My aunt, Jenny Lee lives in a town in Canada. She has a 1 face like the sun. Her favorite 2 is Hu Xinger. Now she's in the 3 Wonderful Friends (《奇妙的朋友》) with five other stars. They live and play with many kinds of 4 in the zoo in Guangzhou. These animals are very cute.
My aunt often tells stories about animals to her son. Today she wants to take him to the 5 to see animals. In the morning, Jenny gets up early and helps her son get dressed. They can 6 the subway to the zoo easily. Her son is only five years old, so he doesn't need to pay for the ticket(票). It's 7. At the zoo, they watch the monkeys 8 the trees. After lunch they enjoy drinking 9in the park. They like to spend time in the park. In the evening, they have dinner in a 10 and go home. The restaurant is near their house.
Three small fish lived in the sea. When they were very young, their parents died. They had to look after each other day after day. Finally, they grew up and could swim in deep water.
One morning, a big wave(浪) pushed the three fish to a shallow water. It also pushed a small boat there. It was hard for them to go back to the sea because the boat was right in front of them. The largest fish realized(意识到) that they were in danger, and said they had to find a way to leave there as fast as possible. The second largest fish agreed with his elder brother, but the youngest one did not. He said that there was much time for their activities, so he would not worry at all and still swam happily.
At last, the largest fish returned to the sea by jumping over the lowest part of the boat. The second largest fish were also successful in joining his elder brother in the other side of water. But the youngest one still swam there happily.
Two hours later, when the sun came up, the water in the small shallow part dried up(干). The youngest fish died finally.
I didn't think I had a passion(激情). I would sit in front of the TV all day, thinking about nothing but the next show. It was not long ago that I first learned how important having a passion is to life.
That day I went with my mum to drive my sister to the gym. I was bored. Then, as my mum stopped at a red light, someone on the side of the road caught my eye（吸引我的世界）. It was a man dressed in rags (衣衫褴褛). He was homeless. That didn't interest me, for I had seen many like him before.
But in some ways he was different. This man was not sitting down with a sad expression(表情). He had a radio in his hand and was dancing happily to the music. The radio seemed to be the most precious(珍贵) thing he had.
"Mum, why does that man have a radio even thought（尽管） he's homeless?" I asked.
"He bought it," she replied. I was still unable to understand.
"But if he's homeless, why doesn't he use the money to buy food or clothes? He wasted it on something he doesn't need."
"Well, Sarah, sometimes food and clothes aren't the most important things. We need happiness, too."
The man must care too much about music to buy a radio instead of food clothes. I soon realized（意识到） that happiness is the key to life. Without it, there's nothing to look forward to.
Since then I've never gone a day without thinking of what's truly important. A home, a meal, clothes—these things are only part of the picture. What's often forgotten is that we all need a pleasure, a light in a dark day. We all need a passion.
It was a lovely spring afternoon. My classmates and I were playing happily on the playground when I let out a cry, “Ow! Ow! Something in my shoe is biting me.”
Everyone was shocked（震惊） by the cry. They took me into a classroom and were about to take off my1. “Which foot is it?” One asked “let us have a look.”
Suddenly, I remembered the holes in2socks. My family was very poor during those years. I wore welfare （福利）socks, which cost only a little, but those3welfare socks didn't last long. They soon had 4at the bottom.
I refused to take off my shoe. I5stand others seeing the holes in my sock. I tried to hold back my tears. Yet, each time the thing6my shoe bit me, tears raced down my face.
My teacher, Miss Diane, hurried into the7, “What's wrong?” She asked.
“Something is biting her right foot,8she doesn't let us take off her shoe,” One of my classmates answered.
Miss Diane lived next door to me. She9everything about my family .She put both hands on my shaking shoulders and10into my painful and hopeless eyes.
“Oh, yes, it must be a sock-eating ant,” She said, as if she had11seen the thing inside the shoe. “I had a bite from one of those ants. When I got my shoe off ,it 12almost the whole bottom off my sock.” My classmates nodded while they were listening to the teacher13, although they all looked a little surprised.
