I still remember the last time when two of my children and I went to the playground. It had rained during the night and the playground was very muddy (泥泞的). They had just put on clean clothes, so I was a little worried about the pools of water on the playground. It was not long before Kathy got her beautiful skirt dirty on the playground. She dug through the rocks. I was about to blame her for getting her clothes dirty when she ran towards me with a smile on her face. When she got to me, she handed me a little heart-shaped rock and said, "Here Mom! Here is a heart for you－just because I love you! Keep it!”with tears in my eyes, I thanked her.
    Should I blame her for getting her clothes muddy? No way! I still have that little heart-shaped rock. It is one of the best gifts that I have ever received. I realize that many times it is not necessary for us adults to worry about the small things our children do. Let them do what they'd like to.
    I will spend a lot more time on the playground with my children. I'm sure I will learn a lot from the children. It reminds me of some years ago when my grandfather told me, "You would not enter the kingdom (王国) of happiness until you pretended (假装) to be a small child.”

    In the morning, a grandfather took his grandson to a school. When the boy and his grandfather went into the playground, some children came up.

    "What a funny old man!" one boy said, making a face.

    "Hey, fatty (胖子)," another one shouted.

    The children jeered at them and jumped up and down.

    Without saying a word, the old man took his grandson out of the school gate. "Wonderful! I don't have to go to school!" the boy said.

    "You do, but not this one," his grandfather replied. "I'll find you a school myself." The grandfather took his grandson back to his own house, asked the boy's grandmother to look after him, and then went out to look for a school himself.

    Every time he got to a school, the old man went into a playground, and waited for the children to come out at break time. In some schools the children completely ignored (不理会) the old man, and in others, they made fun of him. When this happened, he would turn sad and go home. Finally, he went into the very small playground of a very small school, and stood tiredly against the wall. The bell rang, and the children got out into the playground.

    "Sir, are you all right? Shall I get you something to drink?" a voice said.

    "We've got a bench in the playground — come and sit down," came another voice.

    Soon a young teacher came out into the playground. The old man greeted him and said, "Finally, I've found my grandson the best school in town."

Cake with friends

    On the first day of July, 2019, everyone was amazed. Our teacher held a birthday party for 23 students. Most of the students' birthdays are in July. Our teacher gave them birthday cards. The cards' covers were printed with a group photos of our class. The teacher wrote birthday wishes to the students on the back. It was really sweet!

    Then, we sang a birthday song for the birthday kids. In addition (另外), all of us got to share cream（奶油） cakes, even if our birthdays weren't in July. I thought this was nice. I watched everyone eat their cake together and have some fun talks. It's nice to have good friendships(友谊) like this.

    Then, something funny happened! We started throwing the cake to each other. Some of us drew pictures on the birthday kids' faces. It was a really fun time.

    I was happy to be at school on that day. I watched all of my friends have fun together. I felt like it was one of the happiest times I've ever had in junior high school. I wished that I could stop time or make the best time lest just a few minutes longer. This isn't possible of course. But I do hope that all of my friends can cherish(珍惜) their friendships forever and enjoy friendships, just like I am now.

    I'm looking forward to the future. I hope I can make more good friends in high school.

    One day Bob took two of his friends into the mountains. They put up their tents (帐篷) and then rode off to a forest to see how the trees were growing.

    In the afternoon when they were about ten kilometers from their camp(营地), it started to snow. More and more snow fell. Soon Bob could not see his hands before his face. He could not find the road. Bob knew there were two roads. One road went to the camp, and the other went to his house. But all was white snow. Everything was the same. How could he take his friends back to the camp?

    Bob had an idea. The horses! Let the horses take them back! But what would happen if the horses took the road to his house? That would be a trip of thirty-five kilometers in such cold weather!

    It was getting late. They rode on and on. At last the horses stopped. Where were they? John looked around. What was that under the tree? It was one of their tents!

    If you love reading books, you must know about the book The Little Prince. It's a famous novel written by a French writer. As one of the best-selling books in history, it has been sold as many as 200 million copies in 253 languages and dialects(方言). Now, around seventy years after the birth of the book, an American director has found a way to make it into a 3D animated film(动画片).

    The book tells the story of a pilot, called The Aviator, who crashes(撞击) into the desert and meets a young prince there. However, in the film, the story starts years after the crash when The Aviator is much older. He has got a new neighbor called The Little Girl, whose mother wants her to get ready to enter the grown-up world. Slowly The Aviator shares his story with The Little Girl by writing it down and sending her a page at a time. The pages are complete with the pictures in the book, speaking about his time in the desert and taking The Little Girl to an amazing world where anything is possible.

    China is the first country in the world to see the film in two versions—in Chinese and English. The film shows The Little Girl's life and tells The Little Prince's story at the same time in a beautiful way.

    Huang Lei, who voices the film together with his 9-year-old daughter, says the film is like a childhood dream which is lost by most adults in this stressed-out society.

    "The most touching part is that every one of us was a good-natured kid like the Little Prince, and it's a pity that this good characteristic(品质) goes away as time flies," he says.