The story of the red-crowned crane

    Have you ever heard of the song "The story of the red-crowned crane"? It is about a girl called Xu Xiujuan.

    Xu xiujuan was born in Zhalong, Heilongjiang Province in 1964.Her father's job was to look after red-crowned cranes. Xiujuan started helping her father when she was young. She soon showed a great love for these white birds. She become good at raising them.

    When Xu Xiujuan was 21, she got a job at a nature reserve in Jiangsu Province . She enjoyed taking care of the baby cranes. If a bird become sick, she took good care of it stayed with it every day until it was strong enough to fly again.

    In September 1986, one of the birds went missing .The workers in the nature reserve looked everywhere, but no one could find it. Xiujuan was very worried. She looked for it day and night for two days. On the second night, while she was looking for the missing bird, she fell into a river and died. She was only 23.

    Later, a song was written in memory of Xiujuan. Though Xiujuan died young, people always remember her when they hear the song or see a red-crowned crane.

    When I was a kid, I did something really terrible. My father bought me two goldfish and named them "Iasc" and" Iasc Elie". He told me that meant "Fish" and "Other Fish" in Irish. To an eight-year-old child, the names seemed really boring.

    These boring names made me feel the goldfish were boring, too.  They did nothing more than swim around in their bowl. Sometimes, for fun, they would swim to the bottom of their bowl and dance around along the bottom, looking for interesting pieces of gravel.

    I tried many ways to make the goldfish more exciting. The most interesting thing was to see how long they could live out of the water. I took a fish out of the water with my hands and watched it gasping for air. Then I put it back in the bowl.  And then I would take them out of the water again, for longer and longer each time.

    Iasc and Iasc Elie started swimming towards the top of the water, not moving very much. Then they started floating on the top of the water. In other words, they were dead.

    I thought that bigger pets are more exciting, such as a cat and a dog. It would live longer than a goldfish, and then I kept a dog as my pet.

    "All right, everyone, listen up!" said Rey." I have something important to say."

    Rey had always had something important to say since the first day of primary school. "This is really a big project," said Rey. "Trust me. As long as I'm in charge, we'll have the most wonderful project ever!"

    "It seems like Rey is always in charge," murmured(小声说)Jake.

    It was true. Rey always seemed to be in charge of everything. He wanted everything to be as perfect as possible, and he just believed that he was the only person who could make that happen.

    This time, Rey decided to do a play about the Wright brothers and the first airplane flight. He announced that he would be the director, and he had also decided on the role that everyone would play. He would play the part of Orville Wright. He even had made the costumes, which Hannah would like to do.

    The next day, Rey announced he was going to play Wilbur Wright.

    "How can you play both of the Wright brothers?" asked Hannah.

    "I'll just put on different hats for each one," said Rey.

    The next afternoon, no one showed up at the rehearsal (排练) except Rey. An hour had passed, and he still hadn't heard from others.

    Finally, Rey called Stephen. "I quit the play," said Stephen. "In fact, we all quit. We're going to do something else."

    Rey spent the rest of the afternoon working on the play. Moving the set himself took too long, and running around to change costumes left him out of breath. Worst of all, half the airplane dragged on the ground as Rey pulled it across the stage. Rey felt upset and confused.

    He knew now that he couldn't do the play alone. He needed his friends' help if it was going to work at all.

    The next day at school, Rey had a talk with his friends, "I'm going to change. I promise I will listen to you. What do you want to do?

    "Hannah thought the play should he shorter and Jake wanted to make a new airplane that would be easier to handle. Stephen thought everyone should get a chance to play a real part like Wilbur Wright. Fern wanted to be able to act her part the way she wanted.

    "You are probably right," Rey said. "Let's try it your way.

    "Everyone smiled.

    Long ago, there was a queen who lived in a palace (宫殿) , she felt bored and said to her adviser(顾问) ,"AII the things around me are too boring. I need a different kind of beauty. Let everyone know that I will hold a competition for the most beautiful thing in the world. And the prize will be this crown (王冠)."

    Several days later, lots of people came to the competition and showed their things. The queen was not satisfied with what she saw. The adviser suggested, "What you are looking for cannot be brought to you. You must look for it by yourself. What about a journey?"

    The queen was interested in the idea, so she started at once. As she was on top of the hill near her palace, she looked down and suddenly something cried in her heart. "Why have I never found my palace so beautiful?"

    The queen spent one year traveling. She saw beauty on the farm, in the forest and even in the stars twinkling at night on her journey. But what was the most beautiful thing? She thought it over.

    Suddenly, she understood beauty was everywhere. She should learn to enjoy the world. She left the pieces of her crown at different places that she had seen. As time went by, the queen's crown got smaller and smaller until nothing was left.

    She found the most beautiful thing at last. It was the world!

    One Sunday evening two men met in a London pub. One of them was very unhappy.

    "Life is terrible. Everything in the world is really boring," he said.

    "Don't say that," said the other man. "Life is marvelous! The world is so exciting! Think about Italy. It is a wonderful country. Have you ever been there?"

    "Oh, yes. I went there last year and I didn't like it."

    "Well, have you been to Norway(挪威)? Have you even seen the midnight sun?"

    "Oh, yes. I went in 1994 and I saw the midnight sun. I didn't enjoy it."

    "Well. I have just returned from Sahara Desert (撒哈拉沙漠) in Africa. Have you visited Africa yet?"

    "Yes. I went to Sahara Desert in Africa last year. It was really boring."

    "Well," said the other man, "I think you're very ill. Only the best psychiatrist(心理学家) can help you. Go to see Dr. Greenhaum in Harley Street."

    "I am Dr. Greenhaum," answered the man sadly.