A girl who graduated from a world famous university wanted to do translation work for authority leaders. She was so happy when she entered the British Embassy (大使馆). She thought it was the greatest happiness in her life as many graduates wanted to get that job and she was one of the few people who got it!

   But when she started her new job, she realized that it was just a job of answering calls and recording staff members'arriving and leaving times. It was supposed to have no future. For some time, she felt disappointed and didn't know what to do. However, she didn't want to give up this job. She thought about it for one or two days and finally she decided that she would try her best to do this job. From then on, she learnt to appreciate her own job. She wrote down the names and phone numbers of the staff members on a notebook so that she could remember them. She found great pleasure in dealing with the daily chores. When a phone call came in, she picked up the phone as soon as possible. When someone asked her about who was not in the office, she would give the right name and even the time when he or she left. Nobody could do that except her.

   Her excellent work received praise not only from the embassy's members, but also from people in the local government. A leader of a famous company in Britain was deeply impressed by her, so he invited her to work for him. After that she became the leader's personal translator and she was appreciated by the foreigners.

   We cannot choose our destiny(命运), but we can choose the attitude with which we face our life. Maybe the attitude could change our destiny.

Jodie's Daddy Is a Garbageman (垃圾清理工)

    Mr. Swales wanted to find out what his students' parents did. He had just called Jodie when some girls laughed. Shirley shouted, “Jodie's daddy is a garbageman!”

    Everybody in the class laughed out loudly, except Jodie. She felt her face turn red.

    “Silence!” Mr. Swales said, “Being a garbageman is a difficult and useful job. We should all be grateful to Jodie's father.”

    Jodie's father came to walk her home from school as usual, but she didn't run up to him as she always did. When they got back home, Jodie went to her room and cried for a long time.

    Her father came into her room, “What happened, Jodie? Why are you so sad?”

    Jodie told her father what had happened and looked at him. He didn't seem angry or hurt. “Well,” he said, “they are right. Being a garbageman is a dirty job. Tomorrow's Saturday. Come to work with me, Jodie.”

    The place really smelt too bad. Jodie wrinkled her nose. “Don't worry, kid. In five minutes, you won't smell a thing.” said her father.

    Everybody there was working hard, and they seemed to have a good time. Jodie's father handed her a pair of gloves and told her to get the little plastic bags and throw them into the truck.

    It was fun, but also hard work. Jodie's arms soon got tired. At last, no more garbage was left and Jodie felt very happy.

    “Garbage is dirty, but when we clear it away, everything's nice and clean. You can make yourself happy only by making others happy. That's why I like being a garbageman so much.”

    Jodie gave her dirty, smelly garbageman daddy a big kiss. She said, “When I grow up, I will be a garbage-girl!”

    Now whenever someone asks Jodie what her daddy does, she says, “He's a garbageman! Everybody makes garbage, but my daddy takes it away!”

    There once was a wise man who was very respected for his wisdom. This great man was called the Wise Circle Maker. His people believed that he had special powers to make it rain.

    But the Wise Circle Maker did not know everything about life often, when he saw things that he did not understand, he would ask questions, hoping to find the answers.

    One day, he noticed a man panting a fruit tree. He asked the man, "When will this tree bear fruit? How long will it take?"

    The man said that it would take 70 years for fruit to come to the tree.

"And how old are you now?" asked the Wise Circle Maker.

    "I am almost 50 years old" replied the man.

"And do you think you will live to taste the fruit from this tree?" asked the Wise Circle Maker.

    "I am already old and will never taste the fruit from this tree I plant. But when I was born, I saw many fruit trees like this planted by my father, and his father. And I ate the fruit from those trees." replied the man.

    "This tree is for my children, my grandchildren and for their children too. They will taste the fruit of this tree. That is why I am planting it not for me, but for them."

The Wise Circle Maker was impressed. He could easily see the meaning He walked away happily, knowing that he still had much to learn about life.

Lang Zheng touched (感动) people's hearts after the Wenchuan earthquake (地震) in 2008. He saluted (敬礼) the soldiers who saved him. He would go to Peking University {#blank#}1{#/blank#} he has done well in the gaokao.

On May 12, 2008, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} earthquake hit Wenchuan. The soldiers saved him from his fallen house. When the soldiers carried him on a stretcher (担架), he gave them a salute. A man took the picture of the {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (move) moment and it touched the hearts of people across the country.

On Saturday, Lang knew he got 637 points. He was in the top 30 of hundreds of thousands of liberal arts exam participants (文科考生) in Sichuan. Lang has {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (receive) the admission notice (录取通知书) of Peking University.

Since 2008, Lang has been famous {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the salute. And then he was {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(call）the "Salute Boy". The name has given him much encouragement, rather than placing him under {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (press). "The special name encourages me {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (keep) studying and not to slow down," he said, "Going to university is just a new {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (begin). I should study {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (hard), and get more skills to give back to our country."

How can you do your homework well? Here is some advice for you. 

Don't try to work when you are hungry. If you decide to do your homework right after school, you may get something to eat first. Then you should always do your homework before you get too tired. Don't wait until very late in the evening, or your work will seem much harder than it really is. If you have more than an hour s work, give yourself a break after an hour. On the other hand, don't break so long that you can't finish your homework. You should be able to work more than half an hour at a time. 

Don't put off until the last minute. If you put off doing your homework, you will have it on your mind and you won t enjoy your free time so much. If you put it off until right before a test, you will have too much homework to do. And please do your homework at the same time every evening. This will help you make it a habit. It will make it easier to do, and you will enjoy your free time better.