It was 8:30 and I was lying in the sun, listening to my CD.

    Then my mum came out. She wanted me to go out with her. She told me about this place called Give Kids the World. It's a special place for families to spend a vacation when a child had a life-threatening（致命的）illness. There were several jobs she did there, like gift giving and ice-cream serving. Mum said I would enjoy it, but I thought this was a boring job.

    Mum told me we were going to take a toy and an ice-cream to every child in the village. We got to the first house and I knocked on the door and shouted, "Gift Giving", and a woman answered it. Sitting in the middle of the bedroom was a boy in a wheel chair. I gave him the gifts, and his face lighted up with happiness. I walked out and thought," That must be boring, unable to jump around."

    As I came into the second house with gifts, it seemed a little strange that the child didn't see me. His mum said something was much wrong with his eyes, so I needed to go and stand in front of him.  When I did that, he became very excited and made a sign for "thanks", though his legs couldn't move at all.

    When we went back home, Mum told me these kids might not live to see tomorrow. Suddenly, I understood I should be more thankful that I don't have these illnesses. I no longer wanted to be at home listening to my CDs. I would rather be doing this, maybe making a difference in these kids' lives.

    This story is about a young man. He worked very hard at his lessons. He was too busy to have a rest. Ashe became ill, he couldn't go to sleep. Every night, when he went to bed, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But the more he tried, the more he stayed awake.

    After a while he decided to visit the doctor, "I just can't go to sleep at night. What shall I do? "

    "I have a suggestion," said the doctor. "Try counting numbers. By the time you reach one thousand, you'll be asleep. I am sure of it."

    The next day the man returned to the doctor's office. "Well," said the doctor, "How are you today? Did you try my suggestion?"

    The man still looked tired. "Yes, "he said, "I tried counting one, two, three…up to one thousand. But when I reached five hundred and sixty-nine, I began to feel sleepy. I had to get up and drink some tea so that I could go on counting up to one thousand. But then I still couldn't fall asleep. "

    On a farm lived a father and a son. The father always got up early and read books by the stove. One morning, the son came up to him and said, "Dad, I read books at night but forget most of them the next morning. What's the good of reading?"

    The father didn't reply to his question at once. He passed him a basket that was used to carry coal. He said, "Get some water from the river with the basket and then I'll tell you the answer."

    The son felt surprised but he did as his father said. He tried many times but every time the water leaked (漏掉) from the basket.

    An hour later, the son came back with the empty basket and told his father it was impossible to hold water with the basket. The father said with a smile, "Yes, you are right, my son. The basket can't hold water. But did you notice the basket was different? "The son found the dirty basket had become clean. The father continued, "Reading is like holding water with the basket. Although we can't remember all we read, we have changed while reading."

    It is interesting to visit another country, but there are some problems when we don't know the1very well. It may be difficult to talk with the people there. We may not know how to use the telephone in the country we are visiting. We may not know how to buy the things we need. In a2country we might not know where to eat or what to order in a3. It is not easy to decide how4to tip waiters or taxi drivers. When we need help, we might not know how to ask for help. It is not pleasant to have an experience5that. After a short time, however, we learn what to do and what to6, We learn to enjoy life in another country, and then we may be sorry to leave.

International Day of Families

The International Day of Families is celebrated on May 15th every year.It is to raise people's attention to the happiness and progress of the family.To celebrate the 30th International Family Day this year （2023），Family Center will hold some family activities.

Activities for the family：

★Family sports.

★Reading a letter to your family.

★A cooking competition among families.

Time：9：00 a.m.—5：00 p.m.，on May 15th

Place：on the South International Square

Prize：

first prize—a five﹣day foreign tour

second prize—a seven﹣day domestic （国内的） tour

third prize— a four﹣day domestic tour

Rules：

Each family can choose two or three kinds of activities.When you sign up，you should make a decision.All the letters must be written by families themselves.They will not be returned，so please keep a copy.Don't be late

For further information，visit https：//FamilyCenter.so.com/doc.

I was happy because I worked short days today in the animal hospital. The worker opened the door at 9 am. She also made everyone a cup of tea or coffee. We fed the animals. About 10 am, pet owners(宠物主人) started to arrive with their sick pets. My assistant(助手) examined(检查) them. I was busy doing the paperwork . I used about two hours to have lunch and finished all my paperwork. 

At 2 pm, I started to see new sick animals. At 5 pm, three students from a nearby school came to help out. They are very kind and warm—hearted. From 5 pm to 7 pm, I still saw sick animals. 

At 7 pm, we closed our doors. We fed and cleaned the animals. Then, we turned off the lights and went home. It was a really meaningful day.