When was the last time you saw three men running down a forest trail（小径）in the rain wearing flip-flops（拖鞋）？That's what my friend Brandon, Josh and I were doing last autumn. We were looking for a waterfall（瀑布）.We didn't have much time to get to the waterfall and back, so we were running. We were wearing flip-flops to prevent our shoes getting dirty.

    It was raining, but lightly. It kept us cool as we climbed over giant stones and through a shallow（浅的）stream. We followed red arrows（箭头）and crossed that stream several times, walking on toward the promised waterfall. Time was not on our side, however, and we were forced to turn around. As we started back, we looked at the shallow stream we had just crossed. Where did this rushing river come from? That was when we realized a flash flood was around!

    In the few minutes the water rose at a fast speed. Now there were no big stones to be seen-only what looked like lumps（隆起）covered with rushing water. We had no choice but to move our way back carefully in the rushing water -in flip-flops. We had crossed the stream not once or twice, but six times in search of a waterfall that we never even reached!

    With most of the crossings, we needed each other's help if we didn't want to be washed away by water. Wet all over, we felt relaxed after we made the last crossing.

    "My dad always told me to keep off a river when travelling in the rain." Josh said as we hurried back down the path.

    "Why didn't you tell us that earlier?" I laughed.

    "Would it have made a difference?" came the reply.

    He had a point.

    A couple had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were very naughty. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that, if any mischief(恶作剧) happened in their town, their sons were probably considered.

    The boys' mother heard that a clergyman(牧师) in town had been successful in dealing with naughty children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed, but wanted to see them separately. So the mother sent her 8-year-old first in the morning, with the elder boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.

    The clergyman, a huge man, sat the younger boy down and asked him seriously, “Where is God?”

    The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no reply, sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide-eyed. So the clergyman repeated the question in an even more serious voice. “Where's God!!?” again the boy made no try to answer. So the clergyman raised his voice even louder and shook his finger in the boy's face and shouted, “WHERE IS GOD?”

    The boy screamed and ran away from the room, ran directly home and hid himself in the cupboard, closing the door heavily. When his elder brother found him in the cupboard, he asked, “What happened?”

    The younger brother replied in a nervous voice, “We are in big trouble this time. God is missing—and they think WE did it!”

    Dereck and Beverly are wildlife animal filmmakers(电影制片人). They have made lots of films about animals and plants.

    Their job is to keep and protect the big cats of Africa from damage(伤害). Beverly also takes photos of the lions and her pictures have appeared in National Geographic magazines.

    When they were kids, Dereck was quiet and healthy, he was good at math and science. Beverly had a twin brother. At that time, her brother and she often got their mother into trouble! Beverly was a dancer, an athlete, played the piano (not very well), and was a class leader. Her favourite subject was science and she always got excellent grades in her science exams.

    When in the field, their work starts at around 4 am. After drinking a cup of tea, they drive out into a bush(灌木丛)to find their subjects. Sometimes that is a lion pride(群). Lions are family animals, they usually live in groups of 15 or more. Sometimes that is a single leopard(花豹). They follow the animals for the day, filming, researching, and collecting facts, information or pictures. They don't stop working even when they have lunch. They are often back in camp by 8 pm.

    When talking about the favourite places to explore, Dereck says, “We live in it!” Beverly thinks being in nature is her favourite. Dereck thinks running or taking a swim in the Okavango swamp(沼泽)—especially swimming close to crocodile(鳄鱼)is great fun, but Beverly says, "Swimming is fun but crazy in these waters."

Why do you open a school? If you ask Nadia Lopez this question, she would simply answer: to close a prison. Lopez is the founder of Mott Hall Bridges Academy, a public school in Brooklyn. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

To set up the school, Lopez faced many challenges. The greatest challenge was to get in touch with children without hope. At first, Lopez only had 45 kids. She once asked some girls, "{#blank#}2{#/blank#}" The answer was, "I don't know if I'm going to live that long." or "I have a lifelong goal of working in a fast-food restaurant nearby." These students had no idea that there were great chances outsider their neighborhood.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} And they have tried their best to keep their students active an hopeful. "We call our students students 'scholars（学者）' because they are lifelong learners. I chose the colors purple and black to remind students that they are excellent. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} They can be future engineers, scientists and even leaders who can and will take over this world," Lopez said.

A popular New York blogger heard about the school and wrote a post about it, telling people how the children struggled（挣扎）, and why people must make education the most important thing. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} About 1.4 million dollars were raised for the school and its students got to take field trips to colleges and universities.

"Up to now, we have had three graduating classes（毕业班）. They have nearly 200 children," said Lopez.
 

I found it hard to communicate with my mother. Relations between us became difficult. 

One day I ran away from home and stayed outside for a few hours. When I returned home at night, I saw all the pain, anger and disappointment on my mother's face. We knew that we were in great need of talk. We agreed to havebreakfast together the next morning. In the end, we decided to go to a restaurant.

On our way to the restaurant, I noticed my mother had two notebooks in her hands. I asked her what they were used for. She explained to me that sometimes it was easier to write our own feelings than talking about them. We should write down our feelings.

Our first topic was"Why am I so angry?" I wrote a half page, and my mom filled up nearly three pages. I saw the tears run down her face while she was writing. I never realized anyone could hide so much anger. After we finished writing, we exchanged our notebooks. As soon as I started reading my mother's words. I began to cry and so did she. When we finished reading, we discussed our feelings. Finally, it felt like all the anger inside me went away from my body. Our talk helped me realize so many things I had never thought of before, not only about my mother but also about other people.

My mother and I continue using our notebooks as a way of communicating. We know that no matter how we feel about each other, our notebooks are a safe place to express our feelings. We have come to an agreement that we write"I love you" at the end of each other.