I still remember the last time when two of my children and I went to the playground. It had rained during the night and the playground was very muddy (泥泞的). They had just put on clean clothes, so I was a little worried about the pools of water on the playground. It was not long before Kathy got her beautiful skirt dirty on the playground. She dug through the rocks. I was about to blame her for getting her clothes dirty when she ran towards me with a smile on her face. When she got to me, she handed me a little heart-shaped rock and said, "Here Mom! Here is a heart for you－just because I love you! Keep it!”with tears in my eyes, I thanked her.
    Should I blame her for getting her clothes muddy? No way! I still have that little heart-shaped rock. It is one of the best gifts that I have ever received. I realize that many times it is not necessary for us adults to worry about the small things our children do. Let them do what they'd like to.
    I will spend a lot more time on the playground with my children. I'm sure I will learn a lot from the children. It reminds me of some years ago when my grandfather told me, "You would not enter the kingdom (王国) of happiness until you pretended (假装) to be a small child.”

    Gladys Holm was a secretary(秘书). She worked in an office all his life. Gladys made about $15,000 a year. She died when she was 86 years old. And she left a big surprise—$18 million! She gave the money to a children's hospital.

    Gladys Holm never got married or had any children. But she always liked children, and she wanted to help them. When her friend's daughter was ill in hospital, Gladys brought her a toy bear. After that, she visited the hospital many times. Every time she visited, she brought toy bears for those children. After that, people started to call Gladys the "Toy bear Lady."

    Gladys always gave toys and presents to her friends and family but no one knew she had a lot of money. She lived in a small house outside Chicago. Everyone was very surprised when they learned she was a millionaire. A family friend said, "She always gave us nice presents and things, but we didn't know she was rich."

    How did Gladys get so much money? She asked her boss how to make more money, and she listened to what he said. She bought the stocks(股票) that he told her to buy, and she got very rich. Before she died, she talked to her friends about "giving something to the children's hospital." No one knew that the "something" was $18 million!

    Mr Turner teaches in a middle school. He's friendly to his students. And he is always strict with himself. He often tells his students to be polite and to do their best to help the persons who are in trouble.

    One Monday morning, Mr Turner didn't go to work and went to see Mr White who was ill in hospital. As something was wrong with his car, he had to take a bus. At first he easily found a seat, but soon plenty of people got on the bus and it was very crowded. Some of them had to stand. Mr Turner looked around and saw a woman standing behind. He stood up and made room for her. The woman said nothing and sat down. Her behaviour made Mr Turner unhappy.

    "It's necessary for her to be taught how to be polite," he said to himself. Then he asked, "What did you say, madam?"

    "I didn't say anything, "answered the woman.

    "I thought you said 'Thank you!"'

    When the woman heard this, her face turned red.

Years ago, there was an old man who loved his young son very much. And the old man had a lot of art collections, such as the works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and many others.

As war broke out in their nation, the son became a soldier and left to serve his country. Only a few weeks later, the old man received a message that his son died in the war.

On Christmas morning, a soldier knocked on the door and said, “I am a friend of your son. He saved my life before he died. I am also an artist, and I want to give you this painting that I drew in the war.” It was a portrait (画像) of the man's son.

The old man told his neighbors it was the greatest gift he had ever received. The following spring, the old man became ill and passed away. According to the will of the old man, all of the art works would be sold at an auction (拍卖会)  on Christmas Day, the day he had received his greatest gift.

On Christmas Day the auction began with the portrait of the old man's son, The auctioneer (拍卖师) asked for an opening bid (竞价), but the room was silent. Finally, a friend of the old man said, “Will I take $10 for the painting? That's all I have.” The gavel (小木槌) fell.

The auctioneer looked at the audience and announced that the auction was over. He explained, “It is very easy. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the portrait of his son gets all his art collections.”

    This term(学期) we have a new teacher of English. His name is Mr. Peterson. He is American. He is not very tall and he is thin. He has a round face and small blue eyes. He wears glasses and they make him look smart. He has dark brown hair.

    Mr. Peterson works very hard. In class, he has many good ideas to make the class very interesting. We all like his class. After class, he always encourages us to speak more English. Sometimes, he plays games with us. He is very strong and he can play basketball and football very well. He is good at sports. Sometimes he plays table tennis with us, but he doesn't play it very well.

    Mr. Peterson loves living in China very much. He enjoys lots of things in China. He really loves eating Chinese food. He loves traveling in China too. He is going to visit Xi'an next month.

    When I was a university teacher in Ningbo, I told my students that it would be wise to keep their smartphones in their backpacks. They were young adults. I didn't want to take their phones， nor could I shout at them. You can guess what happened.

    Some students were polite, using their phones between activities. Others would rudely text their friends during lessons, sometimes even while I talked to them. One young woman, K, openly played a game at her desk with earphones!

    Why did such a situation appear? I began to think my class was boring (probably true!) and that my students hated me (I could understand). But what could I do? I couldn't fail every student. Maybe I was just a boring teacher.

    With all the recent talk about banning(禁止) smartphones at schools, you might think I'm in favor. I'm actually not so sure. This technology isn't going away. Teachers probably need to change as much as students.

    I designed activities to let them use pens and paper, and moving around the room to talk to classmates. It kind of worked! I also found ways to use their phones. Things like research, translation and creative projects. I found that my students worked hardest on these activities.

Phones might not be the biggest problem. Once, walking at school, I saw K standing alone in the dark. I could see her face, lit up by her mobile game. Maybe smart phone addiction (上瘾) at school is a sign of loneliness or a boring teacher.