When I was about 12, I had an enemy(敌人), a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings(缺点). Sometimes she said I was thin. Sometimes she said I was lazy. Sometimes she said I wasn't a good student. Sometimes she said I talked too much, and so on. I tried to put up with(忍受) her as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.

    He listened to me quietly, and then he asked, “Are the things she said true or not? Mary, didn't you ever wonder what you're really like? Go and write a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”

    I did as he told me and to my surprise, I discovered that about half the things were true.

    I brought the list back to my dad. He refused to take it. “That's just for you,” he said. “You know better than anyone else the truth about yourself. When something said about you is true, you'll find it will be helpful to you. Don't close your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you think is right.”

    Many years have passed. The situation often appears in my mind. In our life we often meet with some trouble and we often go to someone and ask for advice. For some advice you will treasure(珍惜) all your life!

    Droughts (干旱)are common in Kenya. Before, they came every 10 years, but now they seem to be hitting us more often and for a longer time.

    We gave the droughts names :“longoza”was the drought when many animals died ; there was the drought of the “planes” because food was dropped from the air by planes; and one particularly bad drought was called “ man who dies with his money in his fist (拳头)”，because, even if there was money, there was simply no food to buy.

    I was born in 1951 in Machakos. From what my mother tells me, when I was 7, there was a serious drought. I clearly remember the terrible weather and the hunger. I can't tell you how many times I went to bed without eating. “ I slept like that, ” is how we described it. I can't count the number of days when “ I slept like that,” or describe the feeling of going to sleep hungry, knowing I'd wake up and there would still be no food for breakfast.

    My father would leave early in the morning carrying a little basket to ask for food on credit (赊欠). Each night he would return home around 10:00p.m. My mother would try to encourage me by telling me to keep the water in our pot boiling so that when my father arrived we could quickly cook any food he brought in the already prepared water. I would keep the fire burning and the water boiling, along with the hopes that we would eat that night. But my father would arrive frustrated and empty -handed. And I would sleep like that.

    Travelling around the world is a dream for many people, and a young couple from China has made their dream come true. They drove along the ancient Silk Road, from China to the UK.

    Luo Chang and Ding Jie, a young couple from Guizhou Province, spent two months driving from their home in Shanghai all the way to London. The journey covered about 20,000 kilometres, and they crossed 14 countries and regions (地区).

    Ding Jie said, "People were excited to see two travellers driving a foreign license car, appearing on their streets. We were stopped many times to take photos with them. Sometimes, when we couldn't understand each other's language, they would express their ideas with gestures(手势).

    During their driving trip, they also spent many nights in local people's homes. Luo Chang said. "This is an amazing experience. We were driving on a highway or a country road to someone's home. Someone you've never met but was preparing dinner for you. We feel we have friends all over the world."

    During the trip, Luo and Ding took nearly 10,000 photos and kept diaries to record the beautiful scenery(风景), the friendly people and the different customs on the way.

Hello, I'm Cindy. My English is good.

What's this in English?It is a jacket.What colour is it?It's purple.It's my jacket.And what's that?It's a map.It's not my map.It's Simon's.A white ruler is on the map.What's that in English?It's a key.I can spell it.K-E-Y,key.The key is on the quilt.Can you see a cup?It's a white cup.