It's Jim's birthday today. He is five years old. He gets many nice birthday presents(礼物) from his family and one of them is a big drum (鼓). “Who gives him the drum?” his father asks. “His grandfather does,” answers Jim's mother. Jim likes his drum very much. He makes a noise(噪音) with it, but his mother doesn't say anything about it. His father is not at home. He is working in a school. So he doesn't hear the noise. But one of the neighbours (邻居) doesn't like the noise at all. So one morning she takes a knife and goes into Jim's room. Jim is making a noise with the drum. She says to him, “Hello, Jim. Do you know there is something nice in your drum? Here's a knife. Open the drum and let's find it.”

    Long, long ago, a donkey(驴) fell in a dry well. The animal cried for hours as the farmer tried to think out what to do. Finally, the farmer thought the animal was too old and the well needed to be covered(覆盖) up anyway, so he decided not to try to save the donkey.

    The farmer invited his neighbours(邻居) to help him. They began to shovel(铲) dirt into the well. The donkey cried harder. Then a few shovelful later, he became quiet. The farmer looked into the well, and was surprised by what he saw.

    While every shovelful of dirt hit his back, the donkey would shake (抖) it off and take a step on the new layer(层) of dirt. As the farmer's neighbours continued(继续) to shovel dirt on top of the animal, the donkey would shake it off and take another step up.

    Soon the donkey stepped up out the well and ran away, to the surprise of all the neighbours

    The lesson we get from this story is that life shovels some dirt on us, we must get out of the well and not let it cover us. We must learn to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our trouble is a stepping-stone (踏脚石). We can get out of the deepest well by never giving up!

    Cody and his sister April wanted a dog. They went to an animal adoption center. A nice old man, Mr. Smith. greeted（问候）Cody and April.

"How can I help you?" he asked.

    "We would like to adopt a dog," April said. "Ah, you have two dogs to choose from. One of them is a very big bulldog(斗牛犬)named Buster. The other is a very small Chihuahua(吉娃娃)named Teacup," Mr. Smith told her. April wanted Teacup. Cody wanted Buster. They walked outside to discuss(讨论)it, but they couldn't agree on which dog to get. April suggested they race (赛跑)home for it. The winner of the race would choose the dog. Cody thought it was a good idea.

    So they had a race. Cody ran very quickly. He really wanted that bulldog. He looked back. April was so far behind him. Cody finally won the race. He was tired but happy.

    They went back to the adoption center. However, they only saw Teacup, the Chihuahua. They asked Mr. Smith where Buster was Mr. Smith said that a few minutes after April and Cody left, two boys walked in and adopted the bulldog.

    Cody smiled sadly, "We'll adopt the Chihuahua, please."

    Zhao Muhe is a 105-year-old man from Taiwan. Praised by many people as an ideal role model, Zhao's motto is that it's never too late to learn. He is now auditing(旁听)classes at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan as he prepares to earn a PhD.

    Zhao entered Open University of Kaohsiung in Taiwan in 1999.He went to school by bike every day, never missing a single class. He studied late into the night, and it only took Zhao four years to finish the 128 academic credits required to graduate, which he did at the age of 91.

    Several years later, Zhao decided to continue his studies. He passed the entrance examination for Nanhua University in Taiwan and got a master's degree two years later. The 98-year-old set a Guinness World Record as the oldest postgraduate in the world.

    In 2016, Zhao started classes at National Tsing Hua University. He lives alone on the fourth floor of an old apartment building. He does his own shopping, cooking and laundry, refusing other's help because he thinks it would make him feel old.

    Zhao was born in Shandong Province in 1912. Influenced by traditional Chinese culture, he studied at a private school and started to study calligraphy(书法)when he was 14.Years of practice made him a calligraphy master. Over the decades, he has donated plenty of money raised by calligraphy charities to people in need.

    Zhao held a calligraphy exhibition in Hong Kong in 2013, and also published an autobiography. As he couldn't use a computer at that time, the autobiography was written by others, based on Zhao's oral narration. After the book was written, Zhao decided that he should learn how to use the Internet. Now he can buy his own tickets online.

    Look at the boy. His English name is Frank Smith. His Chinese name is Wang Lei. He is from England. He is 12. My name is Li Dong. David is my English name. I am from Qingdao, Shandong Frank and I are in grade seven. But I am in class Four and he is in Class Five. We are good friends. He often helps me with my English.

    These are our schoolbags. They are black. You can see two pens, a ruler and four books in Frank's school bag. In my schoolbag, there are three pens, two rulers and five books