“Please take my penny,” said Maggie to old Dan, the fisherman, who sat on a bench repairing his nets.

    Her brother Andrew drew her back, whispering, “Maggie, he is not a beggar (乞丐)!”

    But Maggie paid no attention. “Please take it,” she said again. Old Dan smiled, and took it. “Thank you, little miss,” he said, “It is kindly meant.”

    After that, Maggie went to the beach to gather shells. She never thought how fast the hours were passing until being tired. She sat down on a rock. Soon she was scared because the sea water was going up. She wanted to go home, but she found the places she had gone down easily very difficult to climb up. The stones were wet and smooth. What could poor Maggie do? She felt sad and cried.

    Luckily, Dan's large dog Rover jumped down from a rock! Rover raised his loud bark. The fisherman had taken his nets to the top of the cliffs (悬崖), and was laying them out in the sun when he heard the loud barking of a dog. He felt sure that it was Rover, and Rover was in trouble, so he looked over. There he saw it all.

    “Bless her! It is the little one that was so kind-spoken to me this morning!” he cried, and he hurried to his sons' rooms.

    “Quick, boys, quick!” he said. “Get to the boat, and row fast to the sea. There is a poor child there just waiting to be helped.” The fishermen lost no time, and soon little Maggie and Rover were rowed safely to land! Old Dan was waiting there to lift her out to give her into her mother's arms.

    “It was the penny that did it, madam,” he said to Mrs. Weston later. “I saw Rover looking at her when she put the penny. And I am thinking he had been looking after her all the day.”

    Some years later, Rover came to Maggie's home with a little note, in which was written—“Will Maggie help Rover?—his master is dead.”

A

    A class teacher, in my opinion, plays an important role in a child's development. Every year when my daughter moves to a new class, I have a usual big worry –her new class teacher. This year, she is moving to Class Three and I can't wait to see how things are going on.

    Last year, my daughter did not like her teacher at all. It was so bad that she did not look forward to school. It was a year full of trouble and worries.

    This year, Miss Purity is gentle and humorous. It's hard not to like her. Here are the changes in my daughter.

    She becomes an early bird. Last year, mornings were like a fight because I had to force Tasha to hurry up when she was preparing for school. I had to pull her out of bed, tell her to take breakfast and then drove her to school. But now, our mornings are like a party. She wakes up early, prepares everything at a high speed and then rushes to school to be with Miss Purity.

    She's happy. She enjoys school and school work and keeps talking about what they did at school when she comes home.

    She's responsible. She used to be careless and forgetful. But now she never forgets even her water bottle at school. She makes her bed and helps in the kitchen.

    Her diary is full of praises. The diary is the tool of communication between the teacher and the parents. Last year, her diary was always full of negative reports. One time, she poured water in a child's lunchbox, another time she threw another kid's textbook in the toilet. Now she began to share her snacks with those who did not have anything. She's always volunteering to clean the blackboard, the teacher's chair and desk.

    She does well in school. Finishing her classwork was such a big problem. She had to do it at home. But now, she finished both the classwork and homework at school.

    A farmer had a cow. He took very good care of this cow and one day when it was ill, he was very worried. He telephoned the vet.

    "What's the problem?" The vet asked him when he arrived.

    "My cow's ill," the farmer said. "I don't know what's the matter with her. She's lying down and won't eat. She's making a strange noise."

    The vet looked over the cow. "She's certainly ill," he said, "and she needs to take some very strong medicine."

    He took a bottle out of his box, put two pills into his hand and said, "Give her these. The pills should make her better."

    "How should I give them to her?" the farmer asked.

    The vet gave him a tube (管子)and said, "Put this tube in her mouth, then put the pills in the tube and blow. That'll make it."

    The next day the vet came to the farm again. The farmer was sitting outside his house and looked more worried.

    "How's your cow?" the vet asked.

    "No change," the farmer said, "and I'm feeling very strange myself."

    "Oh?" the vet said, "Why?"

    "I did what you said," the farmer answered. "I put the tube in the cow's mouth and then put two pills down it."

    "And?" the vet asked.

    "The cow blew first," the farmer said.

    Lisa was a single mother who lived with her little son. She lost her job two years ago and they had a very hard life. Being poor was terrible. Her heart was broken every time her son asked, "Can I have some more bread and jam please, Mommy?"

    One day, when her son asked the same question again, she decided to prepare a big meal for him with the only 6 dollars in her hand. She went to the supermarket, bought some food and cooked at home. Lisa was a shy mother, but she was strong— minded. "It's time to make a change, "she thought. She used to love writing. In order to make some money, she began to write articles for magazines day and night.

    Things went better. The local food bank started to provide her with some free vegetables every month. Her son finally had enough to eat. Once he told Lisa that the dishes she made were delicious. Suddenly, an idea came to Lisa's mind, "Why not share my recipes (食谱) on the Internet? "She did. Many people liked her recipes and she became popular.

    Soon after that, some reporters interviewed her and asked her to write a book on cooking. When Lisa got the money for the book she wrote, she had a good sleep for the first night during the two years. Now Lisa has a well—paid job and a beautiful home, but she'll never forget the days when she worked hard for a good life.

Cake with friends

    On the first day of July, 2019, everyone was amazed. Our teacher held a birthday party for 23 students. Most of the students' birthdays are in July. Our teacher gave them birthday cards. The cards' covers were printed with a group photos of our class. The teacher wrote birthday wishes to the students on the back. It was really sweet!

    Then, we sang a birthday song for the birthday kids. In addition (另外), all of us got to share cream（奶油） cakes, even if our birthdays weren't in July. I thought this was nice. I watched everyone eat their cake together and have some fun talks. It's nice to have good friendships(友谊) like this.

    Then, something funny happened! We started throwing the cake to each other. Some of us drew pictures on the birthday kids' faces. It was a really fun time.

    I was happy to be at school on that day. I watched all of my friends have fun together. I felt like it was one of the happiest times I've ever had in junior high school. I wished that I could stop time or make the best time lest just a few minutes longer. This isn't possible of course. But I do hope that all of my friends can cherish(珍惜) their friendships forever and enjoy friendships, just like I am now.

    I'm looking forward to the future. I hope I can make more good friends in high school.

    There is a famous American writer called Jack London. He was born on January 12, 1876 in San Francisco, California. His family was very poor, and Jack had to leave school to make money. He worked very hard in many different jobs.

    Later Jack returned to school, but he didn't stay there. In 1897, he went to Alaska (阿拉斯加) to look for gold. He didn't find any gold. Instead (代替), he found ideas for his books and stories. He returned home and started to write. His writings were so successful that he became rich and famous in his twenties.

    But Jack London was not a happy man. In poor health he took his own life in 1916. He was only 40 years old.