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    Betty and I are best friends. Our birthdays are on the same day, so every year we have a birthday party together. But this year we had a costume party instead.

    While we were writing the invitations, my mom came in and asked, "Nancy, what about inviting John?" John had been in our class for only a few months, but he was already getting better grades in math than anyone else in our class. "Mom, he wears the same pants to school every day. How could he even afford a costume?" Mom said nothing.

    The next day, mom gave me an envelope(信封) with a shopping card in it. "I thought it would be nice for you to give this to John," Mom said. But how? We didn't want to make John embarrassed. We discussed it for a long time. Finally, Betty and I had a good idea.

    On the day of our party, John arrived, in an old sheet(床单), but still in the same brown pants as usual. Before eating the birthday cake, Betty said in a loud voice, "Now it's time for the great prize game." It was a math game. None of us were surprised when John gave the right answer first and walked off with the envelope.

    Everything went well as we planned. John wore a new pair of pants and a new shirt the next week. He felt happy. So did we.

Michael Jackson is one of the world's best singers. Michael Jackson was born in the middle west of the city of Gary, Indiana, in 1958. He began singing with his four brothers. They called the group “The Jackson Five”. The group became very popular after appearing on a television program. They started singing in 1965, and became popular soon. In 1970 the group made their first record with the name of “I Want You Back”. It was very popular. One of their hit records was “Never Say Goodbye”.

Michael was good at dancing as well as singing, for example, his dance moves and moon walking. He was asked to act in a film in 1978 for the first time, and in the same year he made a record on his own, which sold eight million copies all over the world.

    Michael nearly didn't go out because he was too famous. Once his fans went off in a faint(晕倒) when they saw him at the concert. No one can do it by now. He lived in a large house and kept lots of animals. He never ate meat. He often raised money for charity. This made him win the Guinness World Records(吉尼斯世界记录) in 2006. He died on June 25^th, 2009, but he would live in our heart forever.

    This term(学期) we have a new teacher of English. His name is Mr. Peterson. He is American. He is not very tall and he is thin. He has a round face and small blue eyes. He wears glasses and they make him look smart. He has dark brown hair.

    Mr. Peterson works very hard. In class, he has many good ideas to make the class very interesting. We all like his class. After class, he always encourages us to speak more English. Sometimes, he plays games with us. He is very strong and he can play basketball and football very well. He is good at sports. Sometimes he plays table tennis with us, but he doesn't play it very well.

    Mr. Peterson loves living in China very much. He enjoys lots of things in China. He really loves eating Chinese food. He loves traveling in China too. He is going to visit Xi'an next month.

    Several months ago, my husband and I were on an island for a long weekend with our five-year-old twin daughters. As we went back and talked about what to do next, our girls jumped in and told us exactly what they wanted to do. "We want to go to the butterfly museum," said Emily and Hanna.

    As soon as we walked into the main area of the museum, we saw thousands of beautiful butterflies. They all flapped (拍打) their colourful wings.

    My girls were jumping up and down, and I knew it was right for us to take them to the museum. They were having so much fun.

    I turned to our museum tour guide because I was curious (好奇的) and asked, "How long do butterflies live?"

    She said, "About ten days."

    "What can butterflies do in ten days?" I asked.

    The guide stopped, looked at me, and said, "They make the world a more beautiful place."

    "Wow," I said, "I never thought about butterflies like that. Thank you."

    After we said goodbye, I couldn't stop thinking about what the guide had said. She was right. We all have something to give the world with the time we have. When we put our gifts on taking care of each other every day, we can make a difference.

    Appreciate (欣赏) the impact (影响) you can have on your family, friends, co-workers and neighbours. Like a butterfly, you have your own way of making the world more beautiful for everyone.