Helen Keller was born in 1880 in the USA. When she was about 19 months old, she got very ill. After many weeks, the doctor told her parents, "Your daughter is better, but now she can't see and she can't hear." Her mother and her father were very sad. After a few years, things got worse. There was no way for Helen to speak to other people. She heard nothing. She didn't understand anything.

    Then one day a teacher came. Her name was Anne Sullivan She lived with Helen and her family. The teacher helped Helen learn words. Helen was a very clever child and soon she learned to spell her first word. When she was older, she went to college.

    Helen was a very famous woman when she died. The world remembers her today as a brave and wonderful person. She was blind and deaf, but she found a way to see and hear. It helped many people in the world.

    "Why do I live? Why do I wish for anything, or do anything? Is there anything in my life that will not be destroyed by my death?" Like Leo Tolstoy, the famous Russian writer, many people ask these difficult questions. Tolstoy spent his whole life trying to answer these difficult questions.

    As a young man, he thought people could achieve perfection if they tried hard enough. So he worked very hard to be the best in everything. He thought that he would find meaning and truth in success.

    In 1850s. Tolstoy wrote his first stories. He wrote about his life in the army. He also told stories about his childhood. These works were published and Tolstoy became a well-known writer.

    He earned the respect he always wanted. Many rich and smart men met and talked with Tolstoy. Some of them were writers like him. They talked a lot about faith (信仰) and the meaning of life. But soon Tolstoy recognized that these men were not perfect. Now he knew they could not answer his questions about faith.

    So in the 1860s, Tolstoy tried a different way to find the meaning of life. He opened a school for the children of his serfs-the people who worked on his land. These workers were very poor. He wanted to help them because he thought they were more honest than the rich people he knew.

    Tolstoy learned a lot from his workers. He understood how they worked hard to support their families. He began to believe that marriage and family would give his life meaning. So in 1862, Leo Tolstoy married a young woman named Sonya Behrs.

    The next 15 years were the best years of Tolstoy's life. It was during this time that he wrote his most famous books-War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Many experts say that War and Peace is one of the greatest books ever written. In these books, Tolstoy believed humans should live a simple life and take care of their families. Tolstoy thought this would satisfy him and bring him happiness.

    Leo Tolstoy is still a very respected writer today. His faith and writings have influenced many people all over the world.

    Tyler was a troublesome student. He sat in the back row. Every time I called him to answer questions, he'd reply with a flip(轻率的)answer. If he got it wrong, he would get very angry.

    Usually kids could sit quietly in class. However, Tyler was just loud. One day, Tyler was talking while I was teaching. I said to him, "Tyler, why not join in our discussion instead of having one of your own?" He got up from his chair, pushed it over, and shouted something I can't remember. I sent him to the office and he received a week's out-of-school punishment.

    The week was a wonderful time for me, but when it came to an end, I began to feel worried. So I came up with a plan. On the day of his return, I told him I wanted to start over with him. If he felt like he was going to lose control in class, he could step outside the door for a moment.

    From then on, Tyler was a changed student in my classroom. In fact he was a smart child and he even stopped a fight between two students one day. And he never used the privilege(特权)to leave the class for a moment. I believe that just letting him decide for himself made all the difference. When the year was over, he wrote me a thank-you note about how good the year had been for him. I still have it today and find it very moving to reread when I get stressed about teaching.

 Hello! My name is Anna Smith. Anna is my first name. Smith is my last name. I am from England. I am in China with my parents now. I am thirteen years old. I'm in PEP Middle School in Hangzhou. I like reading books. They are my good friends. My school number is 0628. My telephone number is 929-3155. Call me, maybe we can be good friends.

 This is Peter Qin. He is thirteen, too. Peter and I are good friends. We are in different schools, but we can meet each other after school. He often helps me with my Chinese. He likes playing sports.He can play basketball very well.His E- mail address is peter 743@ hotmail.com.

 Ms. King is my Chinese teacher. She is a nice lady. I often ring her at 390—7632 to ask for help. Gina is her daughter. She is a lovely girl. And she is in Harvard Primary School. She is a book- lover, too. In her room, you can see her books everywhere— on her bed, on the desk and in the bookcase.

Do you know rice first came to China? There is an old Chinese story about it. It is about a little girl who went out to fish. At that time, there was very little food, so everybody was very hungry.

One day, when fishing, the little girl suddenly felt her fishing net get heavy. She was so happy! It was the King of Frogs that she found. When the frog heard how hungry the girl was, he wanted to help her. The frog told her to take out her fishing net and let the sun shine on it. The little girl followed his words. Then the King of Frogs began to sing a magic song. The girl was very surprised at what she saw. As the sun shone through the net, the sunlight turned into golden grains（谷粒）of rice. That was how the first rice arrived.

Maybe the story is not true, but it tells us rice is as important as gold to the Chinese. Rice is always one of the main foods on Chinese tables. For many years, much land has been used to grow rice and many Chinese people are farmers, who work very hard for each grain. So it's important not to waste food. Remember, Waste not, want not.