On September 19, Alibaba went public (上市) on the New York Stock Exchange(纽约证券交易所). It shows that Ma Yun has done his business successfully. A short Chinese man seems to be the tallest man in the world right now. Ma used to be an English teacher. So far, he has become the richest man on the Chinese mainland.

    Ma was born in Hangzhou and grew up as a happy kid. At the age of twelve, he found that English was very interesting. Every morning he got up at 5 a.m., and then ran to a hotel near the West Lake where he could communicate with foreign tourists in English. He did it for nine years. The experience made him become a fantastic English speaker and also opened his eyes to the wide world. In a 1995 trip to the US, Ma was shown to the Internet for the first time. Seeing the chance, Ma returned to China and set up a website without knowing much about computers. Four years later, Ma set up Alibaba in Hangzhou. People called him “Crazy Jack Ma”. But fifteen years later, Alibaba has developed into the world's largest e-commerce (电子商务) company.

    When an big earthquake hit Wenchuan on May 12，many houses fell down. After the earthquake，all the newspapers reported many stories about some of the families who were in trouble. 

    One Sunday，when I was reading a newspaper，a special picture touched（触动）me. It gave the clothing sizes of each family member. I thought that this would be a good chance to teach my children to help those who were less lucky than themselves. I said to my seven-year-old twins，Brad and Brett，and three-year-old Meghan. "We have so much，and these poor people now have nothing. We'll share what we have with them.

    I filled a box with foods and clothes. While I was doing this，I encouraged(鼓励) the boys to choose their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys took out his old toys and games and put them together. Then she walked away. A few minutes later she came back with Lucy，her much-loved doll. She put the doll on top of the other toys. "Oh，dear，I said, ―You don't have to give Lucy. You love her so much.Meghan said，―Lucy makes me happy，Mommy. Maybe she'll make another little girl happy，too.

    I looked at Meghan for a long moment. She taught me a lesson. It's easy to give something that we don't want any more，but harder to give what we cherish（珍爱），isn't it?

    My cousin Bill likes going to the beach on Sunday. There was much sunshine that day. He went there with his brother. They got there at 9:00. There were lots of people there on vacation. Bill and his brother sat down and began to relax.

    Soon Bill found there were lots of empty water bottles on the beach. He also saw some paper bags on the beach. That made Bill sad. He and his brother began to work. To clean the beach, they worked hard. About two hours later, the beach was clean again.  At last they put up a sign, saying, "No Littering(乱扔)" on the beach. They wanted people to keep the beach clean. After that, they were very hungry. So they went to a restaurant nearby to have lunch. They had two large bowls of beef noodles there, and then went home.

    Kathy could still remember the night she had to leave her home in Hungary. It was the beginning of World War II and her family had to leave their country as soon as possible. She quickly filled a bag with a few pieces of clothing, her diary, and her treasure—a beautiful silk scarf.

    Kathy and her best friend, Monica, had asked their parents to buy them matching scarves. They each would wear the scarves as a symbol of their friendship. Kathy had no idea that she was going to America that night and would not be returning.

    Kathy kept that special silk scarf for many years. One day she decided to give it to her granddaughter, Eliza, to wear to her first job interview for good luck. Kathy was afraid that Eliza would lose the scarf, but the granddaughter promised, "Don't worry, Grandma, nothing's going to happen to your scarf. You'll see. It is going to bring both of us luck today." And with that, Eliza kissed her grandmother and left for the interview.

    That afternoon Eliza left the interview, feeling sure that she had got the job. So she decided to celebrate by going to a restaurant. As she was sitting at her table, she felt someone looking at her. Sitting next to her was an old woman, who could not take her eyes away from her.

    "I'm sorry, do I know you?" Eliza asked.

    "I'm sorry, dear, but you make me think of someone I once knew," the old woman replied. "My best friend looked like you and used to wear a scarf just like the one you're wearing around your neck." Eliza listened carefully, with her eyes and mouth wide open. She had heard stories of her grandmother's best friend and knew the meaning of the scarf. Could this be Monica, her grandmother's childhood friend?

    Eliza introduced herself and waited to hear the name of the other woman.

    "My name's Monica, dear. I lived in Hungary as a child, but my family had to leave when I was fourteen years old. I've been living here in California ever since." said the old woman.

    Eliza could not believe her ears …

    Mike and Julia always wanted to be sure they were doing the right thing before they made important decisions.

    When they wanted to buy a car, it took a long time for them to decide which one to buy. They looked at all the different cars carefully. It had to be the right size, the right color and the right price. Finally, they chose the car they wanted.

    When they went out for dinner, it always took a long time before they chose what to eat. They carefully read the menu and discussed all the choices together. They were patient and never in a hurry.

    After a while they had a baby boy, they were happy and called him Jordan. Jordan smiled a lot, but he didn't make any noise. He never cried. All their friends said, "He's such a nice quiet baby!"

    Jordan learned everything that other babies learn. He learned to walk. He learned to go to the bathroom by himself. He learned to sleep in the bed. He learned to sit on a chair and eat at the table. However, he didn't learn how to talk and he still never cried. But Mike and Julia didn't worry about it too much. They just waited. They were confident Jordan would talk one day.

    One day, while eating dinner, Jordan suddenly said, "Mother, I think the soup needs a little more salt."

    Mike and Julia were surprised, "You can talk!" said Julia.

    "Of course I can talk!" said Jordan. "After all, I am three years old."

    "Why didn't you talk before?" asked Mike.

    "I didn't need to," said Jordan. "The food was always good before."