“All our class must hand in compositions tomorrow. We must write 12 linesat least. But I can never write one. I'll have to go to school without acomposition, for I won't copy one from a book, or ask you or papa to write onefor me.”

    “That's right,” said her mother. “You'll be happier with a poorcomposition, if it's your own, than with a fine one written by somebody else.But cheer up. Run into the garden and play. I'll call you in half an hour.Don't think about your composition now. Just have a good time.”

It seemed just a few minutes to Susie before she heard her mother calling her. She wentinto the house immediately — her hands full of sweet flowers, and her face redwith exercise.

Then her mother asked her to sit by the window with a nice piece ofpaper and a pencil, and write something about what she could see. “Never mindyour composition; do this to please me, and we'll talk about that later.”

    Although Susie thought her mother's request was strange, she knew shealways had a good reason for everything she did. So she did as her motherrequested.

    As she looked out, she first saw the western sky and some bright, sunsetclouds. “Oh, mother, what a sunset!”

“Don't talk. Just write.”

The pencil began moving rapidly across the paper. She wrote about the sunsetclouds, the look of the distant hills, the streets, the river, the garden withits flowers, and the birds flying past the window. She forgot all about theterrible composition!

    Just as she had reached the bottom of the page, hermother came in and said with a smile, “Well, Susie, how does that compositioncome on?”

   “Composition! You told me not to think about it, and I've never thoughtof it once. I've had such a nice time writing about what I could see from thewindow.”

    Mrs. Smith took the paper and read what Susie had written. She said,“There, Susie, that's a very nice composition,really.”

   “A composition! Is that a composition?”Susie asked in surprise.

   “Yes, my dear, and a very good one, too, if we find a title for it,”replied her mother. Then she added, “I'm sure it will please your teacher, asit does me. You see, it's easy enough to write a composition if you have anything interesting to write about.”

    Music is an important part in our life. We may feel boring without music. Today when you go to stores, stations, restaurants and other places, do you notice music playing at any of these places? The answer must be “Yes”. And you might even hear music in an office or on a farm.

    I like many kinds of music. Classical music is great. Rock music is fast. Light music is relaxing. But I like folk music best. It sounds very beautiful. It can bring me into the dream land. It can make me relax and forget all the problems. It makes me learn better and helps me to be more active. It is true that I learn better when I am relaxed.

Music can also influence(影响) people's behavior(行为). Classical music makes people feel rich(富裕). When a restaurant plays classical music, people spend more money on food and drinks. When the restaurant plays modern music, people spend less money. Without music, people spend even less. Restaurants can make more money in this way.

    Three small fish lived in the sea. When they were very young, their parents died. They had to look after each other day after day. Finally, they grew up and could swim in deep water.

    One morning, a big wave(浪) pushed the three fish to a shallow water. It also pushed a small boat there. It was hard for them to go back to the sea because the boat was right in front of them. The largest fish realized(意识到) that they were in danger, and said they had to find a way to leave there as fast as possible. The second largest fish agreed with his elder brother, but the youngest one did not. He said that there was much time for their activities, so he would not worry at all and still swam happily.

    At last, the largest fish returned to the sea by jumping over the lowest part of the boat. The second largest fish were also successful in joining his elder brother in the other side of water. But the youngest one still swam there happily.

    Two hours later, when the sun came up, the water in the small shallow part dried up(干). The youngest fish died finally.

You must have heard of me. I'm Li Bai. I'm famous for my poems, but looking back on my fall and exciting life, I'd say friendship has been just as important as poetry.

One of my friends is He Zhizhang who is forty-two years older than me. Once we were having such an interesting conversation that we decided to continue it over dinner. After finishing the meal, we realized that neither of us had brought any money. He immediately took off the golden tortoise (龟) decorated on his waist and used it to pay for our dinner. I knew the golden tortoise was given to him by the Emperor. His generosity touched me. This showed how much he valued our friendship.

A letter started another of my friendships. The letter was from Wang Lun. He wrote to invite me to enjoy the ten-li peach blossom (桃花) scenery and the ten thousand restaurants in his area. I was expecting to see the special scenery and taste all kinds of food and wine so that I accepted this invitation at once.

But when I arrived to my surprise, I found that this clever man had used word-play to trick me into visiting him! The ten-li peach blossom referred to a lake named Peach Blossom Lake, which was about ten li away. The ten thousand restaurants were just a restaurant named WanJia, meaning "owned by Mr. Wan"! I was impressed by his cleverness, and we enjoyed a good laugh together.

Although my friends and I don't have many opportunities to get together, we keep one another in mind.

Pan Yuzhen, 77, comes from Taijiang County, Guizhou Province. She is an inheritor(继承人) of Miao embroidery(刺绣).

" The girls in my hometown can embroider at an early age. When I was five years old, I learned embroidery from my mother and sister. Miao embroidery skills are not easy to learn, but I have learned all embroidery methods," Pan said. At first, Pan embroidered for her own use, but as she grew older and married, her skills were put to use for her family, creating beautiful embroidered clothes.

Pan's daughter Zhang Yammei, who was born in 1977, suffered from an illness at the age of three. To treat her daughter and feed the family, Pan embarked on (开始) a journey, travelling to different cities to sell her Miao embroidery products.

In 1999, Zhang went to Beijing to join her mother. At that time, Pan had a store in a market. Here, she met a lot of foreign friends who were attracted by her embroidery skills and encouraged her to expand her business abroad." They advised me to go to foreign countries and sell cultural and creative products. Then I went to the US to do business connected with Miao embroidery," Pan said.

In 2016, Pan's career took a huge leap forward as she worked with a famous clothing brand in China . With the help of the brand, Pan went to the UK to take part in different fashion shows. Now Pan is well- known. Pan hopes more young people can inherit Miao embroidery skills.