The Monkey King

    The Monkey King was born from a stone. He wanted to live forever. He was really intelligent and knew what to do. ⑶他能够把他自己变成72种不同的东西, like a tree, a bird or an insect(昆虫). While he was changing himself, people just watched and couldn't believe it. He used the clouds in the sky   ⑷   around! One time he flew 108,000 miles on a cloud.

    The trouble was, the monkey thought he was the king. But he wasn't. The Emperor was. So, the real king decided to give the monkey a title(官职)to keep him quiet. ⑸But the monkey found out that everyone was laughing at him. He was extremely unhappy and decided to fight.  At last, the Emperor asked Buddha(佛) for help.

    The Buddha moved a great mountain to fall on top of him. As the mountain was falling on him, he nearly managed(设法) to get out of the way. He didn't, but he didn't die, either. The trouble was he couldn't move. Five hundred years later ,a monk(和尚) helped the monkey get out from under the mountain. That's when the real story began. You must remember it, don't you? It's a treat story.

    Penny was a five-year-old girl. One day when she and her mother were at a store, Penny saw a plastic pearl necklace. What a lovely necklace! She wanted it very much, so she begged her mother to buy it for her. The mother said, “Well, I can buy you the necklace, but when we get home, we should discuss what you can do to pay for it. Can we do that?” Penny agreed with much happiness, and she got the plastic necklace she loved.

    How much Penny loved the necklace! She wore it everywhere and every minute. Penny also helped with housework to get pocket money and she worked very hard. Soon she managed to pay off the price for the necklace.

    Penny's daddy saw all her effort and knew how much Penny cared about the necklace. One night, he asked Penny, “Penny, do you love me?”

    “Sure, Daddy,” the little girl said.

    “Then how about giving me your necklace?”

    “Come on, Daddy! Not my necklace!” Penny cried.

    “Oh, darling, it's fine,” her father gave her a kiss.

    A week later, her father asked Penny again for her plastic necklace.

    “Oh! Daddy, please don't!” Penny cried even harder.

    However, several days later, Penny went to her daddy with tears in her eyes. “Here, Daddy. I love you.” She held out her hand. Inside it was her plastic pearl necklace that she loved a lot.

    Seeing this, Penny's father smiled with surprise. He then pulled a cute box out of his pocket. Inside of the box was a real and beautiful pearl necklace, which was waiting for Penny for so long.

Dear Tony,

I go to a new school in Cambridge now. I like it very much. I'm making a lot of new friends. 

I'm studying new subjects, like science. It's very interesting. We're using computers and learning how to use the Internet. We write e-mails(电子邮件) to people in different countries. I'm learning how people live in different countries. It's great!

We do P. E. on Wednesday in the afternoon, Sometimes we stay in the sports hall to do sports and I like that too. I play basketball after school on Mondays. I like playing basketball a lot. I'm enjoying my new school!

Write and tell me what you're doing in your school in China!

John 

A Pathway(路径) to Meaning in Life

When it comes to a meaningful life, we might think of love, happiness and health. A life filled with meaning is what most of us want for ourselves. Then, what makes a meaningful life?

Many researchers agree that a meaningful life comes down to three factors(因素): having long—term goals, believing that one's life matters, and feeling that one's life fit s together and"makes sense".

But we believe there is more to consider. Sometimes life enables us to experience small moments of beauty. When people are open to appreciating(欣赏) such experiences, these moments may improve how they see their own life. We call this experiential appreciation(EA). EA is about the person feeling connected to events and being able to appreciate the value within the connection. It shows the discovery of and admiration for life's beauty.

We recently set out to better understand EA in studies. We were interested in whether EA was also tied to general judgment of meaning in life. If so, it could be a factor for meaningfulness.

In the first study, we had people rate (评估) their support for different methods of reducing stress. We found that people who managed stress by focusing on their appreciation for life's beauty also reported experiencing life as highly meaningful.

In the next study, we asked people to rate the degree to which they agreed with various statements, such as"I appreciate the beauty of life"and"I appreciate little things in life, "as well as other statements that related to the three factors and a general sense of meaning in life. Our results showed that the more people reported that they were"appreciating life"and its many experiences, the more they felt their life was valuable.

In the following studies, we further looked at the connection between EA and meaningfulness. For example, we found that people who were asked to look back on the most meaningful event of the past week generally reported high EA in those moments.

All the result s proved our theory(假设) true. But putting it into practice can be difficult. Our fast—paced lifestyles fill the day with goals. We try to get the highest output both at work and in spare time. This focus on future outcomes makes it all too easy to miss what is happening right now. We should slow down and let life surprise us.

Everyone has a family name. In China，the family name is the first name，but in English countries the family name is the last name. Do you know how English people get their family names? And what do they mean（含义）? English people usually get their family names in these ways（方式）. 

Some family names come from the places of their homes. A man live on or near a hill，his family name may be Hill. In England，people's names may be Wood，Lake，because they live near the woods（森林） or the lake. Some family names come from a person's job. If a person is a cook，his family name may be Cook. 

And many people get their family names from their father's first names. If you hear the name "Jackson"，you can know that he is the son of Jack.