It takes a lot of skills and hard work to set a world record in pumpkin-carving(雕刻南瓜). Steve Clarke, a sixth-grade teacher from Pennsylvania, is a famous carver(雕刻师). Clarke has set many world records for carving pumpkins quickly. When he competes, he must cut our two eyes, two eyebrows, a nose, a mouth, and two ears as fast as possible. But Clarke knows something else about pumpkin-carving. It's easier to get a record than to keep it.

    He took the title in 2000 when he carved a pumpkin face in 74.8 seconds. That time was 19 seconds faster than what Jerry had set. From then on, Clarke broke his own records five times. In 2006, he set his best time in Florida. His winning time was 24.03 seconds!

    The only problem is that someone finally beat that mark. On October 7, 2010, David set the new record with 20.1 seconds. Clarke was not able to break that record this year, but he has planned to break the record. After Halloween, he will go to local pumpkin farms to practise designs and new skills.

    Clarke is popular because of his super pumpkin-carving skills. In 1999, he carved more than 30 pumpkins at the Halloween party for then vice-president Al Gore.

    Everybody usually makes decisions. They can be as important as what you will do in the future or as simple as what you will eat for breakfast . Any decision could be the turning point of your life.

    I made an important decision when I was in Junior 3.

    Before I made that decision I was one of the boys who tried too hard to act as an adult. I didn't know that only kids want to show themselves as adults. I didn't listen to my parents and teachers, and my grades became poor. Then came the high school entrance exam.

    At the turning point of my life, my mom wanted to have a conversation with me. I wanted to turn it down but when I looked at her eyes, I felt I couldn't refuse. Instead of asking me to study hard, to my surprise, Mom just asked what I wanted to do in the future. Without thinking too much, I just said I would like to study hard .

    Mom smiled and asked again: “ I asked: what do you WANT to do?”

    I never seriously thought about the question. So , I kept silent. “Whether you want to go on studying or enter the society,” she went on, “it is your own decision. Your life ought to be decided by you, not by anyone else, including me.” After saying that, she had tears in her eyes.

    For the first time in my life I was asked to make my own decision. I sat in my chair and thought about myself, my life and what kind of person I wanted to become.

    It took me what seemed to be ages to make the biggest decision so far in my life. I wanted to be a man who makes a difference in the world. To achieve that, I needed to study hard.

    The path to my future became clear to me. I didn't act rebelliously(叛逆地) any more. With passion(激情) in my heart, I studied hard.

    Now, I'm 17 and I'm in one of the best schools in my city, in one of the best classes at the school and I am one of the best students in the class.

    Thanks to that decision, I have become what I am today.

    As a rule, we have a test about some usual things in our life every two months. During my second month of nursing school, our teacher gave us a pop test as usual.

    I was a serious, hard-working and careful student, so I passed the questions easily until I read the last one, "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"

    I thought this was sure some kind of joke. I saw the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark hair and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank.

    Before the class ended, one student named Nancy asked our teacher if the last question would count toward our test grade. This was also all the students' question. We all wondered why he gave this question in the test, because we all felt it meaningless.

    "Certainly," said our teacher. "In your life you will meet many people. All of them are important. They should get your attention and care, even if all you do is smile or just say an easy 'hello' ." We all kept silent after hearing this.

    I've never forgotten that special lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

    Long long ago, there was a blacksmith(铁匠). He was always unhappy with his life. "I'm always hot as a blacksmith. I want to be a stone on the mountain. There it must be cool." A wise man could change everything. The blacksmith went to the wise man. The wise man said, "Be a stone!" The blacksmith became a stone. A moment later, a stonemason(石匠) came and saw the stone. "It's what I want," he said and began to cut it. The stone cried, "Ouch! I don't want to be a stone. I want to be the sun. That would be great." The wise man said, "Be the sun!" And he became the sun. But the sun was much hotter, so he said, "I don't like this. I'd like to be the moon. It looks cool!" The wise man said again, "Be the moon!" And he became the moon. "This is hotter than being the sun, because the light from the sun shines（照射）on me" he said, "I don't want to be the moon. I want to be a blacksmith again. That's the best life."

    But the wise man said, "I'm tired of your changing. You want to be the moon, now you are the moon, and you'll be the moon in the future."

    One pleasant evening, I was holding Grandpa's hand and taking a walk in the park. "Where are the peanuts? Give me now!" He suddenly said. How I wished I had some with me! "William, the monkeys are taking long to come out today. Wait till they smell the peanuts." I knew he was lost in one of his memories again. I remembered the stories he told me of how he fed the monkeys when he was a kid. Then, he saw the goldfish! He acted as if he was seeing them for the first time.

    Poor Grandpa! He fell ill with Alzheimer's disease (阿尔茨海默症) last year. The doctor said it was a progressive brain disorder which could destroy (破坏) a person's memory. The patient might also not be able to make reasonable judgments (判断). The saddening part was that it was a lifelong disease. But when my parents invited him to stay with us, he refused and said he liked living alone. One day, he forgot to turn off the fire after cooking porridge. Luckily, one of the neighbors came to help him before the fire could spread.

    It was then that my parents brought Grandpa to live with us. Often, he would forget my name and ask me who I was and what I was doing in his house. Each time I would answer softly, "It's me, Ray, Grandpa!" Even if he had forgotten who I was, he would always be my beloved grandfather.