method of dealing with what some think is a boring job, and with the customers she met daily, made the hours in her day more enjoyable. In doing that, she also refreshed the lives of others and made them laugh.

    Sometimes, if my day at the church had been particularly tiring, we'd stop at that store before heading home. We'd giggle（咯咯笑）as we left the store, the clerk's words echoing（回响）behind us. "Would you like some shampoo with that soda?"

    Robert was a greedy（贪婪的）man. One day, he lost 30 gold coins. He went to his friend Mike's house and told him how he lost his gold coins. Mike was kind and decided to help him find them.

    The next day, Mike went to Robert's house and told him he found his 30 gold coins.

    After counting the gold coins, Robert said, "I had 40 gold coins. Ten of them are missing. You must have taken them. And you should pay me back."

    "No, I didn't take them, "said Mike.

    Robert went to court（法庭）and told the judge（法官）what had taken place between him and his friend.

    "How many gold coins did you find?" the judge asked Mike.

    "Thirty, "answered Mike.

    "How many gold coins did you lose?" the judge asked Robert.

    "Forty, "answered Robert.

    "Then those coins are not yours, "said the judge, "for you lost 40, while your friend found 30."

    Then the judge told Mike to take the 30 gold coins home.

    "If anybody reports that they have found 40 gold coins, I will send them to you, "the judge told Robert.

    Then Robert said that he didn't tell the truth and that he lost 30 gold coins, but the judge did not listen to him.

    Always be honest; dishonesty never pays.

    Once there was an old farmer. He had a horse and the horse was almost as old as himself. One morning he set out(出发) with his young son to sell the horse before it died.

    The father and the son walked because the farmer did not want the horse to be too tired. They met two men on the road. They said, "Why are you walking, farmer? You have a horse. It's a long way to get to the market. "The farmer knew that this was true, so he rode on the horse while his son walked.                                          

    Then they met two old ladies. "What are you doing up there, farmer? Can't you see how tired your son is? "So the farmer got down, and let his son ride on it. Twenty minutes later, three old men stopped them. One said, "Why are you walking, farmer? Get up. It's too hot for an old man like you to walk today. "So the farmer got up behind his son and they went on riding.                                                      

    Sometime later, a young woman passed them. "Why aren't you walking?"She asked, "It isn't far to the market. Give your poor old horse a rest. " So the farmer and his son got down once again. It is a fact that you cannot please (使…高兴) all the people all the time.

    Many students have hobbies, such as reading, painting, growing vegetables and looking after animals. Some hobbies are relaxing and others are active. Hobbies can make you grow as a person, develop your interests and help you learn new skills.

    David Smith is a student, and one of his hobbies is writing. During the summer of 2010, he spent four weeks at a summer camp. Besides the usual activities, such as sailing and climbing, there was a writing class. " The teacher was a writer, and she asked us to talk about our lives and tell interesting stories. Then she encouraged us to write about our experiences at the camp," says David.

    Back at school, David wrote a story about the life of a sixteen-year-old boy, and it came out as a book in 2012. Many young people love his book, and as a result, David has become a successful young writer.

    David has been very lucky because his hobby has brought him pleasure and success. But writing is not his only hobby. He is also interested in many other things. "I like playing volleyball, too, "says David. "I spend some of my free time playing volleyball for my school team. Maybe I'll write about my volleyball team in my future books."