Zheng He was an amazing man. He was born in 1371. Eleven years later, he was caught by the army of a rich young man called Zhu Di and made to work for him. Over time the rich man saw that Zheng He was very clever and strong and they became close friends. In 1403 Zhu Di was made the King of China and he asked Zheng He to join his government.

The King wanted to learn more about the world and show other countries his power. He ordered many new ships to be built and made Zheng He their leader. between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led seven sea trips to different parts of the world. He certainly travelled to India, Africa and the Middle East. A few people think his ships have even reached South America and Australia.

Each trip lasted between two and four years and it is believed he sailed more than 50,000 kms during the years of his travels.Zheng He led a fleet with 28,000 men and over 300 ships, such as boats for food, water and even soldiers' horses.

On these trips he brought with him many Chinese goods like silk and medicine to give to foreign kings or to sell for local goods. He returned from each trip with boats filled with expensive things such as gold and treasures, foreign guests and strange animals like a giraffe.

It is a pity that we may never learn everything about Zheng He' s travels. The Columbus of the east, Zheng He, died in 1433. After that, the new king, had these trips stopped and he burned almost all the books about Zheng He's travels, because he believed the trips were unlucky and too expensive. It is only in the last 50 years that historians have begun to carefully study the adventures of great Zheng He.

C

    The Greens are Americans. They are now in Beijing. This is their first visit to China. They are going to stay(停留) in China for three months. They want to visit some big cities(城市) and villages. They want to learn some Chinese, too. Mr. Green is a driver. He likes to drive in Beijing. Mrs. Green is a school teacher. She is visiting a city school and a village school. Their daughter is a middle school student. She meets some Chinese students. They take a lot of pictures in China. When they are back in American, they are going to show the pictures to their friends. They want the American people to know more about China. 

    As a rule, we have a test about some usual things in our life every two months. During my second month of nursing school, our teacher gave us a pop test as usual.

    I was a serious, hard-working and careful student, so I passed the questions easily until I read the last one, "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"

    I thought this was sure some kind of joke. I saw the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark hair and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank.

    Before the class ended, one student named Nancy asked our teacher if the last question would count toward our test grade. This was also all the students' question. We all wondered why he gave this question in the test, because we all felt it meaningless.

    "Certainly," said our teacher. "In your life you will meet many people. All of them are important. They should get your attention and care, even if all you do is smile or just say an easy 'hello' ." We all kept silent after hearing this.

    I've never forgotten that special lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

    The greatest saleswoman in the world today doesn't mind if you call her a girl. This is because Markita Andrews made more than $ 80,000 by selling cookies when she was 13 years old. Andrews and her mother shared a dream of travelling around the world. Once, while reading magazines, Andrews found that the person who sold the most cookies would win a free trip for two around the world. She decided to have a try.

    To make her dream come true, Andrews went door to door every day after school and repeated, "Hi, I have a dream. I'm earning a trip around the world for my mum and me by selling cookies. "Then she asked, "Would you like to buy one or two dozen boxes of cookies?"

    Andrews kept asking for a whole year, no matter how heavily it was raining or snowing outside. Her hard work paid off. She sold 42,000 boxes of cookies that year and she won her trip around the world.

    Andrews is no smarter than thousands of other people. The key to her success is that she has found the secret of selling: Ask. Ask. Ask! Many people fail before they even begin because they fail to ask for what they want.

    It takes courage to ask for what you want. And, as Andrews has discovered, the more you ask, the easier it gets.

    The date—— July 22, 2018— has meaning to Cui Qingtao, a boy  of seventeen. He will remember it forever.

    Cui Qingtao was working at a construction site(建筑工地) with his  parents on Sunday when he received his admission letter(录取通知书) from Peking University, which is considered as one of the best  universities in China.

    In last year's gaokao, the young man from a poor family scored 669 points and applied for( 申请) Peking University, where he was accepted as a student in the School of Journalism(新闻)and  Communication.

    Cui's home is in a small village in southwest China's Yunnan Province. He is the family's oldest son, with a younger brother in high school and a sister in the fourth grade.

    Cui is a caring son. To support his family, he'd get up at 3 o'clock in the morming to water plants in the family's greenhouses with his brother when he came home during the school breaks.

    On Sunday, Cui's family were doing construction work when he saw the letter. Cui and his family were excited as they finally received the admission letter, which they had expected for a long time.

    Cui Qingtao made his parents very proud because neither of them went to university. When his mother read the admission letter to his father, who cannot read, a big smile appeared on his father's face.

    "No pain, no gain(不劳无获)Don' t complain what a terrible life you have. As long as you work hard and try your best, your dream may come true. Now I'm leaving my home village for college, but I'll return and some day change the poor conditions of our village, "Cui said.

   His starting point is different from other students, but I hope his future will be bright, "one Internet user said on Chinese social media (媒体)site Weibo.

    "Everything happens for the best," my mother said whenever I faced disappointment. "If you can carry on, one day something good will happen."

    After graduating from college in 1932, I decided to try for a job in radio, then work my way up to sports announcer (播音员). I took the bus to Chicago and knocked on the door of every station, but I was refused every time.

    In one studio, a nice lady told me that big stations didn't want to accept inexperienced person." Go to the countryside and find a small station that'll give you a chance," she said.

    I returned home, Dixon in Illinois. While there were no radio-announcing jobs in Dixon, my father said Smith Ward had opened a store and wanted a local sportsman to manage its sports department. Since I had played high school football in Dixon, I applied. The job sounded just right for me. But I still failed in the interview.

    At that moment, mom's words came to my mind: "Everything happens for the best." Dad offered me the car to look for a job. I tried WOC Radio in Davenport in Iowa. The program director, named Peter MacArthur, told me they had already hired an announcer.

    As I left his office, I felt frustrated. I asked aloud," How can a man become a sport announcer if he can't get a job in a radio station?"

    I was waiting for the lift when I heard MacArthur calling, "What did you say about sports? Do you know anything about football?"" Then he made me stand before a microphone and asked me to broadcast an imaginary (想象的) game. As a result, I did a wonderful job and was told to broadcast Saturday's game!

    On my way home, I thought of my mother's words again:" Everything happens for the best. If you carry on, one day something good will happen."