In the sea there are many islands. In its warm waters there are some little ones. We call them “Coral Islands”.

    A coral island is very nice to look at. It looks like a ring of land with tress, grass, and flowers on it. One part of the ring is open to the water. There is a little round lake inside the island.

    If you look into this lake, you will see beautiful coral. You may think they are flowers.

    If you look at a piece of coral, you will see many little holes in it. In each of these holes a very small sea animal has lived . These sea animals make the coral.

    They began to build under the water. Year after year, the coral grew higher and higher.

    At last it grew out of the water.

    Then the sea brought to it small trees and something else. After some years, these things changed into earth. Sometimes the wind brought seeds to this earth. Sometimes birds flew over it and brought seeds to the island.

    The little seeds grew. In a few years there were plants all over the island. In a few more years there were trees growing there.

    So you see, these islands were built little by little. The workers were very small. Do they not teach us a lesson? Can you think what the lesson is?

    Here we list some cartoons that have continued up until now without an end, and among them there may be a favorite from your childhood:

Detective Conan

    Detective Conan has broadcasted since 1996 by V1 Studio in Japan. Now, it has 910 series without an end in sight. This cartoon makes many teenagers keen on detective stories. Although there are constant guesses about the ending of the cartoon, Detective Conan continues to update every week.

One Piece

    One Piece has been serialized since 1997. Until now, it has 784 series in total, and the number will continue grow in the future. This cartoon tells the story of a great adventurous journey among some hot-blooded youngster. Long may the journey continue…

Fairy Tail

    Fairy Tail has been serialized since 2009. It has a current total of 277 series. This cartoon tells the passionate story of teenagers in a magical world. Many people hope to achieve their magical dreams through such cartoons, creating an inspiration that lasts through to adulthood.

GINTAMA

    GINTAMA is a more recent cartoon released in 2006 April 4th, and it has serialized 329 sets in the past 11 years. It was introduced to China in 2014 July 10th.

Hell Girl

    Until now, Hell Girl has finished three seasons since its first season was serialized in 2005. This cartoon has 26 series each season, much less compared with other cartoons. According to the newest information, the fourth season of the cartoon is going to begin in July this year. The long-awaited return of Hell Girl will bring back a lot of memories for many people!

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My dad was in the Air Force. When I was a kid, we moved every few years. That meant a lot of good-byes. It also meant getting used to a whole new community and a whole new school each time we moved. I can still feel what it was like to have to walk into the new school—that sinking feeling in my belly, that heaviness in my throat. It would always take time for me to learn how everything worked, what was cool and what not. It was always a struggle to find where I could fit in.

    Already shy, I didn't have much self-confidence in my friend-making abilities. I was the girl walking in the halls with her head down, panicking. When I spoke, you could hardly hear my soft voice. I was nervous and doubted myself a lot.

    It was very hard not having a history with everyone else. I was an outsider. But what I did have was soccer. Wherever I went, I knew that I could fit it with the soccer ball. The soccer team meant a familiar place and immediate friends for me. I could express myself and feel good about myself on the field. Playing hard helped to get rid of all my nervousness.

    Throughout our lives, our self-respect goes down when we feel like a failure, and it goes up when we feel successful. Doing something well, being praised, and feeling loved goes a long way. We all need to explore opportunities where we can be good at something and feel good about ourselves. Physical activity and sport participation is a terrific way to build up our sense of self-confidence and self-worth.

    Banker Chip Paillex had never planted so much until he moved to the countryside in Pittstown, New Jersey, seven years ago. Surrounded by working farms, he quickly became interested in the grow-it-yourself idea and rented a piece of 30-by-30-foot land. He planted tomatoes, eggplants and other vegetable—enough to feed his family of four for the summer. He ended up with so much produce; he couldn't give it away. He found a local food factory and donated 120 pounds of fresh vegetables.

    The following year, with a handful of volunteers and a memorable name—America's Grow-a-Row, Paillex harvested 1, 500 pounds of fresh vegetables, all of which he donated to area food banks--places that give food to poor people. Soon Paillex had a hundred volunteers and needed more land. He visited Meredith and Jeremy Compton, who farm Peaceful Valley Orchards in Pittstown. Could he work their land?

