One day, my father and I were in line to buy tickets for the circus(马戏表演). And a family was standing in front of us.

    The family had eight children. Their clothes were not expensive but clean．The children talked about the clowns(小 丑), elephants, monkeys and other things excitedly. It was their first time to go to the circus.

    The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly answered, “I want eight children's tickets and two adults' tickets, so I can take my family to the circus.”

    The ticket lady said the price. The man's wife lowered her head and there was no smile on th e man's face. He quietly asked, “How much did you say?”

    The ticket lady said the price again. The man didn't have enough money. How could he tell his eight kids the bad news? My dad put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground．(In fact, we were not rich!) Then my dad said, “Excuse me, sir, this dropped out of your pocket.”

    The man knew what was going on. He looked into my dad's eyes, held my dad's hand in his, and took the $20 bill. “Thank you, sir, thank you. This really means a lot to me and my family.”

    My father and I went back home. We didn't go to see the circus that night, but we didn't care.

A

    John and Bob joined a company at the same time. They both worked very hard. After several years, Bob became the manager, but John thought it was unfair, so he gave his resignation (辞职信) to the boss.

    When the boss found out the reason why John wanted to leave, he said, "I hope you will do one more thing for our company before you leave."

    John agreed. The boss asked him to find out if anyone was selling watermelons at the market. John went and soon returned, He said he had found a man selling watermelons. The boss asked him how much they were. John shook his head and went back to the market. When he returned, he told the boss they were 1.2 dollars per kg.

    Then the boss asked Bob to find a watermelons seller at the market. Bobby went, returned and said, "Only one person is selling watermelons. 1.2 dollars per kg, 340 melons in all, and each melon weights about 2kg. They are fresh."

    John realized the difference between himself and Bob. He decided not to leave but to learn from Bob.

The first Starbucks coffee shop opened in 1971 in a town of Seattle, Washington, in the United States. It was a small coffee shop that cooked its own coffee beans. The coffee shop's business did well, and by 1981 there were three more Starbucks stores in Seattle and they joined into a small company. 

Things really began to change for the company in 1981. That year. Howard Schultz met the three men who run （经营） Starbucks. Schultz worked in New York for a company that made kitchen instrument. He noticed that Starbucks ordered a large number of special coffee makers, and he was interested in the company. Schultz went to Seattle to see what Starbucks did and he liked what he saw. He wanted to become part of the company. In 1982, the original (原先的)Starbucks owners chose Schultz as the company's head of marketing. 

In 1983, Schultz travelled to Italy. The special atmosphere(氛围) of the coffee bars there caught his eye. To Schultz, it seemed that Italians spent their daily lives in three places: home, work, and coffee bars. His experience in Italy gave Schultz a new idea for Starbucks back in Seattle. 

Schultz created an atmosphere for Starbucks coffee shops that was comfortable, and customers everywhere seemed to like it. Between 1987 and 1992, Starbucks opened 150 new stores - and that was only the beginning. In fact, by the year 2000, three new Starbucks stores opened somewhere around the world every day!

Today, Starbucks has thousands of stores, including stores in twenty - six countries. One thing that helps make Starbucks succeed in cities outside the United States is the way Starbucks works with local stores and restaurants. By working together with a store already in the city, Starbucks gets an understanding of customers in the city. This understanding helps Starbucks open stores in the right places for their customers. 

Doing projects is a fun way to learn as I can practise what I have been taught. I enjoy hands-on learning as it keeps me 1 in what I am doing. By putting what I have learnt into practice, I can test my own knowledge to see 2 I have fully understood what was taught. Even if I make 3 , I can learn from them. 

Once, I was given a gardening project for 4 class. For the project, my classmates and I had to grow plants from seeds and note down their progress over a month. Our teacher 5 each of us basil（罗勒叶）seeds to plant in the school garden. Following her instructions, each of us wet some cotton wool, put it in a small container, placed our seeds into the soil and left it in our classroom. We then waited a few 6 for the seeds to come out. I checked my seeds every day and made sure 7 the cotton wool remained wet. My seeds finally 8 in 7 days, like our teacher said it would. 

9 , some of my classmates forgot about their seeds and did not wet the cotton wool every day, so their seeds took 10 to germinate（发芽）. After germination, we placed the seedlings 11 the soil in the school garden and watered them every day. As basil seeds grow easily in tropical climates, the seedlings grew 12 . At the end of the month, most of us had fully-grown basil plants that were ready to be harvested. Our teacher allowed us to harvest the leaves and bring them home. I ended up eating it with some pasta my father made. I really 13 the gardening project as it helped me to familiarize 14 with the different growth stages of plants and how different elements like moisture and sunlight affect its growth. It was very satisfying to enjoy the fruits of my labor. 

Obviously, completing a project successfully 15 build up a teenager's confidence and can give them a sense of achievement, which can not only have a positive impact on their self-esteem but bring in great fun.