Paul: Hi, Bill! Have a look atmy house in the country. I'm sure you can enjoy yourself.

Bill: I'd love to.But I hear that the food is not delicious, and your house is not good. Is it so?

Paul: No, that's not true. Go and see!

Then Bill goes to the countryside with Paul.

Bill: Why do you live in a hole in the field? You should come and live in the city. You would live in a nice house made of stone. You would have better food to eat. You must come and see me at my house in the city.

Paul: Thanks! Maybe you are right. I'll visit your house one day.

Several days later Paul goes to Bill's house in the city. The house is big and beautiful. They are sitting in the sitting-room, having a big dinner comfortably. Suddenly, there a great noise.

Bill: Run! Run! The cat is coming!

Paul: Oh, no! It's terrible! Both the house and the food are nice, but I do not like living in the city. I enjoy living in my hole in the field, for it is nice to be poor but happy than to be rich but afraid.

    One year, a college in the United States announced that it would offer a lot of money for the pure white marigold(金盏花). The high reward attracted so many people, but in the nature, besides golden, the marigold is brown, and it is not easy to get the white one. So after they were excited for a time, many people had forgotten the announcement.

    One normal day after 20 years, the college received a letter and 100 seeds of pure white marigold. It was an old woman of over 70 years old. Some experts in the college doubted it, but in order not to let her down, those seeds finally took root (根）in the earth. The miracle appeared after one year; the field was covered by pure white marigold.

    Therefore, the old woman who was always unknown to the public became a new focus.

    The old woman was a flower-lover. When she read the announcement 20 years ago, she got very excited like others. But her eight children were totally against her decision. After all, a woman who never knew the seed genetics(遗传学) couldn't complete what the experts could never do, so her thought was only a day dream.

    Still, the old woman didn't change her mind and went on working. She planted some of the most common seeds and took good care of them. A year later, when the marigold came out, she chose one faintest(最暗淡的) from those golden and brown flowers and got the best seed. The next year, she again grew them and chose...Day after day, year after year, through many seasons, the old woman's husband died, her children flew far, a lot of things happened in her life, but only the wish to grow the pure white marigold took root in her heart.

    Finally, after 20 years on the day we all know, in the garden she saw a marigold, which was nearly white, but as white as silver or snow.

    A problem even experts couldn't deal with was solved by an old woman who didn't understand genetics. Was it a miracle  (奇迹）?

To take root in the heart, even the most common seed, can grow into a miracle!

    Jia Zuosheng, 27, used to work as a security guard (保安) at the library of Tsinghua University. But a few months ago, he became a college student in Lishan College in Shandong and he studies math there now. When hearing this news, many people were surprised. On school opening day, many reporters waited outside the school gate to interview him.

"I was born in a poor village in Shandong Province," said Jia. "Our village has never had a college student. Most boys work in town after growing up. I failed the National College Entrance Exam（高考）twice. Then I went to Beijing to find jobs. In the following years, I went on studying by myself while working."

At the end of 2009, Jia found a job as a security guard at the library of Tsinghua University."I cherished (珍惜) the job very much because it gave me a good chance to read books," Jia said."I usually worked at night so I had plenty of time to study in the daytime." When he had problems that he couldn't work out, Jia asked the students at Tsinghua for help. "My dream is to be a college teacher. So I need further education. That's the reason why I took the National College Entrance Exam again," Jia said. "I wish to educate students with my knowledge and love and help them enjoy true, kind and beautiful things."

Jia's mother said Jia has always been independent（独立的）and knows what he wants. But she has other worries. "It's difficult to find such a good job at present as a library guard in Tsinghua University. I'm not sure if this is a right decision." "I will never regret(后悔），"said Jia. "Everyone will have a new start. It's the end, and the beginning."

    Here is our pet dog，Mr. Hawkeye. Mr. Hawkeye is seven years old，and we got him from our vet (兽医). He takes in a lot of cats. He receives his name because he is such a hawk (掠夺者) around food. If you are not looking，he will take a sandwich off your plate. He can smell the delicious food in the fridge from another floor in the house，and potato chips are his favourite thing to steal! This comes the name，Hawkeye. Hawkeye was a great animal at the vet. They thought he could bring good luck and he took care of all the new cats，giving them baths，etc. He does that at our house as well. Like I said，he is quite a character and very friendly. He always greets(问候) us when we come home. He has to check out all the bags to make sure if there's food there for him, especially chips!

    There were many plants in a forest. When spring came, a pine tree saw a red rose nearby and said, "What a beautiful flower! I wish I were that lovely. "

    The rose proudly said, "It seems that I am the most beautiful flower in this forest." Then the rose looked at a cactus (仙人掌) and said, "Look at that ugly plant full of thorns（刺）! "

    "What a proud flower!" thought the trees.

    As the days passed, the red rose often looked at the cactus and said bad words about it, like "This plant is useless. How sorry I am to be his neighbor!"

    The cactus never got angry and even tried to advise the rose, saying, "God did not create any form of life without a purpose."

    Spring passed, and the weather became very hot. As there was no rain, the red rose began to wilt（枯萎）.

    One day the rose saw birds put their beaks (喙) into the cactus and then fly away. The red rose asked the pine tree what the birds were doing. The pine tree explained that the birds were getting water from the cactus.

    "The cactus has water?" asked the rose.

    Yes, you can also drink some from it. The birds can bring water to you if you ask the cactus for help. "

    The red rose felt too ashamed to ask for water from the cactus. But finally it did ask for help. The cactus kindly agreed.

    The rose learned a lesson and never judged (评价) anyone by their appearance again.

    One day, a mouse saw a mousetrap(老鼠夹)in the farmer's house. He said to his friends on the farm, "There is a mousetrap in the house!"

    The chicken said," There is no need for me to worry about it."

    The pig said," It has nothing to do with me!"

    The cow said, "It sounds like you have a problem."

    The mouse was sad, because no one cared about his problem or would help him.

    One night, a snake bit(咬)the farmer's wife. Soon the wife caught a fever. The farmer decided to kill the chicken and made chicken soup for his wife.

    Later, the wife got sicker and her friends came to visit her. The farmer killed the pig to feed them.

    In the end, the farmer's wife died. Many people came to her funeral (葬礼), so the farmer killed the cow to feed all of them.

    Let's remember that when any one is in trouble, we are all at risk(有危险).