Esperanza lives in a poor Latino(拉丁美洲人) neighborhood in Chicago, .America. She dreams of having her own house one day. Her parents told her that when they moved from their last house, they would have a new' and shiny(亮闪闪的) house. But the house is small and old.

    Many people live in Mango Street in a big old house. Esperanza lives behind it with her family. A lot of the people who have come from Mexico don't speak English. Many miss their home country. Esperanza understands their sadness, but she also feels at home in America. She is an American, but her roots(根) will always be Latino,

    Esperanza is young. Like her friends, she has to grow up fast. She is stuck between being a girl and being a woman. In the poor and dangerous area where she lives, this is difficult for her. Mexican people usually live in a close neighborhood. This means that people live packed(挤塞的) in together. Everyone knows everyone else. So Esperanza knows other older girls that do things she is not comfortable doing. It is just a fact of her life.

    But Esperanza has good friends too. She becomes friends with two sisters named Lucy and Rachel. They ride bikes and have adventures together. Esperanza is also friends with a girl named Alicia. Alicia is afraid of the rats in her apartment. She shares her poems with Esperanza.

    Four beggars (乞丐) usually met at an old shack (小窝棚) at the end of the day. One day, they were very upset because none of them had got much in their begging bowls.

    "I only got this piece of meat today," the first said. "I hardly got anything," the second said. "I just picked up these few vegetables outside the fruit and vegetable store." The third complained that all he was given was a handful of herbs(香草) that he couldn't eat on his own. The fourth beggar didn't do much better. "I only got the handful of old, dried beans, but they aren't very nice!"

    As they sat around the fire, one of them had a great idea. "Let's put all our bits together and boil them. In this way, we can make a tasty dish and share it." They all agreed.

    However, the first beggar thought, "I don't want to share. I'll just pretend (假装) to throw my meat into the pot. They'll never know and I'll eat my meat later." So he pretended to put the meat into the pot. Now the same idea had also hit the other beggars and the shack was so dark that no one could see what the others were doing.

    Finally, one of them suggested that the dish should now be ready and, in turn, each of them helped himself to a bowl. They drank the hot water in absolute(绝对) silence, learning that selfishness doesn't taste all that good.

(I: Interviewer S:Sadie)

I: What are you doing here in Milan, Sadie?

S: I'm working. There is a big fashion show here.

I: Are you staying in a hotel?

S: No,I'm not. I'm staying with friends.

I: Are you having a good time in Milan?

S: Yes, I am. I'm enjoying it very much.

I: Now Sadie, tell the listeners, what are you wearing now?

S: I'm not wearing anything special! I'm just wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

I: Thank you, Sadie. It's nice to talk to you.

When Robert was about two years old, he tried to remove a bottle of milk from the fridge but it fell, spilling (洒出) milk all over the kitchen floor.

When his mother came into the kitchen, instead of shouting at him or punishing him, she said, "Robert, what a great and wonderful mess you have made! I have seldom seen so much milk. Well, the damage has already been done. Would you like to get down and play in the milk for a few minutes before we clean it up?"

In fact, he did. After a few minutes, his mother said, "You know, Robert, whenever you make a mess like this, finally you have to clean it up and bring everything back to its proper order."

After they cleaned up the spilled milk, his mother then said, "You know, what we have here is a failed experiment in how to effectively carry a big milk bottle with two hands. Let's go out in the back yard and fill the bottle with water and see if you can discover a way to carry it without dropping it."

The little boy learned that if he grasped the bottle at the top near the lip with both hands, he could carry it without dropping it. At that moment he knew he didn't need to be afraid to make mistakes. Instead, he learned that mistakes were just good chances for learning something new, which is, after all, what scientific experiments are all about. Even if the experiment "doesn't work", we usually learn something valuable from it.

In 223 BC Meng Tian (蒙恬) led the army in a war against the Chu Kingdom. In those days, people wrote on silk with a kind of stick pen. The stick pen was very hard and made writing very slow. Meng Tian had to often write a great number of reports about battlefield situation to the Qin ruler. He was frustrated (沮丧的) with the difficulty of writing, so he decided to make improvements.

Between battles, Meng enjoyed hunting. One day, Meng hunted a wild rabbit. It was fat and heavy and its tail left a trail (痕迹) on the ground. Meng suddenly had an idea. He immediately tied the rabbit's tail to a stick and tried writing with it. But the rabbit's hair was too oily (多油的) to hold the ink. Meng felt very sad and threw his "rabbit hair brush pen" away into a hole in the rocks.

However, Meng Tian couldn't accept the failure and continued to spend time wondering how to improve the brush pen. A few days later, he was having a walk outside for some fresh air. By chance, he found again the rabbit hair brush pen that he had thrown away. He picked it up and found that it had changed and was now soft and wet—holding water. Meng Tian got inspiration at once. He put the rabbit hair brush pen back in the ink and found it worked beautifully on silk.

My day at school yesterday was a nightmare! I overslept because I had gone to bed late and forgotten to set my alarm o'clock. When I woke up，I got a terrible{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. It was ten o'clock! I put on my uniform and ran to school.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}，while I was running，I slipped and fell into a muddy puddle （泥坑）. 

After I arrived at school，I apologized to my teacher，Miss Evans. She told me to go to the boys' toilets to clean myself up. When I was there{#blank#}3{#/blank#}，the headmaster walked in and saw me holding the cigarette. He called my parents and told them that I had been caught{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. 

My bad luck didn't stop during the lunch break. I was playing football with some friends when suddenly I hit the ball really far. It flew over the sports field and broke a classroom window. 

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}，yesterday was the worst day that I've ever had at school. I'm going to bed earlier，remember to set my alarm o'clock，and be more careful.