I work as a volunteer for an organization(组织) that helps the poor in Haiti. I decided to take my son Brain there for a week, hoping to educate him.

      Before getting out, I told Brain this trip would be tiring and hard. For the first two days, he said almost nothing. Then on the third day, when we were climbing over high rocky mountains, he turned to me and smiled, “Really hard.”

      After that, a five-year-old girl, wearing a too large dress and broken shoes, followed Brain around. Later he said regretfully(遗憾地), “I wish I could speak French.”I was surprised that this was from a boy who always hated French classes.

      However, the moment that really reached my heart occurred in a village deep in the mountains. I was interviewing a woman villager for an article. By working hard, she had learned to read and write and became part of the leadership(领导层) of the village.

      Learning her story, Brain was greatly touched. His eyes were wet and there was love and respect on his face. He finally understood the importance of my work. When leaving for home, Brain even offered to stay in as a volunteer. This trip was very meaningful.

    On December 14，2017，we were sorry to hear that Yu Guangzhong, a famous poet died of illness in Taiwan. He was born in Nanjing in 1928. His mother's hometown is in Wujin，Changzhou. So he called himself a southern person.

    Later, he went to Taiwan. In 1952 he graduated from Taiwan University. Then he graduated from University of LOWA in 1959. He taught at Soochow University, Normal University, Taiwan University , and Chengchi University. He got a lot of prizes in literature(文学)，such as.Wu San lien Literature Prize, China Times Award, Golden Tripod，National Arts Award and all the major(主要的)Awards in Taiwan. He is famous both in Taiwan and in Mainland.

    He was in Taiwan, but he always missed his hometown in Mainland. In one of his poems Nostalgia(乡愁) ，he showed his feeling of homesickness. Let's enjoy his famous poem Nostalgia.

Nostalgia

When I was young，                   But later on,

Nostalgia was a tiny, tiny stamp.          Nostalgia was a low，low  grave.

Me on this side，                      Me on this side，

Mother on the other side.                And my mother ;inside.

When I grew up，                     And at present，

Nostalgia was a narrow boat ticket.        Nostalgia becomes a shallow strait.

Me on this side，                      Me on this side，

Bride on the other side.                  Mainland on the other side.

"I just want a normal(正常的) birthday party,"April told her 1 as they walked home from school. They knew what April meant. 2 April was born on Earth Day, all 3 birthday parties had something to do with the environment(环境).

At the age of 7, her parents asked her to 4 all newspapers and sold them to buy presents. Last year, at 8, she planted trees. This year, she just wanted to plan her own5 birthday party.

April decided to go to the6 with her friends and she was excited that she didn't have to think anything about the7 this time.

However, things were quite 8 . When they arrived, they felt sorry for what they saw. There was9 here and there. She couldn't have fun,  10 so much litter out there.

But April wanted a non-Earth Day birthday. After a long struggle(挣扎), she asked,"Can we 11 the litter first and then visit the animals here?"

"Of course!"said her friends.

April was 12 to hear that, so they began to collect litter and it didn't take long. 13 they made it. April looked at the clean square and 14 . "It felt good to do something for the earth," she thought.

"Happy Earth Day, everyone," said April. "Now I'm ready for my zoo."

"Happy birthday, April!"shouted her friends.

"Thank you all for always celebrating such 15 birthdays with me."

Once or twice, there was crying and sighing (叹息) from a little leaf, as leaves often do when the wind is blowing. The tree said, "What's the matter, little leaf ?"

"The wind, " said the leaf, "just told me that one day it would pull me off and throw me on the ground. "

" Don't be afraid, " the tree said. "Hold on , and you shall not go off until you are ready. "

So the leaf stopped sighing and went on singing. It grew all summer long until October. When the bright days of autumn came, the leaf saw all the leaves around growing very beautiful. Some were yellow, some were brown, and many were colorful. Then the leaf asked the tree what this meant (意味着).

The tree said, " All these leaves are getting ready to fly away, and they have put on these colors because of their joy (快乐). "

The little leaf started to want to go and grew colorful thinking of it. Then it saw that the branches (树枝) of the tree had no bright colors on them and asked why.

"We must keep on our working clothes because we don't finish our work, " said the tree, "but your clothes are for holidays because your work is now over. "

Just then, the wind came, and the leaf let go (放手) without thinking. The wind took it up and turned it over and over. Then it fell slowly down on the ground, among hundreds of leaves.

Last month, I went to Yunnan for my holiday 1 my family. It was really enjoyable. Here I'd like to tell you 2 about my trip.

The first morning, we got up early when we were there. We decided 3 Lugu Lake first.

We went boating and saw some 4 games. All of us felt happy. Then we started to climb up a hill. On the top of the hill, we saw many beautiful and special flowers.

The 5 morning we went to Lijiang by bus. We waited over one hour to go to Lijiang. When we 6 there; it was almost in the evening. After a short rest, we had a picnic and enjoyed the old streets under the moon. I really enjoyed 7 around this city.

We went to Kunming," the spring city", on the third day. We visited Dianchi, watched the birds and went to the flower market. This trip was full of fun. 8 we were a little tired, we had a happy day.

The 9 trip was over soon. It's time to go back home. 10 amazing place Yunnan is! I will never forget the days I spent in Yunnan and hope to visit it again.