Dear Alice,
I just received your letter. And I was very surprised to know that you decided to drop out of school and wanted to be a model （模特）.
Being a model for a living is not easy. In fact, a famous person like me has a lot of problems that you couldn't see. I can't eat what I like, even though I'm very hungry. Keeping thin makes me look more beautiful on the stage because no one would like to see a heavy model.
Besides, I have to wear a heavy coat in the hot sun, in a swimming suit in the cold air. And practicing walking nicely every day is tiring for me.
You might say I made much money from modeling. But my dear niece （侄女）, you have to know that money is, nothing, knowledge is everything. School is important and everyone should go to school for a certain period of time. The longer they stay at school, the better they will be. Very often, I hope I can give up my job and continue my studies at school. But it is very difficult for me to go back to school again. I am too old to go back to school now.
You are a pretty young girl with a bright future. You only have one year to finish your studies in high school. A year is really short. Please do consider my words carefully before you decide. Of course, there is only one thing I care about, and that is your happiness.
Love,
Emma

    The smart phone(智能手机)company Xiaomi Technology was set up in Beijing in 20 1 0.

Now it has become one of leading mobile phone companies in China. Some people skip work and school to wait in line to buy its main product:Mi phones.

The man behind this craze(狂热)is Lei Jun. The 47-year-old is the co—founder(联合创始人) and CEO of Xiaomi. Lei was born in Xiantao, Hubei, in 1969. At the age of l 8. he entered Wuhan University to study computer science. A book that he read there changed his life. It was Fire n the Valley, which tells the story of the co—founder of Apple, Steve Jobs. Encouraged by the book. the 21-year-old set up a company. But it soon failed because he lacked(缺少)a long—trill plan.

After graduation, Lei joined King soft, a software company. In l 6 years, he became one of the top IT company leaders. But that's not the only thing he wanted. “I had my dream not realized and it was calling for me every night, ”said Lei. At the age of 38, he left Kingsoft and started his own company. This time, he knew what would make a promising new company:following the trends but keeping innovating(创新). He entered the smart phone market.

  Lei is a big fan of the iPhone. But instead of creating a copy of it, he kept thinking about how to make it better.

    At the age of 41, he co—founded Xiaomi. Now,  there are more than l4 million Mi phone users. Lei helped make online shopping popular in China. “People become great because they have dreams, ”said Lei.

A

    Several months after I was badly hurt in a car accident, my father sent me to a blind school.

    That morning was the new beginning. I went to this school and I heard lots of children. My new teacher took me to the class where we were taught to write and type in Braille(盲文 ). I found it quite difficult.

    "Hi, sweetheart, how is school going?" asked my father.

    "Daddy, I can't do this. I try and try but I just don't get it. I don't know if I am ever going to learn to read Braille. It's too difficult," I cried.

    Daddy just held me in his arm and said, "Do you remember that we went to the temple which is on the top of a mountain? When we were climbing the mountain, my legs started aching. I sat down and said, 'I can't see the temple. You can't see it because it is covered with fog. Although you can't see it, I know it is here. I will make sure you will climb up to it.'"

    "That day you showed me that just you can't see something does not mean it is not there. So although climbing the mountain was difficult, I knew I would get to the top."

    I was clear what my dad wanted me to understand.

    I went back to school and started with new energy. Very soon I could read.

One of my classmates said, "You are lucky, you know, you have at least seen the world. I have just heard it. I have been told there are many colors in this world but I don't understand what color means."

    After listening to her for the first time in two years, I felt lucky. And on that day I learnt that although the light in my eyes is gone. I must see the world with the light in my heart.

    On a farm lived a father and a son. The father always got up early and read books by the stove. One morning, the son came up to him and said, "Dad, I read books at night but forget most of them the next morning. What's the good of reading?"

    The father didn't reply to his question at once. He passed him a basket that was used to carry coal. He said, "Get some water from the river with the basket and then I'll tell you the answer."

    The son felt surprised but he did as his father said. He tried many times but every time the water leaked (漏掉) from the basket.

    An hour later, the son came back with the empty basket and told his father it was impossible to hold water with the basket. The father said with a smile, "Yes, you are right, my son. The basket can't hold water. But did you notice the basket was different? "The son found the dirty basket had become clean. The father continued, "Reading is like holding water with the basket. Although we can't remember all we read, we have changed while reading."

    A long time ago, there was a king who liked music so much that he ordered his men to get him the best instrument in the world.

    One day, a young man offered the king a harp (竖琴). The king took it to the palace, but when he started playing it, the harp was out of tune.

    Many other musicians tried it, and they agreed that the harp was useless(没用的) and the king had been cheated. The harp was thrown out as rubbish.

    A poor little girl later found the harp. And even though she did not know how to play, she decided to have a try. She played and played, for months and years, always with the harp out of tune, but she played better and better.

    Then one day, suddenly, the harp began to play the most beautiful music. It was a magic harp, and could only be played well by someone willing to spend much time practicing.

    One day, the king heard the music from his window, and the girl was invited to the palace. When the king saw the girl playing the harp, he was full of joy. At that moment he made the girl his private musician, giving her and her family lots of money.

    A man came home from work late, tired, to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.

    "Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?"

    "If you must know, I make $20 an hour."

    "Oh," the little boy answered, with his head down. He thought for a moment, looked up and said, "Daddy, could you lend me $10?"

    The father was angry, "If you asked for the money to buy a toy or some other things, then go straight to your room and think about why you are being so selfish (自私的)!"

    The little boy quietly went to his room and closed the door. After about an hour or so, the father calmed (平静) down, and started to think, "Maybe he really needs to buy something and he didn't really ask for money very often." So he went to the little boy's room.

    "Sorry! Maybe I was too hard on you just now." said the man, "Here's $10."

    "Oh, thank you, Daddy!" he said happily. Then, the boy took out some coins. When the father found that the boy already had money, he got angry again.

    "Why do you want more money since you already have some?" the father shouted angrily.

    "Because I didn't have enough, but now I do." the little boy said, "Daddy, I have $20 now. Could I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."