Chores weren't popular at my house. My children didn't like to do chores. They always saw me do chores, but they hardly ever helped me dothem.

    A year ago, I made a game called "The Endless ChoreGame". It's really great. Here's how the game works.

    I make a card with forty squares(方框), and I write adifferent chore on each square. These chores can be easy and interesting likemaking dessert. Then my family roll the dice(骰子)to decidewhat chores we have to do. The card also has a few squares with fun things, like watching TV and singing. If you're lucky, you can watchTV when the others are doing the chores.

    My son likes the game very much. He goes to the kitchen happily every morning to do the game. It's really a good way to make my children do chores. You can have a try if you have the same problemas me.

    Years ago, I lived in a building in a large city. The building next door was only a few feet away from mine. There was a woman who lived there, whom I had never met, yet I could see her seated by her window each afternoon, sewing or reading.

    After several months went by, I began to notice that her window was dirty. Everything was unclear through the dirty window. I often said to myself, "I wonder why that woman doesn't wash her window. It really looks terrible."

    One bright morning I decided to clean my flat, including washing the window on the inside.

    Late in the afternoon when I finished the cleaning, I sat down by the window with a cup of coffee for a rest. What a surprise! Across the way, the woman sitting by her window was clearly seen. Her window was clean!

    Then it dawned on me. I was always criticizing(批评) her dirty window, but all the time I was watching hers through my own dirty window.

    That was quite an important lesson for me. How often had I looked at and criticized others through the dirty window of my heart, through my own mistake?

    Since then, whenever I wanted to judge(评判) someone, I asked myself first, "Am I looking at him through my own dirty window?"

    Then I try to clean the window of my own world so that I may see the world around me more clearly and correctly.

    “Everything happens for the best, (一切都会变好的)" my mother said, whenever things weren't going my way. "Don't worry. One day your luck will change."

    After I had finished my college education, I discovered that Mother was right.

    I had decided to try for a job in radio. I wanted to host a sports program. I went to Chicago and knocked on the door of every station. But I got turned down every time. In one station, a kind lady said my problem was that I hadn't got enough experience. "Get some work in a small station and work your way up, "she said.

    I went back home. I couldn't get a job there, either. I felt really down. “Your luck will change, " Mom said to me. I tried another radio station in lowa. But the owner told me he had already had someone.

    As I left his office, I asked, "How can someone be a sports announcer(播音员)if he can't get a job in a radio station?" I was waiting for the lift when I heard the man call, "What did you mean? Do you know anything about football?" He put me in front of a microphone(麦克风)and asked me to try to imagine that I was giving my opinion on a football game.

    I succeeded!

    On my way home, Mom's words came back to me, "One day your luck will change, Son. And when it happens, you'll feel doubly good because of all the hard work you've done." At that moment I knew just what she meant.

When Bruce first met Beethoven's Moonlight over 50 years ago, he lost himself in it at once and dreamed of becoming a pianist. Although a piano was absent at home then, he learned to play Beethoven (贝多芬) by ear. Unbelievably, Bruce entered the Royal Academy of Arts at 16, which marked the beginning of his successful pianist journey. But that's not all. . . 

Bruce's wife works at Elephants World, a reserve (自然保护区) devoted to the care of rescued (救援) elephants. These elephants have worked for humans all their life and many are blind or disabled from being treated badly. After learning about that, Bruce wanted to make the effort to carry something heavy himself. Finally, Bruce and his wife were allowed by the manager to bring a piano into the reserve, bringing music to the elephants' lives. It was truly magical. 

At the beginning, when Bruce started playing, it was hard to hear the piano above the sounds of nature and the elephants chewing (咀嚼) grass. However, everything changed when a blind elephant stopped eating and focused on his playing. It hit Bruce that this elephant had a love for music. From that moment on, Bruce was no longer worried about influencing their pеace. 

Now Bruce continues to play for these elephants in the reserve. Surprisingly, it's the sad male elephants who show the most fascination with the music. He believes it has a calming effect. These elephants' breathing actually slows down when he plays, which tells Bruce they are relaxed and happy. He has even seen elephants seemingly dancing to Beethoven's pieces. With their excellent hearing and the ability to sense vibrations (震动) through their feet, Bruce is confident that elephants can understand the language of human expression. 

Bruce jokes that he is now an "Elepianist" and his human audience (听众) must miss him too much! 

Hang Son Doong in Vietnam(越南) is known as the world's largest natural cave. Last May, I went there with my friends. 

On the first day, we {#blank#}1{#/blank#} at the cave early in the morning. In the cave, we saw many rocks. Some of them were millions of {#blank#}2{#/blank#} old. There was also a natural sandbar(沙洲). It divided a green lake into {#blank#}3{#/blank#} parts. One side was warm and there were some fish swimming in it. However, the other side was very {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. 

We spent four days in the cave. Every {#blank#}5{#/blank#}, we were w oken up by the sound of birds singing. The sunlight went through the mouth of the cave. It made the lake and rocks sparkle(闪闪发光). The nights in the cave were so {#blank#}6{#/blank#} that the sound of water dropping could be heard. When I looked out of the cave, I could see a {#blank#}7{#/blank#} full of stars. 

On our last day, we were ready to leave the cave. We used the rope system to {#blank#}8{#/blank#} up a  90- meter- high wall. This was the most exciting part of the trip. When I got out of the cave {#blank#}9{#/blank#}, I felt very proud. 

During the trip, I threw {#blank#}10{#/blank#} into the arms of nature and enjoyed the beauty of the place. What a fantastic trip!