The message was short. I read it three times: "Hey, Mom, can I come to see you guys?"I wrote back: "Yes!”He said he hoped to make it in time for dinner.　

 I made a quick run to the market, put sheets on the guest bed and set the TV to record the Warriors' game, so if traffic was awful, he wouldn't have to miss the first half. Then I began cooking, cleaning, watching the clock and listening for his footsteps coming up the walk.

 It's called waiting. I'm good at it. When he was a newborn, I'd wait for him to go to sleep. Soon then I'd stand by his bed waiting for him to wake up. I waited, as he learned to do things like walking , talking and feeding himself; throwing a ball, riding a bike and reading a book.

 I waited for him to start preschool, primary school, middle school and college.

 I waited with dread for him to start driving. And I waited up every time he came home late.

I wait for my son to grow up, but that doesn't mean the waiting game is over. It never really ends.

 Mothers wait for all kinds of reasons—good news or bad, happiness or heartache. But the waiting is soon forgotten, usually, the minute a long awaited child walks through the door.

 My boy will be here soon. But if he's late, I can wait. I'm good at it. And he's worth it. I will always leave a light on for him. 

Amy had three sons, Dave, Bill and Bob. Every year her sons sent her expensive gifts on her birthday.

The eldest son Dave, had a lot of money and he wanted his mother to have the most expensive gifts, but he didn't know what to buy. So he put an ad in the newspaper. "Wanted—the greatest gift for my mother.”

About a week before his mother's birthday, a man came to his office. He brought a big bird.

“This bird can speak six languages and sing eight songs.”the man said.

“Really?  I'd like to listen to it," Dave said.

The man made the bird talk in French and tell a joke in Japanese. Then the bird sang a beautiful song. Dave was very happy and paid eight thousand dollars for the bird. The next day Dave sent the bird to his mother with a birthday card.

The day after his mother's birthday he called his mother. “Well, mother”he asked, "What do you think of the bird?”

“Oh, it's very delicious, dear.”said his mother.

    I am a Chinese boy. My name is Li Jun. I had a wish to go abroad (到国外) for a very long time. Finally a good chance came. Now I am studying in the USA. My wish comes true (真实的), but I am not happy here. I want to go back to China because I hate the food in the USA. People in the USA eat a lot of bread. They also like fast food and fried chicken very much. But I don't like such food. I like Chinese food. There are many different kinds of food in China. They are all very delicious. So, I often go to the Chinese restaurants in America. The food there is nice but very expensive. The American people also like Chinese food very much.

    Once upon a time, there lived a rich man. He had a servant (仆人). He and the servant(仆人) loved wine and good food very much. Each time the rich man left his home, the servant would drink the wine and eat up all the nice food in the house. The rich man knew what his servant did, but he had never caught his servant doing that.

    One morning, when he left home, he said to the servant, “Here are two bottles of poison (毒药) and some nice food in the house. You must take care of them.” With these words, he went out.

    But the servant knew that the rich man had said was untrue. After the rich man was away from his home, he enjoyed a nice meal. Because he drank too much, he was drunk and fell to the ground. When the rich man came back, he couldn't find his food and his wine. He became very angry. He woke the servant up. But the servant told his story very well. He said a cat had eaten up everything. He was afraid to be punished, so he drank the poison to kill himself.

    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.

    These days picture news is very popular with young people. Here are some chosen from the Internet by Jack. Read on to find out which one you like best.

    SPRING is coming, together with butterflies(蝴蝶)!On March 31, the Natural History Museum in London, UK, had a butterfly show. Children came over and played with these beautiful creatures. They also got to know how butterflies grow up. Colorful butterflies flew freely at the show. They sometimes landed on visitors. Look! A large blue butterfly sits on the nose of the girl.

    Earlier in April 2014, Sanlian Taofen Bookstore became the first 24﹣hour bookstore in Beijing. It hopes to encourage more people to read books.

    "We welcome everyone who loves to read books at any time." The general manager of the store told China Youth Daily.

    Although many people can now buy books online, many readers still like the feeling in bookstores. They can touch the books and smell the print.

    This year, many children in the UK will have a new language to study: Chinese.

    Starting in 2014, students aged 7﹣11in the UK need to study one of seven foreign languages. They can choose from French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek(希腊语) and Chinese.

    The British government is offering to train a group of Chinese﹣language teachers. They will teach Chinese to more than 3, 000 primary school students.

    China and the UK work together in many fields. So it's important that the future generation(一代人) can speak Chinese.