One year, a college in the United States announced that it would offer a lot of money for the pure white marigold(金盏花). The high reward attracted so many people, but in the nature, besides golden, the marigold is brown, and it is not easy to get the white one. So after they were excited for a time, many people had forgotten the announcement.

    One normal day after 20 years, the college received a letter and 100 seeds of pure white marigold. It was an old woman of over 70 years old. Some experts in the college doubted it, but in order not to let her down, those seeds finally took root (根）in the earth. The miracle appeared after one year; the field was covered by pure white marigold.

    Therefore, the old woman who was always unknown to the public became a new focus.

    The old woman was a flower-lover. When she read the announcement 20 years ago, she got very excited like others. But her eight children were totally against her decision. After all, a woman who never knew the seed genetics(遗传学) couldn't complete what the experts could never do, so her thought was only a day dream.

    Still, the old woman didn't change her mind and went on working. She planted some of the most common seeds and took good care of them. A year later, when the marigold came out, she chose one faintest(最暗淡的) from those golden and brown flowers and got the best seed. The next year, she again grew them and chose...Day after day, year after year, through many seasons, the old woman's husband died, her children flew far, a lot of things happened in her life, but only the wish to grow the pure white marigold took root in her heart.

    Finally, after 20 years on the day we all know, in the garden she saw a marigold, which was nearly white, but as white as silver or snow.

    A problem even experts couldn't deal with was solved by an old woman who didn't understand genetics. Was it a miracle  (奇迹）?

To take root in the heart, even the most common seed, can grow into a miracle!

    Black Spider（蜘蛛）was having trouble catching bugs（臭虫）in his web, while Grey Spider caught two bugs in his.

    “You are so lucky,” Black Spider said to Grey Spider. “You have two bugs while I have none. It's not fair(公平的).”

    “Everyone has lucky days and unlucky days. Let's eat the bugs together,” said Grey Spider.

    Black Spider decided to join Grey Spider for lunch.

    “You must do some special things to get lucky, is it magic?” Grey Spider whispered.

    “No, build your web!” said Black Spider. “Repair your web! Enlarge your web! Make your web wider!”

    “Is that all?”

    “Yes, build a new web!” said Grey Spider.

    After lunch, Black Spider went back and made a new web. He built his web wider. Once he was done he slept all through the night because he was very tired.

    In the morning, Black Spider was excited to see four bugs in his web. He told Grey Spider about it. Grey Spider smiled at Black Spider. “By enlarging your web, you have enlarged your possibility to catch all these bugs,” Grey Spider said. “There is chance all around us. Luck is everywhere. You need to work to make it so more good luck comes your way.”

    In the Chinese﹣speaking world, almost everyone knows about Jin Yong and his books. Jin Yong is the pen name of Louis Cha Leung﹣yung. He was the most important Chinese martial arts novelist. On Oct 30, he passed away at 94 years old in Hong Kong.

    During his lifetime, Jin Yong wrote 15 martial arts novels. Over 300 million copies of his books have been sold (卖) around the world. It's just as the well﹣known saying goes, "Wherever there are Chinese, you will find Jin Yong's novels".

    With his books, Jin Yong created an imaginary world called jianghu. In jianghu, there are many fighting heroes(侠) practicing martial arts. But Jin Yong also used some stories from history and traditional Chinese culture to make this world. His stories took place in different dynasties. He used Chinese poems in his books. This makes his books rich and colorful.

    However, more importantly, Jin Yong has shaped the values (价值观) of many Chinese people. The characters in Jin Yong's books fight for justice and righteousness. And his readers will always thank him for teaching them these values.

    Jin Yong touched people's hearts through more than just his books. All of his novels have been made into films, TV shows, comics or video games. Almost all of the adaptations (改编作品) have been big hits. Lots of actors and actresses became famous because of his works. His works are also popular overseas.

Graham Stookey is an 18-year-old high school student. He plays the guitar very well. He is always interested in taking（A）____ lessons, but he didn't start until he was 13 years old. He took lessons of electric guitar and the other part of music for two years. He was kind of shy. He didn't have many friends, and kids made fun of him at school. In 2007,his dad took him to John Mayer's concert. At the concert, John Mayer played the acoustic（原声的）guitar. It sounded much more beautiful than the electric guitar. A day later, he cut the hair and picked up an acoustic guitar.（B）He started writing music and learning how to sing. He loves music very much.（C）因此练习吉他真的不是一件困难的事情。He wrote a song Jonah. It is about his brother. He's hoping to write more good songs.