An old man died and left his son a lot of money. But the son was a foolish young man, and he quickly spent all the money, so that soon he had nothing left. Of course, when that happened, all his friends left him. When he was quite poor and alone, he went to see Nasreddin, who was a kind, clever old man and often helped people when they had troubles.

    "My money has finished and my friends have gone," said the young man. "What will happen to me now?"

    "Don't worry, young man," answered Nasreddin. "Everything will soon be all right again. Wait, and you will soon feel much happier. "

    The young man was very glad. "Am I going to get rich again then?" he asked Nasreddin.

  "No, I didn't mean that," said the old man. "I meant that you would soon get used to being poor and to having no friends. "

    I had spent an hour in the bank with my dad to transfer some money (转账). I ask him, "Dad, why not use online banking?" "Why would I do that?" He replied.

    "Well, then you won't have to spend an hour here to transfer your money. You can also do your shopping online. Everything will be easier!" I said in excitement. He asked, "If I do that, I won't have to go out of the house?"

    "Yes!" I said. I told him how groceries (杂货) can be delivered to our doors now. And we can buy everything we need by just staying at home.

    However, he said, "Since I walked into this bank today, I have met four of my friends. I have much free time, so I like to come to the bank and meet different people. Two years ago, when I was in hospital, the store owner from whom I bought fruit came to see me. And when your mom fell down a few days ago, the bank manager saw her and helped her get to the hospital."

    He went on, "why would I want to look at my computer all the time? I like to know the person around me. Does Amazon send bonds (情感纽带) and relationships, too?"

    I didn't know what to say after hearing his words. My dad was right, of course. It's better for us to spend time with real people than computers.

Shashiyu was once a poor village in Hebei Province, but now it has changed into a rich and livable place. 

In the 1940s, villagers in Shashiyu had little food and few clothes, but they had a strong wish for a better life. The Party secretary of Shashiyu encouraged his villagers to do their best to pull themselves out of this poor living condition. "In the ancient Chinese story, Yu Gong could move mountains with his strong will and hard work, why can't we? Nobody was born to be poor. " Hearing his words, the villagers decided to make a difference. 

Led by the Communist Party of China, the villagers carried water and soil to their village from faraway places to improve their land. From 1966 to1971, they reclaimed(开垦) lots of land and greatly improved their lives. 

However, the village faced a new problem 20 years later as the environment became heavily polluted by chemical plants and mine refineries(精炼厂) built in 1990s. The polluting factories were shut down in 2004, and villagers started grape planting, which soon became a main industry in Shashiyu. 

In 2009, the city- level government invested(投资) over 1 million yuan to change the village's exhibition hall into a museum in memory of development efforts made by earlier generations. 

After 10 years, the village was called"National Forest Village". 

The Party secretary said that the village has started a yearly tourism festival since 2015 to attract travellers to pick grapes. "The grapes could be sold at a better price once Shashiyu becomes famous through this festival. Our villagers can then live a even better life, " he said. 

I am a middle school student. My name is Wang Jing. My grandfather is 70 years old. He often says life has changed a lot. It becomes better and better. I ask him what life was like when he was a child. The following is what he says. 

When he was a child, he used to feel hungry. There didn't use to be enough food for him to eat. He has two brothers and two sisters. His parents were both farmers. They were very poor and couldn't let their children eat as much as possible. As for clothes, they didn't use to have enough clothes. They didn't use to buy new clothes. The younger brothers and sisters often wore their elder brothers' and sisters' clothes. My grandfather is the youngest. Only he went to the university and worked in the city. His brothers and sisters didn't get enough education. Now my grandfather has retired(退休) and lives a happy life. He can eat any food that he wants. He can buy clothes that he wants to buy. He says he is much happier than before. He often asks me to study hard. He says if I work hard, I can have a good future. 

Mo Yan was born in 

1955. Since childhood, he has showed a great interest in literature (文学). However, he {#blank#}1{#/blank#} to leave school to work at a young age. Although he had no chance to return to school for his study, he made a {#blank#}2{#/blank#} to learn to write by himself. In 76, he began to write. His first novel came out successfully in 

1981. Most of his novels have a series of stories. Later Zhang Yimou made one of the novels into a film. It got a lot of praise from the audience.

Mo Yan has written many great novels. He has been invited to give lectures to the students in many universities. He often makes the listeners laugh and feel {#blank#}3{#/blank#} with his sense of humour in his lectures. In 2009, his new novel Frog made him famous around the world again.

 Many of his works have been translated into different languages. They are very popular not only at home but also {#blank#}4{#/blank#} . He became one of the greatest writers of Chinese modern literature {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the first Chinese that won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature.