Chores weren't popular at my house. My children didn't like to do chores. They always saw me do chores, but they hardly ever helped me dothem.

    A year ago, I made a game called "The Endless ChoreGame". It's really great. Here's how the game works.

    I make a card with forty squares(方框), and I write adifferent chore on each square. These chores can be easy and interesting likemaking dessert. Then my family roll the dice(骰子)to decidewhat chores we have to do. The card also has a few squares with fun things, like watching TV and singing. If you're lucky, you can watchTV when the others are doing the chores.

    My son likes the game very much. He goes to the kitchen happily every morning to do the game. It's really a good way to make my children do chores. You can have a try if you have the same problemas me.

    Joe was an old man. The 75-year-old lived very happily in a village and had a beautiful family. Joe had four grandchildren, and they visited him during their holidays.

During one vacation, Joe was preparing his home for the kids: cleaning and buying their favorite foods. After he finished working, he realized he lost his favorite watch. The watch was a gift from his wife when their first child was born. Joe loved the watch very much, especially after his wife's death. He was very upset about losing it.

    Once his grandchildren came, they promised him they would find the watch.

    One granddaughter asked: "Grandpa, do you remember when you saw the watch last before it went missing?"

    "I guess when I was cleaning the barn(谷仓)!" Joe replied.

    The children looked for more than two hours with Joe, but they could not find it. The kids were now also sad, but they tried to comfort(安慰) their grandfather.

    One grandson went back to the barn to search again. Joe asked why he was going there a second time. But the little boy just asked the others not to follow him and to remain silent.

    He was there for about fifteen minutes and then rushed to his grandfather. He found the watch and happily gave it to Joe.

    Joe was surprised and asked how he was able to find it. The little boy replied: "I sat there without making a noise, and the barn was so silent. After a few minutes, I heard the ‘tick, tick' sound and found the watch."

    Joe hugged and thanked the little boy.

    Mike found a job in a bookstore after he finished middle school. He wouldn't do anything but wanted to get rich.   It was a cold morning. It snowed and there was thin ice on the streets. Few people went to buy books and the young man had nothing to do. He hated to read, so he watched the traffic. Suddenly he saw a bag fall off a truck and it landed by the other side of the street.

    “It is full of expensive things.” Mike said to himself. “I have to get it right now, or others will take it away.”He went out of the bookstore and ran across the street. A driver saw him and began to whistle (鸣笛), but he didn't hear it and went on running. The man drove to the side, hit a big tree and hurt himself in the accident. Two weeks later, Mike was taken to the court (法庭). A judge asked if he heard the whistle when he was running across the street. He said that something was wrong with his ears and he could hear nothing.“But you heard me this time,” said the judge.“Oh, I'm sorry. Now I can hear with one ear.”“Cover (盖住) the ear with your hand and listen to me with your deaf (聋的) one. Well, can you hear me?”“No, I can't , sir.”“You told a lie. There is nothing wrong with either of your ears,” the judge said.

    Rob Frenette had problems with bullies (欺凌) at school for eleven years. He was often lonely and scared. When he was fifteen, however, he decided to do something about his problems. He walked into a newspaper office and told them about the bullying. His story went into the newspaper and soon all the TV stations in Canada wanted to talk to him about his experiences. They also wanted to hear his ideas to stop bullying.

    After that, Rob continued his studies at school, but in his free time he helped other people with bullying problems. With a friend Katie Neu, he made a website called www.bullyingcanada. ca. Visitors to the website can find advice, stories and poems about bullying in both English and French. When people are upset, they can talk on the phone or online to Rob and his team. Every weekend Rob has to answer e-mails to the website. He also speaks to children, teachers and members of government around the country about bullying.

    Rob's most important message is "When bullies are unkind to you, it isn't your fault. There's nothing wrong with you, so you should try to keep trusting yourself. And remember that people care about your problems. You just have to find those people."

    One of Rob's ideas is Blue Day, a special day for stopping bullying in schools. Students have to wear blue clothes and in class they learn how to stop bullying. More than 150 Canadian schools now celebrate Blue Day, but Rob won't stop until there's a Blue Day in every school in Canada.

    Anna is a 17-year-old exchange student(交换生) from Russia({俄罗斯). She is now studying art in a university(大学) in France. She's going to stay in France for a year and then she will go back to Russia. Anna comes to France because she thinks Paris is the best place for her to study art. She is now staying with the Black family. She helps Mrs Black do some housework every evening and goes to French classes every Wednesday and Friday afternoon.

    Everything in Paris is new to her. She finds things are quite different from those in Moscow. There are many big shopping malls here, but many things are really expensive. It's also expensive to have a meal in a restaurant or go to the cinema. Now Anna has got used to(习惯于) many things, but she cannot get used to the breakfast in France. "They eat so much in the morning," she often says. "How can you face all that food so early in the day?"