“Do you believe in life after death?” Jack's boss asked Jack.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Well, then, that makes everything just fine,” the boss went on. “About an hour after you left yesterday to go to your grandfather's funeral(葬礼), he dropped in to see you.”

    ①Last year I spent my whole winter vacation in the US with my host family. The most unforgettable experience I had there was joining the Boy Scouts (童子军) of America. It was there that I got to face a great challenge: camping in the rain.

    ②One Saturday, we went hiking in the rain for more than six hours. When we finally reached the camping site, my shoes, my clothes, my bag and all the things inside it were totally soaked.

    ③Then, an even worse thing happened. Our guide teacher stepped out and said: “Today's hiking is a test. We're not going back home tonight! We have to live here tonight!” Soon we began to accept the truth and went to work. We just covered ourselves with a kind of plastic sheet and lay down by the campfire. While sleeping, I woke up several times. But to my surprise, I adapted (适应) to the environment quickly. Many others didn't even fall asleep.

    ④The sun finally rose and our hope returned. The bus came at 6 am and sent us back to our lovely home.

    ⑤Many in China say that children in the US were born with an adventurous spirit. But I think they were born with nothing different. Instead, they make differences by facing troubles positively. The camping adventure was a gift they gave themselves. Many Chinese children are over-protected when they are growing up. Therefore, when facing troubles, how can it be possible for us to react positively?

    In the state of Qin (秦国), there was a man called Shang Yang (商鞅). He was a statesman (政治家) and worked out many reforms(改革) for the state, like paying more attention to farming and giving rewards (报酬) to soldiers who were successful when at war.

    But these reforms were not easily carried out (执行) at first. Most people didn't trust Shang

    Yang. In order to solve this problem, Shang Yang came up wiIh an idea. He put a thin wooden pole at the south gate of the Qin capital. Many people came to see him and the pole.

    Then, in front of the crowd, Shang Yang said loudly, "The man who takes this pole to the north gate will get 10 gold pieces."

    It was a sample job and the reward was so large. However, some time passed and no one stepped forward. They all thought Shang Yang was making a joke.

    Hearing no answer, Shang Yang stepped forward and said, "The reward now goes to 50 gold pieces."

    This reward was unbelievably large. Finally, a man from the crowd came forward. He put the pole on his shoulders and walked to the north gate. True to his word, Shang Yang gave the man 50 gold pieces.

    After that, the people of Qin were all talking about what Shang Yang did about the pole. They believed he was a man of his word. So when Shang Yang began carrying out his reforms, the people followed him.

    Under these great reforms, Qin grew stronger and stronger. Al last, Qin made all the seven states into one empire (帝国).

    Once upon a time, a young man wanted to go to a village on business. Halfway there was a mountain. Before he left home, his family warned him to stay calm and climb onto trees if he was in face of beasts(凶猛的野兽). In this way, the beasts couldn't do anything to him.

    The young man remembered these words and began his trip He walked for a long time carefully and found no beasts were out there. He thought his family's worries were unnecessary. And he became relaxed as he walked. Just at that moment, he saw a fierce(凶猛的) tiger running to him and he climbed onto a tree nearby at once.

    The tiger roared(咆哮) around the tree and even jumped to reach the man. The young man was too scared to hold the tree and fell right on the back of the tiger. Full of fear, he had to hold the tiger tightly. The tiger thought that must be a giant beast. So it was afraid and started running madly.

    People on the road didn't know what happened and said, "Look at the young man. He is riding a tiger." "Cool!" "Superman!"

    Hearing these words, the young man was very angry. "Why can't they see I'm suffering a lot? Don't they understand I am in fear and almost scared to death? He said to himself.