“All our class must hand in compositions tomorrow. We must write 12 linesat least. But I can never write one. I'll have to go to school without acomposition, for I won't copy one from a book, or ask you or papa to write onefor me.”

    “That's right,” said her mother. “You'll be happier with a poorcomposition, if it's your own, than with a fine one written by somebody else.But cheer up. Run into the garden and play. I'll call you in half an hour.Don't think about your composition now. Just have a good time.”

It seemed just a few minutes to Susie before she heard her mother calling her. She wentinto the house immediately — her hands full of sweet flowers, and her face redwith exercise.

Then her mother asked her to sit by the window with a nice piece ofpaper and a pencil, and write something about what she could see. “Never mindyour composition; do this to please me, and we'll talk about that later.”

    Although Susie thought her mother's request was strange, she knew shealways had a good reason for everything she did. So she did as her motherrequested.

    As she looked out, she first saw the western sky and some bright, sunsetclouds. “Oh, mother, what a sunset!”

“Don't talk. Just write.”

The pencil began moving rapidly across the paper. She wrote about the sunsetclouds, the look of the distant hills, the streets, the river, the garden withits flowers, and the birds flying past the window. She forgot all about theterrible composition!

    Just as she had reached the bottom of the page, hermother came in and said with a smile, “Well, Susie, how does that compositioncome on?”

   “Composition! You told me not to think about it, and I've never thoughtof it once. I've had such a nice time writing about what I could see from thewindow.”

    Mrs. Smith took the paper and read what Susie had written. She said,“There, Susie, that's a very nice composition,really.”

   “A composition! Is that a composition?”Susie asked in surprise.

   “Yes, my dear, and a very good one, too, if we find a title for it,”replied her mother. Then she added, “I'm sure it will please your teacher, asit does me. You see, it's easy enough to write a composition if you have anything interesting to write about.”

    Cinderella is a beautiful girl. She has two ugly stepsisters. They are not kind to Cinderella. Cinderella does all of the work at home. She must cook, clean and do everything.

    One day, a letter comes to the house. It is a letter from the prince. He will have a big party. He would like the three girls to come. The prince wants to find a wife.

    Cinderella can't go to the party because she doesn't have beautiful clothes. The day of the party arrives. Cinderella met a fairy godmother. She gives Cinderella a coach, two horses and a beautiful dress. But magic will stop working at 12 o'clock.

    The prince's palace is full of people. They are all happy to be at the big party. All the girls want to marry the prince. Then Cinderella walks into the palace. "Who is she?" everyone asks. "She's so beautiful," they say.

    The prince sees Cinderella. He asks her to dance with him. All night long they dance and talk. The prince and Cinderella fall in love. At twelve o'clock, Cinderella runs out.

    Cinderella runs and loses one of her glass shoes. She must get home before twelve. She is late. She runs into the house. Now, she is wearing her old dress again.

    The prince finds Cinderella's shoe. "I know this shoe. It is that beautiful girl's. I'll find her," he says. The next morning, he goes from house to house to find her. He goes to Cinderella's house. The two ugly stepsisters try on the shoe, but their feet are too big.

    "Can I try it on?" asks Cinderella. "Yes," the prince says, so Cinderella tries the shoe on. It fits her foot. "I have found my princess," the prince says. Soon Cinderella and the prince get married. They live happily ever after.

    They say that "travel is the best teacher" and there is no better example of this idea than the Ming dynasty travel writer and geographer Xu Xiake (1587-1641). His book The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake, not only encouraged a love of travelling among Chinese people but provided important scientific information about the country's land and geography.

    Born into a wealthy Jiangyin family, Xu became interested in books about different places at anearly age and wanted to travel. When he was 18, however. Xu's father died and so, it seemed, did his travelling dreams. He now was responsible for the family farm and taking care of his 60-year-old mother as tradition required.

    But his mother had different ideas. Understanding her son, slove of travel and valuing the knowledge he could get from such experiences, this modern-thinking woman refused to keep her son at home. She agreed that Xu could travel for three months every year, when there was less farm work.

    So at the age of twenty and with his mother's support, Xu set off for the first time, leaving behind not only his mother but his new wife as well. He would repeat this goodbye each year for most of the next 30 years. During this time, he travelled throughout the Ming kingdom, carefully studying the lands he passed through and recording his experiences and many discoveries in a diary. This diary, which once had over 500,000 words, would eventually become The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake.

    Although rich, Xu avoided comfortable travel, preferring to go almost everywhere on foot. This way he could research the environment in detail and get a true picture of the natural world. Many of his trips were to hard-to-reach mountain areas, and through wild forests where few people lived. His willingness to face hardships came at a cost however. Progress was slow and tiring and he was frequently sick, robbed and beaten during his journeys

    Sadly Xu became seriously ill during his last and longest journey, a 4-year trip through the Southwest of China. He died in 1641, soon after returning to his hometown for the last time. When his diary was finally printed years after his death, much of it had been destroyed or lost. Although incomplete, it still made Xu a travelling legend around the world.

    I love movies. Among all of them, I prefer movies that I can get inspiration (激励) from. The Pursuit of Happiness is such a movie. This movie is based on the true story of Chris Gardner, a salesman who managed to build a future for himself and his five-year-old son Christopher. Chris Gardner was having a hard life in San Francisco in 1981. His wife hated to have a poor life so she left home. Gardner and his son were abandoned by her.

    While trying to sell his products, Gardner met Jay Thistle, a successful stockbroker (股票经纪人). His new relationship with Jay helped him earn an internship (实习) in a stock company. Without any pay, Gardner was not able to afford the apartment. He and his son had to sleep on the streets, in homeless shelters and even behind the locked door of a bathroom in the subway station.

    Gardner never let other people in the company know about his bad condition He arrived at the office early and stayed late each day. As an intelligent man, Gardner developed a number of ways to make his work faster and better. And he finally got the job because of his excellent performance.

    With confidence and the love and trust of his son, Chris Gardner got back on his feet and opened, his own company. He reached his American dream at last. And his story has encouraged me to realize my dream.

    A young boy was playing with a ball in the street. He threw(扔) it too hard and it broke the window of a house and fell(掉) inside. A woman came to the window and shouted(大喊) at the boy. The boy was afraid and ran away. But he still wanted his ball back. A few minutes later, the boy came back and knocked(敲) at the door and said, "My father is going to come and repair(修理) your window soon."

    After a while, a man came to the door with tools(工具) in his hand, so the woman let the boy take his ball away. When the man finish repairing the window, he said to the woman, "Please pay ten dollars."

    "But aren't you the father of the boy?" the woman asked, looking surprised (惊奇).

    "No," he answered, looking more surprised, "Aren't you his mother?"