December 21^st is Becky's fourteenth birthday. When she gets home after school, she sees her parents in the living room. They both say to her, “Happy birthday, dear! We have a present for you. Go and look for it in your bedroom. ”

Becky runs to her bedroom. There is a red box on her desk. There is a card in it. The girl takes it out and reads，“Dear Becky, I'm your present. My first three letters are in the word（单词）‘come'. My last two letters are in the word ‘water'. My middle（中间的） three letters are in the word ‘put'. What am I?”

      Becky thinks hard and then says,“Thank Dad and Mom. I know what it is, but where is it?”

      Her father and mother tell her to go to her study. There, on the desk she finds her new present.

    Erden Eruc has been rowing across the Pacific Ocean in a rowboat since he left California on July 10, 2007. He has been heading for Australia with only birds, fish, and sharks ever since.

    Crossing the Pacific is only part of his journey. Eruc has decided to go all the way around the world using his own energy. He will row, bike, walk and climb the world without help from any motors(发动机) at all. His plan includes climbing the tallest peak on six of the continents(洲) along the way.

    For the first part of his trip, he bicycled 5,546 miles from Seattle, Washington to Mount McKinley in Alaska and back, walked 67 miles to base camp and climbed 20,320 feet to McKinley's peak. Now in the second part of his adventure(冒险活动), he is rowing to Australia.

    Why would he try to go around the world this way? He explains that he wants to encourage kids to dream their dreams and get to their own goals. He wants to show kids that there might be hard parts along the way, and sometimes they might not even get to that final goal. But they can have adventures and learn a lot along the way.

    When his trip around the world takes him across land, he enjoys meeting people—especially children. He has already visited many schools and shared his story. Eruc encourages all kids to set their eyes on a goal and not give up. He says, "with goals, we will make progress, and we will be farther along than when we started, even if we don't get to some goals. That's called life!"

    Edward Estlin Cummings (E. E. Cummings) was a poet famous for writing his poems with capital (大写的) letters in the words. He also used "i" instead of "I" to refer to himself in the poems.

    Edward was born on 14 October, 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Young Edward's mother Rebecca loved to spend time with her children. She taught young Edward how to write poems. Edward's father was also named Edward. He was a great scholar (学者) and taught his son to learn by using his hands as well as his mind.

    Edward was a very smart boy. He was only 12 when he became a freshman in high school. He graduated (毕业) from Harvard in 1915. During World War Ⅰ, he joined the army and was sent to France. Edward and his friend from Harvard were caught because people thought they were sent by the German army. They were kept in one room. Their life was boring and full of fear. Edward therefore wrote his first book The Enormous Room and published it in 1922.

    Edward was a poet that made his own rules in poetry. He was one of the most popular poets of the 20th century.

    Mr. Brown is from England. He and his wife（妻子）are teachers. They teach English in Shanghai. They have a boy and a girl. They are John and Lucy. John is a middle school student, but Lucy is not. She is only six.

    They have two bikes. One is big, and the other is small. The big one is for John. The small one is for Lucy.

    On Sundays, sometimes they are at home, sometimes they go to the parks. They like China.

    They have a lot of（很多的）Chinese friends.

    Mr. and Mrs. Black opened a small restaurant. In order to attract (吸引) customers, they put a notice in front of the restaurant that said "Meals on the House for Three Days."

    A foreign student who didn't know much English happened to pass by the restaurant on the second day. It was lunch time and he felt very hungry. "Well, here is a restaurant. I am going to have something to eat."

    He walked towards the restaurant when he saw the notice. "American people are really strange. They even eat dinners on their houses. But how can I get up to the top of the house?" he said to himself.

    He looked around and found a ladder against a tree nearby. He started climbing up. But as he reached the top，he heard someone shouting at him.

    "Hey, what are you doing up there?" Mr. Black shouted at him. Next to him was a policeman.

    "Doesn't your notice say? "Meals on the House for Three Days'? Is it just a joke?" the foreign student answered.

    On hearing this, both Mr. Black and the policeman laughed. "Do you know what ON THE HOUSE means? Look it up in the dictionary," the policeman said.

    I'm a girl, Rosie. Racing on the 1,500-meter track (跑道), I'm so tired. I want to stop but a voice is repeating in my head, "No one knows what the result will be. Everything is still possible." Today, I have to fight with myself.

    Nine years ago, when I was a 6-year-old girl, my mother took me on a trip. We went to the foot of a high mountain which she told me that we would climb. I had never done this before and the thought of it made me very happy.

    At the beginning, I was so excited, and climbed fast. But half an hour later, when I was thirsty and tired, I just stopped and sat on the ground, completely silent. My mom came and sat next to me.

She said, "Get up and go on!"

    Crying, I almost shouted, "Never! It's too tiring and I am thirsty. I want to go back home now."

    Patiently she explained, "Listen, my dear. If you try your best, anything is possible. If you don't try, your dream will never come true. You will never know how beautiful the sights look unless you reach the top of the mountain."

    Hearing her words, I stopped crying and started to climb again. Finally I did reach the top of the mountain and enjoyed the fantastic view.

    Today I'm on the racing track. I'm going to keep running because I know it's always valuable. And in the end I made it — I got through the finish line.

    Although it was really difficult and I did not win, I did finish it. "Never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined (命定的) place."