I will never forget the tenth summer of childhood with my grandfather in western Norway at the mountain farm where my mother was born. As a boy ,I always thought people simply bought whatever they need. Whether Grandfather knew this, I don't know. One day he said, ”Come, I have something for you.”

I followed him to a workroom. “You should have a toy boat. You can sail it at Storvassdal.” He said. Great, I thought,looking around for the boat. But there was none.

Grandfather pointed to a block of wood. “The boat is in there,” he said. Then he handed me some tools and showed me how to use them properly. “It'll be a fine boat,and you'll make it with your own hands,” he said,”No one can give you what you do for yourself.”The words rang in my head as I worked. Finished the boat. It wasn't much to look at ,but I was poud. Then I sailed it at Storvassdal.

We had to return to America. “You cannot bring that boat home with you,” my mother said. We already had too much baggage. Feeling sad, I hid my boat under a big rock at Storvassdal.

I said good-bye to Grandfather, not knowing I would never see him again.

In 1964, I went to Storvassdal with my parents and my wife and children. To my surprise,for 34 years my treasure stayed here,waiting for my return. I felt we three were togethet again although my grandfather had died 22 years before.

I carved "1930”and "1964”on its side and put it back.

I returned to the lake in 1968,1971,1977 and 1988. Each time I had the boat and carved the year,my grandfather seemed near.

My last trip to Storvassdal was in 1991. I brought my granddaughters: Catherine,13; Claire,12. I hoped they would understand the importance of the little boat and its simple message. At Storvassdal, Claire said softly, ‘Grandpa,someday I'll come back.' She added,”And I'll bring my children.”

    Monty was a high school boy from a poor family. One day his teacher asked the students to write a paper about what they wanted to be when they 1 .That night Monty wrote a seven-page paper describing his dream 2 having a horse ranch (马场).

    Two days later he got his paper back. There was an "E" on it. After class，the boy went to the teacher's office and asked, 3did I get an 'E'?" The teacher said, "This dream is too unrealistic (不切实际的), 4 you need lots of money to buy land (土地), pay for horses and many other things. But you have no 5 . There is no way you can ever do it. Write another paper and I will give you another grade."

    That day Monty 6 a lot about it. Then he had a talk with his father. After listening to the boy's 7 his father said, "Dear son, it's your decision. You have to make up your mind about it, as it's important for you."

    After a week Monty handed in the 8 paper. He just wrote one more sentence at the end of it: You can keep the "E" and I will keep my 9 .

    Years later, the teacher went on a school trip with 30 kids to camp on a big horse ranch. One  evening she met the owner (主人) of the horse ranch. She got a big 10 because the owner was Monty the boy who got an "E" for the paper about his dream.

    Mr. Evens works in Sydney. Last week he had a two--week holiday, but he didn't know where to go. He said to his friend Robert, "I hate the hot weather here, but I can't find a cool place in Australia. How will I spend my holiday?"

    "That's easy," said Robert. "You'd better go to Moscow. Snow and ice are covering the ground now."

Mr. Evens agreed with his friend. He bought an air ticket and soon arrived in Moscow. He made a happy journey there. But one day, he got into trouble. After lunch he w ent to a park outside the city. He saw a dog following him while he was walking past a house. It was hungry and wished him to give it some food to eat. Bad luck! He had no piece of bread or cake in his pockets. He tried to send it away, but it began to bark at him. He wanted to look for a stick but couldn't find anything except snow and ice. Suddenly he saw a stone in the ground. He tried to pick it up but he failed.

    "How strange Russians are!" Mr. Evens said to himself. "They do not tie their dogs, but firmly (牢牢地) tie the ground!"

    As a child, Alain Robert was afraid of heights. One day, when he was 12, he returned home from school. He didn't find his keys. It was 3:30pm and his parents worked until 6：00 pm. Alain looked at his apartment on the eighth floor. He saw an open window. He closed his eyes and imagined himself climbing the building. When he opened his eyes, he told himself, "I can do it." Fifteen minutes later, he was in his house and his fear of heights was gone.

    Today, Alain still climbs buildings. In 2003, he climbed a building in London dressed as Spiderman (蜘蛛人) to advertise the movie. In 2004, he climbed Taipei 101 (one of the tallest buildings in the world). To reach the top of a building, Alain uses only his hands and special shoes.

    Alain climbs as a hobby. He also does it to make money for charity (for poor children and the homeless). When he climbs, he wants to send a message to people. If you have a dream, you must be brave and keep trying. If something bad happens, don't give up. Close your eyes and tell yourself, "I can do it."

    The cartoon series Boonie Bears is popular with children in China. Logger Vick, a logging(伐木) team worker, came to the beautiful Heilongjiang forest to harvest logs with Boss Li's trust. But there were two hidden terrible rivals(对手) in the forest-the owner of the forest, bear brothers-Briar and Bramble!

    Seeing the forest being destroyed, bear brothers decided to fight with Logger Vick to protect the forest. Briar was so clever that he could beat Logger Vick easily. Bramble was not as clever as his brother but sometimes could also defeat Logger Vick with his brute force(蛮力) . But the cunning(狡猾的) head wouldn't leave so easily. The home defense lasted a long time and Logger Vick tried various ways to defeat bear brothers and cut down logs, but every time he failed. Finally Logger Vick lost Boss Li's trust and gained nothing. As the saying goes, "Doing good will be repaid and doing evil will be punished."

    The cartoon story shows us an active topic in laughter. The two bears facing the failure always feel hopeful. It tells us to protect forests, protect the environment and protect ecological balance in our everyday life.