About 10 years ago, I started a job as a trainer. In one of my first classes, the head trainer told us a story.

    He began by drawing a man standing in the middle of a circle. To make it more interesting, he drew things like a house, a car, and a few friends inside the circle.

    He asked the question," Can anyone tell me what this is？"In a long silence, one guy decided to speak out," The world?" The trainer said, "That's close. Actually, this is your Comfort Area. Inside your circle, you feel very comfortable. You have all the things that are important to your home, your family, your friends and your job. People feel that inside this circle they are safe from any danger."

    " Can anyone tell me what happens when you step out of this circle？"A strong silence came over the room. At last, the same guy started," You are afraid." Another guy said," You make mistakes." The silence continued and the trainer smiled and said," When you make mistakes, what can the result be?" The first guy shouted," You learn something."

    "Quite right, you are learning." The trainer turned to the board and drew an arrow（箭头）pointing from the man to the outside of the circle.  He continued to say," When you leave your Comfort Area you put yourself out there, in front of the world to be in situations that you are not comfortable with. The end result is that you have learned something that you did not know and you slowly become a better person." He turned again to the board and drew a bigger circle around the first one, and added a few new things like more friends, a bigger house, etc.

    The moral of the story is that if you stay inside your Comfort Area, you will never be able to expand your horizons（开阔视野）and learn. When you step out of your Comfort Area you will finally make your circle bigger and your mind grow stronger, and all in all a better person."

    Joe Smith is a singer. He and his wife like traveling a lot. Every year they visit a small town called Gum Tree in January and July and they sing for people there.

    One summer, they went there by train again. On the first day, they planned to go hiking in the mountains, but it rained a lot. So they decided to go to the only cinema in town and watch a movie there.

    There were only nine people in the cinema hall. When people saw the Smiths, they started to clap(鼓掌). Joe was excited and said to his wife, "Aha, I cannot believe people here all know me and they are friendlier than I "thought. They must like my songs."

    Then a young man said to them, "Thanks for your coming! The cinema shows the movie only after ten people buy the tickets. There're eleven now, so the movie will be on soon."

    Li Ming is staying with the Wang's family for the weekend.

    Today it is warm and fine. The family are having dinner in the garden. They often have dinner in the garden on a warm and fine spring day. Now Mr. and Mrs. Wang are sitting at table with Li Ming under a tree.

    "It's great to have dinner out here on such a lovely day," Mrs. Wang says. "What's the weather like in your home town, Li Ming?" Mr. Wang asks. "It's not very warm in spring. But I like the spring there best." "Help yourself to some cakes, Li Ming," Mrs. Wang says. "Thanks," says Li Ming. "The cakes are very nice. I enjoy the dinner very much. "

    Betty and I are best friends. Our birthdays are on the same day, so every year we have a birthday party together. But this year, we had a costume party instead.

    While we were writing the invitations, my mum came in and asked, "Why not invite John?" John had been in our class for only a few months, but he had already got better grades in math than anyone else in class. I wrinkled(皱起) my nose," Mum, he wears the same pants to school every day. How could he even afford a costume?" Mum said nothing. The next day, Mum gave me an envelope(信封) with a shopping card in it. "I thought it would be nice for you to give this to John," Mum said. But how? We didn't want to make John embarrassed. We discussed it for a long time. Finally, Betty and I had a good idea.

    On the day of our party, kids arrived, dressed differently. John arrived, in an old sheet(床单), but still in the same brown pants as usual. We danced, ate snacks and played games in groups. Before eating the birthday cake, Betty said in a loud voice," Now it's time for the great prize game. It's the following riddle..."It was a math game. None of us was surprised when John came up with the right answer first and walked off with the envelope.

    Everything went on well as we planned. John wore a new pair of pants and a new shirt the next week. He felt happy. So did we.

    When we help others, we need to find a proper way, or we may hurt them in another way.

Dear Li Na,

    I'm really glad to receive your e-mail. You said you were learning to cook. Is it interesting? I think if you want to keep healthy, food is very important. You'll be better if you try all kinds of food, especially（特别是） vegetables and fruit. I eat them every day.

    You asked me how to make a milk shake. There are different kinds of milk shakes, such as apple milk shake, banana milk shake, carrot milk shake and watermelon milk shake. Apple milk shake is my favorite, because apples and milk are both good for our health. Before starting, we need an apple, a cup of milk, some ice-cream and two spoons of honey. Of course, you need a blender.

    Now, let's start. First, peel an apple and cut it up. Next, put the apple, the milk, some ice-cream and two spoons of honey into the blender. Then turn on the blender. Keep it going for only one minute. Finally, pour the apple milk shake into a glass and drink it. It's delicious!

    I want to learn how to make some Chinese food, such as dumplings, noodles and zongzi. Could you teach me?

    Write soon!

Yours,

Maria