Long long ago, there was a spider. She found a beautiful farm. She liked the farm and decided to live there forever.

      One day, the spider caught a little bug. When the spider ate it, the bug said, “If you let me go, I will tell you an important thing. The thing will save your life.” The spider stopped and listened.

      The little bug said, “You'd better get out of the farm. The harvest is coming! If you stay here, you will be killed by the farmer's machine.”

      But the spider didn't listen to the bug and ate it for lunch. The next day when she was sleeping, the farmer came to have a harvest. The spider was killed by the machine.

    On 26 February, I got an email from my friend David, asking me to go to Tanzania to train their software engineers. The company is located in Dares Salam, a beautiful coastal city to the west of the Indian Ocean. I stayed for about two weeks in that city last time I was there. During my stay there, David took me to the nearby beach and we had a wonderful walk along the coast which had left a deep impression on me. I was impressed by the ocean water and the deep blue sky.

    After more than 19 hours of air travel, I was finally here at Dares Salaam Airport. The temperature here was high as usual- over 30 degrees. I felt short of breath because of the unbearable heat in this tiny hall. When I finally got my turn, I handed my passport to the officer in front of me, He had a close look at my passport. Then he asked the purpose of my stay, I told him I just wanted to travel here.

    "Where do you want to visit?" he asked again.

    "Dares Salsam."

    "What's your job?" he asked.

    "I'm a software engineer.

I will never forget this experience that I had. I still love this country.

Mr. Smith is 100 yearsold, but he is very healthy. He can read, play chess with people, and take careof himself(他自己). Many people want toknow his secrets (秘密) about keeping healthy and livinga long life. Here is what Mr. Smith says:

"My secrets aresimple. You can learn them easily. First, you should go to bed early andget up early every day. This is a good habit. For me, I usually go to bed at9:00 at night and get up at 6:00 in the morning."

"Second, do more(更多的) exercise. I always go out for a walkbefore having breakfast. In the morning and afternoon, I do some simple exercise,too.

"Third, make morefriends. I have many friends. Some of them are old. Some of them are not. Itmakes me happy to be with them. That is also important to live a longlife."

A couple of months ago, I made a promise to myself. I put some money in my wallet with the purpose of giving the money to the person in trouble.

Months passed, and as my daily life got busy, I was unable to keep my promise. Whenever I opened my wallet and saw the money, it reminded me of my promise. and I would feel a little disappointed because I haven't taken action. The voice inside told me that I should do something soon.

Today, while walking to work on a busy street, I passed a blind old lady with her hand out on the corner. Seeing her aged face and sightless eyes, I stopped at once. What a poor old lady she was! All of a sudden, I remembered my promise and the money lying in my wallet. I took out the money from the wallet and bent (弯腰) down to her level. Gently, I took her hand, placed the money into it, and closed her fingers over the money so that she could feel it and understand my action. The lady nodded her head a little bit.

I felt like I had achieved something. I kept my word to help someone in need! It was really a small act but especially a meaningful one! You will never make it if you don't take the first step.