Once upon a time there was a writer who liked to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the beach. As he looked down the beach, he saw someone moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that a young man was reaching down to the shore, picking something up and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

    As he got closer, he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"

    The young man stopped, looked up and answered, "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

    "I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"

    "The sun is up, and the tide(潮汐) is going out, and if I don't throw them in, they'll die."

    "But, young man, don't you see that there are miles and miles of beach, and starfish all along it? You can't possibly make a difference!"

    The young man listened politely, then picked up another starfish and threw it into the ocean, past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one." And he kept throwing starfish.

    There is something very special in each and every one of us. All of us can make a difference in life. If we know that, we have the power to shape the future.

    Many Chinese students don't pay much attention to spoken English at school. They think it necessary to practice speaking English in class, but not out of class. Here is a story to show you how important it is to speak the English language freely in everyday life.

    A foreigner once got hungry and went into a restaurant in London. He sat down at a table. When the waiter came, the foreigner opened his mouth, put his fingers into it and took them out again in order to express that he wanted something to eat, for he could not speak English. The waiter soon brought a cup of tea. The man shook（摇动）his head. The waiter then took away the tea and brought a cup of coffee. The man again shook his head. He tried again and again, but he wasn't able to make the waiter understand him. Finally another man came in. He spoke English clearly and fluently. In a few minutes, there was a large plate of meat and vegetables on the table before him.

    So you can see a man will go hungry if he doesn't master（掌握）a foreign language.

    My cousin and I have very different living habits. I think I have a good habit. I take an active part in sports. After school, I often play ball games with my classmates. I don't like indoor activities. I'm hardly ill, and I haven't caught colds for years. I get up at the same time every morning and go to bed at the same time every night. I always sleep for nine hours each night, and I always feel refreshed (精力充沛的) in the morning.

    My cousin, however, has a very bad living habit. She never does exercise. She even hates walking to the bus stop from her home. She prefers indoor activities. She likes to play computer games and watch TV. She is overweight and often falls ill. She always goes to bed late and gets up at the last minute. She often feels tired in the morning.

    Eric didn't know he was going to help a blue whale today. As soon as he finished his homework, Eric jumped onto his bicycle and rode off in the direction of the beach. While he was riding along, he thought about the blue whales. He hoped he would see them again today.

    After he got to the beach, Eric hid his bicycle behind a bush (灌木丛) so that no one could see it from the road. Then he ran down onto the sand. The sky was growing dark. Eric frowned (皱眉). If it rained, he wouldn't be able to see the blue whales because they would stay in deeper water. He hurried along the beach to the rocks. They were the best place to watch me blue whales because of their height. Before Eric reached the rocks, he felt a drop of water on his head. "Oh, no! Now the blue whales will stay in the deep water and l won't be able to watch them!"

    But just then he saw a large shape on the beach. It was a young blue whale! The whale had come too close to the shore and got stuck (被困) on the beach! At first the blue whale didn't move at all and Eric thought it was dead. Then he saw its tail move weakly. Eric turned and ran through the rain as fast as he could back to his bicycle. He had to get help to get the blue whale back in the water soon, or it would die and Eric couldn't let that happen…

    I entered St Thoma's Hospital as a medical student at the age of 18 and spent five years there. I was an unsatisfactory student, for my heart, as you might have guessed, was not in it. I wanted, I had always wanted to be a writer, and in the evening, after my high tea, I wrote and read. Before long, I wrote a novel, called "Liza of Lambeth", which I sent to a publisher and was accepted. It appeared during my last year at the hospital and had something of a success. It was of course an accident, but naturally I did not know that. I felt I could afford to give up medicine and make writing my profession; so, three days after I graduated from the school of medicine, I set out for Spain to write another book. Looking back now and knowing as I do the terrible difficulties of making a living by writing, I realize I was taking a fearful risk. It never even occurred to me.

    The next ten years were very hard, and I earned an average of £100 a year. Then I had a bit of luck. The manager of the Court Theatre put on a play that failed; the next play he arranged to put on was not ready, and he was at his wits' end. He read a play of mine and, though he did not much like it, he thought it might just run for the six weeks till the play he had in mind to follow it with could be produced. It ran for fifteen months. Within a short while I had four plays running in London at the same time. Nothing of the kind had ever happened before. I was the talk of the town. One of the students at St Thomas's Hospital asked the famous surgeon with whom I had worked whether he remembered me. "Yes, I remember him quite well," he said. "One of our failures, I'm afraid."