Once there was a man named Chulong in Thailand. One day he saw a beautiful 1 when he was walking in the park. He went near it quietly and caught (抓住) it.

     " 2 do you catch me?" asked the bird.

    "I want to make money," said Chulong.

    "Nobody will 3 me because I'll lose my beauty when I'm not free." Then the beautiful bird turned into a common one.

    Chulong was unhappy.

    The bird said,“ 4 you set me free, I will tell you three simple but useful rules. I'm sure they will 5 you."

    "But how can I trust (相信) 6 ? You may fly away," said Chulong.

    "I won't," said the bird.

    Chulong set the bird free, and it sat in a tree.

    Now tell me the 7 ，said Chulong.

     “OK,” said the bird. "The first rule is never trust everything others say. The second rule is never be unhappy about 8 you don't have. The third rule is never throw away (扔掉） what you have in your hand'

    You silly bird "shouted Chulong ". Everyone knows these three rules. You cheated (欺骗）me.”

    But the bird said,"Chulong， 9 all your actions today. You had me in your hand but you threw me away. You trusted all I said. And you are unhappy about not having me. Although the rules are simple you never 10 them ". After saying this the bird flew away.

    A girl went to her father and told him that her life was too hard. She said she couldn't work all the difficulties out 1. She just wanted to give up.

Her father said, "I think I know 2 I can help you. 3 me." They went into the 4. Her father put a potato, an egg and some coffee beans into three different bowls of water. Then, he started to boil (煮沸) the water on the stove.

After some time, he turned the stove 5 and took out the potato, the egg and the beans. He then showed each of them to his daughter.

"Look. The potato was hard before I boiled it, but now, it is 6 and weak. The egg was fragile (易碎的) until I put it in the water—now, it is hard inside. But the coffee beans were different. When they met the boiling water, they changed and became delicious 7."

Life 8 problems to us all. The potato, egg and coffee beans were all met with the same problem. But they each solve the problem in their own way. It is up to you to take the difficulties you face and find something good in 9. By making a(n) 10, the father taught his daughter a life lesson.

My problems started after I went to a new school far from home. I was only 14, and at first I missed my family a lot. I often called them and cried on the phone. But after two weeks, I found I enjoyed being with my classmates at school. 

I had many friends who were boys. I thought of them as my best friends—but only friends. I never guessed my friendship with boys would become a problem. 
    Then, three months later, my friends told me that some teachers and girls said I was hanging out（闲逛）with boys all day long in order to get attention from them. Seven months after that, the head teacher Mr. Wang asked the class to choose（选择）some students to join the Student Union. I thought I could win for I was doing well in school. I'd already won prizes（奖励） for the best in math and English exams. A week later, the list came out and it didn't include（包括）me. I was sad.

Mr. Wang came to me and said. "Don't be sad. I know you're excellent! Maybe you're a little distant（远） from the girls in our class. They don't know much about you, so some of them didn't choose you. It doesn't matter. Do your best to get along well with everyone and I think you'll make it next time. "

Grace wasn't a popular kid in her school. The girl, Ashley, was popular and had many friends. They were in the same class 1 didn't talk much.

During the summer school, the teacher asked them to 2 a project (项目) together. Ashley didn't like working with Grace at first, but she gave in. The reason was that her cool 3 were not in the class. However, when the project ended, they became good friends and Ashley introduced (介绍) Grace to the" cool girls". To fit in with 4 group, Grace followed them around and agreed with all their opinions. She began to do what Ashley liked.

One day, she heard Ashley and her friends talking 5 her." Grace just 6 you around, trying to be you. She loses her own personality (个性)," one girl said. Then Ashley answered,"I know. I wish she could find the group she is 7 in." Grace felt so sad and then thought of her mother's 8 ," Everyone is special. Just be 9 ."

Grace decided to find out who she really was. From that day, Grace changed. She was in every play after school and built confidence to be a much 10 self. The friends she made in the theatre are still her great friends to this day.

I'm Mark，a student in New York. Let me introduce our Friday food to you. In America，Friday nights are pizza nights for most families. That's the last workday before the weekend. Everyone is quite relaxed and wants to enjoy the weekend as early as possible. Parents don't want to spend （花费） too much time cooking on Friday，so they buy pizzas. 

My parents go to Pizza Hut on York Street to buy pizza s every Friday. We kids all love cheese pizzas. Mom and Dad buy two cheese pizzas for us. They don't like cheese pizzas. Both of them love meat. They often buy chicken pizzas for themselves. Sometimes they'd like to try beef or fish for a change. The next week they go back to chicken. 

Every Friday，the kitchen table is full of pizza boxes after dinner. It's our job to clean the table. We need to put all the boxes in the big bin（垃圾桶） in front of the house. We play" rock，paper，scissors（石头剪刀布游戏）"to see who does the job. I never have good luck. It's always me. 

But when the weekend comes，I become very lucky. I am always the winner of the family activities. I really enjoy my family life.