Thomas is an office clerk. Every day he is busy with his work. After a day's work he is often very tired. His wife, Katherine, has no job, so she stays at home to cook the meals. Every day he can have his dinner when he gets home from office.

    One day, Thomas came home very late because he was very busy with an important paper. He was very hungry when he got home. When he found dinner was not ready he was very angry with his wife. He shouted at her, “I'm going to have dinner in a restaurant.” “Wait for five minutes,” said his wife. “Why? Do you think that dinner will be ready in five minutes?” asked Thomas.

    "Of course not,” she answered. “But I can be ready to go with you in five minutes.”

    When he was nine years old, American boy Milo Cress had a question: How many plastic straws(吸管) do Americans use every day?

    He quickly learned there wasn't a simple answer. The boy tried to work it out himself. Through lots of research, Cress found out that Americans use about 500 million straws every day. In hopes of reducing plastic waste, he founded the Be Straw Free project in 2011.

    Cress started the project in his hometown – Burlington, Vermont. He asked a local restaurant to stop offering straws with every drink order. It was a simple change. However, it would save money. And by doing that, the restaurant would cut down on its straw use by 50 percent.

    For the years that followed, Cress tried to spread his project across the United States. More and more restaurants agreed to join. They stop providing the customer with a straw unless he or she asks for one. Last April, Seattle became the first American city to completely ban (禁止) plastic straws.

    Plastic pollution has been one of the most serious problems today. According to scientists, more than eight million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year. Plastic straws are especially terrible. They make it easy for people to get comfortable with single-use plastics.

    After his project became popular, Cress took his findings on the road. He has since spoken to tens of thousands of students around the world. He wants to encourage more people to say no to plastic straws.

    "Focusing(聚焦) on straws is one simple step we all could take," Cress says. "And it makes me feel that I, as a kid, could make a difference, too."

There is an old saying: Like father like son. Here is a story about it. 

Once there was a father and a son. They were ill-tempered (坏脾气) and never gave a way to others. One day his father decided to {#blank#}1{#/blank#}some friends to dinner. He asked his son to buy some meat in town. When the son got what his father wanted, he turned back {#blank#}2{#/blank#} walked towards the town gate. Just then, a man was coming from outside. The gate wasn't {#blank#}3{#/blank#} enough to let two men in and out at the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} time. But {#blank#}5{#/blank#} of them would not give way to the other. They stood face {#blank#}6{#/blank#} face inside the gate hour after hour. Waited for a long time, his father was worried, "What shall I do? My son hasn't returned yet. I can't wait any {#blank#}7{#/blank#}. " He wanted to know what was the matter with his son. So he {#blank#}8{#/blank#} his friends at home and went to town to look for his son. 

"You may take the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} home for my friends. Let me stand here against instead him, " he said to his son when he knew what {#blank#}10{#/blank#}. What do you think of the father? If everyone teaches their children in this way, there will be no peace in the world. 

I am a Grade 9 student. I love the National Day holiday a lot, because I can do many things I enjoy. How did I spend the seven-day holiday last year? I didn't travel or visit friends. I found a part-time job.

That was the first time I had been a waiter (服务员). It was harder than I had thought. At first, I was not good at the job, and I nearly spilt (洒出) the soup on a woman's dress. Some people were very unfriendly, and they got angry ( 生气的) with me because of my mistakes. I was so sad and tired that I was almost ready to give up the first afternoon.

A family with three children came to have dinner the next day. The children were asking for things all the time. I tried my best to serve them well. Then the father said to me, "Good job! Thank you very much for helping us." His words were just like a light in the dark. My tiredness suddenly went away. In the following days, I got used to the job little by little, and I had fun working in the restaurant.

When I got the money at last, I felt very happy. The experience taught me that many jobs are not easy. Everyone is great when they are working hard. The most important thing I learned is how much praise (称赞) matters to people. It can give us lots of strength (力量). I think my National Day holiday last year was interesting and meaningful.

 When Suansuan first rend Peach Blossom Shangri- la(《桃花源记》) in her high school Chinese textbook. she didn't think too much about it.

 One day in college, she remembered the article again. After studying more about it, she found something interesting behind the 320- word text. For example, the Peach Blossom Shangri- la not only appears in Tao Yuanming's article, but also in many poems, paintings and plays. The fisherman in the text doesn't have a name, for he is a symbol of a special group of people— the hermits(隐士). Usually for some reasons, they live a very simple life alone and do not meet or talk to other people.

 The simple text became much more fun and attractive(吸引人的) to Suansuan. She wants to share her ideas with more people by making videos. To better present her ideas, she paints in her videos. For a video about 10 minutes in length, she may draw up to 80 paintings.

 Starting in May 2019, she has made more than 50 videos. Seven are about the hidden stories behind some texts in Chinese textbooks. The rest are about learning methods and other works.

 These have won her more than 1.5 million fans on Bilibili, many of whom are teenagers. They have left bullet comments(弹幕) and messages of thanks. They say she has made their school life more interesting.

 Suansuan says the two things that bring her the most happiness are learning and creating. Making videos combines(结合) both. So she will keep doing it.