Long long ago, there was a swan (天鹅) with golden feathers. She lived in a lake. A woman lived in a small house 1the lake with her two daughters. They were very poor. They worked hard all year round,2still, they lived a hard life and sometimes they even didn't have enough 3to buy food.

    The swan was 4to see that. She said to herself, “I'll give one of my5to them each day, then they can live a happy life with the money selling my feathers.” That evening, she 6to the poor woman's house and left a golden feather on the table without saying7. From then on, the swan came every day and gave them a feather. The woman was very happy   because their life was much8than before.

    But day after day, the woman became greedy（贪婪）.She said to her9. “The swan may fly away one day. If so, we will be poor again. We should take all10feathers if she comes next time.”

    “Oh, no, Mom!” cried the daughters, “This will 11the swan. She helps us a lot!” But the mother wouldn't listen. When the 12came as usual, the mother caught her and took all her feathers. But suddenly, the golden feathers 13chicken feathers.

    Then, the Golden Swan said, “Poor Mother, I came to 14you, but you wanted to kill me. Now, I am leaving and will 15come back. Never be greedy!” With these words, the swan left.

    My grandfather is seventy-five years old this year. But he looks very young. He looks like a sixty-year-old man. Now he can do everything all by himself. For example, he cooks, washes clothes, does the housework and so on.

    Every morning, my grandfather goes out with a radio. He listens to the music or the news and goes to the park to play taijiquan. In the park, he talks and laughs with other old people. After coming back from the park, he begins to have breakfast and then he goes to the university (大学) for the old. He learns drawing there. In the afternoon, he plays on the computer for about one or two hours. After supper he watches TV and learns about the world. He goes to bed at about eight o'clock. He never stays up. He likes to share his ways of keeping healthy with others.

    Are you healthy? If not, what do you learn from my grandfather's secret of keeping healthy?

    A little girl's interest in wanting to talk about Chinese food put her on a path to study the language.

    Isabelle first became interested in Chinese when she was 5. “We were at a Chinese restaurant . She was watching a man making noodles. She was so excited that she wanted to talk with him. Unfortunately, he didn't speak English. On the way home, she said she wanted to learn Chinese,” said Isabelle's father.

    “I totally fell in love with the language. It's so beautiful and unlike anything I've ever heard before,” said Isabelle, whose Chinese name is Bao Ling. she is now 12 and very good at Chinese, she can even watch movies and TV from China without subtitles. Some of her favorite Chinese cartoons are Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, Big Head Son and Small Head Dad, which are very popular in China.

    Isabelle studies at the Confucius Institute (孔子学院) near her home, the William & Mary Confucius Institute. “It is just the beginning of a fantastic ongoing adventure, all thanks to the Confucius Institute,” she said.

    The WMCI offers courses on many aspects (方面) of Chinese culture, from travel tips to calligraphy(书法), to tai chi, cooking and music. The first course that Isabelle took was a cooking class. She then tried tai chi and kung fu through the WMCI.

    Next year, through the WMCI, Isabelle will join the JNCLNCLIS (languagepolicy.org) to ask for more aid for language instruction in public schools.

    “I want to thank the Confucius Institute for sharing the wonderful language and culture of China to the world,” she said. “It has been a wonderful journey for all of us,” said her mother.

    Do you go to school every day by bike or in your parents' car? The American English teacher Margaret tells her story about taking a school bus in America.

    When I'm a primary school student, I love taking the school bus. It is interesting to talk to my friends and play games on the bus. It is like children-only party every morning and afternoon. On the school bus there is only one adult（成年人）—the driver. Most of the time, we are well-behaved because we like the driver and don't want to make him unhappy. But one day, one of the boys makes a face at a policeman driving behind our bus. The policeman makes our bus driver stop. Then he scolds（训斥）the naughty boy loudly. We all behave well after that!

    It isn't comfortable for young people to wait for the school bus in winter（冬天） because it is very cold, especially when there are strong winds（风）. Some students in cities have bus shelters（遮挡）, but country children have to jump（跳）up and down to warm up. Hurry up, spring!

Last Tuesday I took my two daughters, aged four and five, to town by1. It began to rain hard so I decided I would leave the children in the car before I went quickly into a shop. I2 the girls not to touch anything and told them I would be3 within a few minutes. Then I 4 all the doors and 5 them happily looking out of the window.

I returned to the car in less than five minutes but the girls had disappeared! I could hardly believe my eyes. The car doors were6 locked, the windows 7 shut and on the back seat were only two coats. I was8 and ran to the comer of the street where there was no9 of them. I rushed up to an10 lady nearby and asked 11 she had seen two small girls but she said" No". Feeling sick with fear, I sat on the driver's seat, and. 12to stop trembling (颤抖). Suddenly, I heard a merry laugh behind me. I got out of the car, ran round to open the boot (汽车后备箱) and there inside were two very red-faced and. 13 children. They had obviously pulled out the back seat, 14 behind it and then they were unable to push the seat forward again. With tears in my15, I leaned forward and pulled their ears.