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Liang Xianghua, a 22-year-old girl from Guangxi University, has been well-known in China for her sand painting since her first work was used by CCTV.     "Sand paintings really attracted me while I was watching a video performance, I was surprised by how this artwork melted people's heart in minutes" said Liang. "I fell in love with the way the sand pictures, music and the light combined（融合）with each other to make a flow of emotion（情感）. You can express things freely."

In order to master the skills, Liang practised for several hours every day. She said that she couldn't even do the first step well of throwing sand onto the glass. But she didn't give up.     After finding success with her first show, she was invited to do many performances. This made her quite tired. She decided to give a stop and focus on her study. But an invitation from Malaysia changed her mind just as she was about to wash the sand from her hands. This spring, she was invited by a Malaysia middle school to give a performance. Liang didn't want to do a live show, but agreed to do a video for the school, showing its development over the years.     She received praise for her work and the performance was described as an eye-opener for the students. This made her wonder if her art would be more meaningful if she made it for the poor students.     As a volunteer this time, she plans to take part in a summer programme offering help to pupils in a mountain area, and give the most wonderful show in her life.

    This is' a story of a man who worked in a big factory. I got to know him many years ago, but I never paid any attention to him. He always wore an old red hat and carried a rubbish bag. He usually spent his break time and lunchtime walking around in that old big factory to collect the unused tins.

    Today, I was fixing one machine in the factory when this "tin man" came with his bag. As usual, he picked up the tins. My manager was standing there to watch me. He asked the "tin man" what he was going to do with those tins. I never thought about this question, because I always thought that he'd sell those tins for money.

    The "tin man" answered, "I will give these tins to my neighbour. He is ill and he cannot work." I was so surprised to hear that, so I asked him, "You collect all those tins just to help your neighbour? I know this does not help much," he said. "But I will try my best to help him."

    At that time, I found myself standing in front of a great man. This "tin man" only wore a T shirt and an old red hat and carried a rubbish bag, but he was a great man.

    We shouldn't judge a man by his appearance(外表). We should look at his heart.

    In 1909 an English newspaper offered £ 1,000 to the first man to fly across the English Channel in an aeroplane. Today, modern jets cross it in minutes. But at that time it still seemed a good distance. The race to win the money soon became a race between two men. Both were very colourful.

    One was Louis Bleriot. He owned a factory in France that made motor car lamps. He was already well known as a pilot because he had had accidents several times. Some people laughed at him. One man said, "He may not be the first to fly across the Channel but he will certainly be the first to die in an accident!" But Bleriot was really a good and brave pilot. He also had many good ideas about aeroplane design.

    The other man was Hubert Latham. He was half French and half English. He took up flying when his doctors told him he had only a year to live. "Oh, well," he said, "if I'm going to die soon, I think I shall have a dangerous and interesting life now." Latham was the first to try the flight across the Channel. Ten kilometres from the French coast, his plane had some trouble. It fell down into the water and began to sink under the water. A boat reached Latham just in time. He was sitting calmly on the wing and was coolly lighting a cigarette. Bleriot took off six days later. He flew into some very bad weather and very low cloud. He somehow got to the English side and landed in a farmer's field. When he did so, a customs (海关) officer rushed up to his plane. Planes have changed since then, but customs officers have not. "Have you anything to say?" The officer asked.

    Perhaps the only test score that I remember is the 55 I got when I was in high school.

    The test was the last one of the term. I remember waiting nervously as my teacher Mr. Right gave out our papers one after another. It was a rather difficult test. I heard my classmates groaning(叹息),and I could guess by the groans that the scores were not looking good.

    Mr Right put my paper on my desk. There in big red numbers, circled to catch attention, was my score, 55! I let my head go down, and covered the score up quickly. A 55 is not something that you wanted your classmates to see. "The scores were not very good, none of you passed," Mr Right said. "The highest score in the class was a 55."

    A 55. That's me! Suddenly I didn't feel so bad. I had the highest score. I was getting a little better.

    I walked home alone that day with the low but high score. My mother knew that I had a big test that day and asked me as soon as I got home, "How did you do in your test? ""I got 55, "I said. A frown (皱眉) appeared on my mother's face I knew I had to explain at once. "But Mum, I had the highest score in the class," I said proudly. "You failed, Dave!" my mother replied. "But it's the highest!" I insisted (坚持). "I don't care what scores others had, you failed. The important thing is what you do!" my mother said in a strong way.

    For years, my mother was always in that way. She didn't care what others did, only cared what I did and that I did it excellently. My mother's words have made a big difference to my life.