I first met Windy, a six-year-old girl, on the beach near where I lived. She was building a sand house there. She looked up, and her eyes were as blue as the sea. Every time when I felt unhappy, I drove to the beach.  

      "Hello, Miss Agnes," she said. I answered, but I didn't really want to stop her. "I'm building," she said. I saw that.

    "What is it?" I asked her. "Oh, I don't know. I just like the feeling of the sand." Oh, that's good, I thought, and took off my shoes to join her. A sandpiper (一种叫做鹬的水鸟) flew by. She told me that it would make me happy. I felt better then.

      A week later on my next visit, I learned that Windy lived in a cottage (小屋) and didn't go to school. Soon after that, my mother died, and I rushed to the beach to be alone. I didn't want to say anything when Windy came up to me. "Why?" she asked.

      I turned to her and shouted, "Because my mother died!" "Oh," she said quietly, "then today is a bad day."

      A month later, I went to the beach but couldn't find Windy. I missed her so much that I visited her house. I learned that Windy had died of leukemia (白血病), but she left a picture of a sandpiper for me.

    Mr. Brown is 75 years old. He lives in a small village(村庄). Mr. Brown has three sons, David, Jeff and Stefan. They work in big cities. And they don't come to see Mr Brown very often.

    The sons feel sorry for their father, so they built(建造) a big house for Mr. Brown. And they give him much money(钱). But it doesn't make Mr. Brown happy. He always feels lonely.

    There is a school next to Mr. Brown's house. Some students often come and visit Mr. Brown. He says, "I don't want money. I want love. And the students give it to me. Love is not money. Love is company(陪伴)."

    Today is Saturday, but Julie gets up very early. She wants to go to the library. The library is far from her home. Julie has a good breakfast. She has some bread, two eggs and a cup of milk. Then she leaves home and gets to the bus stop.

    Julie gets on the bus at eight. After one and a half hours, she gets to the library. The library is big and clean. There are lots of interesting books in it. Julie reads a storybook there. It's very funny. When it's time for lunch, Julie leaves the library and goes back home. She borrows three books from the library: one English book, one science book and one history book. She wants to read them at home.

    Twenty-two-year-old Timothy Doner from New York City has been able to speak 23 different languages, including some rare African ones.

    Timothy began his foreign language education at the age of 13. Attracted by in Israeli(以色列) musical band. Timothy listened to their album every morning. A month Later, he kept about 20 of their songs in his mind, though he didn't know what the Hebrew(希伯来语) words mean. But once he learned the translation. it was like he had a dictionary in his head.

    Then Timothy moved on to Arabic (阿拉伯语) which he studied every morning by reading newspapers with a dictionary and by talking to street vendors (小贩). After that he learned Persian, then Russian, then Mandarin... and about twenty others and developed a crazy low for languages.

    Now, Timothy is still teaching himself new languages. With the help of language books and word-learning Apps on his iPhone. He can master a language in a few weeks or months.

    What has Timothy got from learning so many languages? "By learning languages, you are learning a lot more. You are learning about culture, everything from cooking to TV，poetry and whatever it may be. That helps you better understand the language,” he said.

    A young boy was playing with a ball in the street. He threw(扔)it too hard and it broke(打破)the window of a house and fell(掉)inside. A woman came to the window and shouted(大喊) at the boy. The boy was afraid and ran away. But he still wanted his ball back. A few minutes(分钟)later. The boy came back and knocked(敲)at the door and said, "My father is going to come and repair(修理)your window soon."

    After a while, a man came to the door with tools(工具)in his hand, so the woman let the boy take his ball away.

    When the man finish repairing the window, he said to the woman, "Please pay ten dollars."

    "But aren't you the father of the boy?" the woman asked, looking surprised(惊奇). "No," he answered, looking more surprised, "Aren't you his mother?"