I wouldn't have picked up that dusty card without seeing those big words: DON'T FORGET. I was1. Don't forget what? Under the words were three numbered items. 1. Snow peas. 2. Shakespeare. 3. Sadira Kirmani. What was my name doing on someone's list?

    Yesterday was my first day here. Since our teacher Mrs. Allison2me, nobody except the boy with3spoke to me and asked if he could have my cake at lunch. I tried to4attention to the lessons, but my mind went blank. Snow peas, Shakespeare, and me? “Sadira.” I5when Mrs. Allison called my name. “It's time to line up for6.” As I moved through the line, I heard a girl with braces（背带） ask, “What's that?”, 7at a pan. “Snow peas,” the lady answered. “I'll try some snow peas,” the boy behind me8. Snow peas! Number l on the list.

    After lunch, Mrs. Allison9that it was “poem time.” The boy who'd asked for snow peas stood up. “OK, Wyatt.” Mrs. Allison nodded. “To be or not to be…” Wyatt began. When he10, Mrs. Allison added, “Shakespeare wrote sonnets(十四行诗), a special kind of11.” Shakespeare? Number 2 on the list. I started to feel upset, 12what would happen next.

    After school, I sat alone on the bus. It was quite a while before I13Wyatt. He smiled in a 14way, saying “I wanted to talk to you. I almost forgot.” “Forgot what'?” “You're Number 3 on my list.” So now I15what was going on. “My mom's16. I'm supposed to try three new things every day.” continued Wyatt.

    That night, I made my own17. l. Try the spinach quiche. 2. Offer my18to the boy with glasses. 3. Say19to the girl with braces. Then I smiled before adding one more20: Thank Wyatt.

    Having been walking in the snow for 2 hours, Little Buddy was really tired and frustrated. The way home seemed1each step a struggle. For fall every little distance that Buddy gained, he seemed to fall back even further, pushed by the rising wind and his own2 When Buddy had to go uphill, he looked with3at the long distance remaining and thought he wasn't going to make it. His legs had been pushing through almost-waist-high4for hours, and all he wanted to do was to 5down, to end this terrible journey and close his eyes.

    Suddenly, there was someone6him. A large man was looking down at Buddy, smiling at him7 Buddy, should have heard the sound of the man's boots crunching(使……发出嘎吱嘎吱声)the snow8he'd walked up from behind. But, there hadn't been a9.

    Buddy stared at the10.Who was he? There was a scarf hiding most of his face, but11Buddy felt no fear of him. The man said nothing. He simply picked Buddy up, lifted him over his12set Buddy on his shoulders and began to13.

    Buddy told the man where he14.As they approached the house, the stranger 15and looked Buddy in the eye. Buddy16and the man silently lowered his head and helped Buddy17off his shoulders. Buddy was so happy that he immediately knocked at the door. When Buddy18the man and wanted to thank him, he had already19Buddy could only see20in the snow and a dim(模糊的)view of his back.

    He stood on the comer looking a lot like Santa Claus, a smile on his face and a cup outstretched in his hands. I smiled 1 and asked if he was 2, "Would you like to go somewhere and share a sandwich?" He 3 with a bigger smile and a resounding（夸张的）YES.

    His name is Aed. We went together to a comer bakery and then 4 the next hour, he very slowly ate his sandwich, 5 with deep delight on each bite as he 6 his story with me.

    He was one of the few hand pruners（修剪树枝者）still trying to work. He spoke lovingly and with deep 7 about all sorts of plants and trees and how to properly 8 them. Much like humans, each one required kindness and 9.

    He spoke of his time 10 in Vietnam and how the war forever 11 him. He spoke about a pathway diverged（分开）but then 12. He spoke about his philosophy on life that we all have gifts to 13 and we all have the 14 to be happy even without a place to call home. His blue eyes 15 brighter and brighter.

    I asked if I could hug him. 16 resounding YES. And then we hugged a second and third time，each one a bit 17 and a bit more joyful.

    Aed gave me a gift that day. It was the gift of his story. We 18 in touch now and again via email; he is a(n) 19 man. So, the next time you see someone on a comer with an outstretched hand, 20 out and gently take it. You may receive the bigger gift.

