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.

    Garrison had been treasuring his last piece. All he had left now was a sheet of the beautiful brown paper Pa had brought back from his last sailing trip.

    "You've been quiet," Pa said, "Could I see your picture?"

    Garrison handed over his sketch. Pa studied it, then looked at his son. "You're ten now, eh?" Garrison nodded, hoping Pa wouldn't say that he was too old to be fooling around with pencils and paper.

    "When I was ten, I wanted to work on my father's ship," Pa said, "When Thomas was ten, he asked me to let him plant the corn."

    Garrison's throat (嗓子) tightened. "I know I'm not like either of you." Pa looked at the drawing again.

    "No, you are like both of us. You work hard, like Thomas. And you're like me, too. I have wandering feet, but you have a wandering mind. We need to see things differently.

    Garrison frowned. "I'd rather love the land, like Thomas, or the sea…"

    Pa patted his hand. "Thomas cares about our family very much-that's why he's worked so hard to bring us food. And my love for the sea makes good money. But there's more in life than food and money. There's happiness, for one. Does it make you happy to draw?"

    Garrison nodded.

    "And it makes me happy to look at your drawings. Not many folks can catch happiness on a piece of paper. Some might say drawing's a waste of time, but they don't understand how things are. Why, asking you to stop drawing like asking Thomas to stop farming, or me to stop going to sea. It would be like asking us to stop breathing, wouldn't it?"

    Garrison considered this, then replied, "No, sir. Not quite like breathing. If I couldn't draw any more, it would be… like someone took away my voice." He hung his head. In his mind he could hear Thomas laughing, "It's not like you ever speak up, anyway."

    But Pa patted his shoulder and said, "That would be a pure shame. Your voice is important, Garrison, whether it's out loud or on paper. And speaking of paper…" Pa smiled. "Take a look in my bag."

    Garrison reached into the bag and found a sketchbook. For a moment he was speechless happiness seemed to fill his body and stick in his throat. Then he managed to find his voice. "Oh, Pa-thank you."

    It was coming up on Marty's birthday. His mom had asked him what he wanted as a gift this year. He thought maybe a new bicycle, or maybe a new camera, a new basketball, or a telescope (望远镜)."Any of those gifts would be great," he said. Secretly, he hoped for the telescope. Marty loved space, stars, and learning about the planets.

    Marty's mom and dad talked about the gifts one night after Marty went to sleep." I think we should get Marty the telescope," said dad." He's so interested in space and the planets, he would like that the best." "Sounds good," said mom. Dad told her he would pick out a telescope for Marty the next day after work.

    Marty's dad had the telescope in his car. He waited until Marty was asleep and brought it into the house. "Wow!" said Marty's mom after dad put it together. "This is wonderful." " Now where are we going to hide it until Sunday？" "How about in the attic(阁楼)?" "Marty won't find it there."

    Sunday morning came and Marty ran down the stairs into the kitchen. His gift was usually near his chair at the table, but this year he didn't see anything. "Happy Birthday!" shouted mom and dad from the next room. They came into the kitchen and saw Marty was looking around for a gift. "I guess you think we forgot to get you a gift," said mom. Marty looked confused. "Well, you usually put my gift in the kitchen," Marty said. Dad told Marty to follow him outside the house in the yard. "This is fantastic!" shouted Marty. "I don't take many pictures, and I probably wouldn't use the basketball much, and my bike is okay for now. But I will use the telescope! Thanks so much." "You're welcome," said mom and dad. All that night, Marty saw many beautiful stars and even the planet Mars. Marty would remember his tenth birthday for the rest of his life!

    Nearly all students want to have a good memory so that they can study well. Yan Jiashuo, a young girl, is quite lucky. She has received the honor of "International Master of Memory". About 300 people have been honoured as masters. Yan Jiashuo is the youngest among them.

    Yan Jiashuo always has a good memory. And the good memory comes from good training. When she was 4 years old, her parents asked her to recite ancient poems and books. She has practised a lot. So when she is at school, it is easy and quick for her to recite texts in class. What's more, she loves reading. When she was in the third grade, she could read one book a day.

    Yan Jiashuo is good at not only Chinese, but also maths. For her, numbers are not boring at all. She can make up stories with these numbers. She compares remembering a lot of numbers to watching a movie. Every group of two numbers is imagined to be a picture of the story. And these pictures are made up into a movie in her mind. She said everyone could have a good memory by training and there were plenty of ways to train your memory.