I was traveling alone through the UK. To reach places that were off the public transportation map，I bought an old car, which cost most of my money. I couldn't afford to stay in the hotel, so I had to camp in my car for the rest of the trip.

    One morning I awoke in my old car on a country road in Ireland and saw a single house. The water in my thermos (保温瓶）had gone cold, so I knocked on the door of the house. A woman opened it. I asked her for some hot water. But she wouldn't let me get away with just that! I was invited indoors. She asked me to sit at the table and have breakfast with her family. They filled my thermos before I left.

I was greatly moved. And I decided to pass the kindness on. The other day I met a young man who had been driving around to look for a parking lot. He looked increasingly upset. I was glad that I was able to point one out to him. His thankful smile was the hugest reward (奖赏）for me.

    Once there was a parrot on sale in a pet store. It was a beautiful red and blue bird. It sat on a perch in the middle of the store, so that everyone could see it when they came in. The owner was very proud of it and asked a high price for it.

    One day a man went into the store. “That's a beautiful bird,” he said to the pet store owner, “But why is it so expensive? Is it unusual bird?”

    “No, it's not very unusual. It's expensive because it can talk,” the pet store owner said.

    “I see. How can I make it talk?” the man asked.

    The pet store owner asked him, “Do you see those string tied to each of the bird's legs?”

    “Yes,”the man answered.

    “Well, you pull those strings,” the pet store owner told him. “That will make the parrot talk.”

    The man asked, “Do you mind if I try?”

    “Not at all,” the pet store owner said.

The man walked up to the parrot and pulled the string on its left leg. The parrot said, “Good morning.”

    The man pulled the string on the parrot's right leg. This time the parrot said, “How are you today?”

    “That's not very interesting, ” said the man. “Any parrot could do that.” Then he laughed, “But what would happen if I pulled both strings at the same time?”

    “I'll fall off my perch, you fool!” the parrot said.

C

    ①He was 11 years old and went fishing every chance he got at his family's small house on an island in the middle of a New Hampshire lake.

    ②On the day before the bass(鲈鱼)season opened, he and his father were fishing early in the evening, catching sunfish and the bass with worms. Before long, when his fishing pole doubled over, he knew something huge was on the other end. His father watched him with admiration as the boy skillfully worked the fish alongside the bank and he very successfully lifted the exhausted fish from the water. It was the largest one he had ever seen, but it was a bass.

    ③The boy and his father looked at the handsome fish, the fish jumped up and down in the moonlight. The father looked at his watch. It was 10 P. M.-two hours before the season opened. He looked at the fish, then at the boy. "You will have to put it back, my son.” he said.“ I have never seen such a big fish before.” cried the boy“ There will be other fish." said his father. The boy looked around the lake. No other fishermen or boats were anywhere around in the moonlight. He looked again at his father. Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time he caught the fish, the boy could tell by his father's voice that the decision couldn't be changed. He slowly worked the hook out of the lip of the huge bass and lowered it into the water.

    ④That was 34 years ago. And he has never again caught such a beautiful fish as the one he landed that night long ago. But he does see the fish again and again-every time he comes up against a question of ethics(伦理). For, as his father taught him, ethics are simple matters of right and wrong. It is only the practice of ethics that is difficult.

    ⑤We would if we were taught to put the fish back when we were young. For we would have learned the truth. The decision to do right lives fresh in our memory. It is a story we will proudly tell our friends and grandchildren.

Decide to Do Well

    Everybody makes decisions in daily life. They can be as important as what you will do in the future or as simple as what you will eat for breakfast. Any decision could be the turning point of your life.

    I made an important decision when I was in Junior 3.

    Before I made that decision I was one of the boys who tried too hard to act as an adult. I didn't know that only kids want to show themselves as adults.

    I didn't listen to my parents and teachers, and my grades became poor. Then came the high school entrance exam.

    At the turning point of my life, my mum wanted to have a conversation with me. I wanted to turn it down but when I looked at her eyes, I felt I couldn't refuse. Instead of asking me to study hard, to my surprise, mum just asked what I wanted to do in the future. Without thinking too much, I just said I would like to study hard.

    Mum smiled and asked again, "I asked 'what do you WANT to do'?"

    I never seriously thought about the question. So, I kept silent.

    "Whether you want to go on studying or enter the society," she went on, "it is your own decision. Your life ought to be decided by you, not by anyone else, including me. "After saying that, she had tears in her eyes.

    For the first time in my life I was asked to make my own decision. I sat in my chair and thought about myself, my life and what kind of person I wanted to become.

    It took me what seemed to be ages to make the biggest decision so far in nay life-I wanted to be a man who makes a difference in the world. To achieve that, I needed to study hard.

    The path to my future became clear to me. I didn't act rebelliously(叛逆地) any more. With passion (激情) in my heart, I studied hard.

    Now, I'm 17 and I'm in one of the best schools in my city, in one of the best classes at the school and I am one of the best students in the class.

    Thanks to that decision, I have become what I am today.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was a great success. China has kept the promise to hold a green Olympics. Many green actions made it possible, like providing environmentally friendly smart beds, using new energy(能源) cars, supporting sporting places with 100% clean energy and reusing rain and snow water.

Take making ice as an example. China didn't use R507, a common material to make ice, because it isn't friendly enough to the environment. Through 18 months' hard work, China independently developed the CO₂ direct cooling technology.

A net of tubes runs under the ice. High-pressure liquid(液态) CO₂ goes through them to create heat(热) exchange. The CO₂ evaporates(蒸发) under the ice surface. The evaporation takes in heat and turns water on the surface into ice. And the CO₂ goes into another circle. This technology helps to make ice better and faster. And above all, it is much greener because there's no new CO₂ produced. Among all the 15 ice sporting places in the Winter Olympics, 7 used the CO₂ direct cooling technology to make ice. As a result, much less pollution was caused.

Beijing did so much more to save energy. Beijing built the new sporting places with green materials. As for the old ones, Beijing used new glass walls to take the place of traditional walls to let more natural light in. 70% of the waste heat was also reused to keep warm and dry. And a large number of new energy cars were used at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is the first to truly achieve carbon neutrality(碳中和), and it has set new standards in green technologies. Some newspapers say China has set an example for the world in environmental protection and green development.