Long long ago, there was a spider. She found a beautiful farm. She liked the farm and decided to live there forever.

      One day, the spider caught a little bug. When the spider ate it, the bug said, “If you let me go, I will tell you an important thing. The thing will save your life.” The spider stopped and listened.

      The little bug said, “You'd better get out of the farm. The harvest is coming! If you stay here, you will be killed by the farmer's machine.”

      But the spider didn't listen to the bug and ate it for lunch. The next day when she was sleeping, the farmer came to have a harvest. The spider was killed by the machine.

    Some people like to collect stamps. Others prefer posters or coins. But Pinky Bhutia is different. She collects children. In her mountain village, in Sikkim, she is known as the wonderful young woman who adopts(领养) all the children she can.

    Pinky was 14 when she adopted her first child, a Nepali baby girl, whose patents passed away. Pinky's parents did not mind. Pinky left school and started working full time because she had a baby to feed. Today , she has twelve adopted children, and two sons from her marriage.

    Pinky is about 30 years old and she comes from a common family. If you passed her on the street, you wouldn't give her a second look. She lives in a brown mud-washed(泥刷的) house. There is a vegetable garden outside. Red hens with noisy chicks run all over the garden looking for food.

    If you ask her why she provides a home for so many kids, she smiles shyly. But her eyes are serious. "I know what it is to be poor and hungry." As a child, her only dream was to eat a full meal, and her favorite amusement was watching people with shoes and imagining what it felt like. By adopting poor and homeless children she is making sure that they never feel that hopeless.

    Pinky feels very proud when she sees her children happy and bright, her oldest baby, Aarita Rai, is now 20 years old, Then, there is 19-year-old Nimbe who came to Pinky because her mother was unable to look after her. She started to work in a government office two years ago. Ten-year-old Bhim and 14-year-old Kumar came to Pinky five years ago, after their father's death. They started living on a patch of land given by Pinky and grew vegetables for sale.

    "I like children. It's not one more mouth to feed but one more soul saved," Pinky says.

A

    When I was a little kid, a father was like the light in the fridge. Every house had one, but no one really knew what either of them did when the door was shut.

    My dad left the house every morning and always seemed glad to see every one again at night. He opened the jar of pickles when no one else at home could. He was the only one in the house who wasn't afraid to go into the basement by himself. 

    Whenever it rained, he got into the car and brought it around to the door. When anyone was sick, he went out to get the prescription(处方) filled. He set mousetraps. He cut back the roses so the thorns(刺) wouldn't hurt you when you came to the front door. He oiled my roller skates, and they went faster. When I got my bike, he ran alongside me for at least a thousand miles until I got the hang of it. He signed all my report and cards. He took a lot of pictures, but was never in them. He tightened up Mother's sagging(松垂的) clothesline every week or so.

    I was afraid of everyone else's father, but not my own. 

    Whenever I played house(玩过家家), the mother doll had a lot to do. I never knew what to do with the daddy doll, so I had him say, “I'm going off to work now,” and threw him under the bed.

    When I was nine years old, my father didn't get up one morning and go to work, he went to the hospital and died the next day. 

    There were a lot of people in the house who brought all kinds of good food and cakes. We had never had so much company before.   

    He never did anything; I didn't know his leaving would hurt so much.

    It was in August 1999 that I decided to come to China to work as a language teacher.

    I taught in Zhongshan City. Guangdong, for six months before moving to Ningbo. I came to Wanli University in 2000, and I taught there for five years. My time in Ningbo is great. I've met many wonderful Chinese teachers.

    I came to China with the idea of helping Chinese friends learn English better, and I have achieved this many times. I've traveled to many places in China, and I find that Ningbo is my favorite place.

    When I first came to Ningbo in 2000, it wasn't as clean as it is now. However, I found that this is a great city to live in. When I arrived, there was one McDonalds, and three KFC's. But we didn't get a Starbucks until 2002.

    I've really enjoyed spending my time here, especially now that I have found my beautiful wife, and we will be having our first child in Ningbo. Maybe she or he will learn Ningbo dialect（方言）, to talk with the grandparents.

    While staying in Ningbo, I have found that many people can understand English, but are very shy to speak out. I'm telling you now, it is only a language, and don't be afraid to talk, just remember, "Nobody is perfect. "

    My name is Mike. I live in America now. I am a twelve-year-old junior high school student. I go to school on foot every day because my house is close to my school. We have four classes in the morning.

    Each class lasts 40 minutes. The first class starts at 8:00 a. m. There is a ten-minute break between two classes. I study hard and do well in Maths, English and Science. Of all my subjects, I like Science best. I want to be a scientist in the future.

    Most of my classmates have lunch at school, but I usually eat lunch at home. After lunch, I can rest for half an hour. Afternoon classes begin at 2: 30 p. m., and end at 4: 50 p. m. We usually study PE, Art and Music in the afternoon.

    I like playing the piano very much. I often have an hour's piano practice after school. I always have a good time at school.

Long ago in China, there lived five brothers who looked almost the same. The only way to tell them was by their amazing 1 . First Brother was as strong as ten horses. Second Brother could fly in the sky like a bird. Third Brother could 2 an ant sneeze (打喷嚏). Fourth Brother could make his body iron hard. Fifth Brother could make a river when he cried.

One day, Fifth Brother came across a strange 3 . When he was enjoying the delicious apple picked from the garden, 4 three men appeared. They took him to the owner of the garden. The owner was a bad, greedy man. He 5 Fifth Brother in his deepest prison. He said only if Fifth Brother 6 the treasure of Fire Island to him, he could set Fifth Brother free. Fire Island was in the middle of a nearby 7 . A dragon lived there, guarding its treasure. Stealing it seemed like a(n) 8 task, but Fifth Brother agreed to try.

That night, far away, 9 Brother heard Fifth Brother call for help. After listening to his story, Third Brother told other brothers what had happened. They made a 10 to go to help their brother get the treasure.

The next day, the five brothers worked together and with great 11 , they got the treasure from the dragon in the lake. Then Fifth Brother gave it to the owner. 12 the owner would not let Fifth Brother go because he thought Fifth Brother had many powers.

When Fifth Brother knew this, he started to 13 . Soon, his tears tan like a rushing river that swept the owner away.

Once the land dried out, the brothers journeyed home. They were 14 to be together again.

The next day, Fifth Brother said he was going on another walk. His brothers made him 15 that he would never eat in strange gardens again. Fifth Brother laughed and left.