I have been very lucky to make many trips to China. Though I have had some trouble with the language, I have never had a problem I couldn't solve. As a native English speaker（土生土长的说英语的人），I can go almost everywhere in the world and find someone to communicate with. I never thought that someone who speaks only Chinese would have a lot of trouble in my country.

Recently, the King family that I had met in China moved to Canada. I met them at the airport. My wife and I made meals for them and showed them around where we live. Everything seemed to go smoothly for the first two days as we looked for a car for them, showed them the way to different stores and the nearest city, Victoria. Mr. and Mrs King had a two-year-old son and soon we became Nainai (grandmother) and Yeye (grandfather). We were having a good time but we didn't realize Mr. King can't speak English.

Luckily, Mrs. King can speak very good English. Many people with Chinese background live near us. In fact, none of them speak Chinese. Mr. King can't even buy a mobile phone without his wife's help. He can't talk to me, of course. By the third day, he felt lonely and worried. And on the fourth day, we decided to take them to a large Chinese community.

Now, we often visit them and they visit us too. Sometimes Mrs. King would still like to live near us but Mr. King cannot. I feel bad because he seems very nice and smart but I can't talk with him. It seems that neither of us will learn the other's language because of our ages, maybe we will never have a friendly conversation. But we will think of each other as friends.

    A passenger told an air hostess(空姐) that he needed a cup of water when the plane just took off. She told him that she would bring him the water soon.

    Twenty minutes later, when the passenger's ring for service sounded, the air hostess realized it at once. She was kept so busy that she forgot to bring him the water. Therefore, the passenger was held up to take his medicine. She hurried over to him with a cup of water, but he refused it.

    In the following hours on the flight, each time the air hostess passed the passenger, she would ask him with a smile whether he needed help or not. But the passenger never paid attention to her words.

    When he was going to get off the plane, the passenger asked the air hostess to hand him the passengers' booklet(意见簿). She was very sad. She knew that he would write down sharp(苛刻的) words. But with a smile she handed it to him.

    Off the plane, she opened the booklet, and let out a smile, for the passenger put it: On the flight, you asked me if I needed help for twelve times in all. How can I refuse your twelve sincere smiles?

    That's right! It was the twelve smiles of the air hostess that moved the passenger.

Have you heard the saying "Fall down seven times, stand up eight"? It means that however difficult things get and however many mistakes you make, have the passion and energy to keep going. This is called perseverance and it can help you achieve lots of things.

Perseverance means keeping doing something over a long time, even when the going gets difficult. It's believed that you can achieve a goal if you prepare to work for it. Practicing a trick (技巧) on your bike over and over again or finishing a picture without throwing it away and starting afresh shows perseverance. Florence, 11, says, "It means never giving up, being determined and trying hard to push yourself. I go running with my mom three times a week, even when I don't feel like it, because I want to be the fastest in my class."

Studies show that feeling hopeful and working towards a goal that you really want to reach can reduce stress and make you feel happier. Achieving something you've worked hard for, and overcoming challenges along the way, can also develop your confidence and make you feel braver to try new things. Angela Duckworth is an expert in thoughts and feelings. She studies perseverance, which she calls "grit (勇气)". Duckworth believes that it doesn't matter how talented, clever or rich you are, having grit is what really helps you succeed. She explains, no matter how gifted you are, and no matter how easily you do well in your lessons, you should have perseverance.

Duckworth believes perseverance is something anyone can learn, and the best way to do this is to have a growth mind. This means believing that your brain can grow, and that you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it. So instead of thinking, "I can't do this", try thinking, "I can't do this... yet". As the book The Big Life Journal says, "People with a growth idea know they can get better by working hard. They keep trying even when things are difficult."

We all need good friends and want to get on well with them. But what do you do when you and your best friend have 1 ideas? At first, I didn't know what to do when this happened to my best friend Karina and me.

When we first met at a summer camp, we got along so 2 that we shared stories, laughed a lot, and quickly became inseparable(形影不离的)friends. But then something happened at a picnic. "Did you hear the news about the shopping center?" asked one of our friends Levar. "Some people plan to 3 many trees to make room for a shopping center."

"That's terrible! It will be bad for our environment(环境). We have to 4 that," I said.

"I don't think so," said Karina. "The shopping center will give people new jobs."

"But animals will 5 their homes!" I said. "I want people to have 6 , but it doesn't have to do such a terrible thing."

I wanted Karina to join me in 7 trees, but she didn't want to. I was so angry that I didn't 8 her for days. Later, my mother knew it and said to me seriously(严肃地), "No two people are the same. You should 9 each other. Don't let the 10 make you lose a good friend." After listening to my mom's words, I said sorry to Karina. Now we're still good friends.

 Welcome to junior high! This is our new school. It is very big and it has a long {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (历史). There are {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (十) buildings, three dinning halls and a playground. We {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (需要) to learn more subjects. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (生物) is my favorite subject. We have many science {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (实验室). In {#blank#}6{#/blank#} !事实), our school also has a lot of activities to make us be interested in study. Every Monday, we should wear school uniforms. I like our {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (红色的)T-shirts. And we can also wear our {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (央克衫). At school we can make a lot of friends and learn to be {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (有礼貌的) to each other. Our teachers hope we should {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (努力) our best to study. We are going to have a good time in junior high.