Many years ago， there lived a very rich man who wanted to do something good for the people of his town. But first he wanted to find out if they deserved(值得)his help. So he put a very large stone in the middle of the main road into the town. Then he stood behind a tree waiting and watching.

Soon an old man came along with his cow. “Who put this stone in the center of the road?” said the old man， but he didn't try to move the stone away. He passed around the stone with some difficulties and continued on his way. Another man came along and did the same thing；then another came and another. All of them complained about the stone in the center of the road but nobody tried to move it.

Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone and said, “It will be dark at night. Some people will come along later in the dark and will fall over the stone and get hurt.” The young man then began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled and tried everything he could to move it out of the road. But to his surprise， under the stone he found a bag full of money and this message, “This money is for the person who moves this stone from the road. The person deserves help.”

Yours

Jack

    The volunteers who brought the nine-year-old girl to the orphanage(孤儿院) knew little about her. They found her in the street which had been her home for many years. Her parents were unknown. They had left her long ago.

    At the orphanage, the girl was taught to read and write. There she also learned to be independent(独立). At twenty-one, she left the orphanage and began work as a secretary.

    And then, in 1975, she entered the Miss Hong Kong competition -- and won it. This was the turning point in her life. Now Mary Cheung was very popular in Hong Kong.

    Mary entered the competition because she was full of ambitions（抱负） and she wanted to show that orphanage girls could be something. Winning the competition gave her the chance to start a new life. This led her first into television and then to a business manager. When she was working as a manager, she had trouble with her reports. “My English just wasn't good enough.” she said. Fortunately, her husband helped her.

    Mary studied management at Hong Kong Polytechnic and graduated in 1980. She started her own company in 1995. But she was still working hard to develop herself. She then studied for a Fine Arts degree at the University of Hong Kong. Her ambition was to teach arts in Hong Kong. Since 1987, she has spent a lot of her time on photography. She has held several exhibitions of her work in many places, including China, New Zealand and Paris. She still found time, however, to work on TV and for charity, to write for newspapers and bring up her family.

    The girl from street has come a long way, but her journey is not finished yet.

Dear Li Na,

    I'm really glad to receive your e-mail. You said you were learning to cook. Is it interesting? I think if you want to keep healthy, food is very important. You'll be better if you try all kinds of food, especially（特别是） vegetables and fruit. I eat them every day.

    You asked me how to make a milk shake. There are different kinds of milk shakes, such as apple milk shake, banana milk shake, carrot milk shake and watermelon milk shake. Apple milk shake is my favorite, because apples and milk are both good for our health. Before starting, we need an apple, a cup of milk, some ice-cream and two spoons of honey. Of course, you need a blender.

    Now, let's start. First, peel an apple and cut it up. Next, put the apple, the milk, some ice-cream and two spoons of honey into the blender. Then turn on the blender. Keep it going for only one minute. Finally, pour the apple milk shake into a glass and drink it. It's delicious!

    I want to learn how to make some Chinese food, such as dumplings, noodles and zongzi. Could you teach me?

    Write soon!

Yours,

Maria

    Xie Wanying (October 5, 1900-Febrary 28.1999), better known by her pen name Bing Xin, was one of the most well-known Chinese writers of the 20^th century. Many of her works were written for young readers. Her pen name Bing Xin carries the meaning of a pure heart, and is taken from a line in a Tang Dynasty poem by Wang Changling.

    Bing Xin was born in Fuzhou, Fujian, but moved to Shanghai with her family when she was seven months old, and later moved yet again to the coastal port city of Yantai, Shandong, when she was four. Such a move had a key influence on Bing Xin's personality and philosophy (哲学) of love and beauty, as the hugeness and beauty of the sea greatly opened young Bing Xin's mind and heart. It was also in Yantai, Bing Xin first began to read the classics of Chinese literature, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, when she was just seven.

    In 1913, Bing Xin moved to Beijing. She started her writing career as she wrote for a school newspaper at Yanjing University where she was a student and published her first novel. Bing Xin graduated from Yanjing University in 1923 with a bachelor's degree, and went to the United States to study at Wellesley College, earning a master's degree at Wellesley in literature in 1926. She then returned to Yanjing University to teach until 1936.

    In 1929, she married Wu Wenzao, her good friend when they were studying in the United States. In literature, Bing Xin founded the "Bing Xin Style" as a new literary style. She contributed a lot to children's literature in China such as A Myriad of Stars (1923), Spring Water (1923), Six-one sister (1924), To Young Readers (1926), Homeward South (1931), The Collected Works of Bing Xin (1932-1933). Bing Xin's literary career was productive. She wrote a lot of works — prose, poetry, novels, reflections and so on. There is a Bing Xin Literature Museum in Changle in Fujian Province. The Bing Xin Children's Literature Award is named in her honour.