Issumboshi was a one-inch boy, and he was so small that he could not do any useful work on the family farm. His grandfather became tired of feeding such a useless man and sent him away to the city.

    “Learn to become a warrior(武士),”he told his grandson.“Then perhaps you will grow into a man of normal height.”

    To help the little man on his way, his grandfather gave him a cup to use as a boat on the river, his mother gave him two long grains of rice to use as oars and his father gave him a pin to use as a sword.

    Issumboshi's journey was long and dangerous. However, because he was so brave and clever, he at last reached the city safely.

    To his surprise, the streets were empty. The people of the city were hiding in their houses from a powerful giant.

    Immediately, brave Issumboshi went out to meet the giant. The giant tried to pick him up and eat him, but Issumboshi was so small and quick that the giant could not get hold of him.

    Issumboshi struck again and again at the giant with his sword. Before long, the giant fell to the ground and died from a thousand wounds.

    “Oh, what a great warrior he is!”the people of the city shouted as they came out of their houses.“What a great hero this young man is!”Hearing this, Issumboshi felt so proud that he stood up straight. He told himself, “I am already taller than I was. How wise my grandfather was to send me to the city!

    Once there was a man traveling in a faraway village. As he was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped. He found that these huge elephants were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains(锁链), no cages. It was clear that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their ropes but for some reason, they did not.

    He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and didn't try to get away." Well,' the trainer said," when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they still believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can hold them, so they never try to break free."

    How could it be? These animals could at any time break free from their ropes. But because they were always stuck right where they were, they believed they couldn't.

    Just like the elephants, how many of us go through life believing that we cannot do something, just because we failed at it once before?

           We should never give up the struggle(斗争) in life.

It's a Miracle!

John Ogburn doesn't remember a single thing about Monday, June 26, 2017. He doesn't remember waking up that morning, or helping prepare breakfast for his three young children, or kissing his wife, Sarabeth Ogburn, goodbye. He doesn't remember driving to the Panera Bread restaurant, or going to his favorite seat in the back, where he regularly sat, working on his laptop. And he doesn't remember falling to the floor at about 4:15p.m. His heart had gone completely still.

Panera Bread workers April Bradley and her brother found John had passed out in the back of the restaurant. He was lying on the carpet. His face was dark purple. "It was the scariest thing I've ever seen,"Bradley says. She dialled 911. It was 4:17 p.m.

Luckily,the police officer Lawrence Guiler was about 50 feet away. Another lucky thing was that before joining the police, he had been an EMT.

Guiler arrived at Panera in less than a minute and began CPR（心肺复苏）. Within 30 seconds, another police officer, Nikolina Bajic, rushed in to help. A few minutes later, four firefighters arrived. They put an oxygen mask on John's face. They took turns performing CPR. They also used a defibrillator （通过电击使心脏恢复正常跳动的除颤器）to try to shock his heart into restarting.It didn't.

They shocked him again. And again. And again. They gave him a shot of epinephrine（肾上腺素）.Then another.Then another. Nothing. No sign of life. More than 20 minutes had gone by.

"Nobody wanted to give up on him,"says Bajic.

Around 4:30 p.m.,while John was receiving CPR, his iPhone started ringing. It was his wife. "I called a couple of times, but he didn't answer,"Sarabeth says."I thought he was in a meeting."

A little over an hour later, she received a call and rushed to the hospital. Someone informed her that John had received CPR for 38 minutes before they found pulse（脉搏）.Doctors still can't explain how this happened.

Surprisingly，the only aftereffects （事后影响）were some short-term memory loss and a sore （疼痛的）chest from the CPR.

Gina is a new teacher in a middle school. She lives in San Diego, just fifteen minutes' walk from the beach. So she always 1 along the beach after work. 

Last week was busy but happy for Gina. She. had a lot of work from Monday to Friday. When the weekend came, she decided 2 a good rest. Her weekend began when she met her friends at Sam's Chinese Restaurant on Friday night. "My friends and I all like Chinese food, so we often eat together at that restaurant, " said Gina 3 . 

On Saturday morning, Gina helped a friend move to a new house. In the afternoon, she went to her tennis class. 4 she was new to the sport, she played well. After dinner, Gina went to the Red Onion and danced there until 10:00 p. m. She really enjoyed 5 . 

On Sunday, Gina got up at 8:00 a. m. and she went to 6 small restaurant near her home for breakfast. She thought the food there was delicious. Then she spent the whole morning reading books. In the afternoon, she went swimming 7 her cousin. For lunch, they had 8 fast food together. In the evening, she went to the San Diego Folk Festival. It was 9 . Gina had great fun there. 

10 busy but wonderful weekend Gina had!

"I'm going shopping in the village," George's mother said to George on Saturday morning." So be a good boy and don't get into trouble. And don't forget 1 good care of Grandma." Then sb e went out.

 Grandma 2 in the chair by the window when she opened one little eye and said,

" Now you heard 3 your mother said, George."" Yes, Grandma," George said.

George was bored to tears. He didn't have a brother or a sister. His father was a farmer, and the farm they lived on was miles away from anywhere,4 there were never any children to play with. He was tired of staring (注视) at hundreds of pigs, hens, cows and sheep. He was especially tired of having to live in the house with his grandma. Looking after her all by himself was hardly 5 way to spend a Saturday morning.

" Go and make me a cup of tea for a start,6 sugar and milk." Grandma said. Most grandmothers are lovely, kind, helpful old ladies, but not this one. George's grandma was a woman who was always complaining(抱怨) about something or other. She spent all day 7 on her chair by the window.

 George was told that Grandma used to be a gentle lady, but as she grew older, she was not able to look after 8 and even worse, she was easy to get angry.

" We9 be nice to the old, George," His mother always told him.

Thinking of this, George went into the kitchen and made Grandma a cup of tea with a teabag. He put one spoon of sugar and some milk in it. He stirred(搅拌) the tea well and carried it into the living room10 .