Ever since I was a child，my mouth has caused me trouble．I'm not a bad person；I have just had a hard time learning when to keep my mouth closed．

My mom has told me again and again，"Robert，your constant bad words are hurting me．If you continue to be this rude，you will get into big trouble．"

    It's been a problem at school several times，too，when teachers have told me something I didn't want to hear．I used to feel it was my duty to stand up for myself and tell them ______ off．

    One day in English class I began working on my homework until I heard a classmate talking behind me．It was Nathaniel，talking to himself as usual．

I said ever so nicely，"Nathaniel，would you be quiet?"

Nathaniel continued talking to himself．I quickly shouted，"Nathaniel，shut up!"

    For the next five minutes，we threw hurtful words back and forth at each other．

"At least I don't have an ugly lazy eye like you!"I shouted．

    I knew this would bother him deep inside．It would hurt his feelings and shut him up．

What I said filled him with anger．He tried to reach over my seat and grab me as he shouted．"That's it! That's it!"

    Surprised at his reaction，I sat back in seat．Never had I seen Nathaniel act like this before．

Later on，we were taken to the principal's office．

There，the principal told US to discuss the matter．It wasn't until then that I finally found that when I hurt someone physically，the wounds(伤口)eventually heal．But when I hurt them with my words，sometimes the pain never goes away．

    At the end of the discussion，I said sorry to Nathaniel．

    When I headed back to my room，I spent some time praying． I began to think about how often what I said hurt others．But I believe that as I keep praying and asking God to help me，he'll tell me when to keep my mouth closed．

    Mr Smith was in trouble those days. He drove a car for Mr Black, a rich businessman. He worked hard and the shopkeeper liked him. But he couldn't work when he drank too much. And once he almost fell into the river when he drove along the bridge. Mr Black become angry and was going to send him away. He had a big family and was afraid of it and promised(许诺) he would stop drinking at once. The man told him to wait to be dealt with(处置).

    One Monday morning Mr Smith came into the office with two badly burnt(烧伤的) ears.

    "What happened to your ears?" asked Mr Black.

    "Well," said the man." I went to watch a football match yesterday while my wife was ironing(熨) clothes. She had put the iron(熨斗) near the telephone before she went to cook supper. Our team lost the game and I felt sorry for it. As soon as I went into the sitting-room, the phone rang and I answered the iron!"

    "And what happened to the other ear ?"

    "When I put the iron down on the table, the telephone rang again!"

    Alan comes from New York, and now he is having a great time visiting his aunt in China. Today is Sunday. It's his eleventh birthday. He gets up early and wants to make a cake for his birthday party in the afternoon.

    When he comes out of his bedroom, he sees a big bowl of noodles on the table. It's a bowl of tomato and egg noodles. Alan usually has bread and milk for breakfast in America. Alan likes the tomato and egg noodles, but he still wants to know why his aunt cooks noodles this morning

    "It's your birthday today," his aunt says, *in China, many people eat very long noodles on their birthdays. It's a symbol of long life. We never cut up the noodles, and we call the long noodles changshou noodles.”

    "Thanks. I think it's my first special gift I get for my birthday," says Alan.

    Look at the boy. His English name is Frank Smith. His Chinese name is Wang Lei. He is from England. He is 12. My name is Li Dong. David is my English name. I am from Qingdao, Shandong Frank and I are in grade seven. But I am in class Four and he is in Class Five. We are good friends. He often helps me with my English.

    These are our schoolbags. They are black. You can see two pens, a ruler and four books in Frank's school bag. In my schoolbag, there are three pens, two rulers and five books