    Lori was suspended (暂停)from school for having cigarettes in her locker. She told her dad, "I don't know how they got there! I was just putting them in my pocket to take them to the principal when a teacher 1 and sent me to the office." Dad had a hard time 2 that Lori didn't know how the cigarettes got into her locker, 3 only she had the key. He also found it hard to believe that she was putting them in her pocket to take them to the principal. He felt disappointed that Lori would 4 to him because they had always been such a close and loving 5. He was also worried that she was beginning to 6 her life by getting involved in smoking, drinking, and drugs.

    Dad felt like 7 and punishing and letting her know how disappointed he was.

    8 , he decided to look for the positive. It is never difficult to find, if you are willing to look for it. As he got into Lori's 9 he could understand that she was probably having a tough time deciding how to 10 with family values and still be part of the crowd. He also realized that the only reason Lori would lie to him would be because she loved him so much that she wouldn't want to disappoint him.

    With this 11 , Dad approached Lori. Instead of scolding and punishing, he kindly said, "Lori, I'll bet it is really difficult trying to 12 how to stick up for what you believe and yet not be called a 13 by your friends.

    Lori felt such 14 as she said, "Yes, it is."

    Dad went on, "And I'll bet that if you would ever lie to us, it would be because you love us so much that you wouldn't want to disappoint us." Lori got tears in her eyes and could only nod in 15. Dad added, "Lori, we would be disappointed if you did something that would 16 you. But if you don't know that you can always tell us anything, then we aren't doing a good enough job in letting you know how much we love you — 17Lori gave her dad a big 18 , and they just held each other for a while.

    They never did directly discuss the problem of smoking and lying. Over a year has gone by, and Lori seems to delight in letting her mom and dad know every time she 19 the temptation(诱惑)to do something contrary to her 20. She also feels proud that she is influencing her friends to stick up for their belief.

Born in France, but raised in Spain,linguistics and literature professor Juan José Ciruela Alférez from the University of Granada is passionate about Chinese literature and has been doing some research about it. With painstaking effort, his Spanish translation of a Chinese classic was published last year. 

Ciruela said translating the novel was an interesting challenge. In recent years, many Chinese works have been introduced to Spain. However, as most of them had been translated first into English and then from that language into Spanish, much of the originality,was lost. For this reason, when the Spanish publishing house Kailas contacted Ciruela to translate it directly from Chinese, he accepted the mission immediately, even if it presented difficulties like a heavy workload within a short time limit.  

"I encountered various difficulties, especially at the beginning of the task," said Ciruela in an interview. "This novel, in particular, needs a prior reading process in which the translator gets into the plot and the characters, since at first it is difficult to enter the world that the novel constantly raises. So I read the novel first in Chinese, paying attention to all those details and how all of that could be translated in a way that the Spanish readers would understand."

For Ciruela, the most important criterion when translating is fidelity(忠诚) to the original text. While it is true that one cannot always be strictly faithful, he believes translators should not be too far from original texts. For example, the translation of culturemes (expressions of culture in language) is quite complicated due to the cultural gap between Spanish and Chinese. Ciruela believes that these must always be appropriate to the specific function they perform within the text, in each specific case and moment. 

I was at the grocery shop1 last-minute items for Easter dinner when I 2 from the corner of my eye the most wonderful flower I had ever seen. It was, as I later learned, a peony (牡丹).

I was so3 that I was going to buy myself flowers. I'd4 done this before. On the way home, I wondered why I had never really been5 to any flowers before.6 , I'd been on this earth for over half a century.

7 in England, my immigrant (移民) family viewed flowers as 8 since survival was our priority. Dad worked on the railways, and Mom, before her 9 , worked in a factory. Our small garden was filled with vegetables10 flowers, as Mom and Dad often said, "These will keep us alive if we can't get them from the 11 ."

We also built an underground oven (烤炉), where Mom and Dad would make flatbread (薄面饼). The smell of this flatbread12 us and anchored (使扎根) us to our lives in England. When Mother's Day came, Mom would say, "Why waste money on flowers? They'll just die. Buy shoes or coats instead." So, we kids made food for her at home. My mother 13 years ago after a long illness. If she were still alive today, she' d probably 14 her head at me for buying flowers.15 , I still wish I'd had the chance to show her this beautiful flower and buy it for her on Mother's Day