C

    Something very special happened to Tamara. She never knew she had a twin (双胞胎) sister until she started university!

    Tamara was born(出生) in Mexico. Her parents could not look after her so she went to live with a family in Manhattan, New York, USA.

    When Tamara was twenty years old, she started university in Long Island. She enjoyed her university life. But one day she was walking home from class, and a student smiled at her. "Hello, Adriana!" said the student. "I'm not Adriana," said Tamara.

    This happened to Tamara again and again. Tamara didn't know why people kept calling her Adriana. One day, when a woman called her Adriana, Tamara asked, "Why do you keep calling me Adriana?"

    The woman said, "You look like my friend Adriana. You have the same face and the same hair. Is Adriana your sister?" Tamara said that she did not have any sisters. But she was interested in the girl named Adriana. At last she asked someone for Adriana's e-mail address (地址).

    When Tamara wrote to Adriana, she found out that they both had the same birthday, they looked the same and both of them were from Mexico. When Tamara went to live with the family in Manhattan, Adriana moved to Long Island to live with a family there. It had to be true! Adriana and Tamara were twin sisters!

    There was once a rich man who loved his little boy very much. He wanted to try his best to please him. So, he gave him a horse to ride, beautiful rooms to live in, pictures, books, toys and everything that money could buy. But for all days, the little boy was still unhappy. He wore a frown(皱眉) wherever he went, he always wished for something he did not have. The man didn't know how to make his son happy.

    One day, a magician came to the man and said to him, "I can make your son happy and turn his frowns into smiles, but you must pay me a great price for telling him the secret."

    "All right." said the man, "No matter what you ask for, I'll give you." The magician took the boy into a secret room. He wrote something on a piece of paper, and then gave it to the boy. There on the paper came the words, "Do one kind thing for someone every day." The boy followed the advice and became one of the happiest boys.

    Only those who stop thinking about their own happiness can be truly happy.

    Long long ago, there was a crowd of antelopes(羚羊)in the forest. In this crowd there was a wise teacher. He was admired by everyone because he taught the young the tricks and strategies of survival (生存策略). One day, his younger sister brought her son to him and asked him to leach what was important to antelopes. She said, "Dear brother, this is my son, Dick. Please teach him the tricks and strategies of survival. The teacher said to Dick, "You can come at this time tomorrow for your first lesson."

    At first, Dick came to have lessons on time every day. But soon, Dick became more interested in playing games with others, so he began to cut classes. However, he didn't realize how dangerous it could be for a young antelope who learned nothing but games.

    Unfortunately, one day the young antelope stepped in a trap(陷阱). Knowing Dick was missing, his mother was worried. She went to her brother and asked him "My brother how is my son? Have you taught him the tricks and strategies of survival? The teacher replied, "My dear sister, I tried my best to leach him, but your son did not want to lean the tricks and strategies of survival. He cut classes. How could I possibly teach him?"

    At this time, they heard that Dick was caught in a trap. They hurried to rescue him before it was too late. Dick was too scared to move and regretted deeply.

    If the young antelope had kept learning carefully all the time, he wouldn't have been caught.

    My best friends are John and Ann. We do many things together(--起).

    John lives near my house. He's fifteen years old and he's tall and slim，with blonde hair and blue eyes. He's a little bit shy but very clever. He's very good at math and he helps me with my homework.  He usually wears a T-shirt and jeans. We also play basketball at a nearby park together and sometimes we play video games at my house.

    The other friend is Ann. She's short and strong, with straight brown hair and brown eyes. She likes wearing T-shirts and a baseball cap. She never stops talking. She says she would like to be a boy. We all have kung fu lessons every Tuesday and Friday afternoon. We love it. Ann is really good at kung fu. We call her the "Kung Fu Kid". She often plays basketball with us, too. We often have great fun together.

    A farmer loses his watch in the barn (谷仓). He is worried because the watch has many stories for him.

    After looking carefully everywhere for a long time, he can't find it Then he asks for help of a few children playing outside the barn. He says, "If you find my watch, I can give you a lot of money."

    Hearing this, the children run into the barn to look for the watch, but they can't find it. Then, a little boy says he wants to look for it again.

    The farmer looks at him and asks him to look for it again. After a few minutes, the little boy comes out with the watch in his hand! The farmer is happy and surprised. He asks the boy about it.

    "I do nothing," answers the boy, "I just sit on the ground and listen. In the silence, I hear the ticking (滴答声) of the watch and then find it."

Why do you open a school? If you ask Nadia Lopez this question, she would simply answer: to close a prison. Lopez is the founder of Mott Hall Bridges Academy, a public school in Brooklyn. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

To set up the school, Lopez faced many challenges. The greatest challenge was to get in touch with children without hope. At first, Lopez only had 45 kids. She once asked some girls, "{#blank#}2{#/blank#}" The answer was, "I don't know if I'm going to live that long." or "I have a lifelong goal of working in a fast-food restaurant nearby." These students had no idea that there were great chances outsider their neighborhood.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} And they have tried their best to keep their students active an hopeful. "We call our students students 'scholars（学者）' because they are lifelong learners. I chose the colors purple and black to remind students that they are excellent. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} They can be future engineers, scientists and even leaders who can and will take over this world," Lopez said.

A popular New York blogger heard about the school and wrote a post about it, telling people how the children struggled（挣扎）, and why people must make education the most important thing. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} About 1.4 million dollars were raised for the school and its students got to take field trips to colleges and universities.

"Up to now, we have had three graduating classes（毕业班）. They have nearly 200 children," said Lopez.