Many years ago, an earthquake happened suddenly. A lot of buildings collapsed(倒塌)。 It killed over 100,000 people in a few minutes. Shortly after the earthquake, a father rushed to the school where his son studied only to find the building had fallen down. He remembered his promise to his son:“No matter what happens, I'll always be there for you!”The tearful father began to dig to look for his son. Some parents felt hopeless and tried to pull him off. But he asked,“Are you going to help me now?”And then he kept on digging. The fireman came.They tried to pull off and said,“Danger! Leave here!” But the father who loved his son deeply,asked,“Are you going to help me now?”The policeman came up and said,“It's over.Leave here!We'll do it.”Still he asked again and again,“Are you going to help me now?”He went on alone because he needed to know,“Is my boy alive or is he dead?” He dug for 8 hours ...12 hours... 24 hours …36 hours …then, in the 38^th hours, he pulled back a large stone And heard his son's voice. He cried,“Tom!”He heard back,“Dad? It's me, Dad! I told other kids you'd save me. I believe you would keep your promise.”"Get out, boy!”“No dad! Let the other kids out first. Because I know you'll get me out! No matter what happens, I know you'll always be there for me!”

    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 cost 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 driver 100 dollars 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!"

    There was a special wedding on 15 August, 2012 in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. The groom (新郎) was Frares Abdullah, a Swiss, and the bride was Li Miao, a Chinese girl.

    Before the wedding. they spent their holidays on a Silk Road tour (丝绸之路旅行), along Kashgar, Turpan, Kanas and finally Lhasa in Tibet.

    During their tour, the couple hoped to have a special wedding in Urumqi with 25 guests, including the groom's family members and friends from Switzerland, Germany, Palestine, the US and the UK.

    On 5 August, the wedding guests flew to Urumqi. After one day's rest in the hotel, the group flew to Kashgar where they enjoyed the scenery(风景) in Dawakun Desert. On the third day, they took a 3.5-hour car ride to Karakuri Lake.

    On 8 August, the wedding group took a tour of Kashgar city. They visited the famous Id Kah Mosque. The next day, they went to Turpan to see the Jiaohe Ruins and Karez Well, two of Turpan's most famous places of interest.

    On 15 August, the special wedding began in Urumqi. All the guests sent their wishes to the groom and the bride. They were so moved and said they would be nice to each other for all their lives.

    Susan has a big and happy family. Alan and Linda are her grandparents. They are old but very kind. They like reading at home, and sometimes they take a walk in a park. Susan's father Peter is a teacher. He teaches in a middle school. He likes playing sports, such as volleyball, basketball and tennis. He doesn't like taking a walk in the park. That isn't interesting, he thinks. Susan's mother Jasmine is a beautiful lady. She goes to work from Monday to Friday. She is a policewoman. Peter has a brother. His name is John. He and his wife live(生活) in the big family, too. They have a daughter called Joanna. She and Susan are in the same school. She has many school things. She puts them in the right places. So her room is always tidy.

    When I was a kid, I did something really terrible. My father bought me two goldfish and named them "Iasc" and" Iasc Elie". He told me that meant "Fish" and "Other Fish" in Irish. To an eight-year-old child, the names seemed really boring.

    These boring names made me feel the goldfish were boring, too.  They did nothing more than swim around in their bowl. Sometimes, for fun, they would swim to the bottom of their bowl and dance around along the bottom, looking for interesting pieces of gravel.

    I tried many ways to make the goldfish more exciting. The most interesting thing was to see how long they could live out of the water. I took a fish out of the water with my hands and watched it gasping for air. Then I put it back in the bowl.  And then I would take them out of the water again, for longer and longer each time.

    Iasc and Iasc Elie started swimming towards the top of the water, not moving very much. Then they started floating on the top of the water. In other words, they were dead.

    I thought that bigger pets are more exciting, such as a cat and a dog. It would live longer than a goldfish, and then I kept a dog as my pet.