Ben Jones was walking home from school one day when he saw a black cat. It was walking across the srteet in front of him. Ben stopped, turned around, and walked down a different srteet to go home. Why did he do that?
"It's unlucky when a black cat crosses the street in front of you,”says Ben,“I did not want to walk down that street!”
Many people think that some things bring bad luck. For example, some people think that 13 is an unlucky number. They never invite 13 people to a party.
"I never walk under a ladder(梯子),”says Ben.“And I never open an umbrella inside the house. They both bring bad luck.”And what brings good luck?“We have a horseshoe over the front door of our house for good luck,”says Ben.
“And when I find a peney on the ground, I always pick it up. That brings me good luck all day!”
My name is David. I'm 23and I'm a middle school teacher. I go to the school at 7:30 in the morning. I like sports. I play basketball every day.
My name is Jake Smith. I'm in China with my kids(孩子). I have a daughter and a son. My daughter Lisa is in Huangzhou Middle School. She likes yellow and white. My son Eric is only 6, but he can play ping—pong.
I'm Mary. I'm 10. My brother Nick is 11. He likes to play tennis after school. I have a nice room. It is tidy. But my brother's room is not the same. His books are always everywhere.
Doctor Seuss was born in 1904. By the middle 1950s, he had become one of the best-loved and most successful children's book writers in the world. His books are very popular with young readers. They enjoy the invented words and the pictures of unusual funny animals and plants.
In l954, Life Magazine published(刊登) a report about school children who could not read. The report said many children's books were not interesting. Doctor Seuss strongly hoped to help children and decided to write books that were interesting and easy to read. He used words with the same ending sound, like fish and wish. He did not receive training in art. Yet, he drew the pictures for most of his books.
In l957, Doctor Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat. He used less than 230 words to write the book and even a six-year-old should be able to read it. It was a fun stow and easy to read. Children loved it. Their parents loved it, too. Today it is still one of his stories they like best. In l 960, he wrote a book using less than fifty words. The book is called Green Eggs and Ham.
In l984, Doctor Seuss won a Pulitzer Prize(普利策奖). He was honored for the education and enjoyment his books provided American children and their parents.
He died at the age of 87, but his influence remains. Millions of his books have been sold worldwide. People say his books helped change the way American children learned to read. Yet, his books are loved by people of all ages.
I started my school life at the age of six.At first the school for me,a boy,meant play,play and more play instead of sitting in the classroom and learning something.However,I changed the way I used to behave(表现)at school with the help of my teachers.I tried my best to do well in my schoolwork and follow the school rules.
Growing and learning were great fun.Every year we had different kinds of school trips.Not only could we learn many things from them,but also we were given many projects(课题)as homework. It helped US know more. At the same time,we made many good friends.In Grade 8,I won prizes in drawing and English speech competitions.Ⅳhen I was in Grade 9,I realized that I should give all my attention to my studies because l was going to take the exams to get into senior(高级的)middle school.
Whenever I think of my school life,I feel very happy and I think in everybody's school life there are many ups and downs(苦乐;盛衰)that influence his life.School is a place where all of US learn to care and share.“School’’is not just a place,but a large building made up of rules,knowledge and love.I think in everybody's success,school plays a key role.I can describe my school in“Three Ss”.They are:Small,Sweet and Simple.My school was the best,is the best and will always be the best.
People often said Thomas Edison was the greatest genius(天才) of his age. There are only a few men in all of history, who have changed the lives of other men as much as the inventor of the first useful electric light. But Edison could never be pleased only because someone said he was a genius. “There is no such a thing as genius,” Edison said. He thought what people called genius was mostly hard work.
But Edison was a thinker as well as a worker. From his earliest days as a child he wondered about the secrets of nature. He tried to understand them, and then he tried to learn what he could usefully do with them.
Edison enjoyed thinking. He knew that most people would do almost anything instead of the difficult work of thinking, especially if they do not think very often. But he knew, too, that thinking could give men enjoyment and pleasure.
Edison could not understand why anyone could not be interested in life. As he loved to think, he also loved to work. On the day he became 75 years old, someone asked him what idea he had about life. “Work,” he answered, “Discovering the secrets of nature and using them to make men happier.” He said he had enough inventions in his mind to give him another 100 years of work.
A few years ago, the company I worked for sent my wife and me to live in New York for a year. I've always loved running, so I was happy when I found out the house we lived in was next to Central Park. This means I could go to the park to run every morning before I went to work.
