I grew up in a small town in South Canada. Every autumn, there was a week—long fair in the town. Thousands of people from other towns came to sell and buy things. It was the most exciting time of the year.

    When “Fairtime” came, my grandma became the busiest person of the family. Grandma was a kind, well—educated old lady. She was good at cooking. During “Fairtime”, relatives would come to live in her house and have meals there. Grandma was always happy to look after them.

    Year after year, many people moved to big cities. There was no longer “Fairtime”. Grandma became very old and was going a little blind. My parents and I did our best to make her life as comfortable as possible. I was at high school then. What I often did at home was to help Grandma with the daily newspaper's crossword puzzle. However, she didn't look happy. She often sat in her room for hours, without saying a word.

    To attract people to move back, the Town Hall decided to reopen the Fair. One day, when I came back from school, I saw Grandma wearing her glasses, washing the dishes in the kitchen. With a big smile on her face, she looked excited and a lot much younger. She told me that her two of her cousins would come. "They said they missed hometown and wanted to enjoy my food again."  Grandma said happily. "They will stay here for one week and we can have a big party. That must be the busiest week I've had in years!”

    I suddenly realized that Grandma didn't want to be looked after. She wanted to be “useful”, appreciated and helpful.

    My grandfather is seventy-five years old this year. But he looks very young. He looks like a sixty-year-old man. Now he can do everything all by himself. For example, he cooks, washes clothes, does the housework and so on.

    Every morning, my grandfather goes out with a radio. He listens to the music or the news and goes to the park to play taijiquan. In the park, he talks and laughs with other old people. After coming back from the park, he begins to have breakfast and then he goes to the university (大学) for the old. He learns drawing there. In the afternoon, he plays on the computer for about one or two hours. After supper he watches TV and learns about the world. He goes to bed at about eight o'clock. He never stays up. He likes to share his ways of keeping healthy with others.

    Are you healthy? If not, what do you learn from my grandfather's secret of keeping healthy?

    Penny was a five-year-old girl. One day when she and her mother were at a store, Penny saw a plastic pearl necklace. What a lovely necklace! She wanted it very much, so she begged her mother to buy it for her. The mother said, “Well, I can buy you the necklace, but when we get home, we should discuss what you can do to pay for it. Can we do that?” Penny agreed with much happiness, and she got the plastic necklace she loved.

    How much Penny loved the necklace! She wore it everywhere and every minute. Penny also helped with housework to get pocket money and she worked very hard. Soon she managed to pay off the price for the necklace.

    Penny's daddy saw all her effort and knew how much Penny cared about the necklace. One night, he asked Penny, “Penny, do you love me?”

    “Sure, Daddy,” the little girl said.

    “Then how about giving me your necklace?”

    “Come on, Daddy! Not my necklace!” Penny cried.

    “Oh, darling, it's fine,” her father gave her a kiss.

    A week later, her father asked Penny again for her plastic necklace.

    “Oh! Daddy, please don't!” Penny cried even harder.

    However, several days later, Penny went to her daddy with tears in her eyes. “Here, Daddy. I love you.” She held out her hand. Inside it was her plastic pearl necklace that she loved a lot.

    Seeing this, Penny's father smiled with surprise. He then pulled a cute box out of his pocket. Inside of the box was a real and beautiful pearl necklace, which was waiting for Penny for so long.

    Lei Haiwei, a 37-year-old fast food courier(快递员) from Hunan Province, got first place in a televised Chinese poetry knowledge competition. He beat other competitors, including a master's degree（硕士学位） graduate from Beijing University, in the third season of the Chinese Poetry Conference on CCTV on April 4, 2018.

    "My interest in ancient poems began as early as I was six years old. My father hoped I would grow up to be a man who keeps the mountains, rivers, lakes and seas in mind," the courier said.

    In 2001, the younger Lei found a job in Shanghai and began to read books related to ancient poems at bookstores or libraries in his spare time, since he didn't make much money. The young man also developed a habit of reciting poems he liked and writing them down after returning home.

    Though Lei works as a fast food courier in Hangzhou later, his love for poems never died. Even on his busiest work days, he used any available moment to recite poems. "For example, I am used to reciting poems when I wait for food at restaurants, and traffic lights on my way to deliver food.  Reciting poems not only enriches my knowledge, but also makes my job less boring. As for my future plan, I will stick to reading and reciting poems," Lei said.

    In 1254, Marco Polo was born in Italy, in the city of Venice. At that time Europeans knew almost nothing about other continents(大洲),except some areas of Asia and Africa(非洲)touching the Mediterranean Sea(地中海).

    In 1271. Marco Polo. His uncle. And his father started a journey to China. For four years they travelled on foot and on camels, across the deserts and through the mountains of Central Asia. Finally they arrived at the city of Kublai Khan(可汗),the Mongol(蒙古)ruler of China at that time.

    In China, Marco Polo found people with a very different culture from his own. He saw a new world with lots of wonders. After leaving China, Marco Polo traveled to Japan, Southeastern Asia, India, and Eastern Africa.

    In 1292-two hundred years before Columbus—Marco travelled back home. The stories of China he brought back quickly spread all over Europe.

    Sally was a student. Her mother's birthday is coming. She wanted to buy her a nice and cheap present(礼物).

    She went shopping after a quick and simple lunch. After she looked for half an hour, she found a shop. It was selling cheap umbrellas, and she decided to take a black one.

    She thought, "Mom can carry it when she is wearing any clothes." So she bought a lovely black umbrella and took it to school with her.

    On her way home on the train she felt hungry because she ate little for lunch. So she went to the buffet car(餐车). She left the umbrella on her seat. But when she got back. She couldn't see the umbrella!

    Sally began to cry. The other passengers felt very sorry for her and asked what was the matter. She told them she couldn't find the black umbrella, and she had to get off at the next station. After the three passengers heard this, they asked her for her mother's address(地址)so that they could send the umbrella to her if someone took it and brought it back.

    After a week, Sally got a letter from her mother. It said "Thank you very much for your lovely gifts, but why do you send me three black umbrellas?"