In 50 years of traveling, Colin McCorpuodale has visited every country in the world except three. And everywhere he goes, he sends himself a postcard. He always chooses a postcard with beautiful scenery (风景). Usually he writes just a short message to himself. However, he wrote an interesting story on his latest one, from the Malians Island.

Mr. McCorpuodale lives in London. On one of the walls in his room, you can see a large map of the world. There are hundreds of little red pins (大头针) stuck in it. “These pins mean a lot to me.” says Mr. McCorpuodale, “I follow the rule. I'm allowed to stick one in only if I've been in a place for more than 24 hours.”

Naturally, Mr. McCorpuodale has his favorite places. New Zealand, he describes as “a wonderful country”. About China, he says, “This is the country in the world which is completely different. There is no European influence. ”

Wherever he goes, Mr. McCorpuodale takes with him a photo of his wife, a candle, a shirt with a secret pocket and a pen.

So why does he do it? For the postcards or the travels? Mr. McCorpuodale laughs, “Neither. Only for the meaningful life.”

    Emily is a music teacher. She has always made some money by giving piano lessons. She had a student named Robby. He was 11 years old when his mother took him to his first piano lesson. Emily thinks that students should begin at an earlier age, which she explained to Robby. But Robby said that it had always been his mother's wish to hear him play the piano, so she took him as a student. But from the beginning Emily thought he was a hopeless learner. He was not talented in playing the piano. But Emily had to say he tried hard. One day, Robby stopped coming back and told her that he wanted to play in public. He said his mother had been ill, so he had to practice at home. Emily hesitated(犹豫) because she thought he couldn't play the piano well enough, but finally she agreed.

    The night for the public show came. The high school hall was full of parents and friends. When Robby began playing, Emily was surprised at what she heard. He played so well that everyone in the hall was moved. Emily ran up to him when he ended. "I've never heard you play like that, Robby! How could you do it?" "Well, Miss Emily … do you remember that I told you my mom was sick? Well, in fact, she was so sick that she died this morning. And well … she was born deaf, so tonight was the first time she ever heard me play. I wanted to make it special."

    When Emily heard this, she felt that he was the teacher and she was the student. For it was he that taught her the meaning of love and believing in yourself.

    Michael Jackson was one of the world's best singers. He was born in the middle west of the city of Gary， Indiana， in 1958. He began singing with his four brothers. They called the group， “The Jackson Five”. The group became very popular after appearing on a television program. In 1970 the group made their  first record with the name of I Want You Back. It was very popular. One of their hit records was Never Say Goodbye.

    Michael was good at dancing as well as singing， for example， his dance moves and moon walking. He was asked to act in a film in 1978 for the first time， and in the same year he made a record on his own， which was sold eight million copies all over the world.

    Michael nearly didn't go out because he was too famous. Once his fans went off in a faint(晕倒）when they saw him at the concert. No one can do it by now. He lived in a large house and kept lots of animals. He never ate meat. He often raised money for charity. This made him win the Guinness world Records（吉尼斯世界纪录）in 2006. He died on June 25th， 2009， but he would live in our hearts forever.

A

    Some girls are talking about their dreams. They want to do different (不同的) jobs when they grow up (长大). The first girl says, "When I grow up, I want to work with animals. I like them and they are so cute." The second girl says, "Oh, Mary, I think it's boring to be with animals, because they can't speak. I want to be a reporter (记者), so I can meet and talk to interesting people every day. "The third girl says, "Jenny, I don't think it's a difficult job for you, because you are good at talking with others. I want to be a teacher, because my mom is one" The last girl says, "I like your mother's job, Sally. I am writing a story about that job. My mother says I can be an author (作家). But I want to be a doctor, because I like helping others."

B

    I have a twin brother, Bob. He is taller than me. His hair is shorter than mine. Many people think we must have many things in common. But in fact this is not true. Bob is more outgoing than me. When my parents' friends come to our house, Bob often sits there and talks to them. But I often sit there and say nothing. Bob likes reading, cooking and drawing. I just like swimming and playing basketball. He has more hobbies than me, but he is not as athletic(擅长运动的) as me. Because Bob does better than me at school, my mom often says to me, “Bob is younger than you, but he can get better grades, you should learn from him.” We both like eating fast food and listening to music.

    Most of us have ever imagined the life on a desert island. We sometimes imagine a desert island to be a sort of paradise(天堂) where the sun always shines. Life there is simple and good. Ripe fruit falls from the trees and you are free to sit around without any work. This is really a beautiful picture, isn't it? However, the other side of the picture is quite the opposite. Life on a desert island is awful. You either starve to death or live like Robinson Crusoe, waiting for a boat which never comes.

    Perhaps there is some truth in both these pictures, but few of us have had the chance to find out. We can only experience it in the story like the following.

    Many years ago, two men spent five days on a coral island and they wished that they could stay there longer. They were driving a badly damaged boat from the Virgin Islands to Miami to have it repaired. During the journey, their boat began to sink(下沉). They quickly put food, matches, and cans of beer into a rubber dinghy(救生筏) and rowed for a few miles across the Caribbean until they arrived at a tiny coral island.

    There were hardly any trees on the island and there was no water, but this did not seem to be a problem. The men collected rainwater in the rubber dinghy. As they had brought a gun with them, they had plenty to eat. They caught lobster and fish every day, and they thought they lived just like a king. Five days later, a tank passed by and saved them. However, they felt sorry that they had to leave.