A lot of people had told me to be careful of robbers in the park, so usually I didn't take any money with me. But one morning, my wife gave me a $10 bill and asked me to buy some bread on the way.
While I was running through the park, another runner knocked into me. Just as I was wondering what was happening, he said sorry to me and went on running. I thought it was kind of strange, and suddenly I thought of my money, so I checked my pocket and found that my money was missing. Without thinking twice, I ran after that runner. The minute I held him by the arm, I shouted, “Give my money back! Now!” I'm not usually a hot-headed person, but I got really angry this time. He seemed to be afraid and he took out the money and gave it to me. Then he ran away as quickly as he could.
I bought the bread and went home. As soon as I got home, I began to tell my wife my story. “You won't believe what happened to me.” I started. She immediately stopped me, “I know, you left the money for the bread on the kitchen table.”
Anny was a five-year-old girl. One day when she and her mother were in a department store(百货商店), Anny saw a plastic pearl necklace (珍珠项链). What a beautiful necklace! She wanted it very much, so she begged(乞求)her mother to buy it for her. The mother said, “Well, I can buy you the necklace, but when we get home, we should discuss what you can do to pay for it. Can we do that?” Anny agreed with much happiness, and she got the necklace.
How much Anny loved the necklace! She wore it everywhere and every minute. Anny also did part - time jobs to make pocket money. She worked very hard. Soon she succeeded in paying off the price for the necklace.
Anny's daddy knew how she tried her best to get the necklace. He also knew how much Anny cared about it. One night, he asked Anny if she loved him. “Sure, Daddy.” the little girl said. “Then how about giving me your necklace?” “Oh, no, Daddy! Not my necklace!” Anny cried. “Oh, dear, it's fine.” her father gave her a kiss.
Several days later, Anny went to her daddy, with her lips(嘴唇) trembling(颤抖). “Here, Daddy. I love you.” She held out her hand. Inside it was the plastic pearl necklace that she loved so much.
When he saw this, Anny's father smiled with surprise. He then pulled a cute box out of his pocket. Inside the box was a real and colourful pearl necklace, which was waiting for Anny for so long.

One day, three turtles decided to have a party. So they went into a cafe and ordered three cups of coffee. However, the lovely weather suddenly turned into heavy rain. The oldest turtle said to the youngest one, “Go home and get the umbrella.”
“I will, if you don't drink my coffee.” the youngest answered.
“Of course! We won't drink your coffee!” the other two turtles said. The youngest turtle then went to the door to leave. Time flew by quickly and two years passed. The two turtles were still at the table waiting. The oldest turtle said to the other one, “Well, I guess he isn't coming back, so we can drink his coffee.”
At that moment, a voice came from outside the door. It was from the youngest turtle. “Oh, no! If you drink my coffee, I won't go.” he said.
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A cow, a tree and some flowers… Mia Buckley, 12, drew this doodle(涂鸦)to show Ireland in her eyes. She is the winner of the Irish Doodle 4 Google competition. It is a national competition and students can make a Google homepage logo( 徽 标 )every year. At last, she beat other 74 competitors to get her picture's place on the Google Ireland homepage.
Because she won, Buckley got a scholarship for 5,000 euros (35,885 yuan) and a computer.
She studies at Summer cove National School, Ireland. And her school also got 10,000 euros.
This year's competition theme(主题)was "Ireland Is…". Buckley's work is called "Ireland is a land so green". She used pictures of farm life, flowers, sports and music to show Irish life. The pictures had got the highest number of votes (Doodle team then chose the winner投票)in each of the five class groups. And the Google
Ronan Harries, head of Google in Ireland, likes her work. "Mia's doodle caught our eyes. She really showed Ireland's rural heritage(乡村景观遗产), as well as our love of music and sports," he told The Irish Examiner, an everyday newspaper in Ireland. "And she did a good job showing the Google logo with bright colors and a clear theme." Ronan Harris also thanked all the students who took part in the competition.
Mia's doodle will go live in Ireland on the Google homepage on Easter Monday, March 28.
One day, Mr. Smith is going to take a train to his hometown. When the train starts, one of his shoes falls to the ground. The train is running faster and faster and he can't pick it up. Then he quickly takes off(脱下) the other one and throws it on the ground near the fallen shoe. A little boy on the train asks him, "Why do you do that?" "I've already lost one shoe." Mr. Smith answers. "If a man picks them up, he may get a pair of shoes."
Carmen is a twelve-year-old girl. She has a sister and her name is Kara. Kara is ten years old.
