In Japan, Luffy is more popular than Harry Potter．Luffy is the main character of One Piece(海贼王)．The book came out in 1997.

    One Piece tells the adventures of Monkey D．Luffy, a 17-year-old boy．He gets supernatural abilities by eating fruit．Luffy's dream is to find the world's biggest treasure, One Piece．Then he wants to become the next Pirate(海盗) King.

    To make his dream come true, Luffy has to reach the end of the most dangerous ocean: the Grand Line．Luffy travels with a group of pirates called the Straw Hats．On his way, more people join the group．It even includes a cook, a soldier and a musician．They also help Luffy fight with other pirates on the way.

    Many Chinese teenagers are One Piece fans．Yang Peiqi, 14, of Shenzhen, says he thinks reading One Piece is great fun and also he likes the themes of the story－dreams and friends．

    One day, my father and I were in line to buy tickets for the circus(马戏表演). And a family was standing in front of us.

    The family had eight children. Their clothes were not expensive but clean．The children talked about the clowns(小丑), elephants, monkeys and other things excitedly. It was their first time to go to the circus.

    The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly answered, “I want eight children's tickets and two adults' tickets, so I can take my family to the circus.”

    The ticket lady said the price. The man's wife lowered her head and there was no smile on the man's face. He quietly asked, “How much did you say?”

The ticket lady said the price again. The man didn't have enough money. How could he tell his eight kids the bad news? My dad put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground．(In fact, we were not rich!) Then my dad said, “Excuse me, sir, this dropped out of your pocket.”

The man knew what was going on. He looked into my dad's eyes, held my dad's hand in his, and took the $20 bill. “Thank you, sir, thank you. This really means a lot to me and my family.”

    My father and I went back home. We didn't go to see the circus that night, but we didn't care.

    Some years ago on a hot summer day in South Florida a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming lake behind his house.

In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind his shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam towards the middles of the lake, an alligator(鳄鱼) was swimming towards the shore.

    His mother in the house was looking out the window and saw the two as they got closer and closer. In extreme fear, she ran towards the water, yelling to her son as loudly as she could. Hearing her voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his mother. It was too late. Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him.

    From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched(夺取) his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war(拔河). The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too passionate. A farmer happened to drive by, took aim and shot the alligator.

    After weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. The newspaper reporter asked if he would show him his scars(伤疤). The boy lifted his legs, then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, "But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. T have them because my mum wouldn't let go."

    Some scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds are because love has refused to let go.

    Donald was not very good at Maths. He couldn't understand the teacher's explanations. Even when the teacher explained something a second time, Donald still couldn't understand it.

    "Never mind," Donald told himself. "I'm quite good at other subjects. I'll cheat (作弊) in the Maths exam to get a good grade (分数), and then I won't be in trouble."

    "I'll sit next to the boy who does best in Maths," he thought, "and copy down his answers."

    The day of the exam came, and Donald sat next to Tommy, who was always at the top of the class in Maths. Donald carefully copied Tommy's answers onto his own exam paper. At the end of the exam, the teacher collected the papers and graded them in time.

    Then she said, "Well, boys and girls, I've decided to give a prize to the student who got the highest grade. It's difficult for me to decide who I'll give the prize to, however, because two students, Donald and Tommy, got the same grade."

    "Let them share it," one of the other students said.

    "I've thought about that," the teacher said," but I've decided to give the prize to one of them."

    The students were surprised when they heard this. They said, "That's not fair. They got the same grade."

    "That's true," the teacher said. "However, Tommy's answer to Question 18 was 'I don't know' while Donald's was 'Neither do I'."