As a kid， I read a story of a bird. It described a male bird which takes a lot of pain to build a house and the female bird takes care of the baby in it. When the baby bird learns to fly， the whole family flies off to a different place leaving behind the beautiful nest for other birds to grow their family in it. It made me confused(困惑的)： How could they so easily give up their house built with so much effort?

    One night， I got this dream. I was walking on the endless road with beautiful trees on the either side. Attracted by the greenery， I went on， then I saw a wonderful house. I explored the house. There was a sloping(斜的) roof which matched with the greenery around； the large central open yard reminded me of the activities that might have taken place there which felt lively even now. The small water body that kept the house cool added to the beauty of the house — of course， it was all dried up now. Such liveliness turns the house into a home. People say “THE HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS”， and now I felt it and was attracted deeply.

    When I woke up from the dream， I was clear about everything. I realized what message my dream wanted to convey(传递) me. And years later， when I chose my career， I thought of the story of the bird and my dream， then I was sure what to do. I decided to choose architecture as my career. I wanted to do the same thing that the male bird in the story did， to take pain in building a beautiful house and let others stay in it. My dream comes true and the happiness that I gain now from this career is great.

    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!”

C

    When the American were getting ready to send their first men to the moon, an old Australia was watching TV in a restaurant(饭店). There was an Englishman in the restaurant, too, and he said to the Australian, "The Americans are clever, aren't they? They are going to send some men to the moon. It is a very long way from our world(世界) . " Oh, that's nothing." The Australian answered quickly. " Our country is going to send some people to the sun in a few months. That's much farther(更远) away than the moon, you know."

    "Oh, yes, it is," the Englishman said, " but the sun is too hot for people to go to ."  The Australian laughed and said, "We won't go to the sun in the day, of course. We will go there at night."

    One day a little boy dialed a telephone number and started to speak and he put part of his hand over the phone at the same time. He wanted to change the tone (音色，语调) of his voice. While all this was happening, a man who was working nearby, watched carefully and listened with great interest to the conversation that followed:

    “Lady, can you give me the job of cutting your lawn (草坪)?”

    “I already have someone to cut my lawn,” answered the woman at the other end of the phone.

    “Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price of the person who cuts your lawn now.” “I'm very satisfied with the person who is cutting my lawn.”

    The boy said, “Lady, I'll even sweep the floor and the stairs of your house for free.”

    “No, thank you.”

    With a smile on his face, the young boy thanked the lady and hung up the phone. The man then walked over to the boy and said: “Son, I like your attitude（态度）. I'd like to offer you a job.”

    “No, thanks,” said the boy.

    “But you're looking for a job, aren't you?”

    “No, sir,” answered the boy. “I was just checking on my performance at the job I already have. I am the one who cuts that lady's lawn!”

    Sally Ride was born in California in 1951. She was the first American woman to travel into space. She loved to play tennis and wanted to be a tennis player when she was young. But after three months' professional（专业的）training, she changed her mind. She went to Stanford University and started to study science. She studied stars and planets. She did researches at the university and got her PhD in astrophysics（天体物理学博士学位）after several years' hard work.

    In 1977, she took a test to become an astronaut. And then she was picked up from over 8, 000 people. In order to realize her dream of going into space, she had to get different kinds of special and difficult training. She learned how to fly a plane, how to jump out of a plane as well as how to operate（操作）special machines.

    Sally and four other astronauts flew a spaceship called Challenger on Jun. 18, 1983. She became the first American woman to travel into space. Later, she taught at the University of California. Then she wrote seven books on space for children, encouraging children to study science. Unfortunately, she died in 2012.