My family took a trip to Qingdao last summer vacation. We had great fun there.

    We went to Qingdao by fast train. It was about 11:00 am when we got to the train station. First, we took a taxi to the hotel. After a short rest, we had lunch in the restaurant near the hotel. We ate some fish dumplings there. They were really delicious and they weren't expensive. We enjoyed the meal very much. In the afternoon, it was sunny and hot. So we went to the beach(沙滩). There were quite a lot of people there. My father and I swam in the sea. It was really cool. My mother lay(躺) on the beach and enjoyed the sunshine. She said it was relaxing. Well, the best thing was that I made two new friends on the beach. They were from Canada. That made me feel happy. They said they would write e-mails to me later.

    Qingdao is really a good place to relax. I want to visit it again next year.

    For most of us, when we were 12 years old, schoolwork and video games may well be our only memories of those days. If we remember guns being pointed at our heads, we think that we must be remembering video games or movies.

    Unluckily, at age 12, that was Malala Yousafzai's real life.

    Malala lived a quiet life in Pakistan until 2009, when the Taliban, an Islamic organization of violence(暴力) took control of her village. They forbade girls to go to school as groups. They believe that educating girls is against Islam. But Malala didn't agree. She wrote on the BBC site, "We want all girls to get their schools back."

     However, her actions put her in danger. On Oct 9, 2012, when Malala was taking a bus a man from the Taliban holding a gun shot her in the head. Luckily, the shot didn't kill her. She was taken to a hospital in the UK, and she gradually recovered.

     The shot didn't kill her courage to carry on, either. She set up the Malala Fund, which helped put 40 girls from her former home province in Pakistan into schools.

     Malala has become an international symbol of inspiration and bravery, commented BBC News. Her survival has instilled(渗透) educators with courage and is slowly helping make Pakistani schools safer.

    Malala said in her speech, "The terrorists(恐怖分子) thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions. But nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage were born."

    On Oct 10, the European Union awarded Malala its top human rights prize. She was considered an icon (符号) of courage for all teenagers who dared to follow their aspirations .

    Baloo the bear, Leo the Lion and Shere Khan the tiger have the most unusual and unlikely friendship between them. They were saved eight years ago, when they were cubs only two months old.

    They were first sent to a rescue（救护）center, where they were raised together. Now they are in an American zoo. Because they came here as a kind of family, the zoo built a large clubhouse so that they could all sleep in it.

    Now they have grown up. You can see them playing around like brothers. The three big animals seem to no sense(意识) of their animal differences.

    Baloo and Shere Khan are very close. That is because they rise early, as Leo being a lion likes to spend most the day sleeping. When Leo wakes up the three of them mess around for most of the day before they settle down to some food. It is wonderful to see a giant American Black Bear put his arm around a Bengal tiger and then to see the tiger touch the bear with his nose lightly like a pet cat. You can often see they lie on top of each other for heat and for love.

    “They are not wild animals any more. But you must remember who you are dealing with when you are with them,” said one of the zoo keepers.

    It is sunny and warm today. A dog is sleeping.

    A panda comes to the dog and says, “You are a lazy dog. You don't do anything every day.”

    “What do I need to do?” asks the dog.

    “My owner(主人) gives me food to eat. My owner takes me out for a walk. My owner loves me. Ha! I eat, I go out for a walk and I sleep. I don't have any other things to do.”

    “But don't you have any ambitions(抱负)?” asks the panda.

    “Ambitions? What do I need ambitions to do? I'm just a dog,” says the dog.

    “What ambitions do you have?”

    “I often go to other countries and make friends with people there. So I can show the world that Chinese are friendly,” answers the panda.

    “Oh,” says the dog, “maybe I should do something for others.”

    Mr. and Mrs. Smith live in a quiet village. Last weekend, they went to a busy city for vacation. Mrs. Smith was very excited, because she was a housewife.

    She stayed at home every day. It was boring.

    After they got to the city, they would like to go to the movies first and then have lunch at a restaurant. At night, they would stay at a five-star hotel.

    "Wow! The plan is so great. I like it!" Mrs. Smith said. Then they went to the movies. After seeing an exciting action movie, it was time for dinner. They went into a restaurant and had a lot of delicious food there.

    "It is a nice place!" said Mr. Smith. Then he put his hands into his pocket to get the wallet. But he found it was missing.

    That night, everything changed. They didn't spend a romantic time at the hotel. Instead, they had to go to the police station for help.