Today I went to Sam's school in the UK. It was really different from my school in China.

    Girls wore grey skirts and white shirts, boys wore grey trousers, and everyone wore the school tie.

    Some of Sam's lessons were a bit strange for me. We were reading Shakespeare in the English lesson, and there were quite some old words like “thou” and “thee” to mean “you”. In history we studied 20th Century China. It was strange hearing a foreign side of history—and hearing English people trying to say all our Chinese names!

    Classes were also a lot more relaxing than in China. Teachers were called “sir” or “miss”, everyone shouted answers and raised their hands in classes. It was more like a debate than a class. A bell rang at the end of each lesson and everyone jumped up to go to the next class.

    At break we bought potato chips and cookies in the dining room. Lunch was later than in China at 1 o'clock. We had big plates of pie with carrots. For dessert there was hot sweet rice called rice pudding.

    It was good that I'd had an excellent lunch, because at Sam's school, Monday afternoons are taken up with sports.

    I played my first game of netball—a bit like basketball, but with some differences. Fortunately(幸运的是), I'd had a quick look in the rule book before I tried to join in the game.

    It was just three degrees above zero. "That's cold," thought Jane as she got ready to deliver her morning papers. Jane had 50 customers, and on cold mornings when she couldn't ride her bicycle, it took her more than an hour to make her rounds. As she collected her papers and put them into a big canvas bag, Jane regretted that she hadn't finished her math homework the night before. There was still time. She'd hurry with the papers and finish the math before breakfast.

    Less than an hour later, Jane was nearly finished. She had only five customers to go. She could then head for home to complete her math while her room fixed breakfast. As she rounded the corner, she saw a car in the middle of the street. It was Mr. Zimmerman, the elder man, who walked with a walking stick. His car was out of gas. "I'd like to help Mr. Zimmerman," thought Jane, "but if I do, I won't have time to do my homework." She hated to think what Mr. Roberts would say if she hadn't completed her papers.

    "It's his own fault for running out of gas," Jane talked to herself. "The station is only a half mile down the street. Surely Mr. Zimmerman can walk that far, even on a cold morning like this — can't he?" As she walked down the street, Jane wondered what to do.

    Henry Smith taught science at the City School. One day, he went to a bookstore and bought some books. Most of them were expensive. He left them in his Car in a quiet street. Then he went and bought some other things at other shops. At 6 o'clock he came back to the car. One window was open and the books were gone. Henry drove back to his home in Lake Street.

    That night he wrote a letter to a newspaper. The next day he went to the police station.

    On Friday people read an advertisement(广告) in the newspaper.

BOOKS WANTED

DO YOU HAVE ANY BOOKS THAT YOU NO LONGER WANTED? I BUY OLD AND MODERN BOOKS. OPEN ALL DAY ON SATURDAY. HENRY SMITH, 18 LAKE STREET.

    Henry stayed at home on Saturday. His first visitor came at 8 o'clock.

    Henry took him to the kitchen. At half past nine another man arrived. He had a bag under his arm.

    "Mr. Smith?" the man asked.

    "That's right," Henry said, "Can I help you?"

    "I have some good books. You buy books, don't you?"

    "Yes, bring them in. I'll have a look at them."

    Soon the books were on the dining-table.

    "Come in now, " Henry called out, "And bring the list."

    A policeman came into the dining-room. He read the titles(书名) on the books and those on the list in his hand. They were the same.

    "Come with me, Sir," the policeman said to the man.

    In our daily life, we always come to the question “What is the real beauty?” . Different people have different ideas. Last night, I read a true story from the newspaper. It's about a poor, ordinary looking old woman. She lived alone, making a living by picking things from rubbish heaps (垃圾堆). However, she took in more than ten homeless children and tried to bring them up .Every day she worked from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. In order to earn as much money as possible to raise the children and to keep them in school, she even went to a local hospital to sell her blood(血) once a month. She got so weak because of the loss of blood that she sometimes felt sick on her way home. When asked why she chose to take care of so many children, she smiled and answered,“Oh, I love children and I like to live together with them because they always bring me great happiness.” Though the old woman was poor, she was full of love and rich in spirit.So the local government and people in her city truly respected her. Maybe you can't help thinking,“What makes that poor woman so different?” It is nothing else but her inner (内部的) beauty, her true devotion of love without any thought of money. So the real beauty is the beauty in one's heart, that is, the inner beauty!

    Paulina Cortes is a teacher in San Jose, California. One day, she handed out masks (面罩) to farm workers in Lodi. She volunteered to do this because the air quality (空气质量) is still poor after a big fire.

    "I just got home and feel really tired now. Today I spent my day in Lodi handing out masks to farm workers," she wrote on the Internet. "I raised some money. Then I drove through San Jose and all the way to Salinas to buy enough masks I needed. This is important. The story here isn't that I handed out masks; it's that there are hundreds of people who are working in dangerous environments with no protection (防护). And no one even knows about it."

    Paulina also put some photos on the Internet, and they were picked up by the news. Many people were surprised at the news, and they knew what happened to those farm workers for the first time.

    The next day, Paulina added, "I traveled through Lodi and Stockton not just to hand out masks, but to help the farm workers understand the pollution. In Lodi yesterday the workers were picking fruit in such dangerous environments. None of them even knew this. Not too far from our homes, hundreds of people are working in these environments. I will buy more masks and send them to a Stockton farm worker. He helped me hand out masks yesterday."

    Thank you, Paulina, for caring and trying to make a difference.