Both of Omar's parents liked writing poetry. His father taught poetry in a college. Although his mother worked at a bank, she wrote poetry when she was free. His parents spent one evening each week on poetry readings. Most readings were at a small coffee shop.

    Omar loved going to the coffee shop with his parents. The nice smell of coffee and the beautiful voice of reading blew him away. One woman came to the coffee shop every week. People called her Mrs Abboud. She never read, but she always had a bright smile for everyone, and she would clap(鼓掌) loudly after each reading.

    Later, Omar began writing his own poetry. He did quite well. Mrs Francis, Omar's English teacher, advised him to go to a poetry competition. At first Omar was excited. However, when he read the competition rules, he became worried. The competition was an oral (口头的) reading. Omar was sure that he could write good poetry, but he was afraid of reading in front of others. "We'll be very happy to see you in the competition," his father said. And Omar knew that he had to go through with it somehow.

    On the day of the competition, he chose his favourite poem and put on his best clothes. When it was his turn, something wonderful happened! Mrs Abboud was sitting next to his parents. He saw her warm smile. He could almost smell the coffee at the small coffee shop. Now it was easy for him to read. When Omar finished, everyone clapped loudly. Omar felt great joy in his heart.

    Peter lived in a village. He was sad recently because he thought that he had nothing left. One day, Peter went to ask a wise man for help. He said to the wise man, "I have nothing left, so I don't want to live." The wise man smiled sympathetically(同情地).

    The wise man took out a piece of paper and drew a straight line down the middle. He explained that he would write down the things Peter had lost on the left side and the things Peter still had on the right side.

    The wise man asked, "When did your family leave you?"

    "What do you mean? They haven't left me. They love me!"

    "That's great!" said the wise man. "Then that will be the first thing on the right side -Family haven't left. Now, do you have freedom(自由)?"

    "That's a silly question. Of course I do!"

    "Good! That's the second one on the right side-You have freedom!" said the wise man, writing it down.

    After Peter was asked some more questions in the same way, he finally understood and smiled. "Things will change when you think of them in a different way!" he said.

    As a matter of fact, change your attitude and you will change your world. It's necessary to have a positive(积极的)attitude to life.

    Once there was a boy who was afraid of the dark. He thought that when it was dark his bedroom was full of monsters. But there came a time when he was too old to be allowed to keep sleeping with the light on.

    The first night he was so frightened that he couldn't fall asleep because he kept thinking about the monsters in his room. So he got up and went over to his wardrobe to get a torch. But when he opened the wardrobe door he came face to face with a monster, and he let out the loudest scream(尖叫)in the world.

    However, the monster didn't jump out to eat him as the boy had always imagined. To the boy's surprise, the monster took a few steps backward, grabbed(抓挠)its hair and started crying！The monster cried for so long that the boy's shock and fear slowly went away. He calmed the monster down as much as he could, and started talking to him, asking him why he was crying and what he was doing there.

    The monster told him he lived in the wardrobe, but almost never went out, because he was afraid of the boy. When the boy asked him why, the monster told him the boy's face with two eyes, ears and a nose seemed to him the strangest thing he'd ever seen. The boy felt exactly the same way about the monster who had a huge head with many mouths and a lot of hair.

    The two of them talked so much that they became quite friendly, and they realized that both of them had bee afraid of the same thing:t he unknown. To lose their fear, they had to get to know each other.

A doctor, a lawyer（律师）, a little boy and an old man were out for a Sunday afternoon flight on a small plane. Suddenly, the plane had engine（发动机） trouble. At last, the pilot took a parachute（降落伞） and shouted to the four people that they had better jump, and then he himself jumped out. Unluckily, there were only three parachutes left.

The doctor took one and said, "I'm a doctor. I save lives, so I must live." Then he jumped out. The lawyer then said, "I'm a lawyer, and lawyers are smart people in the world. I must live." He also took a parachute and jumped out.

The old man looked at the little boy and said, "My boy, I live a long and full life. You are still young. Take the last parachute and live in peace." The little boy handed the parachute back to the old man and said, "Don't worry, grandpa. The smart man in the world just jumped out with my schoolbag."

Friends are a part of our lives. In my life，I have a best friend named Lucy. She means a lot to me. My life would be less colorful without her. Although we sometimes argue，we still treat each other as best friends. 

We met each other four years ago. She said hello to me with a sweet smile. I guessed that she was a gentle girl. And she really was. When I was in trouble，she always stood by me and made me feel better. 

This winter holiday，we went to the amusement park Happy Valley together. We had fun together on the roller coaster （过山车）. We held each other's hands and shouted loudly when we were riding the roller coaster. It was so exciting. The ride made me feel a little sick, so she bought a bottle of water for me. This experience left me with a lot of good memories（回忆） and made our friendship stronger.

There is a line in the movie Soulmate that says， "If you step on someone's shadow，you will never leave each other. " So I will try my best to "step on her shadow". Many adults think that children can't be friends forever. But I don't believe this. 

Maybe we won't always spend all of our time together. But I will enjoy the time I spend with her and the good memories she has given me.