The morning was cold and clear. A yellow bus came around the corner and stopped near a wood (树林). A coach asked the students to get off the bus. Girls began to gather by the starting line. One of them is a young, little girl. She had prepared for this running race for the whole summer. She looked around at the other girls, noticing how she was different.

    There was a break in the silence, and everyone started to run. After about twenty-five minutes, every runner finished the race except the girl. She was still running for the next forty minutes. As she came near the finishing line, she saw her parents, classmates and the coach. They shouted her name and told her not to stop until the end. The sweat (汗水) was flowing down her face.

    She kept on running until she crossed the line. I was that girl, and that was the first time I had finished a cross-country race (越野赛跑). Finishing this race made me realize that I could do anything with my own strength. After that, I took more hard work to practice running. I was not a natural-born runner, but I want to become one. I continued to struggle (努力) with every run. Now I run much faster than before and become more and more confident. I am so thankful for running because it has helped make me who I am today.

    Ray Charles，a black singer and pianist of the USA．He had won 12 Grammy Awards （格莱美奖） and performed at 10，000 concerts around the world．Many musicians called him simply"the Genius"（天才）．

    Ray Charles was born into a poor family，without a father．When he was 5 years old，his younger brother died. And around the same time，Charles started to lose his sight．By the age of 7 he was completely blind．He had already been learning the piano for a year. And when he went blind，his mother knew this would be the only way he would make any money in the future．All his life，Charles remembered her saying："Do it right，or don't do it at all．"

    Later he went to a school for blind and deaf children．There the teachers also encouraged him to study music．Sadly，while he was still at school，his mother died．He left school and in the early 1950s Charles organized a group of players．He sang，played the piano and wrote music．

    He made many classical CDs with famous artists such as Elton John and the Beatles．

    In 2003 a film of his life Ray was made．The part of Charles was played by a younger actor and musician called Jamie Foxx．The film director brought Foxx to meet Charles．After they had been playing together for two hours，Charles，then aged 73，jumped up and said："He's the one…he can do it．"A year later Charles died aged 74．The film of his life has been as popular as his songs and means that the memory of Charles' music will live on．

    Mary complained to her father about how hard she thought life was. She didn't know how to make it and wanted to give up.

    Mary's father took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and put each on a big fire. Soon the pots started to boil（沸腾）. In one he put carrots, in the second he put eggs, and in the last he put coffee powder. He watched them boil, without saying a word.

    Mary waited, wondering what he was doing. In about twenty minutes he turned off the fire. He took the carrots and eggs out and put them on different plates. Then he poured the coffee in a cup. He asked, "Mary, what do you see?"

    He asked Mary to touch the carrots. She found that they were soft.  He then asked her to take an egg and break it. She saw a hard-boiled egg after taking off the shell. Finally, he asked her to taste the coffee.  Its rich smell brought a smile to her face.

    Each of them had the same trouble, but each reacted differently. The carrot was strong and hard at first, but it became soft and weak. The egg was weak, too. But after going through the boiling water, its inside became hard. The coffee powder changed the water, and created something new. "Which one is you?" he asked Mary. "When trouble comes to you, are you a carrot, an egg, or the coffee powder?"

    A man came out of the airport. A lot of taxis were there. He asked the name of every taxi-driver. Then he took the 3rd one. It costs 5 dollars from the airport to the hotel. "How much does it cost for the whole day?" the man asked. "One hundred dollars, "said the taxi-driver. This was very expensive, but the man said it was OK.

    The driver took the man everywhere. He showed him all the parks and museums in the city. In the evening, they went back to the hotel. The man gave the driver100dollars and said, "What about tomorrow?" The taxi-driver looked at the man and said, "Tomorrow? It's another 100 dollars. "But the man said, "That's OK!

    See you tomorrow. "The driver was very pleased.

    The next day the driver took the man everywhere again. They visited all the parks and museums again. And in the evening they went back to the hotel. The man gave the driver 100 dollars again and was going home tomorrow. The driver was unhappy because he liked the man and above all, 100 dollars a day was a lot of money. "So you're going home. Where do you come from?" he asked. "I come from New York. ""New York!" said the driver. "I have a sister in New York. Her name is Lucy. Do you know her? ""Of course I know her. She gave me 200 dollars for you!"

    I was walking down the street the other day when I suddenly saw a small purse lying on the ground. I picked it up and opened it to see if I could find the owner's name. There was nothing inside it except some money and an old photo of a woman and a young girl about twelve years old. The girl looked like the woman's daughter. I put the photo back and took the wallet to the police station. There I gave it to a policeman. Before I left, the policeman took down my name and address so that the owner could write to me and thank me if the policeman found the owner.

    That evening I went for dinner with my aunt and uncle. They also invited a young woman, so there were four people at the table. Her face seemed familiar. I was quite sure that we had met before, but I could not remember where I had seen her. During the talk, the young woman said that she had lost her purse that afternoon. At once I knew where I had seen her. She was just the young girl in the photo though she was now much older. She was very surprised, of course, when I was able to tell her what her purse was like.

    My uncle said that we should go to the police station at once to get the purse. As that policeman handed it over, he said it was an interesting coincidence(巧合). I not only found the purse, but also made friends with the person who had lost it.