    “I guess we were feeling honored, " says Meredith. Not only do the Comptons welcome Grow-a-Row volunteers, they also work on the land.

    What began with a few empty fields has turned into a large local farm. This year, Grow-a-Row will deliver about 250, 000 pounds of fresh produce to food banks. Their secret for getting all of this done? Family power. " Each week, a couple of families 'own' the garden, " says Paillex." They water, pick, and deliver, and then hand it off on Sunday night to the next group of families."

    Paillex also welcomed local school kids. On a Friday morning in May, some kids worked on a field. "We' re growing food, " one fifth grader said proudly.

    "The program shows kids that there are people in need, " says Paillex. “When these kids become tomorrow's leaders, they'll be much more likely to encourage their co-workers or employees to get involved in something like this. “

    "Chip makes people want to help, " says Colleen Duerr, a mother of two. "And families love this. Chip has given us a way to raise our kids with a giving heart. "

    I was attending a party one night given in Sir Ross's honor; and during the dinner, the man sitting next to me told a humorous story based on the quotation(引语): “There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.”

    The storyteller mentioned that the quotation was from the Bible. He was wrong. I knew that, and I knew it positively. There couldn't be the slightest doubt about it. And so, to get a feeling of importance and display my superiority, I appointed myself as an unwelcome committee of one to correct him. He stuck to his guns. “What? From Shakespeare? Impossible! Absurd! That quotation was from the Bible.” And he knew it.

    The storyteller was sitting on my right; and Frank Gammond, an old friend of mine, was seated on my left. Mr. Gammond had devoted years to the study of Shakespeare. So the storyteller and I agreed to submit the question to Mr. Gammond. Mr. Gammond listened, kicked me under the table, and then said: “Dale, you are wrong. The gentleman is right. It is from the Bible.”

    On our way home that night, I said to Mr. Gammond: “Frank, you knew that quotation was from Shakespeare.” “Yes, of course,” he replied, “Hamlet, Act Five, Scene Two. But we were guests at a happy time, my dear Dale. Why prove to a man he is wrong? Is that going to make him like you? Why not let him save his face? He didn't ask for your advice. He didn't want it. Why argue with him? Always avoid your sharp angle.” The man who said that taught me a lesson I'll never forget. I not only had made the storyteller uncomfortable, but also had put my friend in an embarrassing situation. How much better it would have been had I not become argumentative.

    Nine times out of ten, an argument ends with each of the contestants more firmly convinced than ever that he is absolutely right. You can't win an argument. You can't because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it.

    Research shows that some orchestral(管弦乐的) instruments are in a danger of dying out.YouGov research, asked by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) to find the most popular instruments among schoolchildren, has revealed the increasing popularity of the ukulele(尤克里里琴), with one in eight expressing a desire to learn, making it the highest ranked instrument behind the typical rock-band grouping of the guitar, piano, keyboards, drums and bass guitar.

    But younger generations' interest in"more complex instruments"is decreasing, with the three least popular being the French horn, the double bass and the trombone.

    James Williams, managing director of the RPO, believed the changes reflect the increasing pressure schools are under to provide music education, and went on to say that more needs to be done to interest secondary school students in the wider range of instruments. His concern was for the composition(构成) of future orchestras if the trend towards instruments like rock-band grouping were allowed to continue. But there may be yet another death, one that few would be quick to sorrow over：the recorder(竖笛).

    Cheap, convenient, easy to learn, and suitable for individual and group performances, the recorder was once the go-to instrument for children's early musical education.But in many schools it has been replaced by the ukulele, which, for teachers, offers many of the same benefits with none of the lasting damage to hearing. Plus, from a student's viewpoint: you can play Metallica on one.

    Not all hope is lost for the cream-colored, 10-pound Yamaha recorder with a long history, however. About 13% of girls and 4% boys surveyed by YouGov said they wanted to learn the recorder.Surprisingly high! Unlikely as it may be, these children's interest in the recorder must be encouraged.