Different people have different skin（皮肤）. Some have black skin. Some have yellow skin, and some have white skin. There was a woman in Alaska. Her skin was orange. It was almost the color of orange juice.

    How did her skin become orange? She ate lots of tomatoes, carrots, and squashes (南瓜). She ate too many orange things. That's why her skin turned orange.

    The woman didn't want her skin to be orange, so she went to see the doctor. The doctor said. “Stop eating orange things. Eat some green things.” The woman did so, and her skin wasn't orange any more.

    One day, Mr. Smith went to a dinner party. He was wearing very old clothes. He came into the room. But people in the room didn't look at him. They didn't ask him to sit at the table. He wasn't happy. But he said nothing.

    Mr. Smith went home quickly and put on his best clothes. He went back to the party. Everyone in the room stood up and looked at him. They gave him good food to eat.

    Mr. Smith took off his coat, and put it on the food and said, "Eat, coat!"

    The other people were surprised and asked, "What are you doing? Why do you do that?"

    Mr. Smith answered, "I am asking my coat to eat food. When l wore old clothes, you didn't look at me. You didn't ask me to sit down. Now I am wearing these nice clothes. And you give me good food. Now I see, you give the food to my coat, not to me."

    It was thesummer before my third grade. Our girls' softball team was facing real pitchers(投球手)1thefirst time. Before that, we could just hit the ball on the tee (球座). When the coach started pitching, hitting became2forme. I missed every single pitch. From the side, I heard my teammate Emilylaughing at3. My face got hot and my throat feltlike it had a softball stuck in. At that moment, I was starting to4playingsoftball.

    The nextafternoon, when Mum said it was time to play the game, I told her I was5.She allowed me to lie down for a while. So I went to my room and6myselfin bed. This was difficult for me because I was fine and just7toavoid softball.

    Soon Mumcame in and said, "Time to go!" She didn't even ask if I felt8.I imagined Emily laughing from the sideline, and9Ireally did feel sick to my stomach. I began crying loudly. Still, Mum pulled myteam T-shirt over my head. She said, "You have to10forthe rest of the season, and only after that we can talk about11you'llcontinue next year." She added that practice was what I needed, not12.She promised to practise with me.

    I got twohits that afternoon, and Emily didn't make a13.Every week after that, I practised at home14I got to be one of thebest hitters on the team.

    That15taughtme that being afraid is part of life, and I can do whatever is expected of meif I keep working and practising.

One morning, there suddenly comes a loud cry from a village school—a young bear walks into one classroom! 

"Don't be 1 !" says the bear, " I won't hurt (伤害) 2 of you. I just want to learn here."

"Oh! You can 3 ?" Mrs. Green asks in surprise, "But this is a school for children, not 4 ."

"What a 5 bear!" the children love this bear very much, and they cry, "Mrs. Green, please let him6 !"

"You must know, children," says Mrs. Green, "7 follows rules while bears not."

"But I can 8 to follow rules!" the bear cries, "Bears can 9 be good listeners."

"Well," Mrs. Green now says, "you 10 stay here today. But you must follow our rules."

"No problem!" the bear gets excited, "If my animal friends followed rules, we wouldn't 11 so much. That's 12 I'm here—I want to learn your rules."

Then he runs to a seat but suddenly 13 and shouts, "But what if I have a question to ask?"

Mrs. Green smiles, "You must 14 your hand until I speak to you."

The bear's hand 15 goes up. 

"Any questions?" Mrs. Green asks. 

"Yes!" the bear says, "If I follow the rules today, can I come back to school tomorrow?"

All the children laugh, and so does Mrs. Green! 

I'm Mike. I am a junior high school student. Junior high is different from primary school. These differences help us grow and learn new things. My parents help me a lot during this time.

 In junior high, we have more subjects. This means I need to plan my time well. In primary school, my teacher told me what to do. Now, I have to make my timetable for study. At first, this was not easy for me. However, my parents help me by showing me how to create(创造) a timetable. They teach me to turn big task into small ones, then work on them one after another. It's useful.

 Making new friends is another part of growing up. In junior high, I meet many new people. Sometimes,I feel shy about talking to them. My parents tell me to be brave(勇敢的). They also tell me I can join clubs. Because it's easier for us to make friends with others through clubs.

 The challenges in junior high also teach us important lessons. For example, when I face problems, I must learn to be patient (耐心的) and work hard. My parents tell me that it is OK to make mistakes because I can learn from them.

 Thanks to my parents, I believe I can work out any problems in junior high and grow as a better man.