Mickey Mouse's ears are well known all over the world, and this year will be an especially fun one for Disney. The company is celebrating 60 years since its first theme park, Disneyland, opened in California, US in 1955.

Disney has opened many more parks all over the world since it made history in California, Shanghai Disneyland is expected to open in 2016, bringing Disney's popular parks here to the Chinese mainland for the first time.

So why has Disneyland been so popular for 60 years? Well, it's described as "the Happiest Place on Earth" and "a place for the young and young at heart”. Many Americans have grown up with the parks, as ex—Disneyland president Paul Pressler said in 1995: " There is an emotional relationship that people have with this park.”

Disneyland was one of the first theme parks anywhere in the world that had “lands” and rides with themes. Disney's storytelling in rides like roller coasters is a big reason for their parks' success. “We tell a story in everything we do,”Pressler said. Disney rides such as The seven Dwarves Mine Train and Peter Pan's Flight come from its movies. One ride from its 2013 hit movie Frozen will surely be coming soon, perhaps at the new Shanghai Disneyland.
Disney's parks haven't always been popular everywhere, however. When Disneyland Paris opened in 1992, some French people felt that American culture was invading(入侵)France. But still, the park stayed open and today it is a popular place for European visitors.

Whatever you may think of them, you can't say that on their 60 th birthday, Disney's parks aren't still going strong. How many Disney theme parks will you have visited by the time their 70 th birthday comes around?

Have you ever complained that life is so tiring or that there is too much homework? Does the sky sometimes seem dark to you? Are your studies sometimes not successful? Well, friends, cheer up and smile all the time. If you look at the world with a warm heart, you will find that the whole world smiles at you.
While in school, sometimes you are tired of your lessons, but have you noticed the happy smile on your teacher's face when you do a good job?
If one day it is fine, but just before you go out, it suddenly starts to rain. Maybe you would feel very sad and start complaining about the weather. Dear friends, why don't you sit down and listen to the free concert that the nature offers you? Also with the timely rain, crops in the fields will grow better and better and farmers will have a good harvest.
Although everyone wants to succeed in what he tries to do, sometimes failure can't be avoided. I think failure is not terrible. The terrible thing is that we are afraid of it and give up hope. When we face failure, we must be confident of ourselves, draw a useful lesson from it and try our best to finish what we have decided to do. As a popular saying goes, “Failure is the mother of the success.”
Attitude decides everything, with an optimistic attitude life is easy and pleasant. Let's smile at whatever we meet and the whole world will smiles at us.

    People celebrate(庆祝)birthdays in nearly every country in the world. And they celebrate them in many different ways.

    In Brazil, the special birthday food isn't a cake, but special candles(蜡烛). In China, people eat long noodles as a wish for long life. In Iceland, people have pancakes with sweet candies in them on birthdays.

    In Britain, people celebrate the birthday all day. The birthday child is lifted up(举起)by his or her classmates. That is to say the child can grow up happily and healthily.

    In Holland, children not only get presents, but they give things to others, too. They give cakes, cookies and candies to their classmates and teachers on their birthdays.

    In Mexico, it's good luck to give birthday greetings as early as possible in the day. So it's usual for the birthday child to wake up at midnight, with friends singing birthday songs.

    In Thailand, the birthday person holds a tall candle. The candle is as tall as the birthday person. It will bring good luck to him or her.

In many countries, birthday customs are changing. But one thing never changes—birthdays are special days for everyone.

    More than forty years ago, a group of artists gathered to develop a television program. They planned to make a television show that would teach young children about subjects like reading and math in a fun way.

    Sesame Street was first shown on TV on November 10th, 1969. It was produced by a group called The Children's Television Workshop, and today it was called The Sesame Workshop. The show used cartoon characters and human actors to create funny and creative lessons for children. Some of the most famous characters on the show are Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, and Bert and Ernie. Puppet maker Jim Henson created these lovely characters.

    Research is an important part of what made Sesame Street special. The show's creators studied children very carefully to understand how to best keep them having fun and learning. When the show was first introduced to children, some of its creators were not sure whether it would last one season. But forty years later, Sesame Street is the longest running children's television program in the United States.

    As part of its fortieth anniversary (周年), Sesame Street had a special guest on its show. First Lady Michelle Obama showed a group of children and Big Bird how to plant. She explained that the seeds would grow into vegetables, which are healthy and good to eat. She also had a message to the parents who watch the show with their children. She said parents can help their children do things to have healthy lives, like getting enough exercise.