One day a poor man was cutting a big piece of wood (木头) near a river. Suddenly his old axe (斧子) fell into the water. He felt very sad because he lost his only axe. Then all at once a beautiful fairy (仙女) came out and asked the man what was the matter.

    "I have lost my axe." he said, "It fell into the water when I was cutting the wood."

    The fairy showed him a gold axe and asked, "Is that yours?"

    "No." said the man.

    The fairy then showed him a silver (银) axe and asked again, "Is this yours?"

    "No." again answered the man.

    Then she showed  him the old axe.

    "Yes, that is mine." called out the happy man.

    "I know it well enough." said the fairy, "I only wanted to see if you would tell me the truth, and now I'll give you the gold axe and the silver axe besides (包括)  your own one."

D

    I remember the green coat in my fifth and sixth grades.

    When I needed a new jacket, my mother asked what kind I wanted. I described something like bikers wear. She listened long. I thought she understood for sure the kind I wanted.

    The next day when I got home from school, I discovered, on my bed, a jacket which was not what I had expected. I went close to the jacket slowly, as if it were a stranger.

    From the kitchen mother shouted that my jacket was in the closet. I rushed and pulled at the clothes in the closet, hoping the jacket on the bed wasn't for me but my brother. No luck, I wanted to cry because it was so ugly and so big. But I knew I'd have to wear it a long time before I'd have a new one. I looked at the jacket, like an enemy, thinking bad things before I took off my old and small jacket.

    I put the big jacket on. I stood in front of the mirror（镜子）, turning right and left. I looked ugly.

    I threw it on my brother's bed and looked at it for a long time before I put it on and went out, smiling a "thank you" to my mom.

    The next day I wore it to school. At the morning break, my best friend, Steve, looked at me for a long time. The girls turned away to whisper. The teachers looked my way and talked about how foolish I looked in my new jacket. When it was time for the whole school to get together on the playground,   ▲  . Although they didn't say out loud, "Man, that's ugly!" I heard their talk and even laughter.

    And so I went, in my jacket. So embarrassed, so hurt, I couldn't even do my lessons the rest of the day. I received Cs on tests.

    I wore that thing for three years. All in those years no love came to me.

    I blamed（指责）that jacket for those bad years. I blamed my mother for her bad taste and her cheap ways. It was a sad time for the heart. Anyway, I spent my sixth-grade year, looking forward to something good to happen to me.

    And it was about that time I began to grow, still in that green ugly jacket, which had become my brother who went along wherever I went.

    Some people remember the things by writing notes to themselves. Then they leave the notes in obvious(明显的) places, such as on the table or on the floor in the middle of the living room. I don't think I like to write notes to myself. Most of the time I lose them or forget to look at them until it's too late. I prefer to use an alarm clock to tell me what I should do. I have ten alarm clocks in my house. They could tell me about things. For example, if I have to make a telephone call at a certain time, I'll set an alarm clock to go off a few minutes early and put the clock by the telephone. Or if I want to watch a certain television program, I'll set an alarm clock at the right time and put the clock on top of the TV set. I can remember almost anything if I use my clocks. However, sometimes an alarm clock goes off and I don't know what it means. I always remember setting it, but I do not know why I set it. If the clock is by the telephone, I know I may have set it to tell me to call someone, but I can't be sure. I might have set it to tell myself that somebody was to call me at a certain time.

In recent years, Chinese cartoons are catching more and more people's eye. For Chinese cartoon lovers, I Am WhatI Am is a film they can't miss. The film tells the story of Ah Juan, a left-behind child(留守儿童). He lives in a village in Guangdong Province. He's having trouble with his life. He's weak in other people's eyes. One day, after meeting a girl, he comes up with an idea of learning lion dances and joining in a competition in Guangzhou with his friends. They learn lion dances from a former(昔日的) lion dancer and train hard day after day. Things are getting better.

However, here comes the bad news: Ah Juan's father has an accident. Ah Juan has to go to the city and find a job to feed his family. But his love for lion dances doesn't stop. The strong love pushes him to run after his dream once again.

This film is very different from traditional Chinese cartoons. Traditional Chinese cartoons often have to do with Chinese fairy tales(童话故事) or legends. But this film looks at real life. It tells us how a left-behind boy faces up to his hard life. Although life isn't perfect or easy, Ah Juan never loses hope. At the same time, there are many scenes of traditional lion dances in the film. They show this kind of traditional Chinese culture to more people.

I was playing at the front gate, trying to decide whether to walk down the street to play with Jenny, when I saw a poor man coming up the road. 

"Hello, little girl, " he said, "is your mama at home?"

I nodded and opened the gate to let him get in the yard. He looked like all the homeless men who came to my home before. His messy hair hung below a shapeless hat, and his old shirt and trousers had been rained on and slept in. He smelled bad. 

He walked to the door. When my mother appeared, he asked, "Lady, could you spare something to eat?"

"I think so. Please sit on the step. "

Later, my mother came back and handed him a sandwich made from homemade bread and generous pieces of boiled meat. She also gave him a bottle of milk. "I thank you, lady, " he said. 

I played at the gate, watching the man wolf down the sandwich and empty the cup. After finishing the food, he stood up and walked back through the gate. "▲" he told me on the way out. 

Jenny had said all the homeless men told each other who would feed them. "They never come to my house!" she had said proudly and happily. 

"So why does Mama feed the poor man?" I wondered. I walked inside. "Jenny's mama says those men are too lazy to work. Why do we feed them?"

My mother smiled. "Sweetheart, we don't know why these men don't work, " she said, "but they were babies once. And their mamas loved them, just like I love you. " She put her hands on my shoulders and drew me close to her. 

"For me, I fed them for their mothers, because if you were ever hungry and had nothing to eat, I would want others' mothers to feed you. "

I seemed to find out the answer to my question and understand that. 

I'm ten years old and my name is Freddy. I wear glasses and my hair is red. I love going to school because it is {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. All the teachers are friendly and they always teach us useful {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. My {#blank#}3{#/blank#} subject is geography and I enjoy the PE class. I have a sister, Susan. She is seven years old and she is {#blank#}4{#/blank#} beautiful. She has long hair and big green eyes. She is very lovely.

Laura is one of my best {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. We live on the {#blank#}6{#/blank#} road so we go to school together. Julio is also my friend. We sometimes {#blank#}7{#/blank#} basketball in the park or ride our bikes in the country. Julio is quite tall and he is very funny. He tells me very funny {#blank#}8{#/blank#}. Julio's parents are Mexican.

I get up at 8 o'clock because lessons {#blank#}9{#/blank#} at 8:45. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we study maths, French and history. Lunch is usually at 12:15 in the school dining {#blank#}10{#/blank#}. I often bring my lunch box because my mom says it's better food. In the afternoon we usually have art or IT.