Once upon a time, a wealthy villager hid a huge piece of gold in a nearby rice field to protect it from robbers（强盗）.

 Many years later, the wealthy man died and no one else knew about the gold. One day , a poor farmer began to plough（犁）the field. After ploughing for some time, his plough struck（碰、撞）the long forgotten treasure.

    At first, he thought it must be a very hard tree root. However, when he went closer to look, he saw that it was a large piece of beautiful shining gold.

    Waiting until midnight, the farmer started to take the gold home. He tried to lift the gold but it was too heavy. He tried to pull it out with ropes, but it was so huge that he could hardly move it. He became frustrated and thought how lucky he was to have found treasure, but unlucky too, as he could not move it. He even tried kicking the gold but it would not budge!

    He sat down and began to use his head. He decided to break the gold into smaller pieces. This would enable him to carry the gold easily.

He thought to himself, “ I will use one part for my daily needs, I will save the second part for a rainy day. I will invest（投资）the third part in my farming business. I will use the fourth part to help the poor and needy.”

    Follow this, he calmly divided the huge piece of gold into smaller pieces. Finally, he took all the gold home easily and lived happily ever after.

    Tom arrived at the New York airport two hours before the flight to Paris. He was wearing three shirts, a jacket, two pairs of socks, a pair of shorts, and two pairs of jeans. He was carrying one small backpack, which was very full, but he didn't have any other luggage. Tom needed to meet a man named Tony before he checked in for his flight. He found Tony near the Air France counter. Tony gave him a round-trip ticket and a small package.

    “Give this package to Jean-Paul at the airport in Paris. He will have a sign with your name on it. I think you can find him easily,” Tony said, ”You don't have any luggage, right?”

    “Only this backpack,” Tom answered. ”You said I could bring one carry-on bag.”

    “That's right. One carry-on bag is fine. Have a good trip.”

    “Thanks.”

    Is Tom a criminal (罪犯)? Not at all. He is an air-courier(空中信使). And he paid only $110 for the round-trip ticket to Paris. Air couriers get cheap airline tickets because they take important packages and papers to foreign countries. Businesses sometimes need to get packages and papers to people in foreign countries by the next day. Often, the only way they can do this is to use an air-courier company. It is not cheap for a business to send a package with an air courier, but it is quick.

    Every year about 80,000 people worldwide travel as air couriers. The number of tickets for courier travel is growing by about 10 percent a year. However, air-courier travel isn't for everyone. But if you have very little money, can be flexible(灵活的) about your travel plans, and don't mind wearing the same clothes for a week, it can be a great way to take a vacation!

    An old man went to live with his son, his daughter-in-law, and a four-year-old grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was very poor, and he couldn't walk steadily(平稳地). The family ate together nightly at the dinner table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating rather difficult. Rice often dropped on the floor.

    The son and the daughter-in-law became angry with the old man, so they put a small table in the corner. There, the grandfather ate alone, while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner at the table. Since the grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl.

    The four-year-old son watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with a piece of wood on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, “What are you making?” The boy answered, “Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and mama to eat your food from when I grow up.” The four-year-old son smiled and went back to work. The words struck the parents so that they were in silence. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks（脸颊）. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening the husband took grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table.

    Pat Hogan is traveling around the country in his car. One evening he is driving along a road and looking for a small hotel. When he sees an old man at the side of the road, he stops his car and says to the old man, "I want to go to Sun Hotel. Do you know it？"

    "Yes," the old man answers. "I'll show you the way."

    He gets into Pat's car, and they drive for about twelve kilometers. When they come to a small house, the old man says, "Stop here." Pat stops and looks at the house. "But this isn't a hotel," he says to the old man.

    "No," the old man answers, "this is my house. And now I'll show you the way to Sun Hotel. Turn around and go back nine kilometers. Then you'll see Sun Hotel on the left."

Meiyu, born in 1991, is from Turkey(土耳其). She is the youngest child of her family. After high school, many people learned English or Japanese, but Meiyu decided to learn Chinese in university. She learned Chinese for four years in Ankara University in Turkey, and got her name Meiyu there.

Meiyu fell in love with Chinese after going to university. She became more interested after she knew more about Chinese history. In the beginning many people did not understand her decision. But they all said Meiyu had made a right choice when she graduated from university in 2013. Since then, more Chinese have been visiting Turkey. The trade between the two countries also requires Chinese-speaking people. ＂Speaking Chinese means more job opportunities.＂ said Meiyu.

Now Meiyu has been in Wuhan, China for about two years. Besides going on studying Chinese, she shows great interest in Chinese kung fu as well, so she spends her free time on kung fu training with her coaches. Not only can kung fu help improve her health, but she is also fascinated by the history and culture behind it. Meiyu said, ＂The more I know about China, the luckier I feel to have been here. But the truth is that fun and pain go together in the process of learning.＂

Meiyu will graduate in June this year. Her friends want her to stay in China, but her parents hope she can come back home. Meiyu thinks it is difficult to decide. ＂Even if I go back to Turkey, I will choose Chinese language education as my job,＂ said Meiyu.