Round the World

    Mr and Mrs Spencer both had very busy jobs and didn't have much time to spend with their young children. They wanted to change this, and because their hobby was boating, they decided to sail round the world together.

    It took six years to prepare everything for the trip. First, they bought a new boat. Then, both the husband and wife had to take advanced(先进的) sailing lessons and learn all about the sea and the weather. Mr Spencer also did several courses in repairing engines and Mrs Spencer spent an hour in a restaurant learning to cut up fish.

    In October, they had one year off from their jobs and sailed away from England with their two children. The next year, in August, their long journey ended in Australia.

    The boat was not big, but they took a teacher for the children with them. None of them found the trip boring because there were three computers, many CDs, a TV and a DVD player on the boat.

    The family loved being at the sea and seeing the stars in the sky. But, most of all, Mr and Mrs Spencer enjoyed spending time with their children while they were still young.

    Jane always goes to school early. She likes to talk to her friends before class. After school she does not go home early. She is always late. Jane stops to see the animals in the pet shop. She likes to see the dogs. One of them is a little white dog. She watches the little dog play in the window of the shop. She watches for a long time, so she comes home late.

    One day her father and mother ask why she is late, and she tells them about the little dog in the pet shop.

    Jane is not late the next day. She stops to look in the window of the shop. But she doesn't see the dog, and she is very sad. She is also very happy, today is her birthday.

    Mother shows her a big birthday cake and Father gives her a birthday surprise(惊奇). He gives her the little white dog from the shop. Jane is very happy. The next day Jane does not come home late. She runs home to play with the white dog.

Birthday: February 26, 1982

Birthplace: Wuhan, Hubei

Height: 172cm

Weight: 65kg

    "My dream has come true. I have always wanted to be a Grand Slam(大满贯) champion." These are the words of Chinese tennis player Li Na after she became the first Asian woman to win a Grand Slam final in the French Open on June 4, 2011.

    "People were saying I'm getting old. So this is a great success for such an old woman," the 29-year-old girl joked.

    Miss Li has a tattoo(纹身). She has dyed her hair many different colors. And, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she told her fans to "shut up" when they got too noisy in their support.

    Li Na was born in Wuhan, she started to play tennis at the age of 6. She once recalled: "As a child, I felt sad because every day I had to wake up early to practice. After school I had to practice more. I didn't have time to play."

    Luckily, the strong girl didn't give up, thus making history for Chinese tennis time after time.

    Now the new champion is already thinking about winning another Grand Slam title. "when you have one title, surely you will think about another," she says, not hiding her ambition(雄心)。

    "Chinese people are so lacking(缺乏) in confidence on the tennis court. If there is a person like me who can prove we Chinese can do it, the other young players in China will feel the same," she said.

    John was born without arms. As a child, he learned to do many things with his legs. But there were a lot of things he couldn't do. His parents even had to feed him. His seven brothers had to help him to get dressed.

    One day his mom decided not to help John anymore. She told John's brothers not to help him either. "Let John do everything on his own," she said. "If John needs to eat, let him eat by himself. Let him get the dish himself. If he breaks up a few dishes, it's fine. No one will help him to get dressed either. Let him wear his clothes himself. If he can't get dressed himself, then let him run without clothes. But no one is allowed to help him. He has to learn to do everything himself."

    John's mother loved him. She wanted to help him. But if she always helped him, he wouldn't learn anything. She wanted him to be independent.

    Soon John learned to do everything by himself. When he was sixteen, he could even drive a car with his feet. John felt very proud. He thanked his mother for making him independent.

    Today John is a grown-up man. He has a business of his own and he is very successful. He also travels around the world.

    John likes children very much. He likes to talk and play with them. He tells them that they can learn to do anything. He teaches them how to be independent.

    Daisy is a teacher who works in a primary school. She often plays games with her students so they like her class a lot.

    One day, Daisy decided to have her class play a potato game. She told each student to carry a bag with a few potatoes in it to school. Each student would "name" their potatoes after people they did not like, so the number of potatoes would be different depending on*their own situations.

    The next day, all of the students brought their potatoes to school. Some children had just one or two potatoes, while others had as many as five or six. The children were taking about names of their potatoes happily when Daisy came into the classroom. She then told the children that they would have to carry their potatoes with them for one week wherever they went, even when they went to the restroom. The children laughed and thought the game was really interesting.

    A few days passed by. Some of the students started to complain, as their potatoes began to rot and had a strong and bad smell. The students who carried more potatoes also complained about how heavy their bags were.

    One week later, the kids were so happy to hear their teacher say that the game was over. Daisy asked, "How did you feel about carrying around your potatoes for a week?"

    The students complained once again. Daisy simply smiled and said, "This is what it's like to carry hate* in your heart. You have to carry it with you wherever you go. If you can't bear* carrying rotten potatoes for one week, can you imagine having hate in your heart for your lifetime?"