Miss Diane took off my right shoe and sock and shook them over the dustbin. Two red ants 14it.
“Just what I thought it. The ants have eaten part of her sock.” When she stroked an alcohol （酒精）cotton ball on the bites, she added, “You are such a 15girl to take so many bites.”
The alcohol felt cool on the bites and a little girl's pride was saved by the “sock-eating ant ” story.
It does not always come easy to discover oneself. From a young age, I had a strong sense of who I was to become, 1 an accident made me redefine (重审）myself.
To me, skating was above all. There was 2 in this world that filled my heart with such joy. I spent twenty-four hours a week practicing my 3 . Having no social life or interests but skating, my devotion( 挚爱） brought me first place medals in nearly every 4.
Unfortunately, in one show, I fell down and hurt myself 5. After several X-rays and MRI(磁共振）scans, the 6(told)me that I couldn't return to my sport any more. The pain in my back was hard to bear and even the 7 daily tasks became difficult.
As my passion(激情）was 8, I had little sense of who I was to become. After eight months of suffering, something had to 9. Instead of wasting my days sitting around painfully, I began to put my 10 into local community service projects. By volunteering 11 a swimming teacher and summer reading assistant for kids, I got an idea of who I 12 to become. After a few months, I devoted time to my interest in the arts. Little by Little, I 13 out of the shadow( 阴影）and rebuilt my confidence.
Sometimes, some 14 rocks block (阻碍）our way. We can choose to stay behind or try to climb over. My accident was a rock that 15 to stop me from reaching success. Today I'm a very confident and optimistic person.
What's the most important thing for you in your life? Some say hard-work and others say knowledge, love and luck.
There are 26 English letters. If you arrange them alphabetically (按字母表的顺序）and use numbers to represent (代表)each of them, for example，1 for a，2 for b, 3 for c，…you can change an English word into a number. So hard-work becomes 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11=98, and meaning 98 is its mark; knowledge: 11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5=96, while love: 12+15+22+5=54, and luck: 12+21+3+11=47, a small mark. None of these words can give us a foil mark.
What about money? It can't either. Money is only 72. Then what else? Don't worry. You can always find an answer to a problem, when you change your way of looking at things or doing things, or your attitude (态度). Yes, attitude is the word. See for yourself: attitude: 1+20+20+ 9+20+21+4+5=100, a foil mark. Different attitudes lead to different kinds of life. Most times people hope for a better life. It's possible that one will have a change for the better after one has changed his / her attitude. When you change yourself and become friendly to others, you'll meet more smiling faces to you.
It was meant to be the holiday of a lifetime—my first trip abroad alone, without my parents. I had organised everything myself and I would show them how independent I could be.
I had arranged to stay in a farmhouse outside a village in southern Italy. My schedule said that the plane would arrived in Italy at five o'clock in the afternoon and it was a thirty-minute drive from the airport to the village. I wanted to get to my destination before it got dark, so I could have a drink, watch the sunset and enjoy an evening meal.
The problems began at the airport. My plane was three hours late taking off. I walked around the airport, looked in the shops, and drank coffee in the cafes. I didn't eat anything. That was a mistake! When the plane finally took off, they gave me a cold, tasteless meal which I could not eat.
We arrived in Italy in the early evening and I was feeling lightheaded from the lack of food. The sun was setting as I was collecting my bags! I missed it completely! I went to the desk to find my hire car and that was when I discovered the next problem. The receptionist couldn't find my name in the computer and there were no more cars. There were no buses or trains to the village, and the taxis were in strike.
The receptionist felt sorry for me. She phoned her brother, Alessandro, who agreed to take me to the village. I waited for Alessandro at the front gate and he arrived driving a very old car with smoke pouring out of the engine. We set off. Fifteen minutes later we broke down. I was tired and depressed, and very, very hungry. I began to think my parents were right. Maybe I was too young to travel on my own. Luckily, Alessandro was a mechanic. After an hour, he fixed the car and we started driving again.
