It was Day 1 of our vacation on Cortes, a beautiful quiet island. "iPhone, iPhone, iPhone," my son kept moaning (呻吟). In front of him was a big window facing the blue ocean. And a cool gentle wind was coming in from the door. Clearly, he saw and felt none of it.

    Back at home, I'd soon give up and hand the phone over to him after five minutes of listening to this kind of moaning.

    But not here. Before we left, I had told my 10-year-old son the rule—no emails, no Facebook, no video games, and no iPhone. We came here to get away from them all. Here we were on our first day and already, he couldn't stand it.

         ▲      I walked down the grass road to the beach and looked out to the sea. My 6-year-old daughter and my husband were drawing on pieces of wood. They were doing just fine.

    On Day 2, we spent the whole morning digging for shells (贝壳). This time, my son joined us. He collected shellfish and other sea treasures. When we got back to our little wood house, I gave my son a book, and put him on the lovely garden chair. It was almost dinner when he looked up.

    The next few days passed in peace.

    On Day 6, my son was lying beside me on the beach, watching the sun going down. He was playing with the sand. And there was something shining in his eyes. I realized how time slowed down for both of us. It was exactly what I wanted. Finally, we were able to sit quietly without thinking about screens, phone calls and e-mail.

    A week away from all the electronics arid Lile is good.

Rick and Henry are good friends. They play together every day. 

One night, Rick calls Henry, "Tomorrow will be a fine day. Shall we go out to play football? ""Henry likes football, so he says, "OK. Let's meet at 2: 30 pm. "

The next day, Rick comes to Henry's home on time. But Henry is lying on his bed and playing mobile games. He says to Rick," ▲ "

"OK, "says Rick. He waits for about one hour, but Henry still doesn't come out. At this time, Henry says, "I don't want to go out now. Why don't you go alone? "

Hearing this, Rick goes away angrily(生气地). He says to himself, "I'm not going to play with him any more! "

In the evening, Henry's mother has a talk with him. "You can't break your words like this, or you will have no friends. "Henry feels worried. He says, "I'm wrong. "Then he calls Rick and says sorry to him. And he goes to Rick's home early the next morning!

Last year in early summer, I was walking up the hill to my house when I saw two birds, each about 60 centimeters tall, standing on the path. They didn't seem to 1 me until I was right in front of them and then they at once moved 2 into the bushes.

I was quite excited by the idea of two birds making a nest (巢) in my front yard, although I didn't really expect it 3 wild birds don't usually nest so close.

A few weeks later, the birds 4 again. I found them crouching (蜷缩) beside a tree off to the side of the path. As I moved nearer to them, I imagined that they would 5 like they did last time. But 6 they stuck out their heads and made a threatening (威胁的) croaking (呱呱叫) sound. It seemed to warn me not to go any 7 .

I didn't know 8 they were croaking at me until a short time later I made an amazing discovery — they had 9 small baby birds. 

As I moved quietly towards the birds, 10 not to make any sudden movements, they started their croaking again. They straightened their necks forward so they seemed 11 and more threatening. The mother carefully crouched down over the two chicks, and 12 them well in her feathers. 

I was watching them with 13 when I suddenly tripped and fell to the ground. The birds took this as a threat and the father raced towards me, 14 his wings to protect the mother and the chicks while making himself appear larger. 

I was 15 to have surprised them and left quickly. I was amazed by their fearless actions. Their parental natural ability kicked in and made them so brave. It is hard not to respect nature. 

Jing Baoshan is 69 years old. He lives a quite special life in Pinglu, Shanxi. Jing's given name, "Baoshan", means "protecting (保护) the mountains".

In 1970, 18-year-old Jing joined the People's Liberation Army of China, and then he worked in the Tanggula Mountains for 17 years. In 1987, Jing returned to his hometown in Pinglu and became a forest ranger (护林员). He loved the forest and said the trees were all his children.

Jing patrolled (巡查) the forest once a week. He took a hatchet (手斧) to protect himself from dangerous animals during the 30-km walking. At the lookout tower (塔), he also used a telescope (望远镜) to watch the forest once an hour and reported to his workmates every three days. He wrote his diary under a candle and talked to stars when he felt lonely (孤独的).

Jing retired (退休) in 2012. During his 25 years of service, Jing helped fight forest fires many times. There was a forest fire in 2000. Unluckily, four villagers died. He cried (哭) sadly and decided to protect the forest for the rest (剩下的) of his life. Jing didn't leave the forest after he retired. He kept protecting it as a volunteer (志愿者).

Hello! My name is Gao Shan. My 1 name is Gao. My English 2 is Joan. I'm 14, 3 I'm in Nanjing, China now. My phone 4 is 246-8901.

I have a happy family. My mom is Sally and my 5 is Paul. They are 40 years old. They' re 6 in a middle school. They teach English. I have one brother and one sister. 7 are John and Anna. John is 18 and Anna 8 16. They' re 9 but I'm not. 10 things are everywhere--on the bed, on the sofa and under the chair. I always ask my mom to 11 me look for things.

 Mary is my good 12 . She is in Beijing with her grandparents. Mary is in her room now. She is 13 tidy girl and her things are always in the right places. She likes 14 and there are many books in her bookcase. Her maths is good. She always helps me work out difficult 15 .