Once upon a time, there were two seeds(种子). They were good friends. They often talked with each other when they were free. One day, they had nothing to do. They lay on the ground. They looked up at the sky and had a chat with each other.

      The first seed said, “I want to grow! Then I can enjoy the sun and the rain!” Later, it grew. It had a chance to enjoy the sun and the rain.

The second seed said, “I am afraid of growing up. If I grow, I have to live in the soil. Little animals may come up to me and eat me. How terrible! If I become a beautiful flower, a child will come and pick me. It is much better for me to wait. It's a dangerous way to be alive.” It did nothing and refused to grow.

       Spring came soon. A duck came up to the seeds. It eat the second seed and went away. See? We shouldn't act like the second seed. We should face our life bravely.

    My six-year-old granddaughter, Cindy, and I stopped at a food shop for some bread. Cindy had1 it for several days. As we were going out of the door, a young teenage boy was coming in.

    The boy had no hair on the side of his head but a set of blue spiked(成锥形的) hair on top of it. His nose was 2 , and a ring ran through the hole. A chain went across his face and it was connected to his earring. He held a skateboard under one arm and a basketball under the other.

    Cindy, who was walking ahead of me, 3stopped when he saw the boy. I thought he had  4 my granddaughter. I was wrong. My granddaughter backed up against the door and opened it as wide as it would go. Now I came face to face with the young man. I stepped aside and let him5. He replied very6, "Thank you very much."

    On our way to the car, I 7 Cindy for holding open the door for the boy. To my surprise, she didn't seem to be troubled by the young boy's 8 . But I wanted to make sure. I wanted to be ready to talk about freedom of expressing themselves and allowing people's  9   .

    As it turned out, the person  10needed the talk was me. The only thing Cindy noticed about the boy was the fact that his arms were   11 . "He held a skateboard under one arm and a basketball under the other. He would have a 12  time to open the door, " said Cindy.

    I just paid attention to the partially shaved (部分剃光的)head, the set of spiked hair, the piercing and the chain. She saw a person carrying   13 under each arm and heading toward a(n) 14 door.

    What my granddaughter said reminded me that I should change my ways of judging people and 15 my granddaughter to be open-minded and warm-hearted.

    ①Last year I spent my whole winter vacation in the US with my host family. The most unforgettable experience I had there was joining the Boy Scouts (童子军) of America. It was there that I got to face a great challenge: camping in the rain.

    ②One Saturday, we went hiking in the rain for more than six hours. When we finally reached the camping site, my shoes, my clothes, my bag and all the things inside it were totally soaked.

    ③Then, an even worse thing happened. Our guide teacher stepped out and said: “Today's hiking is a test. We're not going back home tonight! We have to live here tonight!” Soon we began to accept the truth and went to work. We just covered ourselves with a kind of plastic sheet and lay down by the campfire. While sleeping, I woke up several times. But to my surprise, I adapted (适应) to the environment quickly. Many others didn't even fall asleep.

    ④The sun finally rose and our hope returned. The bus came at 6 am and sent us back to our lovely home.

    ⑤Many in China say that children in the US were born with an adventurous spirit. But I think they were born with nothing different. Instead, they make differences by facing troubles positively. The camping adventure was a gift they gave themselves. Many Chinese children are over-protected when they are growing up. Therefore, when facing troubles, how can it be possible for us to react positively?

    One day a poor farmer was taking a bag of rice to town. Suddenly the bag fell off his horse on the road. He didn't know what to do about it because it was too heavy for him to lift by himself. He only hoped that somebody would soon pass by and help him.

    Just at this moment a man riding a horse came up to him. But the farmer was very disappointed (失望) when he saw who he was. It was the great man living nearby. The farmer had hoped to ask another farmer or a poor man like him.

    But to his surprise, the great man got off his horse as soon as he came near. He said to the farmer, “I see you need help, friend. How good it is that I'm here just at the right time.” Then he took one end of the bag, the farmer took the other. They together lifted and put it on the horse.

    “Sir,” asked the farmer, “how can I pay you?”

    “It's quite easy,” the great man answered with a smile, “wherever you see anyone else in trouble, do the same for him.”

    Do you have to be very smart to live a happy life? The character of McDull (麦兜) tells you that this is not true. He is famous for having a birthmark on his right eye. He is not very clever, but he has a heart of gold. He is also happy, with lots of dreams. McDull wanted to visit the Maldives (马尔代夫). But his mother didn't have enough money for a trip there. So she lied to him and took him to a place called Hong Kong. The place has a sign that says, “Go to the Maldives.” It made McDull very happy. He thought he was really excited in the Maldives!

    McDull is just a common pig. He has many dreams, but they never come true. That doesn't stop him trying. McDull lives his life in a simple and happy way. His idea towards life is “Never give up”.

    The cartoon pig character was created in Hong Kong by Alice Mark and Brian Tse. McDull first showed up as a character in the McMug comics. McMug is another cartoon pig. But McDull is more popular with a huge number of fans everywhere!

    In ancient Greece, Socrates was a knowledgeable philosopher(哲学家). One day one person met him and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?". "Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test(三重过滤测试). Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the Triple Filter Test. The first filter is truth. Have you made absolutely(完全地) sure that what you are about to tell me is true? ""No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and…". "All right," said Socrates. "So you don't know whether it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?" "No, on the contrary…". "So, "Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness(有益性). Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?" "No, not really." "Well," said Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me?"