When 4-year-old English family member Prince George(乔治王子) started his first day of school in September, Chinese language was on his curriculum(课程表).

And he wasn't the only one kid. According to a report published by the British Council(英国文化协会) in September, about 51 percent of UK parents want their children to learn Chinese, because it's one of the most useful languages.

In fact, the popularity of Chinese made the UK government start the Mandarin Excellence Programme in September last year. Its aim(目的) is to make at least 5000 English students speak Chinese well by 2020.

Yet, the UK isn't the only country showing a growing interest in Chinese. The language becomes the second most spoken foreign language in the USA this year, after only Spanish, with over 2.1 million speakers.

Many US famous people such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Malia Obama, former US President(总统) Barak Obama's daughter, study Chinese as a second language.

In April, Arabella and Joseph Kushner, grandchildren of US President Donald Trump, sang the traditional folk music Jasmine in Mandarin for Chinese President Xi Jingping when the two leaders met in Florida.

So far, 67 countries have studied Chinese in their national curriculum, reported the Chinese website.

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    There was once a King and he wanted to find out who could paint the best picture of peace. And he would offer a prize to the artist. Many artists tried. The King looked at all the pictures but there were only two he really liked and he had to choose between them.

    One picture was of a calm(平静的) lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with white soft clouds. Everyone thought that was a perfect picture of peace.

    The other picture had mountains too. But these were rugged(崎岖的） and bare（无遮蔽的）.Above was an angry sky. And it was raining and lightening. Down the side of the mountain, a waterfall fell quickly. This did not look peaceful at all.

    But when the King looked carefully, he saw behind the waterfall a bush(矮树丛)growing in a crack（裂缝） in the rock． In the bush a mother bird had built her nest（巢，窝）, There, she sat on her nest… in perfect peace.

    Which picture do you think won the prize?

    The King chose the second picture."Because, "said the King, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the middle of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace.

    Mickey Mouse and his good friends Donald Duck and Goofy are big fans of kung fu. They come to the Shaolin Temple in China to learn kung fu.

    Bat King is a bad guy. He has super kung fu skills. But he always makes trouble for Shaolin Temple. In Shaolin Temple, the master (师父) is very strict. The training is very hard. Donald can't put up with (忍受) it. He leaves the temple secretly. Goofy always does things in the wrong way.

    At the same time, Bat King has a plan. He wants to beat the people of Shaolin Temple. Mickey and his friends decide to save the temple. They study kung fu hard. They also have lots of adventures. In these adventures, they make much progress in kung fu.

    What adventures do they have? How will they be safe? Will they beat the Bat King and save Shaolin Temple? Find out in the storybook Kung Fu Mickey Mouse (《功夫米老鼠》).

When my daughter was in primary school, she brought home four small twigs(细枝) from school to plant. None of them looked very strong and lively. But with hope for the future, I planted them somewhere in our backyard which could give them enough sunlight. Over the years, because of the poor soil(土壤), three of them died. Only one lived at last.

It grew crooked(不直的) and very slowly. In fact, it looked more like a fat bush than a tree. Later, I noticed that it was starting to die. The branches(树枝) were becoming bare. Only the top third of the tree was still green. I did my best to save it by feeding it a lot of fertilizer, but it didn't work.

Later one morning, I went out and looked at it again. I was thinking if it would be better to just cut it down. It would make the yard look cleaner. As I walked over to take a closer look at it, however, I noticed something moving within the leaves. It was a bird patiently building a nest in the topmost branches. I smiled when I looked at it. I thought maybe this old tree was still useful. It might not be healthy or pretty, but it was still giving a bird a home.

This tree let me know that all of our lives have a purpose. It doesn't matter if we are young and strong or old and sickly. Until our last breath, we have things to do, love to give, and joy to share. We can help to make this world a better and more beautiful place.