Long long ago, there was a spider. She found a beautiful farm. She liked the farm and decided to live there forever.

    One day, the spider caught a little bug. When the spider ate it, the bug said, “If you let me go, I will tell you an important thing. The thing will save your life.” The spider stopped and listened.

    The little bug said, “You'd better get out of the farm. The harvest is coming! If you stay here, you will be killed by the farmer's machine.”

    But the spider didn't listen to the bug and ate it for lunch. The next day when she was sleeping, the farmer came to have a harvest. The spider was killed by the machine.

Some people just cannot decide what to do all by themselves. They often ask for the advice of their friends. But they never do as their friends have said. My friend Jack is such a person, and he is always asking me for help. I try to help him as well as I can. But he never listens to me. Yesterday I tried a new way to make him take my advice. It worked. “Look,” he said, showing me a letter. “What do you think I should do?” The letter told him that there was a good job for him. It seemed to be a good chance for a young artist. His teacher would send him to Australia to work. The job would pay very well, and he would be able to travel and visit many interesting places. “What do you think of this, Rose?” he asked. “If I take the job, I will have to stay in Australia for two years. I may stay a bit longer. But it would be a wonderful time for me. Should I go. Rose?”

    “Don't go,” I told him, “You'll suffer a lot there.” “Don't go?” he looked surprised at my answer. As you have probably known, Jack went. I wonder whether he found that I really wanted him to take the job.

    In the 1920s, the airlines were just beginning. It was unusual for people to travel by air because it was expensive and dangerous. In those days, there were no flight attendants (服务生) to look after the passengers. Young men, or “stewards” helped the passengers onto the airplane and carried the passengers' bags but they did not provide food and drinks. But then in 1930, a woman called Ellen Church invented the “stewardess”.

    Ellen Church was born in 1904 on a farm in Iowa. She was a different child. She didn't want to work on a farm or marry a farmer. She wanted a more adventurous (冒险的) life. Ellen studied to be a nurse at the University of Minnesota and then got a job in a hospital. For the next few years she stayed at the hospital and at the same time took flying lessons and got her pilot's license.

    Ellen was 25 years old when she first got in touch with BAT (Boeing Air Transport). She loved flying but she understood that airlines were a man's world. Though women like Emelia Earheart were becoming famous, she realized it was impossible for a woman to have a career as a pilot. But she had another idea. Most people were afraid of flying because flying was still not a very safe way to travel. There were often delays (延误), many crashes and the bad weather made many passengers sick. Ellen thought nurses could take care of passengers during flights and BAT agreed.

    The young woman from Iowa and seven other nurses became the first air stewardesses.

    At first pilots were unhappy because they did not want stewardesses on airplanes, but passengers loved the stewardesses. In 1940 there were around 1000 of them working for different airlines. The early “stewardesses” had to be under twenty-five-year-old, single and slim. When a woman joined an airline, she had to promise not to get married or have children. It was a hard job and not well paid. They worked long hours and was paid $1 an hour.

    In the 1970s, stewardesses were unhappy in their job and airlines had to make some changes. Since the 1970s, “stewardesses” have been called flight attendants. They are well paid and work fewer hours than in the past.

    For Schultz, a 77-year-old man, this is a chance of a lifetime.Schultz is part of a group of around 50 Germans who are on a bus journey along the ancient Silk Road.

    Speaking of his journey, he says, "I have been deeply interested in the Silk Road since I was a child ,but now I finally have a chance to experience it."

    The two-month bus journey will take the group through Germany ，Russia and other 4 European countries. They will then enter China from the country's western part. It will be an unforgettable memory for them.

    Nearly half of the 13,000-kilometer trip will be inside China. From Xinjiang in the west to Shanghai in the east, the German visitors will see more than 20 Chinese cities. "We have managed the trip of the Silk Road for around 10 years. An increasing number of people, not only from German-speaking countries ,have been joining us ,"says Liu Guoqiang from China Tours.

    Almost 26 million foreigners traveled to China in 2015, and about 5 million of them were from Europe. Beijing ,Xi'an , Shanghai and the Changjiang River are traditional Chinese travel destinations(目的地) for European tourists. Speaking of where he wants to go ,Schultz says ,"Compared with modern cities ,the culture in western China attracts(吸引)me more."

    As Shi Xiang head of the China Tours, says ,"Being a new brand to attract foreign visitors ,the Silk Road is good for people to know more about China ,especially the northwestern part of the country."

    (China Daily)