Our dog Abbey died last month. My 4-year-old daughter Lucy missed her a lot and asked if we could write a letter to God to make sure he could look after Abbey well. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. She dictated (口述) these words:

Dear God,

    Will you please take care of my dog?{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick. I hope you will play with her.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

                                                                                                                                                                        Love, Lucy

    We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Lucy and addressed it to God Heaven. Yesterday, we received a package addressed, “To Lucy” with this note:

Dear Lucy,

    Abbey has arrived in heaven.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. You don't need to worry about her. She's being looked after very well here. Thank you for the beautiful letter. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. You have a wonderful mother. I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much. By the way, I'm easy to find. I am wherever there is love.

                                                                                                                                                                               Love, God

    Jerry worked in an office in the city. He worked very hard and really looked forward to(期待) his vacation. He usually went to the seaside, but one day he saw an ad(广告) in a newspaper.

    "Enjoy country life. Spend a few weeks at William Farm. Good food, fresh air, horse riding, walking, fishing…"

    "This sounds like a good idea," he thought. "I'll spend a month at William Farm. I'll go horse riding, walking and fishing. It'll be different from the seaside." Four days later, he returned home.

    "What's wrong with William Farm?" his friend Jack asked him. "Don't you enjoy your country life?"

    "Country life was fine," Jerry said. "But there was another problem."

    "Oh, what problem?" Jack was very surprised.

    "Well, the first day I was there, a sheep died, and we had roast(烤) mutton for dinner."

    "Fresh meat is the best."

    "I know, but on the second day a cow died, and we had roast beef for dinner."

    "Lucky you!"

    "You don't understand," Jerry said, "On the third day a pig died, and we had roast pork for dinner."

    "Wow, a different roast every day!" said Jack.

    "Let me finish." Jerry said, "On the fourth day a farmer died and I didn't want to stay there for dinner."

    Abdul Sadiq, an Afghanistan's only professional cyclist, began by training his daughter. And when she competed successfully abroad, he set up the team. It is the world's most unlikely sporting team, because the sport breaks taboos in a country where in many traditional communities, women are not allowed out of the house.

    The head coach faces frequent threats and the girls' families do not always approve "If it's not their fathers trying to stop them, it's a brother or uncle."

    Two members of the team, Massouma, 18, and Zarab, 17, are sisters. Their father and their brothers approve, but they know that their uncles complain to their father. "They will never come in front of us to say ‘Why are you cycling?', but they say bad words to our father," she said. His team have, however, competed and won regionally against Bangladesh and Pakistan.

    "We want to go cycling because we want to be heroes one day," said 16-year-old Jella, one of the latest riders. In one of the mildest and driest winters for many years, training has gone on without stopping. And next spring, the girls will go up into the mountains. "We say that women should not sit at home, they need to come out and do sports," said Abdul Sadiq, And 18- year-old Zainab said she wished that she could just go cycling alone on the street one day. "It's my ambition, and I hope that one day girls will be allowed to go cycling on the streets, not having a coach, or anyone with them, and they will not have problems," she said.

    One Sunday evening, it was quite dark when old Stanley went for his walk. He was walking along the sidewalk. Suddenly, he saw a white car coming around the corner at high speed. It was going too fast and crashed into a red car in the street where he was walking. He rushed up to the cars to see if anyone was hurt and needed help.

    The two drivers were arguing.

    "You came around the corner too fast," one man said.

    "No!" said the driver of the white car, "That's not true! Your car was parked in a wrong place."

    Stanley listened to their argument and then said the white car driver was wrong to drive too fast. The driver of red car asked Stanley to prove he was right in court(法庭). Stanley gave the driver his name and telephone number.

    Next Thursday morning, Stanley was asked to go to the court. The lawyer for the driver of the white car asked him a lot of questions about what he had seen. Then he asked Stanley how old he was.

    "I'm eighty-two," answered Stanley.

    "Do you usually wear glasses?" asked the lawyer.

    "Yes, I do," answered Stanley.

    "Were you wearing them on the night of the accident?" the lawyer asked.

    "No," replied Stanley.

    Then the lawyer said, "Why should the court believe you? You are eighty-two years old, you were not wearing your glasses, and it was dark. How far can you see in the dark?" Stanley thought about it for a minute. "Well," he said, "when it's dark, I can see the moon. How far is that?"

    Donny, an 11-year-old boy, is playing with a ball. The ball goes into the street, and Donny runs for the ball. A car hit Donny.

    His parents take him to the hospital. The doctor tell Donny's parents, "Donny is in a coma. Maybe he will wake up tomorrow. Maybe he will wake up next week. Or maybe he will never wake up."

    Every day Donny's parents visit at the hospital. They sit next to Donny's bed and talk to him. But Donny never talks to them. He just sleeps.

    One day Donny's father says, "Wake up, Donny. Wake up and come home. Come home and play with Rusty." Rusty is Donny's dog.

    When Donny's father says "Rusty", Donny moves his arm.

    "Rusty!" Donny's father says again. Again Donny moves his arm.

    Donny's parents have an idea. They tell the nurse, "We want to bring Donny's dog to the hospital, is it OK?"

    "A dog in the hospital?" the nurse say, "That's very unusual. But, yes, it's OK."

    The next day, Donny's parents bring Rusty to the hospital. When they put the dog on Donny's bed, Donny opens his eyes and takes the dog in his arms.

    Donny's parents bring Rusty to the hospital every day. One day, Rusty jumps on Donny's bed and scratches Donny's arm. Donny says his first words, "Bad dog!"

    After seven weeks Donny is well. He leaves the hospital and goes home. Rusty goes home with him.

    "It's time to wake up, Emily," my mom sings from the kitchen. I pretended to open my eyes. Why didn't the alarm on my cell phone ring?

    Soon, I realized it was April 8, the day for my program: "A day without technology." I didn't realize what I had gotten myself into until I was driving to school in my car. No radio blasting my favorite songs. I had to sing to myself.

    As soon as I got to school, I went to the library to print out my English project from my flash drive. "Uh-oh," I thought. "This isn't expected." Finally, I had to spend nearly an hour writing the report again.

    The school day went on and I finally got used to the rules. This wasn't so hard! I could do this every day.

    I drove home in silence again, and my mind eventually went into after-school mode (模式), depending on what I would eat for supper and who would be voted off (被淘汰出局)American Idol later that night. The last thing I knew, I was chat with friends on Face book, check email and watch a video on YouTube, all at the same time!

    My mom walked in and her jaw dropped.

    "What happened to no homework?" she asked me. I froze for the second time that day and ordered myself to go back to reality. I had failed.

    This experiment, which many teenagers would never have the courage to try, was actually convenient to me. Even though my attempt(尝试) at going about my day without these luxuries (奢侈品) was a failure, I realized that if I really tried, I would be completely successful without my addiction to technology.

    These devices suddenly make my life easier, and I'm sure I wouldn't practice getting rid of them altogether, but I do believe the lives of today's teenagers would be dramatically different without our tech dependence.