It was a cold snowy morning after the winter vacation. And it was my first day at my new school. I was walking alone slowly and worrying about lots of things. It was early and there weren't many people on the road. Suddenly a girl who was riding a bike on ice fell down. She was trying hard to get up but fell again. Without thinking, I went over and helped her. She said" thank you" with a smile and then rode away. Her words warmed me a lot.

    Finally, I got to school. The teacher led me to the classroom and introduced me to the class. Then he asked me to sit down beside a girl. I felt so nervous that I didn't dare to look at her. Soon the first class, English, started. Their textbooks were different from those in my old school. As I was wondering what to do, an English book appeared in front of me. "Let's share," the girl beside me said. "Hi, I'm Carrie." I looked up. It was the girl I helped this morning. Later on, we became good friends.

    From that I learned: To help others is actually to help ourselves!

    A group of swans flew down to a beach where a crow(乌鸦)was jumping around. The crow watched them with disdain(鄙视).

    "You have no flying skills at all!” he said to the swans. “All you can do is to move your wings. Can you turn over in the air? No, that's what you can't do. Let's have a flying competition. I'll show you what real flying is ! "

    One of the swans, a strong young male, took up the challenge(挑战). The crow flew up and began to show off his skills. He flew in circles, did other flying tricks, and then came down and looked proudly at the swan.

    Now it was the swan's turn. He flew up, and began flying over the sea. The crow flew after him, making all kinds of comments(评价)about his flying. They flew on and on until they couldn't see the land and there was nothing but water on all sides. The crow was making fewer and fewer comments. He was now so tired that he found it hard to stay in the air, and had to try to stop himself from falling into the water.

    The swan pretended(假装) not to notice and said, "Why do you keep touching the water, brother? Is that another trick?"

    "No," said the crow. He knew he had lost the competition. "I'm in trouble because of my pride! If you don't help me, I'll lose my life... "

    The swan took pity on him, and took him on his back and flew back to the beach.

    Mike is a factory worker. He is often very tired after a day's work. His wife, Jenny, has no job, so she stays at home to cook the meals. Every day he can have his dinner when he gets home from his factory.

    One day, Mike came home very late because he was very busy in the factory. He was very hungry when he got home.

    He was not happy when he found his dinner was not ready. He was very angry with his wife. He shouted at her, "I'm going out to eat in a restaurant." "Wait for five minutes," said his wife. "Why? Do you think that dinner will be ready in five minutes?" asked Mike.

    "Of course not," she answered. "But I can be ready to go with you in five minutes."