Two brothers decided to dig a deep hole behind their house. As they were working, a couple of older boys 1 to watch.

    “What are you doing?” asked one of the 2.

    “We plan to dig a hole all the way through Earth!” one of the brothers answered 3.

    The older boys began to laugh, telling the younger ones that digging a hole all through Earth was 4.

    After a long silence, one of the diggers 5 a jar full of spiders, worms and a wide types of insects. He removed the lid (盖子) and 6 the wonderful things to the visitors.

    Then he said quietly and 7 , “Even if we don't dig all the way through Earth, look at what we've found along the way!”

    Their goal was far too ambitious (有雄心的), but it did cause them 8. And that is what a goal is 9 — to cause us to move in the direction we have chosen.

    But not every goal will be fully 10 . Not every job will end 11. Not every hope will come to pass. Not every love will last. Not every 12 will be realized.

    But 13 you fall short of aim(达不到目标), perhaps you can say, “Yes, but look at what I've found along the way! Look at the 14 things which have come into my life because I tried to do something!”

    It is in the digging that 15 is lived. And I believe it is joy in the journey, and in the end that truly matters.

    Sometimes, I doubt(怀疑) whether there is any love between my parents. Every day they are busy trying to 1 money. They don't act in the romantic(浪漫的) ways that I read in books or I see on TV. They never say, “I love you”. My father has a bad temper(性情, 脾气), and it is 2 for him to be angry in his daily life.

    One day, my mother was sewing a quilt (缝被子). I sat down beside her.

    “Mom, I have a question to ask you.” I said after a while.

    “What?” she asked, still working.

    “Is there 3 between you and Dad?” I asked her 4 a very low voice.

    My mother stopped her work and 5 her head with surprise in her eyes. She didn't answer immediately. Then she bowed(低下) her head and went on sewing(缝).

    I thought I had hurt her. At last my mother said: “Susan, look at this thread(线). Sometimes it appears, but most of the time, it disappears in the quilt. It makes the quilt 6 . If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen anywhere 7 it's really there.”

    I listened carefully but I didn't understand her 8 the next spring. My father suddenly got sick. My mother had to stay with him in the 9 for a month.

    After they got back, she helped my father walk slowly down the road every day. My father had never been so weak. “Dad, how are you feeling now?” I asked him one day.

    “Susan, don't worry about me.” he said gently. “I just like 10 with your mom.”

    Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. Now, I know that love is the thread that holds a family together.

    Young Scottish brothers take on a list of 500 adventures

    For Ollie and Harry Ferguson, life is an adventure. For the past four years, the brothers have been working to1a list of 500 challenges and experiences.

    "The idea came about actually from the boys," their father, MacNeill Ferguson, said. "The boys were just asked one day if they could2 some cool things for us to do as a family. They put forward some impossible ideas firstly, like going on a trip to Mars, International Sausage Day and all kinds of3 kids requests. They built the list to a hundred, then kept finding new things we wanted to go and try ... until it got up to 500." They're all listed on the brothers' Facebook page.

    So far they have built an igloo, explored the wilderness, and sent their Lego men to the depths of the ocean and into outer space. Perhaps their biggest 4is playing out right now on the high seas. Last year, Ollie and Harry launched(使下水) a toy ship from the Scottish coast. The ship named "Adventure" sailed across the North Sea to Scandinavia. It then began a ride on a Norwegian boat and was launched 5, this time off the coast of west Africa. It's equipped with a tracking device(跟踪器), allowing the brothers to6every step of the sailing.  But the battery(电池) on the tracking device is becoming weak, so Harry and Ollie hope a passing ship 7 their boat and is able to recharge(充电) its battery, allowing the adventure to continue.

    "Harry, where would you like the boat to go?" Ferguson asked. "Without (a) 8 , that would be China because we all love China." Harry answered. He thought that even there are so many difficulties, the boat will reach China.

    Do you know "One Belt, One Road"? We also call it the Modern Silk Road. And Zhang Qian was an early traveller of the Ancient Silk Road. He was probably the first1to bring back good information about the central Asian lands to China.

    In 139 BC, Han Wudi sent Zhang Qian to the Yue-zhi people to ask for their2against the Xiongnu people who often infringed(侵犯) them.3, on the way to the Western Regions, he was caught by the Xiongnu people. Zhang had to stay with them4about 10 years before he got away. When Zhang finally5the Yue -zhi people in the North India, he was6to find that they didn't want to fight against the Xiongnu people.

    On7return journey, Zhang Qian and his men were8again. It was not until 125 BC that they returned to China.9Zhang didn't finish his job, he learned a lot about the places, people, customs and cultures of the 36 kingdoms(王国) in the Western Regions.

    Later Han Wudi sent Zhang to West again. Zhang's journey to the West helped10international trade, especially in silk, between China and the West, That's the Ancient Silk Road.