It was nearly midnight when we arrived at the farmhouse. A man opened the door and smiled. "Come in," he said. "We have been waiting for you." I sat with a group of the friendliest people I've ever met and had a meal that was absolutely wonderful. And I'm glad to say that the rest of my trip turned out to be exactly the same.
A man sees a butterfly. The butterfly tries to get out of its chrysalis (蛹). Feeling sorry for it, the man decides to help. He cuts the chrysalis and the butterfly comes out easily. Surprisingly enough, the butterfly is unable to fly. If the butterfly doesn't struggle (奋斗) to leave the chrysalis, it can't fly! The struggle develops the energy in the butterfly which makes it fly. Similarly, the challenges of life bring out the best in young people and make them fly.
When people are young, meeting and overcoming challenges will make them strong and ready to face life. When we 1oюk at successful people, we see that the most successful of them are people who have had to struggle. One famous businessman, who now owns many big supermarkets, used to carry clothes on his back and sell them from door to door when he was young. Another successful man is Dennis. His father died when he was only twenty. His father's death forced him to mature fast. He had to bring up a family of nine people. He took up the challenges and overcame them. Today his brothers and sisters are leading successful lives.
Sometimes challenges do not appear to us because we keep away from them. So some parents and teachers actively encourage young people to face challenges. They might organize some activities for young people which provide them with challenges, like rock-climbing, camping, volunteer work and so on. However, just passing exams will not prepare a person for life. We must meet and overcome challenges. The young people of today will become the leaders of tomorrow. For countries to continue to become successful, it is important that the young people learn to meet challenges and overcome them.
When a man was walking by some elephants, he suddenly stopped. He was 1 that these huge animals were being held only by a small rope tied to their front legs. No 2, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could break the 3 at any time, but for some reason, they did not.
He saw a 4 nearby and asked why the animals just stood there and didn't try to 5. "Well," the trainer said, "when they were very 6 and much smaller, we used the same rope to keep them from running away. At that age, it's enough to hold them. As they 7, they are conditioned (受…的影响) to believe they cannot break the rope. They believe it can still hold them, so they never try to break free."
The man was 8. These animals could break free whenever they wanted, but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.
How many of us go through life like the elephants—holding onto the belief that we 9 do something simply because we failed in it once before?
10 is a part of learning. If we failed once, it doesn't mean we can never succeed. We should never give up trying when we encounter (遭遇) failures in life.
Many teenagers feel that the most important people in their lives are their friends. They believe that their family members don't know them as well as their friends do. In large families, it is quite often for brothers or sisters to fight with each other and then they can only go to their friends for some ideas.
It is important for teenagers to have one good friend or a group of friends. Even when they are not with their friends, they usually spend a lot of time talking to each other on the phone. The communication is very important in children's growth, because friends can discuss some things that are difficult to say to their family members.
However, parents often try to choose their children's friends for them. Some parents may even stop their children from meeting their good friends.
Have you ever thought of the following questions?
Who chooses your friends? Do you choose your friends or your friends choose you? Have you got a good friend your parents don't like? Your answers are welcome.
I was filled with doubts and worries until my grandfather told me to stand tall.
For me, height was my trouble. I was much taller than other girls, so I often bent(弯曲) my body at the back of the line. I had always felt unsafe as the tallest student of my class in Bala Cynwyd. And I wasn't looking forward to entering the ninth grade.
My grandfather didn't laugh at me. Instead, whenever I tried to bend myself in order to appear shorter, he would tell me "Stand straight and tall, Alisa." I trusted my grandfather more than anyone else in my childhood. And whenever I was afraid of something, he always told me stories of his life.
