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.

    Samantha (her husband， John， called her Sam) left the doctor's house looking perfect， satisfied with her appearance.

    The year was 1862. It seemed that the war with the North would never come to an end. Sam's father had left as soon as possible， fighting for their land， for their new government， for the South.

    At last， Samantha reached the house that she and John owned. It was a cold， rainy night， and she was glad to be home. She stepped into the sitting room. John sat in an armchair， reading a book. When he saw her， he put the book down， and stood， reaching his arms out for her. They kissed briefly. He put a hand to her now slightly round belly(肚子) and asked， “What did the doctor say?”

    “He said the baby was fine and that I seemed healthy. Do you have any news?”

    “Surprisingly， yes.” John hesitated for a moment， as if deciding how he would stop what he was about to say， and then unwillingly continued， “I've been required to join the army.”

    Sam screamed， “What?” She was near tears. “But-but we're just starting out.” Her voice shook. “I thought that after two years of begging my mother to let the two of us get married that our life would finally be happy. Isn't there any way you can get out of this?”

    John answered， “I'm afraid not.”

        “Please. Please， John， if you love me， please get out of this. Break a leg or do something.” She began to cry. John comforted her， resting her head on his shoulder.

    “Sam.”

    “What?”

    “Name the child after me； name it John or Joanna. I'll come back as soon as I can. I promise.”

    Sam smiled， knowing that John never broke a promise. She put her hand to her belly， and， unknown to her， the baby was a girl.

    And unknown to both of them， the promise that John had just made would be the only promise he would ever break.

    An Englishman was showing a foreign visitor around London. "What's that strange building?" asked the visitor. "That's the Tower of London." "I see. How long did it take to build it?" "About 500 years." "In my country we can build it in five months." Shortly after that they came to St. Paul's Cathedral（大教堂）. "Very interesting!" said the visitor. "How long did it take to build it?" "Nearly forty years." said the Englishman. "In my country we can finish it in forty days at most," said the visitor. This went on all day.

    They visited most of the best known buildings in the city. Every time they saw a new one, the visitor asked what it was and how long it took to build it. Then he said that they could do the same thing much faster in his country.

    At last the Englishman got angry with the visitor though he tried not to show it. Several days later they came to the House of Parliament（议会）and the visitor asked his usual question, "What is that? . "The Englishman answered, "I have no idea. It wasn't there last night."

    Corky was a brave young man and he dreamed of becoming the best fighter in the world.

    To become stronger and get better fighting skills, he went to many schools. One day, he went to the best school in the world. Before entering the gate, he was made to hand in all his weapons (武器).

    "You won't need those any more. Here you'll get better ones," said the guard. Corky handed his weapons to him. A serious old teacher took Corky to his room. Before he left, he said to Corky, "In a hundred days the training will start." A hundred days! At first Corky thought that was a joke, but he soon realized the old teacher had been serious. Corky felt nervous during the first days and he tried many ways to try to get the teacher to start the training. However, it didn't work. At last Corky waited patiently and enjoyed each day in the school.

    "You've already learned how to use your main weapon—patience," said the old teacher. Corky could hardly believe it, but he really understood that the teacher was right. Finally, the lesson began. "Now it's time to learn how to win every fight," said the old teacher. That sounded good to Corky until he found himself tied hand and foot. Many villagers tried to hit him because they were told that Corky was a dangerous man. The same thing was repeated for days, and Corky knew he had to do something. He realized that the only way would be to deal with the villagers' anger (怒气). In the following days, Corky kept talking to them until he managed to make them believe that he was not an enemy. In the end, the villagers made friends with Corky.

    Finally, Corky knew what the most powerful weapon was. He said thanks to the teacher and left.