I' m ready to do my first jump 10 months after a skydiving (特技跳伞) accident. I can't wait! That accident almost killed (杀死) me and it made me stay in hospital for half a year. During the boring long days, I didn't feel good. "How could I live without my favourite sport?" I thought.

    It all started one evening after a nine-to-five day. I was sitting at home when an ad (广告)came on the television. "Try skydiving," it said. The next day, I went to the skydiving school in my town, At the end of the day's lessons, ] knew I found the right sport for me.

    I will never forget my first jump. Five of us walked to the runway and got into a plane. I was afraid, but the others were talking and smiling, and I started to feel a little relaxed. It was a beautiful, cloudless day and the sun was just going down. Soon it was time to jump. As I jumped from the plane, I shouted. But then everything became quiet (安静的). It was the most wonderful four minutes of my life.

    From the first jump, I was hooked. I started spending all my free time skydiving. It became my reason (理由) for living. Things were going really well. Then an accident happened on my 104th jump. I broke my both legs, right arm and nose. I stayed in hospital for six months, but I still couldn't forget skydiving.

    My mother couldn't understand why the only reason I wanted to get better was to go skydiving again. But for me, skydiving is life, and life is skydiving.

    Can you write down a Chinese word being read to you? Sometimes it can be difficult when you find the word is not included in most dictionaries.

    Lu Jialei, 14, from Hangzhou Foreign Language School, won the CCTV Chinese Character (汉字) Spelling Contest on Oct 18^th, 2013. About 160 people competed. The host read a word to the contestant, explained its meaning and gave sample sentences. The contestant was required to write down the word.

    Winning the contest was a “surprise” to Lu. “I was not the smartest one,” she said. “But I paid attention to details.” To prepare for the contest, she and her teammates studied the Modern Chinese Dictionary for 10 days. There are more than 56,000 entries (词条) including characters, words and phrases in it. She also had a secret weapon. She studied how Chinese characters were formed.

    “When others paid attention to the plot of a story, she looked at how authors use words and sentences to express themselves,” said Su Yunsheng, Lu's Chinese teacher. Su is happy to see students like Lu find the beauty of Chinese language.

    “Besides using something Chinese and having Chinese traditional festivals, learning to write Chinese characters is also an important part of inheriting (传承) Chinese culture,” said Su.

    A man in Pakistan is now working to help children get an education. When he was a child, he did not go to school because he was too poor.

    It is reported that Pakistan has 25 million children who do not go to school. That is the second ­highest number in the world. Only Nigeria has more. Many Pakistani children must work to support their families.

    Mohammad Ayub was once one of those children. He is now a firefighter. He also manages a small school. VOA recently visited the school in the capital Islamabad.

    Ayub started with just one student in 1982. He saw a boy cleaning cars for days. He asked him, "Why don't you go to school?" The boy answered that his parents were dead and he had to work to help support his five brothers and three sisters.

    Ayub was also an orphan and he, too, had to work to help support his five brothers and three sisters. He said, "When my father died, everyone who came to the funeral said they were sorry, but no one helped." He sold newspapers and did other work to earn enough money to pay school fees for his brothers and sisters.

    Ayub wanted to help the young boy who washed cars, but he did not have enough money to pay the boy's school fees.

    Today, Ayub teaches many children at his school in a public park. Some of the children attend other schools in the morning, but come to Ayub in the afternoon to get help with their homework.

    Ayub has helped a large number of poor children since he began teaching. Many of them come from very poor areas near the park.

    Ayub said," I used to argue with kids who worked ' Why are you washing someone's dishes or their clothes? Why don't you study? ' "

    One of the children he advised to attend classes was Farhat Abbas. Ayub found him working with his friends about 12 years ago. "He followed us back home. He told our parents he wanted to teach us and asked them to send us to his school, "Abbas said.

    Today, Abbas is taking classes at a college and is helping Ayub.

    Many children are out of school, and those who do attend classes often get a poor education. Information gathered by an organization shows half of all Pakistani children in the 5th grade do not understand basic mathematics and cannot read a story in their language.

    A group in Islamabad reports Pakistan spends less on education than any other country in South Asia.

Miss Brown did not like getting up early in the morning. One day a lecture was going to be given by an artist at nine o'clock. Her sister was1. She set her alarm clock for half past seven. This should 2her plenty of time to get ready and3early enough for a good seat. She was determined to4there in time. She would never forgive(原谅)herself for5the lecture. That is a famous artist's lecture.

The next morning, she slept through the alarm bell and woke up at half past eight. Shew as rushing and everything went6. At last, she was ready, and rushed out to catch a bus. When she arrived at the university, she7to the lecture hall. She was surprised to find that the doors were locked. She looked round to find someone, and saw a clock. It said half past seven. "I can't understand it. "She cried out. "Nobody's here and the clock is8! "Then she suddenly remembered. Her alarm clock had stopped the day before and she must 9to reset (重新设置) the hands. "This is the first time I'll hear the beginning of a lecture. "She said to10, laughing.

When I was a little girl, I was very shy. I used to be afraid of {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (speak) in public, so I always kept quiet. I never answered teachers' questions. I just listened to them {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(quiet). 

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}, one day, things changed a lot. I listened to my Chinese teacher Ms. Song very carefully {#blank#}4{#/blank#} usual. Suddenly, she asked the whole class {#blank#}5{#/blank#} question which was quite easy. Ms. Song looked around, and then her eyes were on me. She asked me {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(answer) it. I stood up slowly and was {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(able) to say a word. "Come on! Believe in {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(you). You are the best!" said Ms. Song. I looked at Ms. Song in the eyes, and I could feel her encouragements. I {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(take) courage(勇气) from it and answered the question correctly. Ms. Song gave me a big smile and so did my {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(classmate). From then on, I started to answer the teachers' questions in class. 

Since then, whenever I meet challenges, I always say to myself, "You're the best. "

When I was eight, I got a book about stars. That was the beginning of my lifetime hobby. 

I used to go outside with my mum at night and look at the sky. After stars {#blank#}1{#/blank#}, the sky looked like black velvet(天鹅绒) with millions of diamonds(钻石). How beautiful and {#blank#}2{#/blank#}! I shared the {#blank#}3{#/blank#} of seeing stars with my mother. 

Studying stars is great fun for me. Once I learn a little about stars, I soon want {#blank#}4{#/blank#} more. I never {#blank#}5{#/blank#} lonely on my way because stars are always there. Now it is my career. 

Actually, everyone can turn their hobby into their career, too. Anybody has a chance to achieve their dreams. You just need to enjoy what you do!