My grandfather grew up in war-torn (战乱的) Europe. "Stand straight, stand tall" meant something else then. After the war, he went to America. He lived a hard life. "If they could do it, why couldn't I?" "Stand straight, stand tall," he often reminded (提醒) himself. Thanks to the help of a friend, my grandfather got a job. He once told me that he was very nervous at first. He was not only trying to learn this hard new job but also a new language.
"Stand straight, stand tall," he would always tell himself. I am so proud of my grandfather. After listening to my grandfather's unusual experiences, I have changed the way I look at my own life.
"Stand straight, stand tall" has become not only a piece of advice to improve my posture (身姿) . It also tells me to be proud of who I am.
And I do.
There once was a king who wanted to find the answers to what he considered the three most important questions in life. The three questions are: when is the right time for every action, who are the most important people, and what is the most important thing to do? The king asked his men, promising he would richly reward anyone who could answer the questions, but their answers didn't satisfy him. In the end, he decided to visit a wise hermit (隐士) who lived in the woods. The hermit would speak only with common people, so the king put on simple clothes.
When he got close to the hermit's hut (茅舍) , he ordered his bodyguards to wait behind. He went to the place and found the hermit digging. He asked the wise man his three questions, but the hermit didn't answer. Seeing how old and weak the hermit was, the king began helping him dig. The king dug for hours, but the hermit never answered his questions. Just as the king was about to leave, a wounded man came running to the hut and fainted (昏倒) before them. Then the king carried the wounded man to hermit's hut and took care of him. The king was so tired and fell asleep as well. When he awoke, he talked with the man, who said that he had wanted to kill the king but was wounded by his bodyguards. He asked for forgiveness (原谅) and promised to serve the king faithfully.
Afterwards, the king went outside and repeated his questions to the hermit once more. The hermit replied, "If you had not helped me dig earlier, you would have left and been killed by the man. So, the most important man back then was me, and the most important time was when you were digging. The most important thing to do was to be kind to me. When the wounded man arrived, he was the most important person, and saving him was the most important thing. By doing so, you made peace with an enemy." The king finally had his three answers. The most important time is the present, as it's the only time we have the power to act. The most important person is the one you are with, and the most important thing is always to ___________________.
①the most important time ②the most important person
③the most important thing ④the most important place
Harry and Peter lived in the same village. They were both hard—working and had a happy life with other villagers.
But that year, a serious drought (旱灾) happened in their village. Their fields were all dry and their crops were dying. They couldn't get enough water for their crops until a visitor from a village nearby came. The visitor told them that there was a spring on the mountain near their village and it had a large amount of water to water their fields. So Harry went to find it with two big buckets (桶) at once and later he began to carry water for his field every morning. He earned water from morning to night, but that wasn't enough for his field. Peter also went to find the spring with Harry, but he didn't carry water the next day. He also left the village in the early morning and then came back at night. Three days had passed, many villagers didn't see Peter in the daytime. They began to ask him where he went. Peter smiled and just told them to wait for his good news. Then the next day, at noon, Peter and a line of pieces of bamboo appeared in front of his field. When he joined the last piece of bamboo from the mountain with another one's end, water ran along them into his field. With Peter's help, all the other villagers' fields got water by joining pieces of bamboo with his and were saved. And Harry needn't carry water with two heavy buckets, either.
There's no doubt that being hard—working is a good quality. But hard work with good ideas is much better.
Once upon a time, there was a lazy poor man living in a small house with spider webs(蜘蛛网) on the walls and mice running around, People didn't come into such a dirty place and the poor man was lonely and 1every day. He thought he couldn't become happy because of poverty.
One day, the poor man 2 a wise old man on his way home and asked him for some suggestions about 3 his life. The old man gave him a 4 and said, "This is a magic vase. It will bring you happiness."
The poor man looked at the vase 5. Why would he need a vase in his 6 house?
