Have you heard about "Survival(生存) Holidays"? "Survival Holidays" is for children to go into the lonely place for exciting activities. Now about 1,100 companies are allowed to take children into the great outdoors without their parents.

    The reason why people like "Survival Holidays" is that they think being close to nature is good for children. Many children in big cities spend all time watching TV and playing computer games. "Survival Holidays" gives them an important change.

    Is "Survival Holidays" a wonderful idea? Maybe it is. Children need more free time to play. They need to be left on their own, without adults disturbing(打扰) them. Parents care too much about their children. They like to see the children being busy with activities that are controlled by adults, but children don't know what to do when they are in danger. Even something like crossing a small river seems to be a hard challenge. Children are not comfortable with danger. Even small danger like getting their feet wet or falling down seems very terrible to them.

    Many people think the survival activities are good for children. Even years later, they will still remember what they have learned. Some have learned to stay calm in different times. Some have learned how to keep safe. Others have learned how to work in a team. All these skills will help them a lot in their lives.

      When my brother and I were children, we spent a few weeks each summer in the countryside with our uncle. He was a geologist and loved to go on long walks to find stones to add to his collection at the university. More often than not, we followed him.

      One day, we left early, and this time, our uncle gave us two backpacks. “ You can help me carry the samples(样本),” he explained.

      Surely, why not? The whole day, we walked around the countryside, and every now and then, our uncle put stones in our bags. We were a bit surprised that sometimes he also took some stones out from our bags, but thought he had just found better samples.

      We reached the house in the late afternoon. The backpacks were so heavy that we were really tired out when we put them on the ground. Yet our uncle's backpack was half-empty.

      “Why did you give us so many stones?” we asked.

      “I didn't. You did,” he said, waiting for a while before continuing. “ You did not know it, but I made you go through a little attitude(态度) test today.”

What do you mean an‘attitude test'?” we wanted to know.

      “It is something someone once did to me. You see, I listened to every word you said. And whenever you complained(抱怨) about anyone or anything, I added a stone to your bags. And whenever you talked about something in an attitude of positive thinking, I took out a stone. And now look at your backpacks.”

      We did. They were full.

      “I hope you remember this little attitude test. You see, your negative thoughts are like stones. You carry them in your mind just like those stones and start paying attention to what you say and how you say things.”

      This little lesson was one of the most important lessons I ever had. And I remember my uncle with great love for teaching us one of the most important lessons in life – the power of attitude.

    Look at the Sky from the Bottom of a Well

    There is a frog(青蛙). He lives in a well(水井) and he never goes out of the well. He thinks the sky is as big as the mouth of the well.

    One day a crow(乌鸦)comes to the well. He sees the frog .

    The frog asks, “Where are you from?”

    “I fly from the sky.” the crow says.

    The frog feels surprised and says, “The sky is only as big as the mouth of the well. How do you fly from the sky?”

    The crow says, “The sky is very big. You always stay in the well, so you don't know the world is big.”

    The frog says, “I don't believe it .”

    But the crow says, “You can come out and have a look by yourself.”

    So the frog comes out from the well. He is very surprised. How big the world is!

    Mr. Jones had a nice Brown coat. He loved it very much, but his wife didn't like it. Because it was old. She often said." Give it to a poor man." But Mr. Jones always answered," No, I like this coat. "

    Then a cigarette（香烟） fell on it and made a hole in it. So Mrs Jones said, "Please don't wear it again." Mr. Jones took it to a small tailor（裁缝） "Please make another coat like this one." The tailor made the coat very carefully. Then he lit （点燃）a cigarette, and made a hole in it in the same place.