John is five years old now. He is a good boy. He is very clever and can read very well. But he can't tell the right time by clock. He doesn't say eight o'clock in the morning, twelve o'clock or four o'clock in the afternoon. He always says "breakfast time" for eight o'clock, "lunch time" for twelve o'clock and "tea-time" for four o'clock in the afternoon. His mother wants to teach him to know the time by clock.

    "Can you count, John?" his mother asks him. "Yes. Let me count for you. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve..." "That's good, John. Now let me tell you to say the time. Now, look! I put the long hand on twelve and the short hand on one. That is one o'clock. If I put the short on two, that's two o'clock. Do you know?"

    "Yes, I do." John tells his mother. "Good. If I put the short hand on four, what's that?" his mother asks and really puts the short one on four. "Tea-time, Mum. And I am hungry."

    “In this life，what did you miss？”

    The wife asked the husband when she was 25．Despondently （沮丧地），the husband replied，“I missed a new job chance．”

    When she was 35，the husband angrily told her that he had just missed the bus．

    At the age of 45，the husband sadly said，“I missed the chance seeing my close relative before his last breath．”

    At 55，the husband said disappointedly，“I missed a good chance to retire （退休）．”

    At 65，title husband hurriedly replied，“I missed visiting my dentist．”

    At 75，the wife did not ask the husband any more，she was very sick．Remembering the question the wife used to ask him，this time the husband asked the wife the same question．The wife，with a smile and peaceful look，replied，“In this life，I did not miss having you!”

    The husband was full of tears．He always thought that they could be together forever．He was always busy with work and other things．He had never thought of his wife．The husband gave a big hug to the wife and said，“Over 50years，how I had allowed myself to miss your deep love for me．”

    Life does not last forever，so always live in the now．Don't neglect （忽视）the loved ones who care for you．Express your gratitude （感激）to your loved ones in words．Show your love with actions．Treat every day as the last day of life．In this way，when you are gone，your loved ones would have nothing to feel sorry about．

    Athena was born and raised in Ukraine. Her parents wanted her to become a lawyer or a doctor. But she always knew she wanted to paint. She also realized a career in painting would not be possible if she stayed in her country.

    Even though she was painting in her whole life and it was her passion(热情)but it was only a hobby. And she never really took it to the next level because back in the country all the artists were hungry artists. So she knew for some reason she never took art as a career because she would never be able to make money and be successful in it in several years.

    So. Athena came to the United States when she was 14 years old to pursue(追求)an American Dream. She was clear on her goal. Athena first worked at a health food shop. She began to paint on the shop's menu boards. A customer praised her skill and asked if she would help paint faces at street fairs. Athena says it was a good start. Then she went to FABAIC to start body painting.

    Body painting is quite different from plain painting. And she loves it very much. She says. "With body, you work with the people factor and it's not only you. Maybe they want to talk or move, and they cannot stand still for several days while the painting will last three to four days. When I paint. I can't stop."

    Sally was a student. Her mother's birthday is coming. She wanted to buy her a nice and cheap present(礼物).

    She went shopping after a quick and simple lunch. After she looked for half an hour, she found a shop. It was selling cheap umbrellas, and she decided to take a black one.

    She thought, "Mom can carry it when she is wearing any clothes." So she bought a lovely black umbrella and took it to school with her.

    On her way home on the train she felt hungry because she ate little for lunch. So she went to the buffet car(餐车). She left the umbrella on her seat. But when she got back. She couldn't see the umbrella!

    Sally began to cry. The other passengers felt very sorry for her and asked what was the matter. She told them she couldn't find the black umbrella, and she had to get off at the next station. After the three passengers heard this, they asked her for her mother's address(地址)so that they could send the umbrella to her if someone took it and brought it back.

    After a week, Sally got a letter from her mother. It said "Thank you very much for your lovely gifts, but why do you send me three black umbrellas?"