Jodie's Daddy is a Garbageman (垃圾清理工)

      Mr. Swales wanted to find out what his students' parents did. He had just called Jodie when some girls burst out laughing. Shirley shouted, “Jodie's Daddy is a Garbageman!”

      Everybody in the class laughed out loud, except Jodie. She felt her face turn red.

      “Silence!” Mr Swales said, “Being a garbagemen is a difficult and useful job. We should all be thankful to Jodie's father.”

      Jodie's father came to walk her home from school as usual, but she didn't run up to him the way she always did. When they got back home, Jodie went to her room and cried for a long time.

      Her father came into her room, “What happened, Jodie? Why are you so sad?”

      Jodie told her father what had happened and looked at him. He didn't seem angry or hurt. “Well,” he said, “they are right. Being a garbageman is a dirty job. Tomorrow's Saturday. Come to work with me, Jodie.”

      The place really smell too good. Jodie wrinkled her nose. “Don't worry, kid. In five minutes you won't smell a thing.” said her father.

      Everybody there was working hard, and they seemed to have a good time. Jodie's father handed her a pair of gloves and told her to get the little plastic bags and throw them into the truck.

      It was fun, but also hard work. Jodie's arms soom got tired. At last, no more garbage was left and Jodie felt very happy.

      “Garbage is disgusting, but when we clear it away, everything's nice and clean. You can make yourself happy only by making other happy. That's why I like being a garbageman so much.”

      Jodie give her dirty, smeely garbageman daddy a big kiss(吻). She said, “When I grow up, I will be a garbagegirl!”

      Now whenever someone asks Jodie what her daddy does, she says, “He's a garbageman! Everybody makes garbage, but my daddy takes it away!”

    The greatest saleswoman in the world today doesn't mind if you call her a girl. This is because Markita Andrews made more than $ 80,000 by selling cookies when she was 13 years old. Andrews and her mother shared a dream of travelling around the world. Once, while reading magazines, Andrews found that the person who sold the most cookies would win a free trip for two around the world. She decided to have a try.

    To make her dream come true, Andrews went door to door every day after school and repeated, "Hi, I have a dream. I'm earning a trip around the world for my mum and me by selling cookies. "Then she asked, "Would you like to buy one or two dozen boxes of cookies?"

    Andrews kept asking for a whole year, no matter how heavily it was raining or snowing outside. Her hard work paid off. She sold 42,000 boxes of cookies that year and she won her trip around the world.

    Andrews is no smarter than thousands of other people. The key to her success is that she has found the secret of selling: Ask. Ask. Ask! Many people fail before they even begin because they fail to ask for what they want.

    It takes courage to ask for what you want. And, as Andrews has discovered, the more you ask, the easier it gets.

    It's Sunday today. The weather(天气) is fine. Tom doesn't need to go to school. He takes the No. 24 bus to Wanda Cinema(电影院). An old man gets on the bus at the Xihu Park Stop. Tom stands up and says to the old man, "Come and sit here, please!" The old man goes over and sits down. He says, "Thank you very much, my boy. You are a good student." "You're welcome." says Tom.

    "Which school are you in?" the old man asks Tom.

    "I am in No. 16 Middle School." answers Tom.

    "No. 16 Middle School? I graduated(毕业) from this school 50 years ago(以前)." says the old man.

    "We are alumni." says Tom. Then they begin to talk about No. 16 Middle School.

    It was Day 1 of our vacation on Cortes, a beautiful quiet island. "iPhone, iPhone, iPhone," my son kept moaning (呻吟). In front of him was a big window of facing the blue ocean. And a Coo gentle wind was coming in from the door. Clearly, he saw and felt none of it.

    Back at home, I'd soon give up and hand the phone over to him after five minutes of listening to this kind of moaning

    But not here. Before we left, I had told my, 10-year-old son the rule-no e-mails, no Facebook, no video games, and no iPhone. We came here to get away from them all' Here we were on our first day and already, he couldn't stand it.

    ____________I walked down the grass road to the beach and looked out to the sea. My 6-year-old daughter and my husband were drawing on pieces of wood. They were doing just fine.

    On Day 2, we spent the whole morning digging for shells(贝壳). This time, my son joined us. He collected .shellfish and other sea treasures. When we got back to our little wood house, I gave my son a book, and put him on the lovely garden chair. It was almost dinner when he looked up.

    The next few days passed in peace.

    On Day 6, my son was lying beside me on the beach, watching the sun going down. He was playing with the sand. And there was somethingshining.in his eyes, I realized how time slowed down for both of us. It was exactly what I wanted. Finally, we were able to sit quietly, without thinking about screens, phone calls and e-mails.

    A week away from all the electronics and life is good.

As the main guitarist(吉他手) in our music club, Li Nan has a deep love for music. With big dreams, Li didn't just want to play other people's {#blank#}1{#/blank#}( song). He wanted to compose(创作) his own music.

One day, he had a good idea and decided to try making his own music with his guitar. In the . {#blank#}2{#/blank#}( begin), he was not very good at it. He had a hard time and faced many difficulties, but he didn't give {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Instead, he worked hard er than before to learn and practice.

As time went on, he didi better. He composed{#blank#}4{#/blank#} excellent piece snow. It showed his own style(风格) and feelings. Later, he{#blank#}5{#/blank#}( share) the piece with our music club members and we all liked it.

However, he got{#blank#}6{#/blank#} big trouble one day. He {#blank#}7{#/blank#}( break) his friend's guitar, and this guitar was expensive. As a result, he has to compose music for others to make money. Luckily, someone loved his music and paid for his service. {#blank#}8{#/blank#}( final), he made enough money and bought a new guitar for his friend. Li Nan was great. He was brave to face his mistake and try to make things right.

Li Nan's story inspired( 激 励 ) all the music club members. We saw his journey from{#blank#}9{#/blank#} play) the guitar to composing his own music. Through hard work, he made his dream come true. Let's learn from his example, believe in{#blank#}10{#/blank#}( our) and bravely follow our dreams.

I arrived in Penang in Malaysia this morning with my {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. It was {#blank#}2{#/blank#} and hot, so we {#blank#}3{#/blank#} to go to the beach near our hotel. My sister and I tried paragliding. I felt like I was a bird. It was so exciting! For lunch, we had something very {#blank#}4{#/blank#}— Malaysian yellow noodles They were delicious! In the afternoon, we {#blank#}5{#/blank#} bicycles to Georgetown. There {#blank#}6{#/blank#}a lot of new buildings now, but many of the old buildings are still there. In Weld Quay, a {#blank#}7{#/blank#} old place in Georgetown, we{#blank#}8{#/blank#} the houses of the Chinese traders from 100 years ago. I{#blank#}9{#/blank#} what life was like here in the past. I really enjoyed {#blank#}10{#/blank#} around the town.