Something unexpected happenedin the summer of my eleventh year. The home I had grown up in burned to the groundin the middle of the night. Thankfully, my mom, dad, grandma, brothers and I escapedalong with my dogs. Yet, we had nothing but the night clothes we were sleeping in.I spent the rest of that night with a friend of my family. I tried unsuccessfullyto sleep in the bed in his house. I was too scared.

    The next day my mom brought me a few T-shirtsand pairs of jeans that another friend gave to her. One pair of them was too shortand the other pair was too long, but I didn't care. At least I had some clothesagain. My dad returned to our broken home to see what he could find. The only thinghe could save was my mom's rings.

    To spend the summery dad rented us a big houseon the same road as our old house had been. As we moved in, our friends and ourcommunity continued todonate (捐赠) all they could to help us to get back on our feet. There were moreclothes, furniture, food money, and even some books for me to read. Love was aroundus.

    Looking back now I am thankful for all we wentthrough that summer because it taught me so much about life, love and people. Itshowed me that when you have nothing left but love, for the first time you see thatlove is enough.

    O. Henry, a famous American writer of short stories, was born in North Carolina in 1862. O. Henry was a pen name. His real name was William Sydney Porter. When he was a young boy, he did not go to school for long because of being born in a poor family, but he tried to teach himself everything he needed to know.

   When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas. There he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. But he got himself into some trouble. Some money went missing from the bank. O. Henry was believed to have stolen it, so he was sent to prison(监狱). During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and went on writing.

   He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because almost all of them finished with a sudden change. This made the readers surprised.

Life is like the four seasons. Now I am very old, but when I am young, it is the spring of my life. I play a lot, and I grow bigger and bigger day by day. There are sweet days and heartbroken (心碎的) days. Some days the sun shines. I have a good job. I am strong and happy. Then I marry (结婚) and have a child. In those days, I am busy and work hard. I start to get gray hair. It's the summer of my life and it passes quickly.

Then the days get shorter. Leaves fall down from the trees. My child is a university（大学） student and then an engineer. My home is much quieter. I start walking more slowly. One day I leave my job, and I retire. I have more time. I know this is my autumn, a beautiful time when the trees change colour and give people delicious fruit. But the days are getting shorter and colder. Winter comes. I am older and weaker. I know I do not have many days, so I will enjoy them to the end.

Zhou Yichen, 11, is a primary school st udent from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. In July, he got to the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} of Mount Elbrus. The mountain in Russia（俄罗斯） is 5,642 meters high. And it's the highest mountain in Europe（欧洲）.

The boy climbed（攀爬） the mountain with his father in five hours. "It was difficult. I thought I would fail（失败）, but I made it. I'm so {#blank#}2{#/blank#}," Yichen said.

Zhou Shuangliu, Yichen's father, is an outdoor lover（户外爱好者）. He climbed Mount Qomolangma in May. Together, they got to the top of the Siguniang Mountain in Sichuan Province twice - when Yichen was 9 and 10 years old. To prepare（准备） for their latest trip, Yichen ran 5 kilometers twice a week and {#blank#}3{#/blank#} every week.

"In the past, my son often played games when holding a phone. I told him that he could use the phone {#blank#}4{#/blank#}, because one day he will need it for climbing in other countries. And he really started learning English on his phone," says Zhou Shuangliu.

Yichen developed（培养） a {#blank#}5{#/blank#} interest in mountain climbing from his Russian experience（经历）. He hopes to get to the top of the 6,178 - meter Yuzhu Peak in Qinghai Province next summer.