There was a boy and his family was very rich. One day his father took him on a trip to a place. He wanted to show his son how poor people were there. They spent several days on a farm. There were many poor families living on the farm.

    On their way home, the father asked the son, “How was the trip?” “It was great, Dad,” the son answered. “Did you notice how poor people were there?" asked his father. “Oh, yes,” said the son. “So, tell me,” said his father. The son said, “Well, we have one dog and they have four. We have a pool in our garden, while they have a river that has no end. We have expensive lanterns(灯), but they have stars above their heads at night. We have only a small piece of land to live on, while they have the endless fields. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have high walls around our houses to protect us, but they don't need walls, because their friends will protect them."

    The father had nothing to say. Then the boy added, “Thank you, Dad, for letting me see how poor we are.”

    Ali, who was working a long way from home wanted to send a letter to his wife, but he could neither read nor write, and he had to work all day, so he could only look for somebody to write his letter late at night. At last he found the house of a letter writer whose name was Nasreddin.

    Nasreddin was already in bed. "It is late," he said. "What do you want?" "I want you to write a letter to my wife," said Ali, Nasreddin was not pleased. He thought for a few seconds and then said, "Has the letter got to go far?" "What does that matter?" answered Ali.

  "Well, my writing is so strange that only I can read it, and if I have to travel a long way to read your letter to your wife, it will cost you a lot of money." Ali went away quickly.

    In 1996, Subaru Takaiashi sailed alone across the Pacific Ocean. Many other people did this before Subaru, but he was special. At 14, he was the youngest person to sail across the Pacific by himself.

    Subaru left Tokyo on 23 July, 1996. His boat was 30 feet (9 metres) long. In the boat, he had a two-month supply of food and water. He also had a radio and other modern equipment for sailing.

    The beginning of this trip went very well. Subaru often talked to his parents by radio. He didn't have any problems with his boat. Then on 11 August, the engine in his boat quit. This affected his navigation(导航)equipment. Then five days later, his radio quit. So he wasn't able to communicate with anyone. And he was still 2,770 miles (4,490 kilometres) away from his destination-San Francisco.

    By the end of August, many people believed that Subaru was lost. No one was able to contact him by radio. His parents expected him to arrive in San Francisco on 3 September, but he didn't. Then, on 13 September, Subaru sailed into San Francisco. After 55 days in his boat, his trip was finally over.

    Many people believe that Subaru was too young to sail alone. They say that parents shouldn't allow children to make such dangerous trips. However, other people say that children should have adventures, too.

    I teach economics in a university three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. He had his wisdom teeth removed. Then he went on to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful.

    His question reminded me of something I'd read somewhere before: Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to live that day. I said, "I choose to be cheerful."

    "Let me give you an example," I continued. "Besides teaching here, I also teach at a college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day a few weeks ago I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died. I tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn't work. So I put my flashes on, took my books, and walked down the road to the college. When I got there, I called AAA(汽车协会) and asked for a tow truck to meet at my car after class. The secretary there asked me what had happened. "This is my lucky day," I replied, smiling.

    "Your car breaks down and toady is your lucky day? What do you mean?"

    "My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. I didn't," I replied. "Instead, it broken down at the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I'm still able to teach my class, and I've been able to ask for the tow truck to meet me after class! If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't have been arranged in a more convenient way."

    I ended my story. In spite of the early hour, no one in my class seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them.

Good morning, boys and girls. I'm Kate. Kate Walker is my 1 name. I am 13 years old. I'm 2 the USA but I live in China now. I love China. It's a beautiful 3 . I also love Chinese 4 , like Mapo tofu and hot pot.

 Now, I 5 a student of No. 5 Middle School. My teachers and6 at the school are very kind. My best friend 7 Yang Li. Both of us love music. Yang Li is good at 8 . And I can sing well. So we join the school band together. Yang Li is nice. My Chinese is poor and9 helps me a lot with it.

I have many 10 like doing sports and reading. My 11 sport is ping— pong. On weekends, I often12 it with my friends. And we always have a lot of fun. Besides playing ping— pong, I also read for 1.5 13 every day.

I am very14 to study in our school. And I15 to have a wonderful time with you.

Thanks for your listening!