At the age of 16，Julia left school and worked at a restaurant. For many years, she was only interested in making money. Then one day she had a serious car accident which changed her life.“I had a terrible car accident in August 1996.It took me 10 months to recover （康复) from the accident. During that time，I realized I wanted to find a more meaningful reason for being here in this world，”said Julia.

    As soon as she recovered，Julia gave up working at the restaurant and traveled to California. One day she found a big company wanted to cut down part of a forest. In the forest there were lots of redwood trees. One of the trees was more than 1,000 years old.

Then Julia learned a group called Our Earth was trying to save the redwood forest from the company. They decided to find someone to live in a redwood tree and hoped this would stop the company from cutting the trees down. Julia volunteered.

    Julia lived in the tree for over two years without ever going down. It was cold and wet in a redwood tree. There were even very serious winter storms while Julia was in the tree.

Finally the company decided to protect the tree Julia lived in. They agreed never to cut down the big redwood tree or the trees around it. When Julia put her feet on the earth，she began to cry. But she continued to do other things to protect the environment.

B

    I have a twin brother, Bob. He is taller than me. His hair is shorter than mine. Many people think we must have many things in common. But in fact this is not true. Bob is more outgoing than me. When my parents' friends come to our house, Bob often sits there and talks to them. But I often sit there and say nothing. Bob likes reading, cooking and drawing. I just like swimming and playing basketball. He has more hobbies than me, but he is not as athletic(擅长运动的) as me. Because Bob does better than me at school, my mom often says to me, “Bob is younger than you, but he can get better grades, you should learn from him.” We both like eating fast food and listening to music.

    I teach economics in a university three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. He had his wisdom teeth removed. Then he went on to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful.

    His question reminded me of something I'd read somewhere before: Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to live that day. I said, "I choose to be cheerful."

    "Let me give you an example," I continued. "Besides teaching here, I also teach at a college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day a few weeks ago I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died. I tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn't work. So I put my flashes on, took my books, and walked down the road to the college. When I got there, I called AAA(汽车协会) and asked for a tow truck to meet at my car after class. The secretary there asked me what had happened. "This is my lucky day," I replied, smiling.

    "Your car breaks down and toady is your lucky day? What do you mean?"

    "My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. I didn't," I replied. "Instead, it broken down at the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I'm still able to teach my class, and I've been able to ask for the tow truck to meet me after class! If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't have been arranged in a more convenient way."

    I ended my story. In spite of the early hour, no one in my class seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them.

Dear Helen,

I had a great time in Hong Kong. I spent five days there. Let me tell you what I did. Today I went shopping with my aunt but I didn't buy anything. The things were too expensive.

Yesterday I took a boat trip around the famous Victoria Harbor(维多利亚港). I took lots of photos.

The day before yesterday I went to the zoo. I saw some monkeys there. Oh, I also bought some gifts there. On Thursday I went to the bird market. I saw many kinds of birds from all around the world. On Wednesday my aunt took me to the beach. We lay on the beach and enjoyed the sun. On the beach I met my friend. We played happily on the beach. What about your trip? I hope you have a great time in Toronto.

Yours,

Zhao Pei

My pen friend, Li Hao, comes from Taiwan—one of the biggest {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (岛屿) in China. His parents are scientists and they work in a{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(研究) centre. They are working hard to help all the animals in{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (危险). He is also{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (感兴趣的) in helping the animals live in peace. Last weekend, he wrote a letter to me. He told me that most of his classmates wanted to help. So they decided to {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(筹钱) money in their school. They{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(提出，提议) to put on a play {#blank#}7{#/blank#}（叫做）Teahouse, which tells the changes in Chinese {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (社会) in the first half of the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (第二十) century. At the end of the performance, they were very{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (开心的，满足的) because they could help the animals. What exciting news it was!