A photo of a boy who arrived at school with a head full of icicles(冰柱）has drawn widespread attention to children from poor rural families.

    Wearing only a thin jacket, Wang Fuman, 10, had braved -9C weather to travel over an hour from his village home to reach Zhuanshanbao

    Primary School in Zhaotong, Yunnan province.

    "After walking more than 4 kilometers through the freezing snow, he arrived with his hair and eyebrows completely frozen, causing laughter among his 16 classmates," said Fu Heng, the school's principal, who uploaded(上传) Wang's photos on Monday morning. Fu added that his classrooms do not have heating because of a lack of money.

    After hearing Wang's story, the Yunnan China Youth Development Foundation offered a public donation(捐赠) for children from poor families on Tuesday. It has promised to give each needy child 500 yuan ($75) to help them stay warm in winter. By 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, the provincial foundation bad collected over 300,000 yuan in public donations according to their websites.

    Wang, who has been nicknamed "Snowflake Boy"(冰花男孩）by netizen (网友),became well-known online. By Wednesday morning, his picture had been 'liked" more than 260,000 times on Sina Weibo. "Many children in cities don't have the strong willpower of this boy. I hope all his efforts will be rewarded(回报)," a netizen wrote on Sina Weibo.

    The name Fuman translates as "full of happiness", but Wang does not come from a rich family. He lives in a mud hut(土坯房) with his grandmother and elder sister, and seldom sees his parents because they are migrant workers in other cities.

    "I love school. We can have bread and milk for lunch, and we learn lots of things in class," Wang said. His village now has electricity and tap water, "and my family is getting help to build a new house close to the school", he said. "I think our life will get better."

    I left my hometown in London last year and now I have enjoyed working in this small city in China. Learning a foreign language opens you up to the culture and history of a country. So in order to know more about China. I started to learn Chinese.

    But at times, I found myself in funny situations. When I greeted strangers in China, they began to talk a lot and very fast. They asked me questions about everything. But all I could do was to look at them with a blank face. I had no idea what they were talking about. Were they just being kind, funny or impolite? Many people want to make friends with me. But I am a bit upset when I find out the reason why they need a foreign friend. They say they want to practice their English. I don't need friends like this. I like friends to share nay feelings and ideas with.

    However, the more Chinese I learn, the more similarities I find it has with English. In English, thick—skinned is to describe a person who doesn't care for criticism(批评). I was surprised to find that houlianpi in Chinese means the same. And both languages share some common idioms(习语). For example, "look on with folded arms" means xiushoupangguan, and ''burn the boats" is similar to pofuchenzhou.

    I'm still on my journey to learn Chinese. I believe that sometimes you have the most fun on a journey.

The Sixth Time I Went to the Principal's Office

    When I was in the seventh grade, I had problems behaving. My heart was in the right place, but I couldn't always follow the rules. I played many tricks on my schoolmates. Once, I even pulled a girl's hair on the school bus to get her attention. As a result, I was repeatedly sent to the office of the principal（校长）.Although I hated going there, I did not hate the principal, Mr. Ratcliff.

    Mr. Ratcliff was a kind, elderly man. When he spanked（打屁股） me for putting some ants into a classmate's pencil box, it didn't hurt at all, but it did hurt my feelings. I thought so much of him and moments like that seemed to prove I was hopelessly bad.

    When I got called to Mr. Ratcliff's office for the sixth time, I had no idea what I had done. I felt disappointed as I walked down there. I went into his office, sat down, and looked at the floor. Then he said the last thing I expected to hear:" Kevin, I've heard you've been behaving really well lately. I want you to know how proud I am of you, and I just called you down to my office to give you a peppermint."

    "Really?" I was surprised.

    "Yes. Now you can take that peppermint and go back to class."

    I carried the peppermint with me as if it was a gold coin. When I got into my classroom, I bragged （吹嘘） to my classmates about my turnaround, excitedly. I wasn't so bad after all.

    Mr. Ratcliff was really kind. He made me realize that I was just a kid who had problems with behavior. He bought some peppermints and took the time to notice me when I got something-anything-right. Mr. Ratcliff gave me some hope by giving me some love. I will just remember him for the rest of my life.

    Johnny is a lovely fish. He lives in the sea. He is very lonely. He wants to find a friend. And the friend looks like him. Johnny sees an ink fish. The ink fish has eight legs. He doesn't look like Johnny. So Johnny goes away.

    Johnny meets a shark. He wants to say hello to the shark. But the shark opens his big mouth and wants to cat him. Johnny runs away quickly.

    Johnny is tired and hungry. He wants to have a rest. Then he sees a round fish. She says to him." Hello! Would you like to be my friend?"

    Johnny answers," Of course! But you are round, I am fat. You don't look like me." The round fish says," But we are both fishes."

    Johnny thinks and says," You are right. Let's be friends." They become good friends.

    It's 8: 00 in the morning. Mr. White goes into the classroom and finds Tom isn't in. Then he begins his lesson. He asks the students to read their English books.

    "May I come in, sir?" a boy asks at the door.

    "Come in, please," says Mr. White. "You're twenty minutes (分钟) late, Tom."

    The boy is often late and every time he makes an excuse. "I am sorry, sir," says Tom. "I'm late because the traffic is bad, and I have to wait for (等待) the lights to turn green."

    "But why don't you catch an earlier (更早的) bus?" asks Mr. White.

    "I just take the earlier bus. But the later (晚点的) bus often overtakes (超过) the earlier one!" answers Tom.