Earl was looking at the wall outside the pub（酒馆）. The pub's name, The Old Swan, was on the wall. Next to the name was a wooden ship's wheel and in the middle of the wheel was the name of a ship, HMS Swan. The wheel was old, Earl could tell.

   The next morning, Earl asked to see Tony Thatcher. The Old Swan was Tony's pub. He took Earl to his office while Candy had a coffee outside by the river. Earl said he could give Tony a lot of money for the ship's wheel. He told Tony that Benjamin Cooper, his grandfather, went to America on the ship HMS Swan. But Tony said no at first. After all, the wheel was very old and it was part of the pub's past.

    "You can think of the past, Mr. Thatcher - can I call you Tony? - or you can think of today. And with the money, Tony, you can buy a good car. Maybe a new Jaguar? And, as I've told you, the wheel is part of my family's past too. So you could say it's going back home, in a way. So, what do you say?"

   A month later, Earl and Candy were smiling as they looked at the wall of their house in Houston, Texas. Earl thought to himself that, at last, he had a piece of his family's past. He was happy.

    In Portsmouth, Tony Thatcher was happy, too. He was putting his new Jaguar into his large garage（车库）. He was careful not to drive into any of the six ship's wheels in the garage. A friend of his made the wheels for him. They were just like the one that Earl bought. And there was another wheel on the outside wall of The Old Swan now. Old or new - Tony thought there was no way that a tourist could ever know which was which. Never in a hundred years.

    Mike works very long hours every day. He usually gets up at 5: 00 p.m. He washes his face and makes his meal. What a funny time to make a meal! After eating his meal, he plays his guitar (吉他) for half an hour, then he puts on his jacket and goes to work with his guitar. To get to work, he takes the Number 17 bus to the Star Hotel. The bus usually gets there at about 9: 00 p.m. He works all night. People like to listen to him! He leaves there at 6: 00 a.m., and he watches the early news on TV at home. He goes to bed at 8:3 0 a.m. Do you know what his job is?

    Although half a century has passed, Shao Guohua never forgot the film ticket his teacher gave him that warmed his heart when he was a boy.  Shao entered primary school in Zigong, Sichuan Province, in 1960, Back then, sports and watching movies were the students' favorite times.

    Once, the school organized a trip to the movies for the students, and many of Shao's classmates signed (签约)  up for it.  But the boy had no money to buy the 0. 05-yuau ticket. When his classmates lined up to enter the movie theater, the boy stood alone outside. Then Shao's Chinese teacher Mo Xunru saw him and bought a ticket for him.

    He can't remember what movie it was, but Shao never stopped being thankful to his teacher. “Ms. Mo made forty or fifty yuan a month back then, so a 0.05-yuan ticket may not be a big deal for her. But for me, it moved me deeply,” said 63-year-old Shao.

    After graduating from primary school, Shao moved to another city along with his parents. In the following years, he tried to find his former teachers and classmates, but failed. It wasn't until this year that Shao visited his teacher Mo Xunru after 50 years.

    “The reunion (重聚) was emotional,” said Shao, who is over sixty himself now. “The 89-year old Mo did not hear well anymore and seemed to not know me at first sight, but she was still as kind as she used to be.” Shaoleft 1, 000 yuan to his teacher as well as a letter which reads: “Dear Ms. Mo, wish you good health. Your student: Shao Guohua.”

    Sammy looked out of the classroom window at a bird in a tree. He saw a worm (小虫) in the bird's mouth. "Wow!" he whispered as he looked at the bird eating the worm.

    "Sammy!" his teacher Mr. Maxwell said loudly.

    Sammy jumped and knocked his science book off his desk. Everyone in the class laughed and Sammy blushed. This was the third time today he had been caught not paying attention to the science lesson. It was just so easy to get distracted (分心的) when people read aloud from the science textbook!

    It wasn't that Sammy didn't like science. He loved to learn about machines, Earth and animals. He even thought bugs and plants were great. He wanted to go outside and see how a snake lived. He wanted to watch plants growing from the ground as they did last month. He just didn't want to read about these things.

    Sammy thought Mr. Maxwell would surely understand. "There was a bird with a worm in its mouth..." Sammy began. Then he saw the furious look on his teacher's face. Sammy decided that he had better stop talking before Mr. Maxwell became any angrier.

    One day a man found a cocoon (茧) of a butterfly in the forest. He sat there for several hours and watched the butterfly. Suddenly a small opening appeared, and the butterfly made its great effort to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further.

    So the man decided to help the butterfly. He cut off the remaining bit of the cocoon so that the butterfly could come out easily. But to his surprise, the butterfly got a heavy body and very small wings when it came out of the cocoon.

    The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that the body would grow smaller at any moment and the wings would become larger and be able to fly. But neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling (爬) around with a heavy body and small wings. It was never able to fly.

    The man was in his kindness, but he did not understand the nature rules. Before the butterfly came out of the cocoon, fluid (流体) from its body must be forced into its wings, and then it would be ready for flying. It must have a hard struggle (拼搏) to get through the small opening to get its freedom from the cocoon.

    Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any difficulties, it would make us fail. We would not be as strong as we could have been; we could never fly.

    On the first day in her new house，Mouse wrote a letter to her old friend.

    On the way to the post office, Mouse saw Beaver. He gave Mouse a big smile.

   "Perhaps I should say hello, "thought Mouse." Beaver's teeth are so long and sharp（锋利的）. Beaver wouldn't make a good friend. Not like Vole, whose smile was kind." So Mouse left without saying hello.

    After lunch, Mouse heard a knock on her door. Then she peeked（偷看）out the window. It was Squirrel.

   "Perhaps I should invite her in for tea, "thought Mouse." But Squirrel talks a lot. Squirrel wouldn't make a good friend. Not like Vole, who always listened." So Mouse didn't open the door.

    That night, Mouse looked at a picture of herself and Vole. She thought back to the first time she met Vole. She remembered feeling afraid-afraid of Vole's eyes and Vole's large size.

    In fact, Vole had seemed so different that Mouse almost decided Vole wouldn't make a good friend.

    Mouse realized something." I made a mistake!" she cried.

    The next morning, Mouse made some cakes and put them in a basket.

    She went to Beaver's house first, and next to Squirrel's house.

    When Mouse returned home, she was smiling. She went to her desk and wrote a letter to Vole.