It was summer. A duck was sitting on many eggs in her house. Her little ducks were going to come to the world. One little duck after another came out from the eggs. The last baby was big and ugly. His brothers and sisters weren't willing to play with him because he was too ugly. Even his mother hated him too. And the girl who fed them kicked him.

    The poor little duck was so sad that he ran away from home in the winter. On his way, a big dog appeared, but the dog did not come close to him. "Oh, I am so ugly that even the dog won't bite me." the duck said to himself.

A kind farmer took him home when the weather got colder. He stayed there for a whole winter and left when the spring came.

    One day, he met three beautiful white swans (天鹅) when he was swimming in a lake. They swam toward him. He was afraid to make friends with them. But what did he see in the clear water? He was no longer a dark grey ugly duck. He was a beautiful swan himself. How amazing! He never dreamed that he could be so beautiful.

    Hello! This is a UFO. And I'm an alien（外星人）. I am Eric. Look! My jacket is nice. It's white. What's this in English? It's a pen. What color is it? It's red. And what's this in English? It's a key. It's a yellow key. What's that? It's an English CD. I like（喜欢）it. This is an English book（书）. It's green. It's 0.5kg in weight（重量）.

    Debbie is a very busy woman. She has ten children. Every morning she wakes up at 6: 00. The older children get up at 6: 30 and the younger children get up an hour later. After the older children leave for school at 8: 00, Debbie spends most of the day at home with her babies, cooking and cleaning. She doesn't have time to go out to work, but she doesn't mind. Debbie's husband Bob works in a bank. He doesn't enjoy it, but he makes lots of money. Debbie spends most of it on food and clothes for the children.

    Debbie likes the evening best. After dinner, she sits down in the living room and tells the children stories before they go to bed. She doesn't read from a book. She reads her own stories. Once the children are asleep, Debbie can relax. But she doesn't sit and watch TV with Bob. She writes stories in a notebook.

    Bob sent one of Debbies' stories to a competition and it won. The organizer of the competition said Debbie should become a writer, but Debbie wasn't sure. However, the children thought it was a great idea, so she decided to try. The children like elephants best, so Debbie wrote a story about them. One book company (公司) loved it and published (出版) it. People can now buy her book in shops.

That year I went to the college. On the first day of the term, I was so surprised because our teacher introduced an old lady to us in our class. She sat by me. She was very old, but she looked very energetic（精力充沛的）.

I was interested in why she came to the college at her age. "In fact, I always dreamed of having a college education（教育） and now I am getting one!" She told me later. We became friends. Every day we studied together. I always listened to her when she shared her stories with me. And she often asked me some problems about the lessons.

At the end of the term, we asked the lady to give a speech（演讲） to our class. I' ll never forget what she taught us. She said, "We do not stop working because we are old; we grow old because we stop. Do you want to stay young, be happy and successful? Never lose your dream and never give up."

The old woman's words touched all of us. And I still remember her words all my life, so I'll go on my dreams and try my best to make them come true.

Fan Zhaoyi is a hotel owner at "Snow Town". In the past，most people there {#blank#}1{#/blank#}（make） a living by cutting down trees. But it was difficult to take the wood out of the farm because the snow was too heavy. The snow season at the farm can last up to seven {#blank#}2{#/blank#} （month） a year. Many workers had to find other jobs {#blank#}3{#/blank#}（slow）. 

"At that time，these workers {#blank#}4{#/blank#}（encourage） to work in the tourism area，but many people were afraid to try. Few families were brave enough {#blank#}5{#/blank#}（provide） hotels，but I was a brave one. " Fan said. 

He turned out to be right. The high mountains，thick forest and proper temperature make snow there{#blank#}6{#/blank#} special that more and more visitors go to visit the farm. 

"I prepared four rooms in {#blank#}7{#/blank#}first year and started to make money later，" Fan said. His success also encouraged other people. The "Snow Town" has also been trying {#blank#}8{#/blank#} （it） best to provide better service for the tourists. It is going to make itself one of {#blank#}9{#/blank#}（popular） places for visitors. 

Last year，the winter tourist season at the "Snow Town" began，and 100，000 tickets were pre﹣sold. The white snow and red lanterns have won the hearts {#blank#}10{#/blank#}thousands of tourists from all over the world.