NO matter what happens,I'll always be there for you!

    In 1989, an8.2earthquake almost destroyed America, killing over 30,000 people in less thanfour minutes. In the midst of utter devastation and chaos, a father left hiswife safely at home and rushed to the school where his son was supposed to be,only to discover that the building was as flat as a pancake.

    After the unforgettablyscare, he remembered the promise he had made to his son: "No matter what,I'll always be there for you!" And tears began to fill his eyes. As helooked at the badly damaged building that once was the school, it lookedhopeless, but he kept remembering his promise to his son

    He began to direct hisattention to where he walked his son to class at school each morning.Remembering his son's classroom would be in the back right comer of thebuilding, he rushed there and started digging through the ruins, As he wasdigging, other helpless parents tried to pull him off what was left of theschool, saying," It's too late! They're all dead! You can't help! Co home!Come on! Face reality. Here's nothing you can do!

    To each parent hereplied with one line, "Are you going to help me now?" And then hecontinued to dig for his son, stone by stone. The firefighter leader showed upand tried to pull him off the school's ruins saying, "Fires are breakingout. Explosions are happening everywhere. You are in danger. We'll take care ofit. Go home." To which this loving, caring American father asked,"Are you going to help me now?" The police came and said, "You'reangry, worried and it's over. You're making others in danger. Go home. We'llhandle it!" To which he replied, "Are you going to help me now?"No one replied.

    He went on alone becausehe needed to know for himself "is my boy alive or is he dead?" He dugfor eight hours … 12 hours ... 24 hours … 36 hours … then, in the 38th hour, hepulled back a large stone and heard his son's voice. He screamed his son'sname, "Armand!" He heard back, "Dad? It's me, Dad! I told theother kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you would save meand when you saved me, they'd be saved. You promised, no matter what happens,you'll always be there for me. You did it, Dad!" "What's going on inthere? How is it?" the father asked, "There are 14 of us left out of33, Dad. We're scared, hungry, thirsty and thankful you're here. When thebuilding fell down, it made a triangle, and it saved us."

    "Come out,boy!" "No, Dad! Let the other kids out first because I know you'llget me! No matter what happens, I know you'll always be there for me!"

In China, Spring Festival is a very big event. We usually celebrate 1 with the sound of fireworks and crackers. But do you know 2 people from many more countries around the world also celebrate Chinese New Year?

 This winter holiday, I 3 to Bangkok, Thailand. 4 I first arrived in the city center, I was amazed that many windows had posters saying" Happy Chinese New Year". Many people were wearing red clothes and qipao. And there was 5 sign saying" Lucky Chinese New Year" in the biggest shopping area in Bangkok! So I 6 put on my qipao and walked down the street to enjoy the atmosphere. Many people from different countries smiled at me and said" hello" to me in Chinese.

 At night, there were beautiful fireworks 7 the river in the city center.

 The next day, it was surprising 8 a message from a pen friend in the UK. He told me that they knew Chinese culture and customs 9 and were taking part in the celebrations.

10 unforgettable Spring Festival for me! It is great to be a Chinese.

Knowing the City by Walking

From July 2022 to July 2023, city walkers in China together covered over 320,000 kilometers. That's like circling Earth 8 times.

That year I went to the college. On the first day of the term, I was so surprised because our teacher introduced an old lady to us in our class. She sat by me. She was very old, but she looked very energetic（精力充沛的）.

I was interested in why she came to the college at her age. "In fact, I always dreamed of having a college education（教育） and now I am getting one!" She told me later. We became friends. Every day we studied together. I always listened to her when she shared her stories with me. And she often asked me some problems about the lessons.

At the end of the term, we asked the lady to give a speech（演讲） to our class. I' ll never forget what she taught us. She said, "We do not stop working because we are old; we grow old because we stop. Do you want to stay young, be happy and successful? Never lose your dream and never give up."

The old woman's words touched all of us. And I still remember her words all my life, so I'll go on my dreams and try my best to make them come true.