Two brothers took a trip in the forest together. At noon they took a rest and fell asleep. When they woke up, they saw a stone next to them. There were words written on the stone: Let whoever finds this stone go into me forest. In the forest a river will appear. Let him swim across the river to the other side. There he will see a bear and her baby. Let him take the baby from her and run up the mountain with them. On the top of the mountain he will find happiness."

    After reading the words, the younger brother said, "Let us go together. We can find happiness."

    "I am not going into the forest," said the elder brother. "It's too dangerous. We may get lost. We may be eaten by the bear. Instead of finding happiness, we may die at last."

    "In my opinion," said the younger brother, "you are wrong. If you do not make an effort and try hard, nothing in the world will be achieved."

    Then the younger brother set off, and the elder remained behind.

    The younger brother did all the things. When he reached the top of the mountain, the people came out of their houses to meet him and made him their king. He had been a king for five years. In the sixth year, another king captured his country. The younger brother became an ordinary man again.

    One day, the younger brother arrived at the house of his elder brother. The elder brother was living m a village, neither rich nor poor. "You see," said the elder brother, "l was right. Though you may have been a king, you have nothing now.

    "I don't think so," replied the younger brother. "I may have nothing now, but I shall always have something to remember, but you have no memories at all."

    For Schultz, a 77-year-old man, this is a chance of a lifetime.Schultz is part of a group of around 50 Germans who are on a bus journey along the ancient Silk Road.

    Speaking of his journey, he says, "I have been deeply interested in the Silk Road since I was a child ,but now I finally have a chance to experience it."

    The two-month bus journey will take the group through Germany ，Russia and other 4 European countries. They will then enter China from the country's western part. It will be an unforgettable memory for them.

    Nearly half of the 13,000-kilometer trip will be inside China. From Xinjiang in the west to Shanghai in the east, the German visitors will see more than 20 Chinese cities. "We have managed the trip of the Silk Road for around 10 years. An increasing number of people, not only from German-speaking countries ,have been joining us ,"says Liu Guoqiang from China Tours.

    Almost 26 million foreigners traveled to China in 2015, and about 5 million of them were from Europe. Beijing ,Xi'an , Shanghai and the Changjiang River are traditional Chinese travel destinations(目的地) for European tourists. Speaking of where he wants to go ,Schultz says ,"Compared with modern cities ,the culture in western China attracts(吸引)me more."

    As Shi Xiang head of the China Tours, says ,"Being a new brand to attract foreign visitors ,the Silk Road is good for people to know more about China ,especially the northwestern part of the country."

    (China Daily)

A village soccer tournament(联赛) in Rongjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province has drawn people's attention. The tournament is called Cun Chao, or Village Super League.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} May to July this year, 20 teams from Rongjiang County took part in Cun Chao. The players came from different jobs and minority ethnic groups(少数民族). 

The cheerleaders(拉拉队队员) wore {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(tradition) ethnic clothes and also performed in the soccer tournament. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(visitor) could also enjoy singing and dancing performances.

Cun Chao has {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(recent) put Rongjiang on the soccer map. In fact, the area has already had a {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(long) history of the sport than other areas. 

Soccer was introduced to Rongjiang in the 1940s and {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(become) an important part of people's lives since then. In 2021, Rongjiang was listed as one of the "model counties" for soccer development. In the past, it was hard 

{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(find) good soccer fields. 

But those conditions never stopped the locals from doing that. Whether on farms, river banks, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} rocky lands, people always found a way to enjoy 

{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(they)．

Xu Bo, the head of Rongjiang County's government, said, "We will use Cun Chao as a way to help develop {#blank#}10{#/blank#} countryside. We hope people love soccer and have a chance to realize their soccer dreams."

 Dana loves to read." If you' re reading, you can be in your world and do almost anything you want," she says.

 The Harry Potter books are her favorite. To Dana, all books have their own magic(魔力). She joined a book club at her school. One holiday, she did some research(调查) about books with her classmates. She learned that in richer places, each family had about 10 books. However, in poor places, there might be only one book for every 300 kids. Some kids never visited a library. She decided to change this.

 At the age of thirteen, Dana started a club called Reading Heart to share her love of reading. People donated(捐赠) books to her club. Then Dana and her friends gave them out to kids in schools, hospitals in poor places. In four years, they gave away nearly 400,000 books!

 After kids chose their books, they could keep the books. But when they finished reading, they shared them with a friend.

 Dana thinks that sharing books is like building small libraries for each kid. She enjoys helping others find the magic of reading.

When Mrs. Gullickson was assigning (分配) a partner to us for a project, I 1 I could work with my friend or someone I could have fun with. Unluckily, I was told that I would work with that serious guy I didn't like working with.

Although I was not pleased with the result, I 2 tried my best to get on well with my partner. However, He looked at me as if I weren't there. He made me think I might mess up (搞糟) our 3 .

At first, our study on this task didn't go well because I was not 4 when talking with him about the difficult work. I even wanted to give up, but 5 this thought soon because I wanted to show I wouldn't chicken out (退缩).

After many talks, we somehow 6 our plans. I had to say he pushed ahead with most of the project. 7 he did let me join in it as much as I could, which gave me more confidence. I guessed I could see 8 Mrs. Gullickson paired him with me.

One day I knew that he was sent to hospital for a serious illness when the final presentation (汇报) was coming. I shared my 9 about the final presentation, but he told me "You can make it". 

I finally got the A-plus grade for our team. He thanked me for my hard work and I thought I was so 10 to be his partner. We were glad that we had got closer, both on study and relationship.