Think back to a time in your life when you tried something new.

    When I was a teenager I volunteered to pass out water at a local race. I was so excited to see all the different runners who passed by and quickly took a cup of water. Some ran past, some walked past and a few wheeled past.

    I saw so many types of people doing it. I thought maybe I could do it too! The next year I decided to run for the race, but I had little running practice. I just wanted to finish.

    On the day of the race, it was terribly hot. After running for about 5 miles, I was thinking, "I must be crazy. Why did I do this？What was I thinking?" And at one moment, I said to myself, "I will never do this again!"

    That first 10km race was quite an experience. I jogged (慢跑), I walked, and I jogged and walked. At times, I didn't know if I could finish.

    Near the end, a 70­year­old man ran past me, very fast, and I felt a little embarrassed (尴尬的) that I was more than 50 years younger than him and I couldn't even keep up with him. But then I realized something. He was running his race and I was running mine. How often in life do we compare ourselves to others when we really shouldn't？I decided that I would not give up, and that one day I would be one of those 70­year­old men who were still running.

    As I crossed the finishing line, I was proud of myself. I didn't regret (后悔) having such an experience.

    Marco Polo was born in Italy in 1254. When he was 17, he travelled across Europe and Asia along the Silk Road with his father, who wanted to do trade with the Chinese. Finally they arrived in Beijing. They were guests at the Emperor's Palace. Although Marco was young, he was very clever and could speak four languages. The Emperor was impressed by him and they became friends. He asked Marco to serve in his court and sent him to do many important tasks across the country.

    Marco was amazed by how beautiful China was. He was impressed by Beijing and the Emperor's Palace, especially the Summer Palace which he described as "The greatest palace that ever was..."The walls were covered in gold and silver and the hall was so large it could easily seat 6,000 people for dinner.

    There were inventions and developments in China which couldn't found in Europe at that time. Marco was surprised to see Chinese people using paper money in the markets. In Europe, people paid for goods with gold and silver. He could not understand how people paid for food and valuable things with paper! He was also puzzled by the black stones people used to burn to produce heat. The black stones were coal, but Marco had never seen coal before!

    In 1291, after 17 years of service to the Emperor, Marco returned to Italy. He was now a very wealthy man. A writer wrote down all the stories that Marco told him in a book called The Description of the World, which became one of the best - selling books in Europe.

    Although people enjoyed reading the book, many of them thought that Marco's stories about China were too fantastic to be true. But Marco always stood by his tales. Just before he died, aged 70, Marco was asked the question, "Was it all true?" And this was his answer, "I have only told a half of what I saw!"

    Like many high school graduates, Maggie Doyne didn't go straight to college. She decided to travel and arrived in western Nepal in 2006. A war had just ended there and left many children living on the streets. They were often forced to work at hard physical jobs for little money.

One day, while walking down a country road, Doyne saw a little girl breaking up rocks. She soon learned that 7-year-old Hima sold the rocks to support her family. With deep sadness, she decided to pay Hima's tuition(学费) for school. Encouraged by the changes in the child, Doyne thought, "If we can help one child, why not 10？"

    Doyne felt that the street children's greatest need was a home. She found a piece of land for sale and bought it with $5,000 she saved from years of babysitting (当临时保姆). In 2008 the Kopila Valley Children's Home was set up. With the help from the community, another goal was reached in 2010—the Kopila Valley School. Over 350 children now attend the school and over 50 live in the home.

    Today, Doyne lives in the home and is "mum" to the kids.

    My cousin Bill likes going to the beach on Sunday. There was much sunshine that day. He went there with his brother. They got there at 9:00. There were lots of people there on vacation. Bill and his brother sat down and began to relax.

    Soon Bill found there were lots of empty water bottles on the beach. He also saw some paper bags on the beach. That made Bill sad. He and his brother began to work. To clean the beach, they worked hard. About two hours later, the beach was clean again.  At last they put up a sign, saying, "No Littering(乱扔)" on the beach. They wanted people to keep the beach clean. After that, they were very hungry. So they went to a restaurant nearby to have lunch. They had two large bowls of beef noodles there, and then went home.

Long time ago, there was a king(国王) in England. He was kind but too lazy(懒惰) . He would do1 except(除了) eating and sleeping. Soon he became 2 and heavy. Later, he couldn't even move his body. He thought he was ill.3 no doctors in his country could help him. 

One day, an4 man heard about the king's story. He wanted to give him a 5 . The king decided to let him try. 

The old man lived far away. He said to the king, "I'll try6 best to help you. You need to come to me for treatment(治疗) tomorrow. But you have to walk here." " Certainly, kind man. I'll do so, " the king answered(答复，回答). 

The next day the king went to the man's house early. After he arrived, the king found only the man's7 was at home. The son told the 8 to come the next day. He came every day for two weeks, but he 9 saw the old man.10 the king became angry, he found he became light. He realized(明白) why the old man asked him to walk far. 

Walking can exercise people's body. It's easy and doesn't cost money.