A 108-year-old Message in a Bottle

    On November 30, 1906, George Bidder dropped a bottle from a boat into the North Sea. The weighted glass bottle sank almost to the sea floor, and then it move slowly for 108 years and 138 days.

    Its journey ended when Marianne Winkler found the bottle in 2015. Winkler was then on vacation on Amrum Island. She picked up the bottle when it was washed up onto the beach. She saw a piece of paper inside, but didn't break it open. She could tell that the bottle was old. So she didn't want to damage it.

    Finally she got the piece of paper out of the bottle. She found that the paper was actually a postcard. On the back of the card there was this message: The Marine Biological Association（海洋生物学协会） would pay a shilling（先令） for the bottle. A shilling was a unit of money that was used in Great Britain before the early 1970s.

    Winkler filled out the card and posted it. The association was surprised to get a postcard addressed to George Bidder, the president of the association from 1939 to 1945. The workers of the association searched on the Internet to find a shilling. They found one and sent it to Winkler as a reward.

    The message in the bottle was the oldest ever re-discovered. For this reason Marianne Winkler got a place in  “Guinness World Records”（吉尼斯世界纪录）. She broke the record for the oldest message in a bottle.

    Winkler's bottle was not the only one Bidder sent to sea. Between 1904 and 1906, he spent away more than one thousand bottles. He placed postcards inside them. The bottles were part of a research  project to map currents（洋流） in the North Sea. This was the best method at that time. But whether the association could get the bottles back depended on the people who found them. The association reported that about 55 percent of the bottles were returned. They added that the experiment was a success as it showed the east-to-west flow of the North Sea's currents.

    Alan is in Class Two, Grade Seven. He is 12. His English teacher is Mr. Smith. He is English. His daughter is May. She is 13. Alan and May are good friends. They go to the same school. But they are not in the same class. They like playing sports. After class, they often play ping-pong with their friends. This is May's school ID card. Its number is 2707893. Is that Alan's school ID card?

    No, he can't find his school ID card. If you find it, please call Alan at 3462828. Thanks!

    The teacher gave each student a piece of paper. There were some questions on it. "What is your favorite color? Tell us about your hobbies and interests. Do you like your brothers or sisters?"

    Judy hated answering questions. She looked at the questions, and she had no idea how to start. She was the only child in her family, and she had lots of interests, such as running, skating and swimming and so on. She could never fill out what hobby she enjoyed the most. For example, she was interested in all kinds of sports, but she is not good at any of them. So she never knew how to answer questions like these.

    Mrs. Jones, her teacher, walked quietly through the room when the students worked on the project(课题). She stopped at Judy's desk to ask her if she needed some help.

    Judy looked up and said, "I am interested in so many things. I just don't know how to choose."

    Mrs. Jones smiled. She knew Judy was a smart girl but she couldn't focus on what she did." Maybe you could just list three of them."

    Judy seemed to relax and said she knew what to write down.

    Judy liked having the guidance (指点) so she could know what she should do. She finished the project quickly.

    It was Sunday and Tom was staying at home. After breakfast he went out into the garden and played quietly by himself. There were no kids around and he was used to playing alone quietly. He played with Bobby, the dog. He climbed up and down the tree. Sometimes a bird would come down to perch on top of the doghouse. Then Tom would have the greatest fun by throwing a stone or something at it. Though he never made it, he did like doing this kind of thing.

    Now Tom had been in the garden for half an hour. Suddenly a crack was heard and the little boy began crying.

   "What's the matter, Tom?" his mother looked through the kitchen window. Tom ran into the kitchen.

   "Mum," he sobbed." I broke Bobby's plate. I didn't know it was so fragile."

    His mother put her arms round him and said," Don't feel so sad, Tom. We have other plates for Bobby. But how did you break that one?"

   "I threw it at a bird but missed, and it went straight to the plate."

    In Tom's hand was his father's gold pocket watch!

    When I was about 12, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings (缺点). Sometimes she said I was thin. Sometimes she said I was lazy. Sometimes she said I wasn't a good student. Sometimes she said I talked too much, and so on. I tried to put up with (忍受) her as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.

    He listened to me quietly, and then he asked, "Are the things she said true or not? Mary, didn't you ever wonder what you're really like? Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said."

    I did as he told me and to my surprise, I discovered that about half the things were true.

    I brought the list back to my dad. He refused to take it. "That's just for you," he said. "You know better than anyone else the truth about yourself. When something said about you is true, you'll find it will be helpful to you. Don't shut your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you think is right."

    Many years have passed. The situation often appears in my mind. In our life we often meet with some trouble and we often go to someone and ask for advice. For some advice you will treasure (珍惜) all your life!