Bob is an artist. He owns a house in New York. One afternoon when he drives home from work, his three children are playing in the garden. Some of his flowers are broken. The door of his wife's car is open, and the front door of the house is open, too.

    When he walks in the house, his house is messy. In the living room, the TV is on. Toys and clothes are everywhere. In the kitchen, dirty plates and bowls are in the sink(水槽). Breakfast food and dog food are everywhere. A broken glass is under the table.

    Bob runs fast and looks for his wife. He worries about her. Is she sick? He finds her in the bedroom. She is staying in the bed and reading a book. She looks at him and smiles.

    Bob ask, “What's up today?”

    She again smiles and answers, “You always ask me what I do today when you come home.”

    “Yes.” Says Bob.

    “Today I don't do it.” She smiles again.

    Mo Yan was born in 1955 in Gaomi, Shandong. His real name is Guan Moye. Mo Yan is his pen name. It means “no speaking”. Mo Yan's parents are farmers.

    When he was young, Mo Yan had to leave school and start to work, first as a farmer and then in a factory. In 1979 he married Du Qinlan. Two years later, their only daughter Guan Xiaoxiao was born. Xiaoxiao likes literature (文学) very much. She is a famous writer like her father.

    In 1981, Mo Yan's first novel (小说) Falling Rain on a Spring Night came out. His works — Red Sorghum Clan, The Republic of Wine, Big Breasts and Wide Hips, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out and Frog are very famous. Mo Yan won many prizes (奖). In 2012, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

    "Can I see my son?" the happy new mother asked. She couldn't wait to open the swaddling(襁褓) clothes. But when she saw his tiny face, she was shocked! The boy had been born without ears.

    Although the boy's hearing was perfect, he was often laughed at because of his strange appearance. It was only his appearance a little bit different. One day, he rushed home from school and threw himself into his mother's arms, burst into tears, "A big boy called me a monster!" Sad tears flowed down the boy's face, also into the mother's heart.

    The boy's father asked a famous doctor for help, "Could nothing be done to help my son?" "I believe I could put a pair of ears on him if they could be found," answered the doctor. Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, "You are going to the hospital, son. Someone will donate the ears you need. But it's a secret." After the successful operation, a new person appeared! The boy's life became beautiful since then. The boy often asked his father, "Who gave me the ears, dad? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him or her." "It's a secret," answered his father quietly. The years kept their secret, but the day did come. It was the darkest day for the son. He stood with his father over his mother's casket棺材). Slowly and gently, the father raised the mother's long thick hair to show that the mother had no ears! "Mother said she was happy that she never had her hair cut," he said, "And nobody had ever thought Mother less beautiful than before, had they?" After mother had died, the boy finally knew the truth.

    There once was a wise man who was very respected for his wisdom. This great man was called the Wise Circle Maker. His people believed that he had special powers to make it rain.

    But the Wise Circle Maker did not know everything about life often, when he saw things that he did not understand, he would ask questions, hoping to find the answers.

    One day, he noticed a man panting a fruit tree. He asked the man, "When will this tree bear fruit? How long will it take?"

    The man said that it would take 70 years for fruit to come to the tree.

"And how old are you now?" asked the Wise Circle Maker.

    "I am almost 50 years old" replied the man.

"And do you think you will live to taste the fruit from this tree?" asked the Wise Circle Maker.

    "I am already old and will never taste the fruit from this tree I plant. But when I was born, I saw many fruit trees like this planted by my father, and his father. And I ate the fruit from those trees." replied the man.

    "This tree is for my children, my grandchildren and for their children too. They will taste the fruit of this tree. That is why I am planting it not for me, but for them."

The Wise Circle Maker was impressed. He could easily see the meaning He walked away happily, knowing that he still had much to learn about life.

A mother was not ready to go on a hike, so her two little girls decided to go themselves. Then they went missing in the 1 .

It all started on a Friday afternoon when 8-year-old Laura Brown and her sister Caroline Brown asked their mom if they could go on a 2 . The family usually goes on weekend camping trips and hike, 3 it was nothing unusual. But things took a turn when the sisters 4 walked too far.

The girls then realized that they were lost.

Though Caroline and Laura were 5 , they remembered all the survival (生存) 6 that they learned while they were in the local youth club.

As it was very cold during their first night in the wild, the girls hugged together under a huckleberry bush (丛林) for 7 . They drank fresh water from huckleberry leaves and Laura 8 her younger sister to think happy thoughts about their family.

At the same time  their parents became 9 and afraid when their children failed to return home before dark. They called the police and a team of 250 people soon started to search 10 the girls.

The two girls spent another 11 in their "huckleberry home" as they waited for people to find them. Both nights, Laura kept watching for wild animals while her younger sister was sleeping.

12 , on Sunday afternoon, the girls heard people calling their names and shouted back. 

13 was happy to find that the girls were safe.

"I am trying not to 14 them." their mother, Misty Brown said. "They saved each other. I'm the 15 mom. They are superheroes."