I have spent almost a third of my life in China, living and working in this beautiful country. In a sense, China has been and is still my second home But in those past years I ha d never been to Quzhou.

Some days ago, for the first time in my Chinese life, I stepped into the beautiful city of Quzhou. My impressions of Quzhou city were as I always thought: green countryside, rainy sky, wet air. That was what I imagined for years the south of China would be. When we finally arrived, I was impressed by the elegant (优雅的) city.

Next day we were taken to visit some places not far away from the city. I was not aware of the direction of our short trip, but when we arrived at Lanke Mountain and got out of the car, I thought that we had been taken to a fairyland (仙境) : the light rain over the green and thick plants, the silvery sky like a heavy blanket and the mystery (神秘) of this mountain made me feel like being part of a picture.

Jiulong Lake was our next step. The mystic atmosphere (气氛) of this place was so strong that I decided to watch the view standing at the top when I stepped into the small boat to sail upstream. Sometimes we were so close to the mountain that we could clearly see the red soil under the plants. I was thinking of the joy to be in a place like Jiulong Lake and how it would be to live among those hills for a while.

    The final leg of the day's journey was a primary school. We were welcomed by the smiles on the faces of many young pioneers. The energy of the hundreds of kids made me feel younger for a while, so educated, so polite and so warm that I had no doubt about the future generations of Quzhou people. The people seem to me the best of Quzhou and they will remain in my memories forever.

    One day a big red hen is playing with her chickens in the garden. After some time, she wants to eat something and she takes out her chickens to look for food.

    When they are eating, she finds a grain of wheat(一粒小麦). So she asks her chickens to plant it in the back garden. But no one wants to do it. The big red hen has to do it herself.

    After a few months, they get a lot of wheat. She says to her chickens, “Who will take the wheat to the store to get some flour(面粉)?” But they don't want to do it. So she takes the wheat to the store and brings the flour home.

    After she gets home, she says,“ Who will make some bread with the flour? ”They all say they are very busy, so they can't do it.

    When she makes the bread, she says to her chickens,“ Who wants to eat the bread?”

    “I will,” they say. “No, you can't. You don't want to do anything before I make the bread. You must know ‘No pains, no gains（不劳无获）'.”She doesn't give any bread to her chickens and she eats the bread herself.

    As a student, I was most afraid to answer questions in class, and I found that the students around were just like me. At the beginning of each class, when the teacher asked a question, I always lowered my head because I was afraid the teacher saw me.

One day, in a foreign language class, Mr. Black gave us a lesson. He wanted us to be active in class, so he asked us some questions, but no one answered. "Let me tell you a story first," he said.

"When I came to the United States to study, the university often invited famous people to make speeches. Before the beginning of every speech, I found an interesting thing. The students around me always took a cardboard folded(折叠的) in half, wrote their names in bold(黑体) with the most eye-catching(引人注目的) color, and then placed the cardboard on the seat. So when the speaker needed the answers from the students, he could see it and call a listener's name directly."

"I couldn't understand that. My classmate told me the speakers were all top people, who meant chances. When your answer was to his surprise, it meant he might give you more chances. In fact, I really saw a few students got great chances because of that."

    After listening to the story, I understood that the chance will not find you itself. You must show yourself all the time so that you can find a chance on the card.

    Mr Gao lives in a town. When he was twenty-five, his son was born. He called him Gao Ling. The little boy is very clever and his parents love him very much.

    It's September 1 today. A new school year begins. Gao Ling is happy and wears his most beautiful clothes. He's going to school with his new bag.

    "Let me take you to school today, dear," says Mrs Gao.

    "Thank you, Mum," says the boy. "The school is not far from here. I can walk there myself."

    At school a teacher meets the little boy and asks, "What's your name, my little friend?"

    "Gao Ling, sir," answers the boy.

    "How old are you?"

    "Six, sir."

    "What's your father's name?"

    "Gao Dalin, sir."

    "How old is he?"

    "He's six too, sir."

    "Oh," he says in surprise. "Is he as old as you?"

    "Yes, sir." says the boy. "He became a father at the time when I was born."

    I teach economics in a university three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. He had his wisdom teeth removed. Then he went on to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful.

    His question reminded me of something I'd read somewhere before: Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to live that day. I said, "I choose to be cheerful."

    "Let me give you an example," I continued. "Besides teaching here, I also teach at a college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day a few weeks ago I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died. I tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn't work. So I put my flashes on, took my books, and walked down the road to the college. When I got there, I called AAA(汽车协会) and asked for a tow truck to meet at my car after class. The secretary there asked me what had happened. "This is my lucky day," I replied, smiling.

    "Your car breaks down and toady is your lucky day? What do you mean?"

    "My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. I didn't," I replied. "Instead, it broken down at the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I'm still able to teach my class, and I've been able to ask for the tow truck to meet me after class! If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't have been arranged in a more convenient way."

    I ended my story. In spite of the early hour, no one in my class seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them.