This is a tale of two friends — one is blind, the other has no arms. On their own, the two are “disabled”. But together, they are a powerful team that has changed part of their village in North China's Hebei Province into a rich, green forest. Meet 53-year-old Jia Haixia and Jia Wenqi!

      Their story began in 2000, when Haixia, who was already blind in his right eye, lost his left one after an illness. Wenqi lost his arms in an accident when he was just three. Neither could find a job, so the two decided to team up. They rented some poor land and began to plant trees. In return, the local officials paid them a small fee.

      Haixia and Wenqi never imagined that they would end up creating an environmental paradise. Their forest now has over 10,000 trees, hundreds of birds and many other wild animals. In addition, it saves the village from river flooding during the rainy season.

      When the friends work together, they focus on their strengths not their disabilities. Their day begins at 7 a.m. when the sightless Haixia carries Wenqi across the river to get to their worksite. Since they cannot afford to buy young trees to plant, the two use branches from existing trees. Haixia climbs to the tree-top and with Wenqi's direction, selects the perfect branch. He then digs a hole and carefully plants it. Finally Wenqi waters the area.

      Though hard-working, the men don't make much money. But as Wenqi puts it, “We stand on our own feet, so the fruits of our work taste sweeter.”

Neither Haixia nor Wenqi cares about money. Together, they already have everything they need — a perfect pair of eyes, two strong hands, and the best friendship in the world!

There are four people in the twins' family. They are the twins, their father and their mother.

The twins' names are Lucy and Lily. They are fourteen. They are in the same class in the NO.1 Middle School. They are very good students. They not only work very hard but also sing very well. They want to join the music club. Lucy wants to play the piano. Lily can play the guitar.

      Their father, Mr. King, is a teacher. He teaches English in a school near his home. Their mother, Mrs. King, is a teacher, too. She teaches Chinese. Mr. and Mrs. King are in different schools. But they have the same hobby — play the guitar.

    Long long time ago, the Jade Emperor, organized an animal race. He told all the animals that the first 12 animals to win could get a place in the Chinese Zodiac (十二生肖), and have a year named after them.

    The cat and the mouse both asked the ox to wake them up early on the day of the race. That day, the ox tried to wake them up, but without success. So the kind ox carried them on his back and started running when the race began. The mouse woke up just when the ox was going to across the last river. He knew that he could never beat the cat. So he pushed the cat off the ox's back. When the ox reached the other side of the river, the mouse jumped off and ran to the finishing line, just before the ox.

    So the 12-year cycle（循环） begins with the mouse. The ox comes after him. The tiger follows the ox. The rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig come after them. The cat didn't get a place in the Zodiac. That's why the cat hates the mouse and always wants to kill it.

    One day a man found a cocoon(蚕) of a butterfly in the forest. He sat there for several hours and watched the butterfly. Suddenly, a small opening appeared and the butterfly made its great effort(努力) to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further.（那个蛹好象忘记了它该怎样做, 也好象停止了挣扎）.

    So the man decided to help the butterfly. He cut off the remaining bit of the cocoon so that the butterfly would come out easily. But to his surprise, the butterfly got a heavy body and very small wings when it came out of the cocoon.

    The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that the body would grow smaller at any moment and the wings would become larger and be able to fly. But neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling(爬) around with a heavy body and small wings. It was never able to fly.

    The man was in his kindness, but he didn't understand the nature rules. Before the butterfly came out of the cocoon, fluid(液体) from its body must be forced into its wings, and then would be ready for flying. It must have a hard struggle(拼搏) to get through the small opening to get its freedom from the cocoon.

    Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any difficulties, it would make us fail. We would not be as strong as we could have been, we could never fly.

    Mary loved small animals. One morning while she was walking in the forest, she found 1weak birds in the grass. She took them home and put them in a small cage. She cared them with love and the birds both grew2. They thanked her3a wonderful song every morning.

    But something happened one day. Mary left the door of the 4open. The larger bird flew from the cage. She thought that it would 5. As it flew close, she grasped (紧抓) it. She was very 6to catch it.7she felt strange. She opened her hand and looked sadly at the 8bird. Her great love had killed the bird!

    The other bird was moving back and forth (来回) in the cage. Mary could 9its great need for freedom (自由). It wanted to fly into the clear and blue10. At once, Mary took the bird 11the cage and let it fly away. The bird circled once, twice, three times…

    Mary enjoyed watching the bird flying and singing 12 Suddenly the bird flew13and landed softly on her head. It sang the 14song that she had ever heard.

    The easiest way to lose love is to hold it too tight. The best way to keep love is to 15it wings (翅膀).

    My friend Mr. Smith is a famous doctor and has a hospital. So he has enough money to travel all over the world. And he's been to a lot of places of interest. He likes to play with children and has a lot of little friends. They often ask him to tell them all kinds of funny things he saw. It makes them happy and his room is always full of children when he's free.

    It was my little son's seventh birthday yesterday. The boy wanted to ask his old friend Mr. Smith to the party. He called Mr. Smith himself and told him about it. The doctor accepted his invitation happily.

    Mr. Smith came on time, with a nice present in his hand. After dinner the children sat around the traveler and asked him to tell them some funny stories. Mr. Smith agreed and his stories made them laugh again and again. At last he told them the funniest story. He said, “Once I reached a city on a foggy day. The fog was the thickest in the world…”

    “Please wait a moment, Mr. Smith,” said my son, “It's said that the fog in London is the thickest in the world.”

    “You're right, my clever boy.” said the funny doctor.” The city had much fog that day…” “What's it, then?” the boy couldn't wait to ask again.

    “The fog was so thick that I couldn't see it at all.” the funny doctor said with a smile.