The world is full of amazing things. Today, I'm going to talk about something amazing.

    We have lots of things to do every day, so many of us will be tired after a busy day. They all choose sleeping to have a rest. But do you know that sleeping can consume（消耗） many calories. The energy consumed is even more than watching TV. If you want to have a good health, I think you can't sleep too much.

    Do you like animals? There are a lot of surprising things they can do. Goldfish are a lovely kind of fish. Most goldfish have quite a short life — only 6 to 7 years. Once, the goldfish called Freb had a very long life. It lived up to 41 years. It was the oldest goldfish in the world. Now if people take good care of the goldfish, they can live more than 10 years. Animals are our friends. We should know more about them and give them a good home. Do you have any interesting stories about amazing things? If so, tell us. Let's share them together.

    There was once a man called Mr. Flowers, and flowers were his only joy in life. He spent all his free time in one of his four glass-houses and grew flowers of every color, with long and difficult names, for competitions（比赛）. He tried to grow a rose of a new color to win the silver cup（银杯）for the Rose of the Year.

    Mr. Flowers' glass-houses were very near to a middle school. Boys of around thirteen of age were often tempted（引诱）to throw a stone or two at one of Mr. Flowers' glass-houses. So Mr. Flowers did his best to be in or near his glass-houses at the beginning and end of the school day.

    But it was not always possible to be on watch at those times. Mr. Flowers had tried in many ways to protect his glass, but nothing that he had done had been useful. He had been to school to report to the headmaster; but this had not done any good. He had tried to drive away the boys that threw stones into his garden; but the boys could run faster than he could, and they laughed at him from far away. He had even picked up all the stones that he could find around his garden, so that the boys would have nothing to throw; but they soon found others.

    At last Mr. Flowers had a good idea. He put up a large notice（布告）made of good, strong wood, some meters away from the glass-houses. On it he had written the words: DO NOT THROW STONES AT THIS NOTICE. After this, Mr. Flowers had no further trouble; the boys were much more tempted to throw stones at the notice than at the glass-houses.

    Ryan's life was nearly perfect. He had lots of friends on his block. They walked to school together every day, and after school they always had time to play.

    Ryan did have one problem. It was his two-year-old sister, Allie. She was too small to play ball games. She couldn't climb trees yet.  Ryan and his friends didn't want her around.

    Ryan tried asking his mum to keep Allie at home. "Why does my sister have to come along?" he asked. "Troy's sister doesn't. Jimmy's sister doesn't. Why me?"

    Ryan's mother just laughed, "Troy's sister is only six months old, and Jimmy doesn't have a sister. Allie is nice, isn't she?"

    Today, Ryan was going to play baseball with his friends after school. Allie followed him as usual. The boys used to play football, but one of them broke a window at Mr Mcwhirter's house. Mr Mcwhirter wouldn't give them their ball back.

    The game got started. Allie sat on a stone nearby. Minutes later it was Jimmy's turn to hit the ball. Unluckily, it fell right into Mr Mcwhirter's yard.

    The boys ran over to Mr Mcwhirter's fence (栅栏). The ball was just out of reach.

    "None of us can fit through the fence." Jimmy said.

    The boys looked glum.

    Suddenly, Jimmy got an idea. "Allie, come over!" he called. "Would you like to get that ball for us?"

    Allie looked at the boys. Then she slipped through the fence, picked up the ball and came back out of the yard.

    "Wow," said Troy. "So quick! Thanks, Allie."

    "Nice job," said Jimmy.

    "Come on," said Ryan, suddenly proud of his kid sister. "I'll teach you how to swing the bat."

    One day, I walked into a stranger as he walked by me. "Oh, excuse me." I said. He replied with a smile and said, "Please excuse me, too. I wasn't watching out for you." We apologized(道歉) and went our own ways.

    Later that day, when I was cooking, my daughter was standing too close to me. When I turned to reach for some milk, I nearly knocked her over. "Move out of the way." I shouted. She walked away sadly. But I didn't feel like I had to apologize to her.

    While I was in bed that evening, my husband said to me, "Dealing with a stranger, you were polite, but with a daughter you love, you were unkind. Your daughter brought you some flowers that she picked herself this afternoon. You'll find them in the kitchen by the door. Have you seen the tears in her eyes?"

    I quietly went and knelt down by my daughter's bed. "Honey, I am so sorry." I said, "Are these the flowers you picked for me?" She said, "I found them by the tree. I picked them because they're pretty like you. I knew you'd like them especially the blue ones." I tearfully replied, "Sweetie, I'm really sorry for the way I acted today. I shouldn't have shouted at you." "It's okay. I love you anyway." she said as she kissed me on my cheek.

    If we can be polite to strangers, why can't we be kind to the ones we love?

    Johnnie Martin was born in a worker's family. His parents lived a simple life, saving money for the day when they could send him to a good university. They had dreamed that their son could get a good job and live a better life. However, to Johnnie, school lessons seemed like a wall that was impossible to go through. They were not so easy for him.

    One day when he was in Grade 11, Johnnie went to the school psychologist's (心理学家的) office to ask for help. "I've been trying hard, but…" Johnnie was about to cry.

    The psychologist put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "People have different kinds of talents, Johnnie. There are painters, who were never able to learn math, and some day you will find what you are good at. When you do, you will make all of us very proud of you."

    Johnnie didn't go to university. He found a job in the garden in the town. Soon something amazing happened. People began to notice that Johnnie had what they called a "green thumb". The plants grew well and the roses were in bloom (花). People started to accept his advice for gardening (园艺).

    One day while he was walking, he found an unusual dirty land. He volunteered to make it into a garden. That afternoon he started the work, but he couldn't afford all the tools or the plants. People gave him young trees, rose-bushes, benches and many other things. Before long, it had become a beautiful little park.

    Today Johnnie is the head of the business in gardening. Wherever he and his men go, they spread beauty before the eyes of people.

One year, a British expedition（探险队）got lost in the Sahara Desert（撒哈拉沙漠）. The sun was burning hot. Everyone quickly ran out of {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. If they made a wrong decision, then they could all {#blank#}2{#/blank#} soon. 

At this time, the leader took out a water kettle （壶）and said, "I found a kettle of water in my bag. But before we pass through the desert, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} is allowed to drink it." The kettle of water {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the faith（信心）for everyone to cross the desert. . 

Finally, the expedition made it out of the desert. With tears of joy, they opened the kettle with shaking {#blank#}5{#/blank#} —but sand not water! 

Was it a kettle of sand that {#blank#}6{#/blank#} saved them in the desert? The answer is no. Their deep faith in the hope of survival（生存）, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} a seed（种子）, had taken root（植根）and grown in their hearts. That is what led them out of the {#blank#}8{#/blank#} situation in the end. 

In fact, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} hard time you face, as long as there is a seed of faith in your heart, don't give up {#blank#}10{#/blank#} , then you'll succeed（成功）.