Last summer, I went to Yunnan on vacation with my family. We1four days there.

    Our first stop was Lugu Lake. I wondered why there was so beautiful a lake in the world. I enjoyed 2 there. We went boating and took quite a few photos. Then we went up to a hill. On the top of the 3 we got to see something beautiful. I felt like I was in a painting. I thought I would 4 forget the beautiful scenery (风景) there.

    The next morning we went to Lijiang by bus. It was a long 5 from Lugu Lake to Lijiang. In the afternoon we 6 After a short break (休息), we went to walk around the town and bought Some gifts. Then we decided to try the famous (著名的) Guoqiao Rice Noodles for dinner. They were very 7 and delicious. After dinner we took a walk and enjoyed the old streets and buildings 8 the moon. The summer evening was cool.

    Our 9 stop was the "spring city" Kunming. We visited Dianchi, watched the birds and went to the flower market. We had a really wonderful day.

    The four-day trip came to a(n) 10 soon. We had to go home. Everything in Yunnan was great. It is a very beautiful and interesting place. I'm sure you'll never regret (懊悔) going on a trip there.

    Jerry worked in an office in the city. He worked very hard and really looked forward to(期待) his vacation. He usually went to the seaside, but one day he saw an ad(广告) in a newspaper.

    "Enjoy country life. Spend a few weeks at William Farm. Good food, fresh air, horse riding, walking, fishing…"

    "This sounds like a good idea," he thought. "I'll spend a month at William Farm. I'll go horse riding, walking and fishing. It'll be different from the seaside." Four days later, he returned home.

    "What's wrong with William Farm?" his friend Jack asked him. "Don't you enjoy your country life?"

    "Country life was fine," Jerry said. "But there was another problem."

    "Oh, what problem?" Jack was very surprised.

    "Well, the first day I was there, a sheep died, and we had roast(烤) mutton for dinner."

    "Fresh meat is the best."

    "I know, but on the second day a cow died, and we had roast beef for dinner."

    "Lucky you!"

    "You don't understand," Jerry said, "On the third day a pig died, and we had roast pork for dinner."

    "Wow, a different roast every day!" said Jack.

    "Let me finish." Jerry said, "On the fourth day a farmer died and I didn't want to stay there for dinner."

    One day I happened to meet an Englishman in the street and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be very surprised, gently shaking his head and saying "You don't say!". I was puzzled, and I thought, "Perhaps this is not a right thing to talk about." So I said to him, "Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? Have you ever been there?"

    "Certainly! Everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave here without seeing it. The Great Wall is wonderful!" "Yes, it is one of the wonders in the world. And people of many countries have come to visit it." As I went on telling him more about it, he stopped me again, "You don't say!"

    I couldn't help asking, "Why do you ask me not to talk about it?"

    "Well, I didn't ask you to do so," he answered, greatly surprised.

    "Did you say 'You don't say!'?" I asked again.

    Hearing this, the foreigner laughed loudly. He began to explain," 'You don't say!' means 'Really'. Perhaps you know little about English idioms."

    Wow! How foolish I was! Since then I have been careful with English idioms.

At thirteen, I was diagnosed (诊断)with a kind of attention problems. It made school difficult for me. When everyone else in the class was focusing on tasks, I could not.

In my first literature class, Mrs. Smith asked us to read a story and then write on it, all within 45 minutes. I raised my hand right away and said, "Mrs. Smith, you see, the doctor said I have attention problems. I might not be able to do it. "

She glanced down at me through her glasses, "You are no different from your classmates, young man. "

I tried, but I didn't finish the reading when the bell rang. I had to take it home.

In the quietness of my bedroom, the story suddenly all became clear to me. It was about a blind person, Louis Braille. He lived in a time when the blind couldn't get much education. But Louis didn't give up. Instead, he invented a reading system of raised dots (点) ,which opened up a whole new world of knowledge to the blind.

Wasn't I the "blind" in my class, being made to learn like the "sighted" students? My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to dance. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was no different from others; I just needed a quieter place. If Louis could find his way out of his problems, why should I ever give up?

I didn't expect anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs. Smith, so it was quite a surprise when it came back to me the next day--with an "A"on it. At the bottom of the paper were these words: "See what you can do when you keep trying?"

Jenny is my classmate. She is an active but a little shy girl. She always dreams of becoming a  1 . Last week, our classmates and I decided to help Jenny realize her dream. We 2 a wonderful idea to record a short interview video. We used a pen instead of the microphone. We didn't have a video3 , either. So I took the video with a mobile phone.

Jenny started to introduce herself first. She was 4 because her hands were shaking. She also couldn't help laughing when she was watched by other classmates. We did not stop the recording because it's a way to show our 5 feelings. She interviewed our classmates by asking questions like" What is your dream?" Some of them were too shy to speak 6 . Some students were outgoing and they 7 us to fight for our dreams. One student even said we could interview him next time so that he could have more time to 8 . Finally, we finished the interview successfully. Our video got popular in our school.

I think we not only helped realize Jenny's dream but also made a great 9 of our school life. Although we are not experienced, we have love and energy. We may have many 10 on the road to our dreams, but they will come true at last if we keep on with the dream, and we can also become our own heroes.

In the eighth grade, I had a good friend, Peter. He was an excellent sports star.1 , I never seemed to be any good at sports. But when Peter joined a team, I did, too. Or . at least I 2 .

Peter was in the JV field hockey team. He was talented, so he learned the basic skills 3 . I, on the other hand, couldn't seem to hold the stick comfortably. Then Peter spent more and more4 with the other boys like him andI was beginning to feel lonely.

Deciding to  5 our friendship; I asked my mom to buy me my own hockey stick so I could practise at home. Peter looked at my 6 , and I could tell that he was thinking it was a waste of money.

I was7 by his reaction(反应`, and felt sad. I thought I simply had to be good at this sport8 I was going to keep Peter as a friend. So I practised and practised. I often felt like there was no     9 , but I kept at it. Just during that dark time, Steve became my new partner.

Then, one day,10 happened. That day, when Steve sent me his first throw, l caught 11 . Then I caugnt his next throw, and the next. The stick was actually feeling12 in my hands.

I still don't know what exactly happened that day, but I will always be13 for it. At the end of the season, I was chosen to14 for the JV team. I scored 12 goals that year. My success on the field gave me the confidence and the true 15 that I really needed. And Steve turned out to be a great friend.