My summer holiday began on July 5th. I didn't want to stay at home and did nothing in the hot summer. I called my grandma, and she asked me to go to her village. I was very happy with it. After four hours, I got to my grandma's house by bus. There are many trees around her house. I liked to play games with other children during the day. At night, people in the neighborhood often came and sat together to chat. My grandma liked telling stories. My new friends and I enjoyed her stories very much.

    There is a pool in the village. My friends and I often went there with some food and caught fish in the pool. Then we cooked the fish and had dinner there. It was not easy to catch fish, but it was interesting and exciting. I stayed there for about a month, and then I went back home.

    If you like reading fairy tales(童话故事), do not miss the book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane(《爱德华的奇妙之旅》).It is a famous story by an American writer Kate Dicamilo in 2006．People, the young and the old, love this book. And it's so popular that it is one of the " “Top100Books for Children” in the US.

    The story is about a journey of a china rabbit (瓷兔子) called Edward. He lives with his

    ten-year-old owner (主人) named Abilene. Abilene loves him very much but Edward doesn't love her. During a holiday on a ship, Edward is lost. After spending 297 days in the sea, he reaches abeach and a man takes him home .Then Edward travels from one place to another, meeting manypeople. His name keeps changing, such as Susie and Maloney. Soon he begins to miss Abilene andwait for her. One day Edward falls into pieces. Someone repairs (修理)it and sells it in the market.

    Many years later, Abilene and her daughter come to the market and take Edward home. Finally

    Edward is with his owner again.

    There are many pictures in the book, so we can follow Edward's journey easily.

    You can learn that Edward learns love and never stops waiting for Abilene .This is why theymeet each other at the end of the story. The warm and sweet story will make you know more aboutlove．

    I believe that we can have an important effect on anyone we meet. The right words at just the right time could change someone's life. When I was three years old, my parents discovered I was deaf. After asking many doctors and parents of other deaf children, they decided to put me in a normal school.

    On my first day in the school, the other kids made fun of me because of my hearing aid. And then I saw myself as an ugly kid.

    Mrs. Jordan, my teacher changed all of that with a simple three-word phrase. One morning, she asked the class a question. I read her lips（嘴唇） and raised my hand right away. She called me. I took a deep breath and nervously answered Mrs. Jordan's question.

    I will never forget what happened next. Mrs. Jordan pointed directly at me. With a big smile she cried,

    "That's right, Stephen! "For the first time in my young life, my confidence soared（剧增）.At that moment, I decided that no matter how many difficulties I may face, I can overcome（克服） them. Just from those three simple words, my life changed from that moment.

    When I was three years old, my parents discovered I was deaf. After asking many doctors and parents of other deaf children, they decided to put me in a normal school.

    On my first day in the school, the other kids made fun of me because of my hearing aid. And then I saw myself as an ugly kid.

    Mrs. Jordan, my teacher changed all of that with a simple three-word phrase. One morning, she asked the class a question. I read her lips（嘴唇） and raised my hand right away. She called me. I took a deep breath and nervously answered Mrs. Jordan's question.

    I will never forget what happened next. Mrs. Jordan pointed directly at me. With a big smile she cried, "That's right, Stephen!" For the first time in my young life, my confidence soared（剧增）. At that moment, I decided that no matter how many difficulties I may face, I can overcome（克服） them. Just from those three simple words, my life changed from that moment.

    Kelly's favourite subject is PE But she had a hard time in PE classes. She was not good at jumping very far, she had trouble throwing a ball, and she couldn't run really fast. Sometimes, some kids laughed at her .So why does Kelly love PE class?

    The reason is that her teacher Mr Burns always tells her to do her best. Though she only ran for a few minutes, Mr Burns said, "Good job! Next time you will be able to go a little longer."Mr Burns even put a small box on the floor, so Kelly would be able to practise jumping over it.

    That night when Kelly finished dinner, she put three boxes and began practising jumping over them. She made it! Kelly thought to herself, "Tomorrow I will be able to jump over those boxes in the PE class."

    There was a relay race(接力赛)on Tuesday. Kelly was afraid that she would not be able to go very far. When Kelly ran, she heard the kids shouting, "Go Kelly! You can do it!" That was all she needed to hear. Kelly ran fast. She finished first! The kids cheered for her. Kelly felt so good. "Thank you, Mr Burns, "said Kelly." Kelly, you ran in the race, not me." "Yes, but you always said I could do it."

    "It's time to wake up, Emily," my mom sings from the kitchen. I pretended to open my eyes. Why didn't the alarm on my cell phone ring?

    Soon, I realized it was April 8, the day for my program: "A day without technology." I didn't realize what I had gotten myself into until I was driving to school in my car. No radio blasting my favorite songs. I had to sing to myself.

    As soon as I got to school, I went to the library to print out my English project from my flash drive. "Uh-oh," I thought. "This isn't expected." Finally, I had to spend nearly an hour writing the report again.

    The school day went on and I finally got used to the rules. This wasn't so hard! I could do this every day.

    I drove home in silence again, and my mind eventually went into after-school mode (模式), depending on what I would eat for supper and who would be voted off (被淘汰出局)American Idol later that night. The last thing I knew, I was chat with friends on Face book, check email and watch a video on YouTube, all at the same time!

    My mom walked in and her jaw dropped.

    "What happened to no homework?" she asked me. I froze for the second time that day and ordered myself to go back to reality. I had failed.

    This experiment, which many teenagers would never have the courage to try, was actually convenient to me. Even though my attempt(尝试) at going about my day without these luxuries (奢侈品) was a failure, I realized that if I really tried, I would be completely successful without my addiction to technology.

    These devices suddenly make my life easier, and I'm sure I wouldn't practice getting rid of them altogether, but I do believe the lives of today's teenagers would be dramatically different without our tech dependence.