John went to the planet Mars for his holiday. This is his holiday.

Monday

     We arrived in the Mars City at 4:30 in the afternoon (Mars time) by a space shuttle. We went to the Mars Hotel (five stars) for dinner before going to bed. I was very tired after the journey (it takes 72 hours to get there) , but I am looking forward to my holiday very much.

Tuesday

     I didn't sleep well because of the weightlessness(), the gravity is only about three-eighths of that on Earth. I hit my head on the bedroom ceiling several times. After breakfast we spent the morning on the Mars farm. They don't use earth or chemicals to grow their food. We had lunch on the farm and then had a hoverbus ride over the Mars City. That was very exciting. In the evening we went shopping in the Mars City Shopping Mall. I bought some souvenirs for my family and my friends.

    “ Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.” It's a famous quote from US president John F, Kennedy's inaugural(就职) speech in 1961.

    Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the social networking site Facebook, must agree with Kennedy. The 33-year-old American donated $100 million to the public schools in New Jersey, US.

    Who is this young billionaire? How did he make his fortune?

    Thirteen years ago, Zuckerber was a computer geek(怪才) at Harvard University. As a second-year student, he set up a website to put the “face books” --photos of incoming first-year students online. The website, where people were able to share personal information, was a success at once.

    Zuckerberg first opened Facebook to high school students and then to everyone. Greeting such as “Have you checked your Facebook page today?” and “Do your ‘friends' know what you ate for breakfast?” became a part of American life. Now Facebook is the most popular site in the world with 1.7 billion users.” I could have never imagined all of the ways people would use Facebook when we were getting started thirteen years ago,” Zuckerberg wrote in a recent blog.

    Zuckerberg's dream is to make the Internet a more connected place. The mission(任务)could become profitable for Facebook. The more people share information about themselves online, the more money Facebook will make selting advertising. Zuckerberg is already worth $34 billion, according to Forbes.

    Yet the billionaire keeps his own life out of the public eye. At the company, it is said that he sits among a sea of desks like hundreds of workers. A visitor to Facebook might not even spot Zuckerberg in T-shirt and jeans. He usually takes one two-week vacation each year with his wife Priscilla Chan, a Chinese American. On the weekends, it is reported that he roasts pig and goat in his backyard for friends and takes Chinese lessons.

    The Social Network, a movie based on Zuckerberg's story, came out in 2010. It became one of the most popular films of that year.

A Mystery (神秘的) Artist

    The first time I saw Suzy Khan, I knew I had to help her. All I knew was that she was an orphan, who had no parents, from Africa. She had just been adopted (收养) by a family, and they thought that the best way for her to learn American ways of life is to be with American kids.

    Suzy was really small for her age of 12. The boys in my class often laughed at her. She would open a book, pretending to read, with tears dropping on the open page. I looked down at this small girl and promised myself that I must help her.

    But how could I help her fit in with us? There had to be a way.

    One day, when I went into the classroom, I saw that Suzy had opened her geography book to a picture of a train, and in her notebook, she had made a perfect copy.

    I was surprised and thought that she could do something in the coming talent show. So, I took her to see the art teacher, Miss Parker, and showed her what Suzy had drawn. “Why, it's wonderful,” said Miss Parker, and then showed us a poster she had painted for the talent show. “I need more of these, but I just don't have enough time. Could you help me, Suzy?”

    On the day of the talent show, Suzy's posters were everywhere — all over the hall and all over the school, each one different.

    “And finally,” said Mr. Brown, the schoolmaster, at the end of the show, “We have a special award. I'm sure you've all noticed the wonderful posters.” Everyone nodded. “One of our own students painted them.”

    I could hear everyone whispering. “Who in our school could draw that well?”

    Mr. Brown waited for a while before saying, “Since this student worked so hard on the posters, she deserves a prize, too. Our mystery artist is our new student — Suzy Khan!”

    Mr. Brown thanked her for all the wonderful posters and gave her a professional artist's set. “Thank you,” she cried.

    I realized, at that time when I was looking at her excited face, she had probably never owned anything in her whole life.

    Everyone started to clap their hands. Suzy Khan gave them a shy smile. I knew then Suzy was going to be all right.

    Long ago, a wolf called Howler lived in a valley where lots of fruit trees grew. He often tried to climb up the trees to eat the fruit, but couldn't reach.

    In the valley, an old man named Martin also had a few fruit trees that he looked after very well. But as he was getting older, he noticed that he didn't have the strength to pick the fruit.

    Martin had the most beautiful fruit trees in the valley, which was why Howler had his eye on them. One day he decided to steal the fruit and started jumping up and down the tree.

    Martin looked out of the window and realized that the wolf was trying to steal fruit from his beautiful trees. Howler jumped and jumped, but he couldn't reach even the lowest branches of such a big tree.

    Seeing this, Martin had a great idea: he offered Howler a ladder to climb up, but in return the wolf would have to give him half of the fruit. Howler accepted the deal and began to collect the fruit. For the whole morning, he went up and down the ladder filling his basket with the fruit.

    Howler soon realized that he could eat all the fruit if he didn't give Martin some. He thought up a new and secret plan. Martin, on the other hand, trusted Howler and even began to think they would be friends forever.

But the wolf stole the ladder and went off to other trees in the area for more fruit.

    Realizing that the ladder was missing, Martin went looking for it. Martin felt very disappointed at the trick and no longer trusted Howler. Though he wasn't angry with the wolf and they became friends again, he never made any more deals with him.

    At last, Howler learned that he shouldn't trick people and he should keep promises. He also learned that if he had been honest and not greedy, he would still have been able to enjoy more delicious fruit.

    Laozi or Lao Tzu, who lived in the 6th century BC, was a well-known philosopher in ancient China. He was the founder of Taoism. His teachings have been passed down through centuries and today there are still many followers of Taoism.

    Famous and respected as he is. Laozi's personal life is still a mystery and there are many stories about his birth and life. The only reliable biography of him is Shiji written by historian Sima Qian of 145 BC. According to Shiji, Laozi was born in Ku County of the state of Chu, the present day Luyi County of Henan Province. His family name was "Li", and "Dan" was his designation (字).

    At first, Laozi worked as a historian at the royal court (王朝) of the Zhou Dynasty. Later, he went on a trip to the west and met the guardian of the Hangu Pass (函谷关) who asked Laozi to write a book to record his wisdom for the good of the country.

    Upon his request, Laozi began writing his famous book—Daodejing. Daode means "virtue". So the title can be translated as "Classic of the Virtue". After finishing writing the book, the wise old man left Hangu Pass. No one had seen him or known where he was ever since.

    However, because of the fact that none of the original texts about Taoism have any reference about the life and death of Laozi, today many researchers have the opinion that Daodejing was in fact not written by Laozi alone. Some even say that Laozi was never a real person but can be referred to any old wise man in ancient China who taught philosophy.