I work as a volunteer for the poor in Haiti. I decided to take my son Brain there for a week, hoping to educate(教育) 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. He always hated French classes.

    One day, I was interviewing(采访) 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. That really touched my heart.

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

SCENE I

One dollar a week

The doorway of the house where Chandler has a room. He is dressed in his best clothes, ready for his evening out. He is going out as his friend, Jeff White, comes in.

WHITE         What are you doing this evening, Towers?

CHANDLER      (Smiling) Tonight I'm going to live like a man with a million dollars!

WHITE         What are you talking about? You haven't got a million dollars!

CHANDLER      How much money are you and I paid each week, Jeff?

WHITE         Eighteen dollars. Why?

CHANDLER      And how much of that eighteen dollars do you spend each week?

WHITE         All of it, of course.

CHANDLER    Well, I don't. Each week I save one dollar out of my eighteen. Then, every ten weeks, I can buy myself an evening to remember.

WHITE         What do you do?

CHANDLER   I put on my finest clothes, go to one of the best restaurants in New York, eat the most expensive food on the menu, drink the best wine, and then take a taxi home!

WHITE          (Surprising) Why?

CHANDLER     Why? Because it makes me feel wonderful to sit with some of the richest people in America, and to make them think that I'm rich, too.

WHITE          You're crazy!

CHANDLER     (Laughing) Perhaps I am!

Mrs Black comes in.

MRS BLACK      Ah, Mr Chandler. I wanted to see you.

CHANDLER      Good evening, Mrs Black. What a lovely evening!

MRS BLACK   Lovely evening perhaps, but you haven't paid me for your room this month. When am I going to get the money?

CHANDLER     Soon, Mrs. Black. Very soon.

Mrs Black looks at Chandler's clothes.

MRS BLACK      You can spend money on expensive clothes, but you can't pay for your room. Is that right?

CHANDLER    (Hurrying away) Good night, Mrs Black!

A 108-year-old Message in a Bottle

    On November 30, 1906, George Bidder dropped a bottle from a boat into the North Sea. The weighted glass bottle sank almost to the sea floor, and then it move slowly for 108 years and 138 days.

    Its journey ended when Marianne Winkler found the bottle in 2015. Winkler was then on vacation on Amrum Island. She picked up the bottle when it was washed up onto the beach. She saw a piece of paper inside, but didn't break it open. She could tell that the bottle was old. So she didn't want to damage it.

    Finally she got the piece of paper out of the bottle. She found that the paper was actually a postcard. On the back of the card there was this message: The Marine Biological Association（海洋生物学协会） would pay a shilling（先令） for the bottle. A shilling was a unit of money that was used in Great Britain before the early 1970s.

    Winkler filled out the card and posted it. The association was surprised to get a postcard addressed to George Bidder, the president of the association from 1939 to 1945. The workers of the association searched on the Internet to find a shilling. They found one and sent it to Winkler as a reward.

    The message in the bottle was the oldest ever re-discovered. For this reason Marianne Winkler got a place in  “Guinness World Records”（吉尼斯世界纪录）. She broke the record for the oldest message in a bottle.

    Winkler's bottle was not the only one Bidder sent to sea. Between 1904 and 1906, he spent away more than one thousand bottles. He placed postcards inside them. The bottles were part of a research  project to map currents（洋流） in the North Sea. This was the best method at that time. But whether the association could get the bottles back depended on the people who found them. The association reported that about 55 percent of the bottles were returned. They added that the experiment was a success as it showed the east-to-west flow of the North Sea's currents.

    Hi, everyone! My name is Guo Ailun. And my English name is Allen. I come from Liaoning, China. I'm 22 years old, and I look really tall and strong. I'm a basketball player. I love basketball very much and I play it quite well.

    My uncle was a great basketball player in the national team (国家队) in the past and my father loves basketball too. So I started to play basketball early. And I began to play for our country as a player when I was only 14. Basketball is my favourite sport. I play it every day. It makes me happy.

    Tony Parker is my favourite basketball player in NBA. I want to be a member of NBA and play with Parker some day. I hope my dream comes true.

    Do you want to be a basketball player like me? Then you must play it hard.

    It was 8:30 at night. Don was driving home. He was surprised when he saw a large, green light in the sky. The light was floating（漂浮）over a field. Don stopped his car and went out. He stood behind a tree and watched.

    The light got very bright. It came nearer and nearer. It was a UFO! And it landed in the field!

    "What's that? Maybe there are travelers from space in the UFO, "he thought. He started to walk across the field.

    Then a large door on the UFO opened. Something came out! It moved toward Don.

    The thing was not nice to look at! It had long yellow strings（细绳）on its face. Two round and blue balls were on its face. Under the round things, there were three holes. One hole opened and closed and made big noises.

    Now Don was afraid, but he tried to be brave. He walked nearer and listened to the terrible noises.

    "Hello," said the strange thing. "My name is Zeeb. I'm from the planet Mars（火星）. This is my first trip to the earth. Glad to meet you."

    Originally from India, Krunal Shukla had been living in Edinburgh, Scotland for six years when he and his wife started to consider other countries to raise their two-year-old son. "We wanted our son to grow up in a place where he'd have a hot of recreational(娱乐的) activities. Canada was too cold and we weren't interested in Australia so we started to look into New

    "Zealand," Krunal said.

    "After receiving our visas(签证), we arrived in Auckland in March 2009 with on much of a plan. 1 found the job market to be difficult at the time. I have a Master's degree in Accounting(会计) and Finance(财经) and several years of experience as a manager in the financial field. I would spend about four to five hours a day applying(申请) jobs when we first arrived. After several months of searching, 1 approached (到达) the Auckland Chamber of Commerce where I met New Kiwis(新西兰人) Employment Liaison, Sheeam. She gave me a 1ot 0f guidance and helped me to target my job search. Sheeam also trained me through the interview process and within a week I received(得到) a couple of interviews," Krunal said.

    Krunai accepted a job offer as Business Analyst in the Finance Department of West Coast District Health Board in December 2009. He and his family packed up and moved to Greymouth on the South Island.

    He said, "We found housing quite easily and were amazed at how social the community was. In the first week neighbors were coming over and introducing themselves—extremely different to the UK where I hardly knew my neighbor who lived next door to us for six years."

    Krunal is presently on a visa sponsored(担保) by his employer and wants to apply for Permanent Residence(永久居住) in the future.

    "I love my job and it's been an exciting challenge working in the health industry. I've spent years in a commercial setting(商业环境) so I'm learning something new every day. My workmates have been extremely helpful and welcoming. My family has settled in well and we enjoy raising our son in such a safe and secure (安全的) environment. New Zealand is a beautiful country with plenty of chances for young families," Krunal said.