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    TheSoundofMusic is one of the most popular American movies. And the song DoReMi in the movie is also popular in the world.

The movie tells a story about a tutor, Maria. She is a young and outgoing woman. She goes to look after a family with seven children. Their family name is Von Trapp. Mr. Von Trapp is a captain. He and his family live in Austria.

    The family are very sad after the children's mother, Mrs. Von Trapp, died. Nobody takes care of the children. They cry and shout every day. The lonely father often becomes angry because of the noisy children.

    Maria often teaches them to sing lively songs and perform short, funny plays. At first the father is almost mad, but the children's smiling faces make him happy again. Then Mr. Von Trapp falls in love with Maria. At last they get married.

    For all his life，my grandfather has lived in the Valley of Koi．A rushing river and the Eagle Mountain divide the valley into two．They keep the villagers safe from wolves．The soil is so rich that our crops seem to grow well by themselves，and even the precious （珍贵的） fire flowers can be found here．

    Although life in the valley was good，my grandfather still worried about his people．The mountain and river kept danger out，but they also kept us far away from the world．"We must find a way to reach out to other villages，"Grandfather said，"to trade，exchange stories and make friends．If we do not，Koi will one day disappear．"

    One day，grandfather saw a spider （蜘蛛） in his garden．He bent down to look more closely and saw it building a web between two grasses．Suddenly，Grandfather knew what the people of Koi must do．

    Many villagers were skeptical ． "It comes easily to the spider，but it is so difficult for humans，"they didn't believe it possible．"We cannot fly through the air like a spider．And what would happen if strangers learned where the fire flowers grew？"

    "If I were a fire flower，I would rather be picked from the earth and loved than left alone and unseen，"Grandfather said．Some of the villagers agreed．After that，the strongest men and women of Koi began to work．Finally，the bridge was finished!My grandfather was the first Koi villager ever to stand on the far bank of the river．When he reached the other side，a stranger came to greet him friendly with a precious ice flower as a gift to share with us．

    Our village is still small and quiet，but we are no longer shut away from the world．Next spring，I'm going to walk through the mountain to enjoy the ice flowers，I would also like to meet more strangers from other places and share them fire flowers of Koi．

    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.

    Jim, a young farmer, was once put into prison (监狱).

    One day, he got a letter from his mother. "I'm so worried about our farm," she wrote. "It's time to plant potatoes. I can't dig(挖) all the fields by myself. "

    Jim read the letter and became sad. "What can I do?" he thought. Then he had a good idea. He wrote to his mother, "Don't dig the fields. There's a pot of money in the earth. Don't plant potatoes until I come home."

    Some days later, Jim got another letter from his mother. It said, "Two days ago, about ten men came to our farm and dug all our fields. I can't understand it. It looks as if they were looking for something. What shall I do?"

    Jim smiled when he read his mother's letter. He wrote a letter to his mother at once. It was very short. Guess what it would say?

    Brenda Bongos was a happy, talented girl. She had one big dream-to play the drums in a band. But one big problem lay in her way. To be good enough to play in a band, Brenda had to practice a lot, but she lived next-door to a lot of old people. Many of them are sick. She knew that the sound of beating drums would really get them nervous. So, she had tried playing in the strangest places: a basement, a kitchen, and even in a shower. But there was always someone who would get mad.

    One day, while watching a science documentary on TV, she heard that sound cannot travel in space, because there's no air. At that moment, Brenda Bongos decided to become a musical astronaut.

With the help of a lot of time, books and work, Brenda built a space bubble (透明圆形罩). This was a big glass ball connected to a machine which sucked out (抽出) all the air inside. All that would be left inside was a drum kit (成套设备) and a chair. Brenda got into the space suit she had made, entered the bubble，turned on the machine, and played those drums like a wild child.

    It wasn't long before Brenda Bongos became very famous. Many people came to see her play in her space bubble. Shortly afterwards she came out of the bubble and started giving concerts. Her fame spread so much that the government suggested that she be part of a special space journey. Finally,           , and it was far beyond (超越) her first dream of playing drums in a band.

    Years later, when asked how she had achieved all her dreams, she thought for a moment, and said," If those old people next-door hadn't mattered so much to me, I wouldn't have found a solution, and none of this would have ever happened."