I was small for my age. I was shy and sometimes it was hard for me to make friends with others. However, learning came fairly (相当地) easy for me. I was the best in most of my classes, but PE class was my nightmare (噩梦) and made me feel that I was not as good as the others. Miss Forsythe was our PE teacher. She was young and energetic. Everyone liked her. She said that we all had to come to her classes. No one could hide from Miss Forsythe!

    One day she told me that she wanted me to play a game with another girl in a PE show. I was rather worried that I wouldn't do a good job as she explained her idea, but she was excited. With her encouragement, I had no choice but to agree.

    It was a "boy meets girl" game. I played the boy and my classmate, Margaret Ann. played the girl. We were dressed in evening clothes and danced around the floor. According to Miss Forsythe. I had to pick up Margaret Ann when we finished the dance. Since I was not strong enough to pick the tallest girl up, it was she who picked me up. I suddenly felt ten feet tall! It was a huge success and everybody applauded (鼓掌) for our excellent performance. What a wonderful ending! Afterwards. I smiled confidently. Miss Forsythe's understanding and willingness to create a place for me in her show (which certainly did not need me) gave me some much needed confidence. She was and always will be my favorite teacher.

    How do you usually go to work？By bus？My1have different ways of going outside.

    My parents work in a hospital.The hospital is 2from our home，so they go to work by car. The car ride3about 45 minutes. My sister has a clothes store. It's about 2 kilometers from her4to our home. She goes there5 every day. She thinks walking is good 6health. I'm a middle school student. I take the school bus to school. Many students7taking the school bus is boring，but I don't think so8I can talk with my classmates on the bus. It gives me a lot of 9.I like every minute of it.10about your family？Do you have the same way of going outside or different?

Here is a part from Maria's diaries(日记) about her vacation.

The 3^rd Day: Yesterday we arrived in London in the rain. We went to some big shops.

The 4^th Day: We came to Paris. The day was cloudy and the food wasn't good. We liked the shops here, but the things were dear.

The 5^th Day: We arrived in Rome in the hot weather. We had lunch in a small restaurant, and the food was delicious. We visited some shops. They were all wonderful.

The 6^th Day: We went to New York and the things in the shops were all dear. But we liked the warm weather there.

The 7^th Day: Today we visited New York City. The weather was fine. We'll go back home tomorrow after a week's vacation.