In fact, at the time they seemed to be ordinary events, but now everything seems different. I had spent 10 years away from the place where I was born. Even though I made the decision to leave my country by myself, I miss a lot of things now. The person that brought me the happiest memories is my best friend. She is the greatest person in the world, and I am not exaggerating(吹嘘). She is kind, funny, polite, and always willing to listen,  and has been a great friend. I always recall (回想) events from our childhood. I think about the school where we met in the first grade and went on until the 5th grade. I think about the talks we had and the things we did together. If someone wants me to describe our friendship, I'd say we have been close friends for 17 years and we never got angry with each other. It's amazing,  isn't it? I haven't been able to do that with anybody else. Sometimes I even feel guilty(有罪的). I miss her more than my own brothers and sisters. And of course besides those memories, my kids are number one in my life. I have plenty of beautiful memories with them, especially when they were born, which also turned out to be a sad moment for both of them, because they were premature babies(早产儿). Anyone, who has had an experience with a premature baby, can figure out what I mean.

Gao Xinyi, 14, No 1 Middle School Affliated in CCNU Chao Yang School, Beijing

I was once asked to give a speech in English in front of several native speakers at an organization last summer. I was asked to talk about my experience. At the beginning, I explained to the organizers that I was afraid to speak without preparation. But they told me that I had better get over it. When I first stood up in front of the crowd, my mind went completely blank. But then I began to talk about my story and used some gestures and facial expressions. Although I didn't speak very well, I still did it.

Ye Tong, 14, Hangzhou Entel Foreign Language School, Zhejiang

    To be honest, I wasn't a brave girl. I still slept with my mother until I was a sixth-grader, because I didn't dare to sleep alone. Last year, one evening after I came back from school, my mom asked me to sleep in my own room. I thought I had grown up, so I should learn to be independent. Though I was frightened at first, I slept in my own room for the first time. I did it. I'm really proud of myself! This is the bravest thing I have ever done.

Zhang Yiyi, 14, Taiyuan Foreign Language School, Shanxi

I didn't dare to ride the roller coaster all the time. I thought it was a terrible thing. However, my friend asked me to try it when we were in Disneyland, in Hong Kong last year. I decided to take a try. It took off so fast. It was a cool feeling, like you were flying! That was extremely good fun. Someone once said, "Life is a roller coaster ride, tighten your seat belts, enjoy the journey, remember the up always has a down." That is right. I have fallen in love with the roller coaster.

    If you have no special plans for your holidays, why not spend your time helping others?

    Don't listen to people who say the young people today often think only of themselves. It's not true at all. More and more people in the USA volunteer to spend their school holidays working for others. And they don't do it for money. Here are some of their stories.

Alice Hamilton, 17

    I'm going to help the Forest Centre build new hiking paths in the mountains. It's going to be terrific—I'll spend the whole summer living in the tent and breathing the clean mountain air. I'm going to sleep under the stars. It'll be a nice sport, and I'll be able to do something good at the same time.

Jason Moore, 18

    This summer, I'm going to volunteer with Special House Program. They build good, low-cost houses and sell them to families that are not very rich. They'll teach me what to do, so I'll help people and also have a chance to learn how to build houses.

Trish Anderson, 16

    I'm going to teach kids who have trouble reading. I'll work for a program called Reading For Life. Every day, I'm going to help kids choose and read books that they like. I want to be a teacher and I love children and reading, so this is going to be a great experience for me.

Cook is a frog. He loves {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (eat) flies. Every morning, Cook sits in a spider's web (网). When Mrs. Spider goes out, Cook eats flies from her web. 

Today is a f{#blank#}2{#/blank#} day. When Cook is enjoying his fly breakfast, Mrs. Spider {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (come) back and sees him. She cries, "You keep eating my flies! "Cook feels sorry and jumps away (跳走). He w{#blank#}4{#/blank#} to make a web himself. He works on his web for hours, and then… he can't go out of the web. "Help!" he cries. Mrs. Spider comes to h{#blank#}5{#/blank#}  him out. 

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Spider. I can't make a web like you. It's so bad," Cook says. 

"Yes, frogs can't make webs, but you can swim w{#blank#}6{#/blank#}, I can only put my feet in the pool (池塘)," Mrs. Spider says.

"How wonderful it is to swim {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the water!" Cook says, "Well, I have a good i{#blank#}8{#/blank#}. "From then on, Cook carries Mrs. Spider out to the m{#blank#}9{#/blank#} of the pool, and they play {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (happy). When they come back, they eat flies from Mrs. Spider's web. They become good friends.

I'm Lin Peng. I'm a student in Guangming Middle School. When I was in Grade Seven, I always did badly in English. And I even got poor grades {#blank#}1{#/blank#} English tests. That made me feel very sad. I wanted to give up at that time, but my parents and my teacher encouraged me to work hard. I was told by them not to lose hope. My teacher gave me some {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. She asked me to speak as much as possible. She said, "The more you speak it, the {#blank#}3{#/blank#} your English will become. Don't be shy and don't be afraid of {#blank#}4{#/blank#} mistakes." Now I am interested in English. And I put my heart into English study all the time. Last week, I took part in an English competition held by our school, and I won the first prize. How {#blank#}5{#/blank#} I was! Hope is always there, in our hearts.

So just keep it in mind and our dreams will come true one day.