In 50 years of traveling, Colin McCorpuodale has visited every country in the world except three. And everywhere he goes, he sends himself a postcard. He always chooses a postcard with beautiful scenery (风景). Usually he writes just a short message to himself. However, he wrote an interesting story on his latest one, from the Malians Island.

Mr. McCorpuodale lives in London. On one of the walls in his room, you can see a large map of the world. There are hundreds of little red pins (大头针) stuck in it. “These pins mean a lot to me.” says Mr. McCorpuodale, “I follow the rule. I'm allowed to stick one in only if I've been in a place for more than 24 hours.”

Naturally, Mr. McCorpuodale has his favorite places. New Zealand, he describes as “a wonderful country”. About China, he says, “This is the country in the world which is completely different. There is no European influence. ”

Wherever he goes, Mr. McCorpuodale takes with him a photo of his wife, a candle, a shirt with a secret pocket and a pen.

So why does he do it? For the postcards or the travels? Mr. McCorpuodale laughs, “Neither. Only for the meaningful life.”

    One day, I saw a boy shop alone at the shop I worked. He chose some school things he wanted and went to the checkout (付款台).

    The young shop assistant (店员) told him he needed to pay $37.60. The boy became very sad and said he only had $20. He took out one thing at a time, and at last he got down to his $20. He cried and asked if he could call his mum to pick him up. He called his mum. However, his mum was too busy to pick him up in a minute.

    He tried to stop crying and walked outside to wait on the chair in front of the shop. This was too much for the young assistant. She looked outside all the time to see if the boy was all right. Then she said, "I hope I can pay for the rest (剩余部分) of his things." One of the other girls said she had some money. Then two others said they could help too.

    These four young girls pooled their money and found they had more than enough to pay for the boy's things. Then they chose more school things, and gave them all to the boy. The boy smiled happily~ His mum arrived much later, but he didn't just run to the car; he ran back into the shop and called out, "Thank you!"

    I was so proud (骄傲的) of my team that day. They did something wonderful for that boy and also found the pleasure (快乐) of giving.

    Mr. Black comes into Class Three. The bell is ringing. He wants to teach an English lesson. Mr. White comes in and asks him to go to the office. He must go and have a meeting. Mr. Black says to his students, "You study by yourselves, please. I'll be back soon. "

    After a while, Mr. Black comes back. He sees Mike talking to his deskmate Jack. Mr. Black is very angry.

    "Stand up, Mike！" says the teacher. "What are you doing？"

    "I'm reading English now, " says Mike.

    "What's in your hand? Please look at it carefully, " says the teacher.

    Mike looks at it. Oh, it's a history book. He looks at Jack's hand. There is an English book in his hand. He has a good idea right away.

    "I'm sorry, Mr. Black. Jack is holding an English book and I am holding a history book. We are studying the history of English. "

    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."

Dear Jennifer,

    It's Tuesday, February 11^th. I'm really busy today. At 8 o'clock I have a math class.I don't like math class. Then I have a science class. It's difficult, but It's interesting. Next, at 10:00, I have a history. It's boring. But I have PE at 11:00. That's my favorite subject. I have lunch at 12:00. After lunch. I have a music class. I like my music teacher, Mr. Morgan. He is a fun teacher. School is over at 2:00. After school I do sports for two hours. I'm so tired, but I'm very happy.

Yours,

Linda

Chopsticks are a pair of small equal-length sticks, usually made of wood, used for eating Asian food. Chopsticks are mainly used in China. And it is believed that the first chopsticks were developed in China. Chopsticks play an important role in Chinese food culture. Chinese chopsticks are usually 9 to 10 inches long. They are round on the eating end which means heaven (天), and the other end is square which means earth. The appearance of chopsticks said goodbye to those days when our Chinese ancestors(祖先)had to use their hands to eat.      

Besides, the use of chopsticks has also been a part of Chinese food culture. There are some taboos that you must pay great attention to when you use chopsticks. Firstly, don't use them to hit your bowl or plate. Secondly, never use them to point at others. Thirdly, don't put them in different food without taking something. Fourthly, don't cross the chopsticks on the table. And lastly, don't leave your chopsticks standing in the rice. Chinese people do this only when they honor (尊重) the dead.

Nowadays, chopsticks have many new usages. For example, you can buy a pair as a gift to your friends and relatives. In Chinese, it reads "筷子", which means having sons soon, so a newly-married couple will be very happy to accept it as their wedding gift.