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.

    Nina Martinez leaves the classroom and walks down the hall. She feels bad this morning, because she's going to sing in the school Talent Show(达人秀). She loves to sing but she doesn't like singing in front of other people.

    Nina stands at the door for a moment, and then goes inside. In the room many children are talking happily. Nina sees Luz, James and others from her class. Some teachers are sitting on the chairs. They're waiting for the children to get quiet.

    "Nina Martinez!" someone calls out. It is Mrs. Brent, the music teacher.

    Nina stands up from her chair. She feels small as she walks to the front. Her face is hot, but her hands are as cold as ice. She wants to sing, but the song doesn't come out.

    "Close your eyes just as you are alone," says Mrs. Brent. "Forget(忘记) about everyone else. Just sing."

    Nina is worried, but she gives it a try(尝试). She closes her eyes and sings out. The song is out like milk.

    After the show, Mrs. Brent says to her, "Nina, you are great in the show!"

    At that moment, Nina says "Thank you" to Mrs. Brent happily.

    What do you think will happen when the traditional culture meet modern technology? Yes, the words become lively characters at once. How happy it is to enjoy these Chinese cartoons!

    Ma Liang is a poor boy who loves painting. He always uses his magic brush to fight against the bad people in the village. The cartoon The Magic Brush came out in 1955.

    A group of tadpoles（蝌蚪）are born. They try to find their mother that they have never seen. The story is very easy, but it needs complex technology to show the artistic style of ink（水墨）painting. Little Tadpole Looking for Mom was watched in 1961 first.

    The Monkey King：Uproar in Heaven（1961-1964）is China's first color cartoon. It is from the Chinese novel Journey to the West. It's successful. Not only we but also many westerners like the monkey Sun Wukong.

    To beat two bad persons, an old man grows 7 calabashes（葫芦）, and they change into 7 boys. They try their best to beat the bad. Calabash Brothers（1986）is a masterpiece（杰作）of Chinese paper-cutting art.

    There is a 41-year-old woman from California known as Anna, and she remembers almost every day of her life since(自从)she was eleven. There is an 85-year-old man known as Eddy, and he only knows a little.

Eddy is warm and friendly. He laughs a lot. He looks just like any other grandfather in the world. But 15 years ago  he was sick. Then he only knows the people in the room with him. Every morning, he gets up, has breakfast, and then goes back to bed to listen to the radio. Often he forgets that he has done these things. Sometimes he has breakfast three times in the morning.

    For Anna, the past is always there. She remembers the person giving her a call at 12:34 pm on Sunday, August 3, 1986. She remembers that on March 28, 1992, she had lunch with her father at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She remembers the food and every word of the talk. She remembers the weather.

    Anna said, "I remember the good things and that is nice. But I also remember the bad things. Ten years later, I still get angry with myself for doing something wrong. I would love for just five minutes to be a normal (正常的)person and not have all these things in my head."

    One day, a little monkey and a little fox(狐狸) went out to play. They saw an apple tree on the other side of the river. There were many big and red apples on it. But there was no bridge over the river. The monkey thought(想) hard and had an idea. They pulled down(推倒) a tree and put it over the river as a bridge.

    The monkey said, "My old friend, you go there first." But after the fox went to the other side, he kicked(踢) the tree into the river and ran to the apple tree. "How can I get there without the tree?" cried the monkey. The fox laughed and said, "You just stand there and watch me eating the apples." The monkey was very angry.

    Suddenly it began to rain. The water level(水位) in the river rose（上涨） and tree flew away with the water.

    "You can eat all the apples. But you can't come back," shouted the monkey.

    The fox stopped eating and looked at the monkey sadly.

    One day, as a Chinese teacher walked into his classroom, he heard Tom Andrews whisper to another boy, "Here comes the teacher. I'm sure the silly donkey is going to talk about putting in commas(送号). "The teacher said nothing but decided to teach him a good lesson. Now the teacher began his class, and talked about putting in commas, and explained how important they could be. " I'll give you an example, "said the teacher. He wrote on the blackboard the sentence: "Tom Andrews says the Chinese teacher is a foolish donkey. " The class laughed and looked at Tom, Tom looked red and he thought the Chinese teacher also knew English well. " Now, "said the teacher, "Let me show you how important commas are. He put two commas into the sentence and it was. Tom Andrews, says the teacher, is a foolish donkey. " Only at that time Tom knew the importance of commas and felt terribly sorry for his words.