Last summer, Tina's parents needed to work in another city for a month. And Tina had to stay 1 Aunt Betsy in California.

    Tina never saw Aunt Betsy before, 2 she was a little nervous(紧张的). Aunt Betsy told her the 3 in California was hot, so Tina put some shorts and T-shirts in her bag. She 4 put some books in her bag because she enjoyed reading. Her favorite 5 were about horses(马).

    When the 6 came, Aunt Betsy picked up(接) Tina. On the way to Aunt Betsy's house, Tina 7 many horses in the fields(牧场). Tina liked 8 very much and she wished she could have a horse some day.

    When they 9  Aunt Betsy's house, Tina saw a big picture on the wall. It was about a tall brown 10! Aunt Betsy was in the 11, and she was sitting on the horse.

    “Do you 12  the horse? Her name is Lucky. Usually, I visit her 13 a week, every Saturday afternoon for an hour. We can go 14 together this weekend,” said Aunt Betsy.

    Tina felt 15 because her aunt and she had the same hobby. It was going to be a wonderful holiday.

    I stood in my grandmother's front yard with my son. He had a bottle of soapy water and a plastic loop (圈). You know the type. You dip (浸) the loop in the bottle, pull it 1 and blow it to make bubbles (气泡).

    My son dipped and dipped and blew and blew, but 2to blow bubbles. He handed me the bottle and loop and asked me, "Daddy, 3 you make bubbles?" I hadn't blown bubbles for years. I am a chemist by education. All my knowledge is 4 when it comes to trying to blow bubbles from a loop filled with soapy water. I had no more success than my son.

    After several tries 5the loop of soapy water, I gently (轻轻地)breathed on it. My son cried with joy as a big beautiful bubble 6 and moved slowly in the air. He grabbed (抓住)the loop, dipped and blew. No bubbles. I7 explained to him, "Son, you can't blow so hard; you must ever so gently breathe on the loop to make bubbles." He followed my8 and blew gently. This time he made a big beautiful bubble, then 9…

    There are some things that you can get with force, 10 there are other things that only come with the gentleness of a soft breath. The closer something is to higher spirit, the more it is like bubbles; it can't be forced.

Have you heard of Mattie J.T. Stepanek? He is an American boy and has been a {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(英雄)to people around the world.

Mattie suffered from a serious {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(疾病) called muscular dystrophy(肌肉萎缩). He was in poor condition, so he used a wheelchair to {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(改变……的位置) around. But he never thought that he was not {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(强壮的)enough to do anything.

When he was about three years old, he {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(展示;显示) great interest in writing. And he wrote thousands of poems and short stories. His first book Heart songs came out in 2001 and was on The New York Times' bestseller {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(名单;清单). His other books sold more than one million {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(份). He hoped that people all over the world could live in peace. So he wrote Just Peace: A Message of Hope. To make his dream come true, he kept {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(与 ……战斗) until he passed away before his 14th birthday.

His love of reading and writing touches many people who are not physically(身体上) healthy and it {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(鼓励;激励) them a lot. In Mattie's words, "We must remember to play after every storm and to celebrate the gift of life as we have it. We must always listen to the song in our {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(心). Also, we can share that song with others."

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was1 old farmer. He loved money very much. He kept a lot of gold coins but 2 used them. He 3 not give them to others. He put them into an 4 box and put it in the ground. He came to the5 every day to look at it. This made him happy,6 , when he came to the place, he could not 7 the box. He became very, very sad. He began to cry.8 a man came to him and said, "Don't cry. Put a stone in the ground instead, and 9 it is a box of gold coins. A stone will be 10 the same, because when coins were there, you never used them."

Who is the greatest teacher in Chinese history? Many people will think of Confucius, whose birthday was September 28. Although he lived over 2,000 years ago, people still remember and respect him for his contribution (贡献) to the education today.

Confucius lived in the Kingdom of Lu, which lies in Shandong Province. He lived during the Spring and Autumn Period. He had a hard childhood. His father died when he was only 3. His mother brought him up. As a child, he had to work to help his mother, but young Confucius didn't give up studying. He visited many famous teachers and learned music, history, poems and sports.

Later, he became a teacher and started the first public school in Chinese history. At that time only children from noble families could go to school, but Confucius believed everyone should go to school if they wanted to learn. He had about 3,000 students in his lifetime.

Today, people still follow Confucius' lessons. He told us that we all have something worthy to be learned. "When I am with three people, one of them must be better than me in some areas. I choose their good qualities and follow them."

He also taught us that thinking is very important in study. "All study but no thinking makes people puzzled (困惑的). All thinking but no study makes people lazy."

Confucius is not only a great teacher, but also a famous thinker with wise thoughts about the world and society. His most important teachings are about kindness and good manners. "A person should be strict with himself, but be kind to others." he said.