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.”

    One day a red rose blossomed (开花) in a forest. A pine tree(松树) not far away said, “You're so beautiful! I wish I could be lovely like you. ”

    The rose said, “I am the most beautiful plant in the forest.” Then the rose looked at a cactus(仙人掌) and said, “Look at that ugly plant. It is full of thorns (刺)!”Sometimes, the red rose would look at the cactus and say, “This plant is useless. I'm sorry I am his neighbor. ”

    Summer came and the plants and animals needed water, but no rain fell. One day the rose saw some birds stick their beaks(鸟喙) into the cactus and then fly away. The red rose asked what the birds were doing. The pine tree explained that the birds got water from the cactus. The pine tree told the red rose, “You can also drink from it. The birds can bring water to you if you ask the cactus for help. ”

    The red rose felt ashamed, but she still asked the cactus for help. The cactus agreed kindly and the birds filled their beaks with water for the rose's roots. Later on, the rose never gave her opinion about anyone by look again.

    A cow, a tree and some flowers… Mia Buckley, 12, drew this doodle（涂鸦）to show Ireland in her eyes. She is the winner of the Irish Doodle 4 Google competition. It is a national competition and students can make a Google homepage logo（ 徽 标 ）every year. At last, she beat other 74 competitors to get her picture's place on the Google Ireland homepage.

    Because she won, Buckley got a scholarship for 5,000 euros (35,885 yuan) and a computer.

    She studies at Summer cove National School, Ireland. And her school also got 10,000 euros.

    This year's competition theme（主题）was "Ireland Is…". Buckley's work is called "Ireland is a land so green". She used pictures of farm life, flowers, sports and music to show Irish life. The pictures had got the highest number of votes （Doodle team then chose the winner投票）in each of the five class groups. And the Google

    Ronan Harries, head of Google in Ireland, likes her work. "Mia's doodle caught our eyes. She really showed Ireland's rural heritage（乡村景观遗产）, as well as our love of music and sports," he told The Irish Examiner, an everyday newspaper in Ireland. "And she did a good job showing the Google logo with bright colors and a clear theme." Ronan Harris also thanked all the students who took part in the competition.

    Mia's doodle will go live in Ireland on the Google homepage on Easter Monday, March 28.

    I did something wrong today.

    While at the beach this afternoon, I met a boy called Bob. We talked a lot. He said that it was fun playing on the cliffs(悬崖). I told him that I was not allowed to go near that place. Mum and Dad had always told me it was dangerous to play there. He called me a coward. I wanted to prove to him that I was just as brave, so I agreed to go with him.

    We wanted to make our way down to explore(探索) the area, so Bob started to climb down and I followed him. Unluckily, some rocks came down after us. One of them nearly hit my head. We could not get back up. We shouted and shouted for help, but for a long time no help came. I was really scared. I wanted to cry. Then, we heard some sounds. Someone had heard us. A woman tied (系) a rope around herself while a man at the cliff top held the rope. She made her way down to save us.

    My parents were relieved(宽慰) that I was unhurt , but they were angry that I had done such a risky thing. I apologized and promised that I would not do anything like that again.

    Ray's wedding had gone off smoothly. Everyone seemed to have had a good time. A few people had too good a time; they went home with designated (指派的) drivers. All evening, the gift table remained unguarded. Who would steal anything, Ray thought. He had never heard of such a thing happening at a wedding. But his best friend Aaron said there was a first time for everything. He strolled out regularly from the inside festivities (庆祝) to check on the gift table, making sure no one suspicious was hanging around it.

    Ray and Julia went on a 3-week honeymoon to Italy right after the wedding. When they got back, they opened all the gifts and sent out thank-you notes. But there was one problem. A married couple that used to be good friends had apparently given nothing. This surprised Julia, because Walt and Mary said they were thrilled to be invited. And, they actually seemed to have had a great time at the wedding. Frankly, Ray didn't even care if they hadn't given a gift. He just needed to know whether to send a thank-you note. Ray called Aaron. Aaron said maybe Walt had left an envelope on the gift table like Aaron had. "Yes, but we got your envelope with the cash inside," Ray said. "Maybe my envelope looked too thin, and some thief thought Walt's envelope looked nice and fat."

    Aaron asked Ray if he had looked everywhere for Walt's gift. Had he called up the wedding site to see if anything had been left behind? Ray said that he had looked everywhere and made a lot of calls that were fruitless.

    Ray didn't know what to do. If he sent Walt and Mary a thank-you note for a gift they hadn't given, they would be insulted. If he didn't send them a thank-you note for a gift they had given, they would get angry.

    "What would you do?" Ray asked. Aaron said he would call Walt up and tell him the problem.

    "You can't go wrong with simply being honest," Aaron said.

    "Oh, yes, you can," Ray contradicted (反驳) him. "Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie." But he thought about it, and finally decided that Aaron was right. He called Walt and told him the problem. Walt said that yes, he had given an envelope. In fact, the envelope contained $500 cash.

    "$500?!" Ray asked. "That's a lot of cash, Walt!" Walt admitted that it was, but he had gotten a fat raise (加薪) early that year and Ray's was the only wedding he'd been to in quite a while. Ray thanked him very much, and apologized sincerely for someone stealing Walt's generous gift. Walt told him that it was "only money".

    When Ray told Aaron about Walt's gift, Aaron laughed. "The only thief at the wedding was Walt! I quit playing cards with him last year because I caught him cheating. And it was only a $10 pot! I'm sure I told you about that."

    "Yes, you did tell me," Ray said. But, of course, he had to send Walt a thank-you note anyway.