One day, the old man came up with a plan. He called his sons and said to them, "Look, my dear sons: in the land we have at the farmyard, there is lots of hidden gold. If you should work together, you may find it”

  In a wish to find out the gold, his sons worked hard from the morning to the evening digging and digging all through the land. The days had passed, but they didn't find what were they were looking for. They got frustrated and angry. They decided to give up and returned to ask their father.

   “There is no gold in the land. We are cheated.”

“Since the land has been dup soft. Why don't you pant some crops there?”was the reply of the father to the sons.

  Off went the sons. Soon the whole once-useless land was rich crops.

  “This if the real gold, my sons.”Said the now proud father.

    Everybody usually makes decisions. They can be as important as what you will do in the future or as simple as what you will eat for breakfast . Any decision could be the turning point of your life.

    I made an important decision when I was in Junior 3.

    Before I made that decision I was one of the boys who tried too hard to act as an adult. I didn't know that only kids want to show themselves as adults. I didn't listen to my parents and teachers, and my grades became poor. Then came the high school entrance exam.

    At the turning point of my life, my mom wanted to have a conversation with me. I wanted to turn it down but when I looked at her eyes, I felt I couldn't refuse. Instead of asking me to study hard, to my surprise, Mom just asked what I wanted to do in the future. Without thinking too much, I just said I would like to study hard .

    Mom smiled and asked again: “ I asked: what do you WANT to do?”

    I never seriously thought about the question. So , I kept silent. “Whether you want to go on studying or enter the society,” she went on, “it is your own decision. Your life ought to be decided by you, not by anyone else, including me.” After saying that, she had tears in her eyes.

    For the first time in my life I was asked to make my own decision. I sat in my chair and thought about myself, my life and what kind of person I wanted to become.

    It took me what seemed to be ages to make the biggest decision so far in my life. I wanted to be a man who makes a difference in the world. To achieve that, I needed to study hard.

    The path to my future became clear to me. I didn't act rebelliously(叛逆地) any more. With passion(激情) in my heart, I studied hard.

    Now, I'm 17 and I'm in one of the best schools in my city, in one of the best classes at the school and I am one of the best students in the class.

    Thanks to that decision, I have become what I am today.

An adventure of a mouse

    It was time to leave the cave．I'd been with my mum and brothers and sisters for the first five weeks of my life{#blank#}1{#/blank#} So I packed up a bag．I nside were things that I thought I'd need to have along the way．

    This included a toothbrush，a change of clothes，and，of course，my lucky bottle cap．

    My Uncle Louie had found the bottle cap on his travels long ago．He was running from a fierce cat．That's when Uncle Louie discovered it was"lucky"．He used it to slide down a hill．At the bottom of the hill，rushing water began to carry him away．{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Luckily，he was able to guide the boat through the waters．I listened to Uncle Louie tell the story many，many times．One day，to my surprise，he gave me the lucky charm （幸运符）．

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}With that，I said my good﹣byes．Then I left the cave that I had known for so long．Outside the sun was shining．Birds were singing high in the trees．{#blank#}4{#/blank#} All of a sudden my ears caught the sound of something unusual．The sky darkened like night．The wind blew strongly．I quickly searched for cover．There was none．The next thing I knew，white stones began hitting the ground．Then it hit me．My bottle cap!{#blank#}5{#/blank#}I placed it over my head just as one of the ice balls crashed onto the cap．Stunned，but not hurt，I sat still for some time．Then I smiled．The lucky charm had saved the day and my life!

A．I have carried it with me ever since．

B．I wanted to explore the outside world．

C．Thinking quickly，he used the bottle cap as a boat．

D．I reached into my pack and pulled out my lucky charm．

E．With each step I took，the excitement of being on my own grew bigger and bigger．

    Once upon a time in a land far away, there was a wonderful old man who loved all kinds of small animals, such as spiders, insects and butterflies and so on.

    One day while walking through the woods, the nice old man found a cocoon（茧） of a butterfly. He took it home.

    A few days later, a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to make its body out of that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared it could go no farther.

    Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then got out of the cocoon easily.

    But it had a swollen（肿胀的） body and small shriveled（枯萎的） wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge to be able to support the body, which would contract（收缩） in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.

    What the warm-hearted man in his kindness did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were Nature's way of forcing fluid（体液） from the body of the butterfly into its wings, so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

    Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were allowed to go through our life without any difficulties, it would be bad for us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly.

    There are three brothers in the pop group "The Bright Shiners"：Harold Fisher, Roger Fisher and Dove Fisher. Harold is the boy who formed the group a year ago and he is the leader now. He plays the piano. Roger plays the lead guitar and Dove is the drummer. Then there is Pete Lennox, their cousin. He is the only member of the group who has had much experience. He played the guitar and sang with "The Tower of London" for three years. Alex Clark and Clive Hicks play the trumpet(喇叭). Robert Lester is the boy who has helped the group most. He was born in Chile and he can play five different Andean instruments. Geoffrey Baker plays the harp(竖琴). Bill Blake isn't a musician, but he is an important member of the group. He looks after their electronic equipment.