A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said, "I am blind, please help."

    There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

    Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy heard his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?" The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."

    What he had written was, "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it." Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

    Of course, both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.

    The first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.

    Several days ago, Brenda had a car accident that led to one of her legs being cut off. Since then she didn't talk to anyone.

     “I wish I could bring her friends to visit her,” said Brenda's mother. “But it's a long bus trip.” The nurse smiled, “Don't worry. We have a plan.”

    Later that day, the nurse had taken Brenda to another room. “Here's your new roommate, Annie Wiggle-Do,” the nurse introduced a dark-hair teenager on the other bed.

    As soon as the nurse left, she jumped out of her bed with her only foot and sat at the other end of Brenda's bed, “I lost my leg from bone cancer,” she said. “What happened to yours?” Brenda was so shocked that she couldn't say a word. “You're lucky.” Annie continued. “You've still got your knee. They had to take mine.”

     “I'd like to have a chat with you, but my friends are coming any time now, so I have to get ready.” Annie said when she took off her hair! Her head was completely bald(秃头的).

     “Oh, I forgot to tell you, the medicine they gave me to kill the cancer also killed my hair.” Annie looked out her wigs(假发), brown and yellow, short and long, straight and curly.

     “That's why I thought up ‘Annie Wiggle-Do'.” Annie smiled. “Get it? Any wig will do? Annie Wiggle-Do?” “When Annie's friends came, she introduced Brenda to them all. Before long, Brenda started chatting with Annie and her friends. They didn't make her feel like a strange person at all!

    The girls shared their names with each other. When it was time to go to bed, Brenda said, “Good night, Annie-Wiggle-Do. Can't wait till morning.”

    Charles Dickens was an English writer. He was born in 1812. He created some of the world's best-known characters and many readers think he is the most important writer of the Victorian era (1837-1901). Some of his famous novels are Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Great Expectations. Most people in his novels lived in London.

    In 1824, Dickens' father went to prison(监狱) because he couldn't pay money to someone. In those days, a man's wife and young children went to prison with him. Charles was 12, so he left school to work in the prison. Life was hard, and a lot of children worked in those days. Dickens' own experience helped him to write about poor children without a mother or father. Dickens' success began with the publication (出版) of The Pickwick Papers in 1836. And his book Oliver Twist is about a boy without father. Important people were more interested in the problems of poor people after reading Dickens' books.

    Dickens' novels are often very long and he wrote them in different parts for a newspaper each week. His novels have a lot of exciting and sad things in them. He wanted his readers to buy the newspaper every week. And the readers wanted to finish the story! Dickens' novels are popular because many of his stories are about social(社会的) problems and family life. Dickens was successful in writing and he has been praised by other writers for his style and characters.

    A little girl's interest in wanting to talk about Chinese food put her on a path to study the language.

    Isabelle first became interested in Chinese when she was 5. “We were at a Chinese restaurant . She was watching a man making noodles. She was so excited that she wanted to talk with him. Unfortunately, he didn't speak English. On the way home, she said she wanted to learn Chinese,” said Isabelle's father.

    “I totally fell in love with the language. It's so beautiful and unlike anything I've ever heard before,” said Isabelle, whose Chinese name is Bao Ling. she is now 12 and very good at Chinese, she can even watch movies and TV from China without subtitles. Some of her favorite Chinese cartoons are Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, Big Head Son and Small Head Dad, which are very popular in China.

    Isabelle studies at the Confucius Institute (孔子学院) near her home, the William & Mary Confucius Institute. “It is just the beginning of a fantastic ongoing adventure, all thanks to the Confucius Institute,” she said.

    The WMCI offers courses on many aspects (方面) of Chinese culture, from travel tips to calligraphy(书法), to tai chi, cooking and music. The first course that Isabelle took was a cooking class. She then tried tai chi and kung fu through the WMCI.

    Next year, through the WMCI, Isabelle will join the JNCLNCLIS (languagepolicy.org) to ask for more aid for language instruction in public schools.

    “I want to thank the Confucius Institute for sharing the wonderful language and culture of China to the world,” she said. “It has been a wonderful journey for all of us,” said her mother.

    One of the best-known American writers of children's books is Alfred Strong, or Doctor Strong, as he is better known to readers everywhere．Now, an art show called "Doctor Strong From Then to Now" is travelling around the United States．The pictures and drawings show the history of Doctor Strong．

    Doctor Strong first became famous almost fifty years ago when his first children's book was published (出版)．Since then, he has written forty—five books that have been sold more than one hundred million copies around the world．

    Doctor Strong's books are known for their easy use of words and colourful, hand drawn pictures．These drawings bring life to his imaginary creatures, The Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and hundreds of others．

    The San Diego Museum, in California, organized the art show．It included about three hundred Doctor Strong's early drawings and some of his writings．

Most of Doctor Strong's books, although written in a funny way, have serious messages．For example, in McElligot's Pool, he describes the danger of pollution．He discusses the arms race (军备竞赛) in The Butter Battle Book, written in nineteen eighty four．

    Doctor Strong says he never planned to write stories just for children．He says he writes stories that interest people of all ages．He says he uses easy words so that everyone, even a child, can understand．