"Haibao, the mascot(吉祥物) of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, is very cute, "said Gu Hui, a school kid. "I want a big toy like the mascot."

    Haibao looks like the Chinese word ren, which means people or a person. The name, a typical lucky one in Chinese tradition comes from the Chinese phrase "Si Hai Zhi Bao" —the treasure of the four seas. It also means the treasure of Shanghai, which lies beside the sea.

    Haibao's blue curly(卷曲的) hair looks like the waves of the sea. Its smile is a sign of the healthy spirit of China. Those thumbs-up(翘拇指) will welcome millions of people to Shanghai from around the world. Its big feet show China has the ability to host a successful Expo.

    Haibao was created by two artists, one from the mainland(大陆) and the other from Taiwan. The design is about people living together in the city. The designers want it to fit the theme of the Shanghai Expo, that is, a good life should be created by all the people and people should have harmonious relationships(和谐关系) with nature and society, so that life in cities would be better.

    Surely the mascot will become the lucky symbol and cultural remark of Shanghai Expo.

    I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch(牧马场). The last time I was there he told me his story. When he was young, his family was too poor to have a house to live in.As a result , when he was in high school, all the students were asked to write a paper about what they wanted to be and do when they grew up. That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of owning a horse ranch. He also drew a picture to show a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a beautiful farm. The next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F. Roberts asked, “Why did I receive an F?” He teacher said, “This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money.” Then the teacher added, “If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.”

    The boy went home and thought about it for a long and hard time. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, “ Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.”Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He told his teacher “you could keep the F and I still keep my dream”.

    He tells me this story because I am sitting in his 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of the 200-acre horse ranch. “I still have that school paper now.” He added, “The best part of the story is that two years ago that  teacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.” When the teacher was leaving, he said, Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer.During those years I stole a lot of kids' dreams. Luckily, you had enough gumption not to give up on yours. .”

    Once there was a famine（饥荒）.A rich cook sent for twenty of the poorest children in the town and said to them, “In this basket there is a piece of bread for each of you. Take it and come back to me every day at this hour for more.”

    In a hurry the hungry children got together around the basket, and fought over the bread because each wanted the largest piece.At last they went away without even thanking the good cook. Mary, a poorly-dressed girl, did not fight with the other children,but stood quietly in distance.When the badly-behaved children had left,Mary took the smallest piece,which was all left in the basket.She kissed the cook's hand and went home.

    The next day the children were as badly-behaved as before. Mary got a piece of bread almost half the size of the one she got the first day.When she came home,her mother cut the bread open. Many new, shining pieces of silver fell out of it.

    Her mother was very worried, and said, “Take the money back to the cook at once.The silver must have fallen into the dough（面团）by accident. Hurry up, Mary” When the little girl gave the rich man her mother's message, he said, “It was no mistake.I had the silver pieces put into the smallest bread for you as a prize. Always be as satisfied, peaceable and thankful as you now are. Go home now, and tell your mother that the money is yours.”

    When Allison Winn was eight and her family adopted(收养) a dog named Coco, they had no idea how much the little dog would change her life. "Coco helped me feel better," says Allison, who was recovering from cancer at the time." She would stay with me when I didn't want to play." Allison loved Coco so much that she told her parents she wanted to help other sick kids find the same kind of comfort.

    She started raising money by selling homemade dog biscuits in front of her house. Her first customer was the mailman. By the end of that summer, she had raised nearly $1,000, enough to adopt and train two dogs and give them to children with cancer. Now, a little more than two years later, an organization has been founded for Allison's cause.

    Her organization, the Stink Bug Project, is run to help families adopt pets. To date, the program has raised $ 33,000 and given ten dogs to ten kids with cancer. With the remaining money, Allison's mother, Dianna Litvak, who helps run Stink Bug, hopes to extend(扩大) the pet adoption program all over the state and help support cancer research.

    Her daughter is just as ambitious(雄心勃勃的)."I wanted to do a million adoptions, but my morn made me lower it," says Allison. Still, she'd finally like to get, dogs to sick kids in other states." Allison has figured out(理解) how to help  in a way that no one else has," Litvak says proudly. "We made her younger sister, Emily, her friends, and the adopting families take part. It took the love of a little girl to wrap(包) all that together into one amazing package."

    Several months ago, my husband and I were on an island for a long weekend with our five-year-old twin daughters. As we went back and talked about what to do next, our girls jumped in and told us exactly what they wanted to do. "We want to go to the butterfly museum," said Emily and Hanna.

    As soon as we walked into the main area of the museum, we saw thousands of beautiful butterflies. They all flapped (拍打) their colourful wings.

    My girls were jumping up and down, and I knew it was right for us to take them to the museum. They were having so much fun.

    I turned to our museum tour guide because I was curious (好奇的) and asked, "How long do butterflies live?"

    She said, "About ten days."

    "What can butterflies do in ten days?" I asked.

    The guide stopped, looked at me, and said, "They make the world a more beautiful place."

    "Wow," I said, "I never thought about butterflies like that. Thank you."

    After we said goodbye, I couldn't stop thinking about what the guide had said. She was right. We all have something to give the world with the time we have. When we put our gifts on taking care of each other every day, we can make a difference.

    Appreciate (欣赏) the impact (影响) you can have on your family, friends, co-workers and neighbours. Like a butterfly, you have your own way of making the world more beautiful for everyone.

    Denies Walme in Texas, USA, now 14 years old, published his best-seller Unbending Gisula eight years ago. The book is about a little whale named Gisul.

    One day, Gisula did not take his mother's words and went up the beach. Then he got lost and had to learn to live by himself. The colour pictures were drawn by Denies himself. Denies published the books at the age of six He is said to be the youngest writer and picture artist.

    Another surprising thing about the book is that it became a best seller immediately after it was published and brought him a lot of money. Because he spent much time writing the books, his study was not very good and he had to learn the year's work again but his gift of writing is highly praised by the teachers and student. And he was even invited to give talks on writing.

    But Denies does not want to be a writer. He said, 'I like planes most. I dream of becoming a pilot someday.'