Mara: There are a lot of other people with more experience .,but I just try to do my best .I always go on to the stage thinking good thoughts, never bad thoughts.

  Reporter: Who is your role model or idol(偶像) ? What inspires you?

  Mara: For singing, my idols are Aretha Franklin and Christina Aguilera, but a role model to me would be my mom. I love her with all my heart—she encourages me to believe in my dreams.

  Reporter: What are your other hobbies?

  Mara: I love playing video games, and I usually go to the park with my family. We usually play basketball. We also like to play tennis!

    Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus.

    Finally, there was only one family between the ticket office and us. This family made a big impression on me.

    There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. You could tell they didn't have a lot of money. Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children talked excitedly about the clowns. It was clearly a very important day out for them. The father and mother seemed happy as they could be.

    The tickets lady asked how many tickets the father wanted, he proudly answered, "Please let me buy eight children's tickets and two adults' tickets, so I can take my family to the circus."

    The ticket lady told him the price.

    The man's wife lowered her head. There was no longer a smile on the man's face. He quietly asked, "How much did you say?"

    The ticket lady again told him the price.

    The man obviously didn't have enough money. But how could he tell his kids the bad news?

    Seeing what was happening, my dad took a $20 note from his pocket and dropped in on the ground. (We were not rich ourselves at all!) He then tapped the man on the shoulder and said,

    "Excuse me, Sir, you dropped this."

    The man understood my father was helping him. He picked up the money, looked straight into my dad's eyes, and in tears replied, "Thank you. This really means a lot to me and my family."

    Although we did not go to the circus that night, we didn't go without.

    This morning Tom gets up at 6:00. Today his family is going to move(搬家)into a new house.

    Tom and his family are busy putting their things into some boxes. When Tom helps to put some glass cups into a box, he breaks one of them. He hurts(使受伤)his right hand. Mum tries to find some Band-Aids(创可贴) for him. But she forgets where the Band-Aids are. So she has to open the boxes one by one. Dad comes quickly to help them. But he falls over. He hurts his hand, too. At last they find the Band-Aids in one of the boxes. Most of the boxes are open now. The family have to pack(打包)them again。

    There are so many boxes in the house. Dad puts some of them behind the door. Later, some friends come and they help to move all the things onto the truck.

    In the new house, Dad starts to count the boxes. One, two, three, four…There are only twenty boxes.

    Where is the last box? Is it behind the door of their old house? They don't know.

    Once there was a piece of white and new paper. Children loved playing with it. But one day the paper found itself old and dirty. It was sad.

    Before it knew what was going on, it found itself lying in the dustbin(垃圾箱). It was sad when the worker came and put it into a truck with some other old paper.

    It travelled from day to night, from wind to rain. At last someone put it into a machine with other paper. It quickly got sorted(分类). This was the end! There was so many things it wanted to do, for example, be a book for children. But this was the end. The paper tried to run with other paper, but it failed. In the end, the paper closed its eyes. After some time, it woke up. The paper found it was quiet. The paper looked around and realized it was sitting next to some fresh paper. It looked down at itself. It was clean with a very new white coat.

    To share is simply to let someone else have or use a part of something that belongs to you. It doesn't mean we're losing anything—because what's actually happening is that we're giving ourselves more of a chance to be sincere(真诚的), which in turn makes us feel better. Sharing also means that you are not alone because others have the similar experience with you. Here is a story about learning to share.

    Once upon a time, there was a beautiful flower with beautiful colors: red, orange and yellow. The flower was very happy because everyone who saw it said it was beautiful. As time went by, she thought she was the most beautiful among all flowers. And she was very proud of her colors, but she didn't want others to enjoy them. She was worried that others would imitate her. In that case, she would not be the most beautiful in this area. So she only came out at night.

    One day, it began to rain during sunrise and didn't stop until nightfall(黄昏). When the flower woke up in the evening, she opened her petals(花瓣) and realized that she had lost all colors. Now she was all white like the snow. What had happened? The flower was so sad that she couldn't stop crying.

    Suddenly, a fairy(仙子)wearing a dress with a colorful magic stick appeared in front of her. "What's wrong with you? Why are you so sad?" she asked.

    "I've lost my lovely colors. The rain in the day has washed them away completely," the flower cried.

    "Don't worry. I can give them back to you, but under one condition…"

    "Which one?" the flower asked.

    "I want you to     ▲   . I don't want to see that you just come out at night. You should share it with others."

    Now everyone who passed by the flower would stop." This is the most beautiful flower I've seen!" many of them said. The flower was really happy because she understood that sharing good things with others was so wonderful.