I used to be the shyest person in the world. I hid1 my elder sister whenever I had to speak to a stranger. When asked to speak in class, I could hardly 2, much less speak. Even among the few friends I had, my high, timid (怯怯的) voice earned me jokes —about being a girl.

    Then in the seventh grade, my sister suggested I 3 voice lessons. After considering it for a short time, I did. I began a series of vocal exercises.

After exercising a lot, I finally gained 4 in my voice.

    A few months later, I was asked to sing for some retired people, I thought I would do better than before 5 the voice lessons. I opened my mouth and —nothing. I couldn't remember the 6! My face turned hot. The kind pianist whispered a prompt (提示), and I remembered just enough to keep singing.

    Then the thought struck me: I've already embarrassed (尴尬) myself enough. There's really nothing else to 7. So in my second song, I just relaxed and felt the energy of the song lift me. And I did much better.

After that, I started singing to myself as 8 as I could in my own room. That's something I would never have done before. One classmate even said that I 9be in the school's talent show.

    I am not a shy person 10. Singing has made me more outgoing. Today, I can also stand in front of the whole class and give a big speech. I am proud of myself.

    Everybody usually makes decisions. They can be as important as what you will do in the future or as simple as what you will eat for breakfast . Any decision could be the turning point of your life.

    I made an important decision when I was in Junior 3.

    Before I made that decision I was one of the boys who tried too hard to act as an adult. I didn't know that only kids want to show themselves as adults. I didn't listen to my parents and teachers, and my grades became poor. Then came the high school entrance exam.

    At the turning point of my life, my mom wanted to have a conversation with me. I wanted to turn it down but when I looked at her eyes, I felt I couldn't refuse. Instead of asking me to study hard, to my surprise, Mom just asked what I wanted to do in the future. Without thinking too much, I just said I would like to study hard .

    Mom smiled and asked again: “ I asked: what do you WANT to do?”

    I never seriously thought about the question. So , I kept silent. “Whether you want to go on studying or enter the society,” she went on, “it is your own decision. Your life ought to be decided by you, not by anyone else, including me.” After saying that, she had tears in her eyes.

    For the first time in my life I was asked to make my own decision. I sat in my chair and thought about myself, my life and what kind of person I wanted to become.

    It took me what seemed to be ages to make the biggest decision so far in my life. I wanted to be a man who makes a difference in the world. To achieve that, I needed to study hard.

    The path to my future became clear to me. I didn't act rebelliously(叛逆地) any more. With passion(激情) in my heart, I studied hard.

    Now, I'm 17 and I'm in one of the best schools in my city, in one of the best classes at the school and I am one of the best students in the class.

    Thanks to that decision, I have become what I am today.

    One of the most detailed(详细的) descriptions Of a UEO was given by nine-year-old Gaynor in Sunderland in July 1976.

    Gaynor lived in Oakenholt, a village in North Wales. On her way home from school, she saw a silver(银色的) object shaped like a saucer(茶碟) in a field not far from her home.

    The strange craft(飞行物) was about 30 feet long and 9 feet high. It had yellow windows along the side and on the top there was a light flashing in a kind of box. Although Gaynor was very frightened, she did not run away. Instead, she lay quietly in the long grass and watched the door of the strange craft open. She saw two people wearing silver suits come out of the craft. They were carrying some kind of equipment(设备) which they used to examine the ground.  They were short and had large pink eyes, Gaynor reported.

    After about half an hour, the two people went back into the craft. At once there was a loud noise and the UFO took off.

    Although Gaynor told her mother what she had seen, her family decided to keep quiet about it. They did not want people to laugh at their daughter. However, 18 months later, Gaynor told her story to UFO experts. They hypnotized(使进入睡眠状态) Gaynor so that they could be sure she was telling the truth.

    Not only did she repeat her story, but also she was able to draw a picture of what she had seen!

    When Daniel woke up yesterday morning, he found he was a bit late for school, so he started running to catch the bus. Moments later, he saw a dog, but not its lead. He tripped over the lead and fell down. He jumped up quickly, went on running and got on the bus. After a while an old coach broke down in the middle of the road, and the driver couldn't move it. It was eight o' clock, the middle of the rush hour, so it soon created a terrible traffic jam. The bus driver tried to go round the coach. Unfortunately a taxi was coming in the opposite direction. The driver tried to stop the taxi, but he couldn't prevent the accident-the taxi crashed into the front of the bus! Luckily nobody was hurt.

    When Daniel finally got to school out of breath, the science lesson had been on for five minutes. Daniel said sorry to the teacher and sat at his desk. He reached out for his school bag-no，it was nowhere to be found.

    "Where is my school bag?" Daniel was puzzled. Suddenly he realized that he had left it on the bus. Bad luck！

    A British man has learned the skills needed to perform Beijing Opera, making the audience (观众) enjoy his lively performance of the Monkey King.

    Ghaffar Pourazar, born in Iran, said he has been a big fan of Bruce Lee since he was a child and is full of interest about China. In 1993, he happened to watch Beijing Opera performed in London by professionals from Jingju Theatre Company of Beijing. Ghaffar said he fell in love with the beautiful voices, colorful costumes, excellent shows and so on. So after one year, he arrived in China alone and became a student of Beijing Opera at a Beijing school.

    At the age of 32, he had to learn with teenage students every day, starting from the most basic training of the legs and waist. At the time, he was mostly troubled by the dialogue in Beijing Opera. To him, it was the biggest obstacle. But he never gave up.

    Four years later, he began to learn to perform the Monkey King, a traditional character from the Chinese classic story Journey to the West. He said he arrived in the workroom an hour earlier than other performers and also bought books and CDs to better understand the character.

    Ghaffar today is not only good a speaking Beijing dialect (方言) but has also built a fame for Beijing Opera. He once got a top international prize for performing the Monkey King.

    To help more people enjoy Beijing Opera, Ghaffar often teaches the traditional art form in schools in the United States, Britain and other countries. When he found that the language was difficult to understand, he started to translate Beijing Opera song lyrics. Ghaffar led a group of actors to perform 66 times in a month and a half in the United States. He also led a 48-member team to perform in Malaysia. In the past 10 years, he has performed in more than 400 shows.

    It was the last day of the final examination in a college. On the steps of building, a group of engineering students were waiting for the last exam. On their faces was confidence.

    They knew the exam would be easy. The professor (教授) had said they could bring any books or notes during the test.

    Right after they came into the classroom, the professor handed out the papers. There were only five questions on it.

    Three hours passed. Then the professor began to collect the papers. The students no longer looked confident. On their faces was nervous expression. The professor watched the worried faces before him, and then asked, "How many of you have completed all five questions?" No hand was raised. "How many of you have answered four?" Still no hands. "Three? Two?" The students moved restlessly in their seats. "One, then? Certainly somebody has finished one." But the class kept silent. The professor said, "That is exactly what I expected. I just want to make you know clearly that even though you have completed four years of engineering, there are still many things about the subject you don't know. These questions you could not answer are common in everyday practice." Then, smiling, he added, "You will all pass this course, but remember, your education has just begun."

    The years have obscured the name of this professor, but not the lesson he taught.