One day, Meg finds that a button(纽扣) of her coat is lost. She looks forthe button everywhere, but she can't find it. The next day, she doesn't wear that coat to school and feels sad all day. After school, she goes to the clothes shops and wants to buy that kind of clothes. But she feels disappointed.

    Meg tells her sister about that, her sister says, “We can change all the buttons. Then the buttons will be the same.” The coat is beautiful again and Meg feels happy again.

    Second-grader Christian Bucks noticed that some of his friends seemed lonely on the playground during the break. Then he remembered something he learned that helps children make new friends at school. He decided to make it happen.

    Bucks started a buddy bench(朋友长椅)，a place where students can sit if they feel lonely, and other students will come up to them and ask if they want to play or just sit and talk. Bucks said it acts as a way to "grow our dream circle of friends"

    Bucks first heard about the buddy bench at a German school, and loved the idea very much. "He thought this was a great way to help other kids who might feel lonely," said his mom, Alyson.

    Last year, just before school ended for the summer holiday at Buck's school in Pennsylvania, USA, Bucks told his principal(校长) Matthew Miller about the buddy bench. He explained why he thought he school should have one. Miller and Bucks' teachers loved the idea and even let Bucks pick out the color and style of the bench!

    The buddy bench was put near the playground. Bucks hopes that students will use it and that it will help teach students to be kind to each other.

    "We show we care about others when we ask others to play," he said. "I also hope that new friendships will be made because of the buddy bench."

    A train stopped at a small station. A man looked out of the window and saw a woman who was selling cakes. People from the train were buying them. The man wanted to buy a cake, but the woman was standing far from the window. It was raining, and the man didn't want to go out in the rain. Suddenly he saw a boy who was walking on the platform(站台) not far from him.

    "Come here, boy!" the man said. "Do you know how much those cakes cost?" "Five cents for each," the boy answered. The man gave the boy ten cents and asked him to buy two cakes. "One for me, and one for you," he told the boy. A few minutes later, the boy came back. He was eating a cake. He gave the man five cents and said, "There was only one cake."

    "It's time to wake up, Emily," my mom sings from the kitchen. I pretended to open my eyes. Why didn't the alarm on my cell phone ring?

    Soon, I realized it was April 8, the day for my program: "A day without technology." I didn't realize what I had gotten myself into until I was driving to school in my car. No radio blasting my favorite songs. I had to sing to myself.

    As soon as I got to school, I went to the library to print out my English project from my flash drive. "Uh-oh," I thought. "This isn't expected." Finally, I had to spend nearly an hour writing the report again.

    The school day went on and I finally got used to the rules. This wasn't so hard! I could do this every day.

    I drove home in silence again, and my mind eventually went into after-school mode (模式), depending on what I would eat for supper and who would be voted off (被淘汰出局)American Idol later that night. The last thing I knew, I was chat with friends on Face book, check email and watch a video on YouTube, all at the same time!

    My mom walked in and her jaw dropped.

    "What happened to no homework?" she asked me. I froze for the second time that day and ordered myself to go back to reality. I had failed.

    This experiment, which many teenagers would never have the courage to try, was actually convenient to me. Even though my attempt(尝试) at going about my day without these luxuries (奢侈品) was a failure, I realized that if I really tried, I would be completely successful without my addiction to technology.

    These devices suddenly make my life easier, and I'm sure I wouldn't practice getting rid of them altogether, but I do believe the lives of today's teenagers would be dramatically different without our tech dependence.

Every girl dreams and Lisa is no exception. She has read dozens of books on how to be a ballerina(芭蕾舞女演员). "Swan Lake" is her favorite. She hopes one day her dream will come true. She has taken ballet lessons and all her teachers are sure she is a good student.

One day she saw a poster that a famous ballerina group will be performing in her hometown. Confidence filled her heart and she was so excited. Her thoughts soon ran wild. "I must meet up with the leader of the group and show him my skills," she whispered to herself. When the troupe(舞团) arrived, Lisa put on her ballet outfit(芭蕾舞装) and hid in the dressing room. To her luck, the leader entered and she timidly(胆怯地) knocked at the door. She bravely approached him and handed him a bunch of red roses. The thorns(刺) hurt her hand but she did not care about the pain. The leader watched her action as she told him her dream. "Alright, you dance and then I will give you my conclusion." But half way through the dance he stopped her and said, "I'm sorry you're not good enough!" On hearing this Lisa ran as fast as her legs could carry her and was upset. She decided to give up her dream.

Many years later, she heard that the same ballet troupe was performing in her town again. Bitter memories of the leader's unfriendly words came flooding back to her. This time she decided to find out why the leader had told her she was not good enough. This was his reply, "I tell this to every student." Then she got a further shock from the leader, "I remember your gift of roses and how the thorns had hurt your fingers but you carried on bravery. If you had treated ballet like that and did not give up so easily, therefore, you still deserve my conclusion!"