Last month, a common graduation ceremony (毕业典礼) was held in Tianjin University, but it received much attention. Xue Minxiu, born in 1937, graduated with excellent grades after working hard for 4 years.

    Going to a university has always been a dream for Xue. But for some reasons, she didn't have the chance when she was young. Even so, she never forgot her dream. In 2014, she was accepted by Tianjin University and finally her dream came true. Since then, Xue has been a model for the people around her. She got up at 5 o'clock every morning. Then she studied for a while before brushing teeth and having breakfast. Her room was filled with books and newspapers. Wherever she went, she would take books with her.

    In fact, for her age, Xue had many difficulties during the four years. But nothing could stop her. Whenever she had problems, she would either solve them by herself or ask teachers for help. Through her hard work, she passed the exams and was named "a star student" during the first period of her college life.

    "I think the true meaning of our lives is to challenge (挑战) and improve ourselves whether we are old or young. Xue said at the graduation ceremony. "For me, learning something I enjoy is a lifelong journey. I want to thank Tianjin University for giving me the chance to achieve my dream. Our lifetime is short, so we should make good use of it."

    I'm Marie. I work in a nursing home (养老院) and my job is to look after the old people. Alice is one of them. She's a very nice old woman.

    This year, Alice had a hard time. She went to hospital twice. In November, I finally could get her back to her home.

    Alice hoped that her daughter could come to visit her on Christmas Eve because she wanted to be with her family, like the old days. But her daughter was coming after Christmas, so she was very sad. I also felt sad because she would be alone on the holiday.

    On Christmas Eve, I took her to a candlelight service (烛光礼拜) at a church that night. I didn't take her to my church. Instead, I took her to the church in her old neighborhood. We got there early and I let her sit near the door, so people could see her when they came in. A few minutes later, some of her friends came to the church and they all talked to her and sat with her.

    Alice got a lot of love from her old and new friends there. She said she loved the gift like this. That night, I thought I got the best gift: the smile on Alice's face.

    Tommy and his mother go shopping today. Tommy's father likes apples very much. They buy some red apples for him. Tommy's mother likes yellow bananas, but the bananas are green. "Look! The Strawberries are very nice, Mum. Do you like them?" Tommy says to his mother. "Yes, I like strawberries very much." Tommy's mother buys some for herself. The oranges are very nice. Tommy's mother buys some for Tommy. He likes oranges very much.

    They need some vegetables. The vegetables in the supermarket are very good. They buy some tomatoes, cabbages and carrots. Tommy doesn't like carrots, but his parents like carrots. They like carrots very much. They buy lots of carrots.

    One day a farmer Mr Dean came to town and bought four donkeys(驴). He got on one of them and went back home. On the way, Mr Dean found there were only three donkeys walking along with him.

    "One, two, three, where is the fourth one?" Mr Dean got down from the donkey and counted(数)again. "One, two, three, four. Good!" he rode back on the donkey.

    When he got home, Mrs Dean met him in front of their house .She said, "Did you buy them at good prices?"

    "Yes, I did," Mr Dean looked at the donkeys and said. "Oh, no! I bought four, but there are three again"

    Mrs Dean looked at him and said, "You stupid(愚蠢的)old man. You see only three donkeys, but I see five."

    Bob was only seven years old. One night Bob was at home alone while his parents were out for a party. He had often stayed alone before, so he wasn't afraid. As he waited for his parents to return home, he watched a film on TV. His eyes became heavier and heavier as time passed by.

    Suddenly Bob's eyes opened wide- what was the sound in the next room? Bob heard the window being opened slowly. For a minute, Bob was so frightened that he could not move, and his body felt like ice. He knew that he couldn't lose his head and began to think of the things he could do.

    Again he heard the sound of someone trying to climb into his home through the window.

    Bob's drums were standing in the corner near the TV. "Wait, maybe there is something I can do," thought Bob. He beat his drums as hard as he could. The sound was so terrible that Bob surprised even himself. He also surprised the man in the window, who ran away as fast as possible. How clever he was!