In 50 years of traveling, Colin McCorpuodale has visited every country in the world except three. And everywhere he goes, he sends himself a postcard. He always chooses a postcard with beautiful scenery (风景). Usually he writes just a short message to himself. However, he wrote an interesting story on his latest one, from the Malians Island.

Mr. McCorpuodale lives in London. On one of the walls in his room, you can see a large map of the world. There are hundreds of little red pins (大头针) stuck in it. “These pins mean a lot to me.” says Mr. McCorpuodale, “I follow the rule. I'm allowed to stick one in only if I've been in a place for more than 24 hours.”

Naturally, Mr. McCorpuodale has his favorite places. New Zealand, he describes as “a wonderful country”. About China, he says, “This is the country in the world which is completely different. There is no European influence. ”

Wherever he goes, Mr. McCorpuodale takes with him a photo of his wife, a candle, a shirt with a secret pocket and a pen.

So why does he do it? For the postcards or the travels? Mr. McCorpuodale laughs, “Neither. Only for the meaningful life.”

    It was a Christmas night. I was an unlucky nurse who had to work on such a beautiful festival. When I was so tired that I didn't want to work any longer, three people came to my desk — a tired woman and two children.

    "Are you all sick?" I asked.

    "Yes," the woman answered and lowered her head.

    But when they started to tell their problems, things became unclear. One child had a fever, but his temperature was OK. The other child had an earache, but she could not tell me which ear hurt. It seemed that the mother was trying to cough.

    Something was wrong. But I only explained that it might take a while before a doctor could meet them. "Take your time, please," said the mother. I checked their information — no address. Suddenly I knew, they were homeless and the hospital was warm.

    The family stayed together under the Christmas tree, smiling and talking with each other sweetly. Quietly, I went back to the nurses' station and told them what happened in the waiting room. It was just like the God sending us a gift on Christmas Day. The nurses' station suddenly came back to life. All the nurses went into action for "a Christmas emergency(急诊)."

    We took out our meals for our Christmas "sick people". We also put oranges and apples together as presents. We tried to give them a warm place on Christmas night. Later, the little girl kissed me and said, "Thanks for being our angels"

    A young queen was given a magic box by a wizard (男巫). The box would bring happiness to the whole country whenever it was opened in a place full of the spirit of generosity (慷慨).

    The queen traveled all over the country, looking for the most generous people. If she collected them all, she would open the magic box. The queen felt disappointed because nothing special happened.

    One day when the queen decided to return to her palace, she saw a poor little boy begging. She would like to give the boy some money, but she didn't have any with her. So the boy asked her if she could give him the old box. Then he could sell it for a little money. At first the queen hesitated (犹豫), because she had been told the box had magical powers. But seeing how poor the boy was, she gave it to him. The boy took the box and opened it.

    Immediately, all the most wonderful things one could imagine started flying out of the box and a voice said, "Why look for it in others? Goodness always starts in yourself. "

    While enjoying all the wonders of the magic box, the queen learned to set an example to others, and she became the best queen ever in history.

    Hi! I'm Maria. I have two boys. Tom is three years old and Tim is one year old. My family moved into an apartment a few months ago. Our house is on the second floor. But our neighbour downstairs complains at least once a day and we have got her note, saying "Please stop running and jumping on the floor."

    Since then, I have to do everything to keep the boys busy or out of the apartment during the day, but this can't stop my kids from making noise. They are just children under the age of four. Now the lady downstairs often bangs the walls when my boys run and jump in the rooms.

    However, she often plays movies loudly late at night. The noise wakes up my children at night and makes them cry.

    At the same time, we have another problem. The person on the third floor often walks too hard and wakes up my boys at 5:30 a.m. , but I think we have to face it.

    Usually my boys are sleeping from about 8:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. the next day. At least they don't annoy the neighbour downstairs during the hours.

    Any introduction to Peking Opera would not be complete without telling of Mei Lanfang. During his stage life, he combined(融合) the traditions of the past with his own creations, creating a style of his own and giving birth to "The Mei Lanfang School". He was also the first artist to introduce Peking Opera to foreigners, winning international fame（名声）in the globe. For half a century, Mei Lanfang was a household name in China.

    Mei Lanfang began his stage life at the age of 8. His teacher said he showed little hope because of his boring eyes. To improve this, he exercised them day after day. He would fly kites and look at them moving slowly in a blue sky. He also kept pigeons in order to look at them flying higher and higher until they disappeared into the clouds. Thanks to his efforts, he managed to change his dull eyes into a pair of bright and expressive eyes and win national fame before the age of 20.

    In over 50 years on the stage, Mei Lanfang played no less than 100 different characters in the traditional Peking Opera performance（表演）. He completely changed both stage make-up and costumes, and made characters' performance. He also wrote many new plays, designing the dances himself. They are part of the great legacy(遗赠) that he left to Peking Opera.

    In 1930, Mei Lanfang started on a successful US tour. There his great performances fascinated the audience, making them realize that Peking Opera was a most valuable form of art.