However, he didn't want to throw away such a beautiful vase, so he brought it home and put it on the table. "it's not right for something beautiful to be empty, " the poor man looked at the vase and thought. Then he put some 7 into it. That 8 the vase even more beautiful. "How can I have the vase next to a spider web?" he continued. So he started to 9 the house and paint the walls. His house turned into a comfortable place at once.
The man cheered up and he suddenly realized (认识) why he used to be10 before. From then on, he worked hard and his life got better and better.
Peter lived in a village. He was sad recently because he thought that he had nothing left. One day, Peter went to ask a wise man for help. He said to the wise man, "I have nothing left, so l don't want to live." The wise man smiled sympathetically (同情地).
The wise man took out a piece of paper and drew a straight line down the middle. He explained that he would write down the things Peter had lost on the left side and the things Peter still had on the right side.
The wise man asked, "When did your family leave you?"
"What do you mean? They haven't left me. They love me!"
"That's great!" said the wise man. "Then that will be the first thing on the right side-Family haven't left. Now, do you have freedom (自由)?"
"That's a silly question. Of course I do!"
"Good! That's the second one on the right side-You have freedom!" said the wise man, writing it down.
After Peter was asked some more questions in the same way, he finally understood and smiled. "Things will change when you think of them in a different way!" he said.
As a matter of fact, change your attitude (态度) and you will change your world. It's necessary to have a positive (积极的) attitude to life.
Here is a story: A man sees a butterfly. The butterfly tries to get out of its chrysalis(蛹).Feeling sorry for it, the man decides to help. He cuts the chrysalis and the butterfly comes out easily. Surprisingly enough, the butterfly is unable to fly. If the butterfly doesn't struggle(挣扎) to leave the chrysalis, it can't fly! The struggle develops the energy in the butterfly which makes it fly. Similarly, the challenges of life bring out the best in young people and make the fly.
When people are young, meeting and overcoming challenges will make them strong and ready to face life. When we look at successful people, we see that the most successful of them are people who have had to struggle. One famous businessman, who now owns many big supermarkets, used to carry clothes on his back and sell them from door to door when he was young. Another successful man is Dennis. His father died when he was only twenty. His father's death forced him to mature fast. He had to bring up a family of nine people. He faced the challenges and overcame(克服) them. Today his brothers and sisters are leading successful lives.
Sometimes challenges do not appear to us because we keep away from them. So some parents and teachers actively encourage young people to face challenges. They might organize some activities for young people which provide them with challenges, like rock-climbing, camping, volunteer work and so on. However, just passing exams will not prepare a person for life. We must meet and overcome challenges. The young people of today will become the leaders of tomorrow. For countries to continue to become successful, it is important that the young people learn to meet challenges and overcome them.
An old man lived in a village. He was one of the 1 people in the world. He was always complaining (抱怨)about things in his daily life. When people tried to2the old man, he would rudely(粗鲁地) drive them away. People gradually stayed away from him 3he made the rest of the village feel unhappy as well.
But one day—the day he turned 80 years old, a(n）4thing happened. The villagers said among 5："The old man is different today. We haven't heard any complaints. He is6and his face looks kind."
One of the villagers asked the old man, "What happened to you?"
"Nothing special has happened, in fact," the old man said. "For 80 years, I've been looking for happiness，but it was no7.And then I decided to live without looking for happiness and just enjoy the life at the moment. That's8I'm happy now."
It is important to realize that your mood can have a great 9on those people around you. Everyone has bad days sometimes. If someone tries to help you, don't be impolite to them. Just try to accept their help. At the same time 10 find happiness only from the outside, but look within-- enjoy everything you have got.
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Build for yourself a strong box, Build each part with care; When it's strong as your hand can make it, Put all your troubles there. Hide there all thought of your failures, And each pain that you take; Lock all your heartaches in it, Then sit on the lid(盖子)and laugh. Tell no one else what's inside, Never share its secrets; When you've dropped in your care and worry. Keep them forever there. Hide them from sight(视野) so completely That the world will never dream half; Cover the strong box safely, Then sit on the lid and laugh. |
