If there is one person who has left a deep impression on me, it's my my teacher, Mrs. Pathak, who was my class teacher for three years. In my childhood, how I wished I had a mother or a sister like her. One moment she could be hard-working and strict, another moment kind and patient.

She always encouraged us to tell the truth. For example, if one had not done the homework, he need not lie. She allowed us to make mistakes, saying we couldn't be perfect all the time, but we should try.

Another thing she taught me was punctually. She set a good example with her own actions. She was always on time,he set a good example with her own actions. She was always on time,

She surprised us with her sense of humor. Her classroom teaching was always humorous. After class, she talked to us and told us jokes.

We really felt free to ask questions and Mrs Pathak would give the answers. If she did not know—there had some occasions—she would say so. We all then tried to find out the answers. Whoever came up with the answers was praised and given the prize. Now I sometimes wonder whether Mrs. Pathak just wanted to encourage us to explore and find answers by ourselves.

A

    Tom lives in a town near New York. His father has a shop there and his mother is a doctor. Tom is seven years old this year and begins to go to school this September. It is a little far from their shop and his father drives a car to take him to take him to school five days a week. So he is never late for class and his father likes him very much.

    It is Monday today. Miss Green is teaching them to count(数数) from one to ten in the morning. Tom is study hard. Soon he can count them. Miss Green is very happy and asks, "How many people are there in your family, Tom."

    Tom stands up and says, "Two, Miss Gao."

    "Who are they?"

    "My father and my mother."

    "Oh," Miss Green is surprised(吃惊). She says "Then there are three people in your family."

    "But now I'm not at home. I'm at school, you know."

    Once upon a time in a land far away, there was a wonderful old man who loved all kinds of small animals, such as spiders, insects and butterflies and so on.

    One day while walking through the woods, the nice old man found a cocoon（茧） of a butterfly. He took it home.

    A few days later, a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to make its body out of that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared it could go no farther.

    Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then got out of the cocoon easily.

    But it had a swollen（肿胀的） body and small shriveled（枯萎的） wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge to be able to support the body, which would contract（收缩） in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.

    What the warm-hearted man in his kindness did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were Nature's way of forcing fluid（体液） from the body of the butterfly into its wings, so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

    Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were allowed to go through our life without any difficulties, it would be bad for us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly.

    Everybody has different hobbies that they like to do for fun or just to relax. There are many kinds of activities like volleyball, basketball, swimming, or baseball. It all depends on each personality. For me, basketball is a part of my life and it means a lot to me.

    Since I was a little girl, I started to play basketball in the school team and also with my friends in the neighborhood. My mother told me that I liked kicking the ball around and had so much fun with it when I was only about two years old. Since then, playing basketball is my favorite sport. It is my hobby whenever I have free time.

    Playing basketball also helps me to relax and be confident. I often play basketball with my classmates in the playground. After doing my homework or when I come home from school, I play a little bit with my friends outside of my house or we go to the park to play it.

    Whenever I play basketball, I feel healthier and stronger. Besides, I meet new friends from the neighborhood. I not only like playing basketball, but I also enjoy watching basketball games on television.