I remember the first time I got on a horse. I was two years old and we were watching a friend of the family ride. My mom agreed to let me take a short ride around the ground with the friend and that was it' I became crazy about having a horse. From then on, I drove my parents mad beg­ging for a horse. Whenever I saw a horse, I would beg even harder.

    When I was four years old, problems appeared in my life. I had Selective Mutism (选择性缄默症). This is an unusual childhood disorder (失调) in which children stop speaking in certain social situations, many times at around the age of four. I spoke to my parents as usual, my brother and certain other people, but was silent at school and in social situations. I went days, weeks, months without a sound at school. At most, I might very quietly speak to a friend.

    My parents looked for a cure. One psychologist (心理医生) had an idea. Having discussed his plan with my parents in advance, one day I was asked by the psychologist what I wanted more than anything in the world. He explained that I was going to be given a chance to work for what I wanted. I couldn't believe my good luck, but I could not answer. I just stood there. Finally, I was allowed to whisper (低声说) the answer in my mother's ear. "A horse," was all I could say.

    I was to get a little horse, but before we could even start looking, I had to try to talk. I had a chart of weekly tasks I had to finish. I had to answer the phone five times every week, something I had never done before. I did everything that was asked of me and the day came when my parents found the perfect horse. His name was Sequoia, a strong little chestnut (栗子马). He was perfect, of course, and I fell in love immediately. It truly was a dream come true. When I was with Sequoia, I forgot all about my problems and felt strong and life.

    By connecting with them, I have learned to hug what I was once not able to do and I found my voice back.

I was walking along a busy road when I noticed a young man standing near the crossing selling toys.1I would hurry past such sellers. But I found this young man was 2, so I stood for some time without crossing the street. I wanted to see how he sold his things.

Soon, a young mother with a little girl came by and the child set 3 eyes on one of the teddy bears. The mother asked the 4 and it was only one dollar. She 5 out a 10­dollar note from her handbag and told the young man that she was giving him 10 dollars and wanted the 6 back. I was wondering how he was going to do it. He told the young mother to put the money in the bag 7 around his neck and take out her change.

I realized that this young man depended on believing people would not cheat him. There was no way for him to know 8 someone took out more than they should have done. I was so 9. I bought a car model from him that I did not need. As I walked down the street, I gave the car model to a kid walking with his father.

I kept thinking that the world would be a better place if we could all learn to 10others more, like the young blind street seller.

From a young age, I had known what I wanted to become. 1 an accident made me redefine(重新定义) myself.

To me, skating was the most important. There was 2 else in this world that filled my heart with such happiness. I spent twenty-four hours a week practising my 3 . Having no social life or other interests but skating, my devotion(挚爱) brought me first place medals in nearly every 4 .

Unluckily, in one show, I fell down and hurt myself 5 . After several X-rays and MRI (磁共振成像) scans, the 6 told me that I couldn't return to my sport any more. The pain in my back was serious, and even the 7 daily tasks became difficult.

It seemed as if someone had 8 my passion(激情), and I didn't. know what I wanted to become. After eight months of pain, I knew I had to 9 something. Instead of wasting my days sitting around painfully, I began to put my 10 into local community service projects. By volunteering(自愿做)11 a swimming teacher and summer reading helper for kids, I. got an idea of what I 12 to become. After a few months, I spent time on my interest in the arts. Little by little, I 13 out of the shadow(阴影) and rebuilt my confidence.

Sometimes, some14 rocks block(堵住) our way. We can choose to stay behind or try to climb over. My accident was a rock that couldn't 15 me from reaching success. Today I'm a very confident person.

Ghosts of our loved ones

Many people think things like ghosts and death are scary. But in fact, we just had a festival celebrating these things.

Every year, on the 15th day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar, we celebrate Zhongyuan Festival, or Ghost Festival. It is on August 30th this year. On this day, families light lanterns to help dead people find their way home. But at the same time, living people don't want to stay out at night during Ghost Festival. They believe ghosts may hurt them.

Ghost Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day, or Qingming Festival are both holidays that honor the dead. During Ghost Festival, the spirits of all dead people are honored. But we only honor our dead family members at Qingming. People believe the spirits of the dead would come back to Earth during Ghost Festival, but not during Qingming.

In Chinese culture, death is a scary and heavy thing. People are mostly afraid of it. But in some other cultures, death is a less gloomy（阴郁的） thing. 

In the US, people remember the dead on Halloween. But they make it a fun festival. People wear scary clothes. Children do fun things, like trick-or-treating.

In Mexico, the Day of the Dead is a time for the living to connect with the dead. They make dolls of the dead and tell stories about them. There are also parties at night. Whether you like it or not, death is apart of life. Understanding death can help us cherish(珍惜) our time here and live best lives.

Alex is a young boy. He likes music very much and he thinks there 1 so much fun in music. He wants 2 the piano and joins the school music club. But all these things are difficult for him. Why? Because he has no hands.

Alex thought he could never play 3 piano and felt very sad. But Alex's parents always stayed with him and often shared some 4 with him. They often 5 him that where there is a will(意志), there is a way. After that, Alex started to practise the piano with arms. At first, Alex always made mistakes, 6 Alex's parents decided to find a nice music teacher for him. They took him to music lessons 7 Tuesday and Thursday. After about two years, the boy could play it very8 . From then on, he often took part in the piano matches. He even won the first prize in Youth(青年) Piano Competition, and Alex felt really 9 .

"My music teacher and classmates always help me with the lessons. I must thank 10 . And I must thank my parents, too. They teach me an important lesson— Nothing is impossible."

Do you know about those great friends Harry, Hermione and Ron in the HarryPotter books? JK. Rowling's stories are world-famous, and part of their success is because of the friendship between those three main characters. But there are many examples of great friends in literature (文学). Let's look at some more in the book sharing activity today.

In 1844, French writer Alexandre Dumas wrote The Three Musketeers《三剑客》. The story is about a young man. He goes to Paris to join the musketeers. He meets three greatest musketeers in France. They become friends and have many adventures (冒险) together. They often say: One for all and all for one and this shows their strong friendship.

The Lord of the Rings(1937-1949) by J.R.R. Tolkien is a fantastic storybook about Frodo, who gets a ring from his uncle. Frodo lives in the Shire and has a friend, Sam. When Frodo leaves the Shire on a long journey with the ring, Sam goes with him. Sam's friendship is very important for Frodo. When he faces many dangers, Sam is always there to help him.

Another book is My Brilliant Friend (2011) by Elena Ferrante. Elena and Lila are friends at school, but they have a lot of arguments (争吵). As they get older, something happens and brings them together again.