The morning was cold and clear. A yellow bus came around the corner and stopped near a wood (树林). A coach asked the students to get off the bus. Girls began to gather by the starting line. One of them is a young, little girl. She had prepared for this running race for the whole summer. She looked around at the other girls, noticing how she was different.

    There was a break in the silence, and everyone started to run. After about twenty-five minutes, every runner finished the race except the girl. She was still running for the next forty minutes. As she came near the finishing line, she saw her parents, classmates and the coach. They shouted her name and told her not to stop until the end. The sweat (汗水) was flowing down her face.

    She kept on running until she crossed the line. I was that girl, and that was the first time I had finished a cross-country race (越野赛跑). Finishing this race made me realize that I could do anything with my own strength. After that, I took more hard work to practice running. I was not a natural-born runner, but I want to become one. I continued to struggle (努力) with every run. Now I run much faster than before and become more and more confident. I am so thankful for running because it has helped make me who I am today.

    Once upon a time， there lived a teacher In a small town. He often taught his students in special ways. Once he Rent four of his students to go to a small farm to see apple trees in different seasons. The first student went in winter， the second in spring. The third in summer. And the last in autumn.

    After the four students came back .the teacher called them together. They pictured (描述) their feeling to the teacher. The first student said that there were no leaves on the trees. It made him very disappointed. The second student said his eyes were full of light green. It made him feel hopeful. The third one disagreed. ”What are you talking about? How pretty the trees were! The sweet smell of the beautiful flowers spread (传播） here and there.” The last one shook his head. He only saw a lot of apples on the beautiful trees.

    The teacher smiled and told his students none of them were wrong. They each just saw one season. He continued， “The trees are not the same in different seasons. You can't judge (判断)a tree by only one season. Don' t let the regret of one season destroy the beauty of the rest. '

    Everything has different sides in our life. Don't hurry to make a conclusion(结论)before seeing the whole of it.

    One day, I saw a boy shop alone at the shop I worked. He chose some school things he wanted and went to the checkout (付款台).

    The young shop assistant (店员) told him he needed to pay $37.60. The boy became very sad and said he only had $20. He took out one thing at a time, and at last he got down to his $20. With eyes full of tears, he asked if he could call his mom to pick him up. When he got through, it seemed that his morn was too busy to pick him up in a minute.

    He tried to stop the tears and walked outside to wait on the chair in front of the shop. This was too much for the young assistant. She kept looking outside to see if the boy was all right. Then she said, "I wish I could pay for the rest (剩余部分) of his  things." One of the other girls said she had a few  dollars. Then two others said they could help, too.

    These four young girls pooled their money and found they had more than enough to pay for the boy s things. Then they chose more school things, and gave them all to the boy. The boy laughed happily. His morn arrived much later, but he didn't just run to the car; he ran back into the shop and called out, "Thank you!"

    I was so proud (骄傲的) of my team that day. They did something wonderful for that boy and also found the pleasure (快乐) of giving.

B

    Recently，there was a report about a special app called "notOK"．A 13-year-old girl Hannah Lucas and her brother Charlie put their heads together to create this app last year．

    Hannah has been suffering from an illness that causes her to pass out since she was little．This is very dangerous if there is no one around．She was also being bullied(欺凌)by some students at school．So she searched for an app that would allow her to press a button so that a friend or a family member would know immediately that she needed help．After realizing there was no such thing，Hannah and her brother decided to do something about it．After some research，Hannah made some early drawings of what the app might look like．Then，after taking a programming class，Charlie began to think about the best way for the app to work．

    They wanted something that would send a text message to up to five contacts that reads："Hey，I'm not OK．Please call me，text me，or come and find me"，along with a link to the user's current GPS location．

    They started looking for someone to help them make the app．And when Hannah shared her dream with people in a summer business class which she attended two years ago，they were really excited about the app．They thought of many different marketing ideas．By mid—December last year, "notOK" app was finished as a birthday present for Hannah from Charlie．"It was exactly what we wanted，"Charlie said．

    In today's age，most people will agree that apps like these are great．Whether you're suffering from illness，or anything emergent(紧急的)，writing a text message or making a phone call to get the help you need can be difficult．

    Hannah is happy to know that her app will help more people．"It's like I went through my dark times so I could help people through theirs，"she said．

    Steve found a job on a farm. He's the strongest and youngest. He ate most, sleeps most, but worked 1.  He hated to use his 2 and knew little. He had to do some unskilled(无技巧的)  work. He always said he's tired and hoped to have a 3 rest. So he 4 less money than his workmates.

    Winter came. The workers were told to get ready 5 the next year. Only Steve did 6. The farmer told him to cut down some trees in the forest. The young man went there with a chair. He felt lonely in the forest and was afraid of the 7. During his work, he looked around and sang 8, and nobody knew what he was singing.

    Three days passed. Steve didn't cut down any trees. The farmer felt strange. He decided 9 to find out how the young man was doing there. To his surprise, Steve was cutting a tree, sitting on a chair.

    "Why are you 10 here to cut the tree?" asked the farmer angrily.

    "Because I can't work if lying down sir!"