Each of us makes mistakes from time to time. In fact, we can get a lot from our mistakes.

    Donnie was a shy student and never answered questions in class. He was afraid to make mistakes. He never finished his homework because he didn't want to make any mistakes. Nothing changed till Marry Anne, a teacher, came to our class.

    One morning, Marry Anne asked Donnie to answer some questions. After a while Donnie was in tears because he made a mistake. Suddenly Marry Anne got a box full of erasers from the desk.

    "Look, Donnie," she said standing beside him. "I have something to show you." She took out the erasers, one at a time, and put them on the desk.

    "See these erasers, Donnie?" she asked. "Do you know why the erasers become smaller and smaller? That's because we make mistakes. But we erase the mistakes and try again. That's what you must learn."

    "Here," she said, "I'll leave one eraser on your desk, so you will remember that everyone may make mistakes." Donnie looked at Marry Anne and smiled.

    Donnie changed a lot from then on. He knew that everyone had the permission(许可) to make mistakes as long as you learned them and tried again.

    For years I wanted a flower garden. I'd spend hours thinking of different things I could plant that would look nice together.

    But then we had Matthew, and Marvin, and the twins, Alisa, and Alan, and then Helen. Five children. I was too busy raising them to grow a garden.

    Money was tight (拮据的), as well as time. Often when my children were little, one of them would want something that cost too much, and I'd have to say, "Do you see a money tree in the yard？Money doesn't grow on trees, you know."

    Finally, all five got through high school and college and were off on their own. I started thinking again about having a garden.

    Then, one spring morning, on Mother's Day, I was working in my kitchen. Suddenly, I looked out of the window and there was a new tree, planted right in my yard. I thought it must be a weeping willow (垂柳), because I saw things blowing around on all its branches. Then I put my glasses on — and I couldn't believe what I saw.

    There was a money tree in my yard!

    I went to have a look. It was true! There were dollar bills, one hundred of them, taped all over that tree. There was also a note among them, "Thank you for your time, Mom. We love you."

    Later, my children bought me tools, a sunflower stepping stone and gardening books.

    That was three years ago. My garden's now very pretty, just like I wanted. When I go out and take care of my flowers, I don't seem to miss my children as much as I once did. It feels like they're right there with me.

    I live in a city where winters are long and cold, and summers are too short. But every year now, when winter sets in, I look out of my window and think of the flowers, I'll see next spring in my little garden. I think about what my children did for me, and I get tears in my eyes— every time.

    I'm still not sure that money grows on trees. But I know love does!

Two months ago, Kate finished middle school. She left her hometown and came to the city. Her aunt helped her find work in a factory. It was small and offered {#blank#}1{#/blank#} rooms to the workers. She wouldn't drop it {#blank#}2{#/blank#} it was difficult for her to find another job there. She had to find a room for {#blank#}3{#/blank#} ( she). As she didn't have enough money, she had to rent one outside the city. It was about half an hour by bus. The farmer and his family lived on the first floor. They rented all the others on the second and {#blank#}4{#/blank#} ( three) floors to the workers. So they built an attic(阁楼) on {#blank#}5{#/blank#} of the building for the girl. It was low and small. She couldn't {#blank#}6{#/blank#}( easy) go to sleep in the hot night. She had to stay in it, hoping {#blank#}7{#/blank#} ( find) a better room one day.

A month later, Kate went to pay the farmer for the rent. She found hers was the {#blank#}8{#/blank#} of all the boarders(房客). It made her feel strange and she asked," My room is the smallest and the lowest, you know. But why do I have to pay more rents than any other boarder, sir?"

At first the farmer didn't know {#blank#}9{#/blank#} to answer her. He thought and thought and at last he said," Nobody {#blank#}10{#/blank#} ( use) all our steps except you."

Billie Jean was full of energy! When the bell rang, she would rush outside and join any game. One teacher suggested she should be more "ladylike" and try not to win all the time, but her parents didn't agree.

"Play as well as you can and be the best you can be!" they told her.

One morning, Billie's friend Susan invited her to play tennis. Billie didn't know what "tennis" was, but it sounded exciting! The next weekend, Susan took Billie to the Virginia Club. There were ladies wearing expensive tennis dresses. She felt quite out of place in her T-shirt and shorts! But she felt much better when she got out onto the tennis court. Billie spent more time hitting the air than she did hitting the ball. The ladies around tutted(发出嘘声), but she didn't care.

The next morning, her mom took her to the public court at Houghton Park to meet Clyde.

"I'm Clyde, your coach!" he said, "Come on in!"

Clyde taught her patiently. The more she learned, the more fun she had.

"I want to be the best tennis player in the world!" She asked her coach, "Clyde, can you make me a champion(冠军)?"

He just smiled, "No, Billie. ____."

Billie took his words to heart, so she kept practicing day and night.

One day, she was invited to the Los Angeles Club. All the players lined up to have their photos taken, but then a man came up.

"You can't be in the photo!" he said, "You're not wearing a skirt or dress!"

Billie was angry Her mum had made her shorts especially for her.

"Don't worry, Mom!" she told her mother. "I'll show them one day! Everybody will know who I am, and they'll all want to copy my style!"

And Billie did! She never gave up or let others tell her how she should behave. And she became one of the greatest and most famous sports stars ever!

I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara (撒哈拉沙漠) 6 years ago. One morning, I heard a 1 . It said, "Could you please draw me a sheep?"

I looked 2  all around me and saw a very very small person. "Who are you?" I asked. However, he seemed not to 3  my question. 

"Could you please draw me a sheep?" he asked again. I was not good at drawing,4  I didn't want to say no. Then I drew a picture for him—a picture of a boa constrictor (大蟒蛇) eating a(n)5 . 

"No! I don't want an elephant inside a boa constrictor. It is very 6  and I'm afraid of it! I need a sheep!"

Can you 7  how surprised (惊讶的) I was at his words? Because people around me thought the 8  was a hat when I first drew it at 6! So I drew the 9  picture—a sheep. He looked at it carefully and said, "No. This sheep doesn't 10  so healthy. Please draw me another one."

So I drew the third picture. "This is not what I wanted 11 . This is a goat (山羊), not a sheep."

Then I did the fourth drawing. "This one is too 12 . I want a younger sheep. I hope it can live for long."

After hearing his words, I 13  my patience (耐心). Then I drew a box and told him, "This box is for 14  sheep. And your sheep is in it."

"Great! The sheep will not eat my rose," he said 15  a happy voice. That is how I met the little prince. 

How long would it take you to run 5,000 m? Li Yiben, 80 years old, ran 5,000 m in 28 minutes and 6 seconds（秒）. 

Li did it in a race in Huainan, Anhui Province on April 3rd. There were six runners in his group. The other five were three men in their 50s and 60s and two women in their mid-30s. Li was the oldest but he finished third. 

"This is tough. I have never worked so hard," said Li after the race. 

Li served in the military（部队）when he was young. In 1968, he left the military and found a new job. Li had to go over 20 km from home to work. That's when he got interested in running. Li ran to work every two or three days. That made him a great runner. After he left work in 1995, Li spent more time running. 

In 1998, Li ran a 100 km marathon（马拉松赛跑）. He ran in the National Masters Athletics Championships（全国大师田径锦标赛）in 1999. One year later, he went to the Asia Masters Athletics Championships in India. In 2001, Li went to Sydney to run in the World Masters Athletics Championships. He won many prizes. 

In the following years, Li kept running in many races. Running plays an important role in his life. "Running makes me feel younger," said Li.