Tonight, Carmen and Kara want to make dinner for the family. They want to make pizza because all their family like it. They need to buy the ingredients(原料)for the pizza. So, their dad drives them to the supermarket.
When they get to the supermarket, Carmen and Kara look for the ingredients. Soon they get all of them and go to pay for them. They are 30 dollars.
They put the ingredients in the car. Their dad drives them home.
When they get home, Carmen and Kara take the ingredients out of the car. They take them to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, they clean the vegetables. Then, they cut the vegetables. Next, they take out the crust(面包皮). They put the ingredients on top of the crust. Finally they put the pizza in the oven(烤箱).
They take the pizza out of the oven in thirty minutes.
"The pizza smells good!" says their mother.
"We think so!" say Carmen and Kara.
The family are happy, and they eat the pizza for dinner.
Decide to Do Well
Everybody makes decisions in daily life. They can be as important as what you will do in the future or as simple as what you will eat for breakfast. Any decision could be the turning point of your life.
I made an important decision when I was in Junior 3.
Before I made that decision I was one of the boys who tried too hard to act as an adult. I didn't know that only kids want to show themselves as adults.
I didn't listen to my parents and teachers, and my grades became poor. Then came the high school entrance exam.
At the turning point of my life, my mum wanted to have a conversation with me. I wanted to turn it down but when I looked at her eyes, I felt I couldn't refuse. Instead of asking me to study hard, to my surprise, mum just asked what I wanted to do in the future. Without thinking too much, I just said I would like to study hard.
Mum smiled and asked again, "I asked 'what do you WANT to do'?"
I never seriously thought about the question. So, I kept silent.
"Whether you want to go on studying or enter the society," she went on, "it is your own decision. Your life ought to be decided by you, not by anyone else, including me. "After saying that, she had tears in her eyes.
For the first time in my life I was asked to make my own decision. I sat in my chair and thought about myself, my life and what kind of person I wanted to become.
It took me what seemed to be ages to make the biggest decision so far in nay life-I wanted to be a man who makes a difference in the world. To achieve that, I needed to study hard.
The path to my future became clear to me. I didn't act rebelliously(叛逆地) any more. With passion (激情) in my heart, I studied hard.
Now, I'm 17 and I'm in one of the best schools in my city, in one of the best classes at the school and I am one of the best students in the class.
Thanks to that decision, I have become what I am today.
I am a fifteen-year-old girl in a junior high school. I have a problem now. I hope you can give me advice. Three months ago, I knew a boy on the Internet. I found that he had the same hobbies as me, so we got on well soon. Two weeks ago we began to talk on the phone. We both felt comfortable when talking to each other, as if(好像)we had been good friends for a long time. Last week we met because he doesn't live far from my home. We talked a lot and enjoyed ourselves together in the gym.
However, some of my friends said that I shouldn't make friends on the Internet. They also said that the boy might be dangerous. I don't know what I should do. I don't want a close relationship with him, but I'm really happy with him. Should I talk about this problem with my parents or teachers? I'm afraid that they would be angry and think I'm a bad girl. So I am turning to you for advice. Please help me.
It was a village in India. The people were poor. However, they were not unhappy. After all, their forefathers(祖先) had lived in the same way for centuries.
Then one day, some visitors from the city arrived. They told the villagers there were some people elsewhere who liked to eat frogs' legs. However, they did not have enough frogs of their own, and so they wanted to buy frogs from other places.
This seemed like money for nothing. There were millions of frogs in the fields around, and they were no use to the villagers. All they had to do was to catch them. Agreement was reached, and the children were sent into the fields to catch frogs. Every week a truck arrived to collect the catch and hand over the money. For the first time, the people were able to dream of a better future. But the dream didn't last long.
The change was hardly noticed at first, but it seemed as if the crops were not doing so well. More worrying was that the children fell ill more often, and there seemed to be more insects around lately.
The villagers decided that they couldn't just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak. They would have to use the money earned to buy pesticides(杀虫剂) and medicine. Soon there was no money left.
Then the people realized what was happening. It was the frogs. They hadn't been useless. They had been doing an important job—eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were increasing more quickly. They were damaging the crops and spreading diseases.
Now, the people are still poor. But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs. These sounds of night now have a much deeper meaning.
One night, a little swallow(燕子)flew over the city. He was very tired and wanted to have a good sleep in the city. When he saw the Statue(雕像)of the Happy Prince, he flew down and got ready to sleep between the feet of the Happy Prince.
Just as he was putting his head under his wing, some water fell on him. He thought it was raining. But when he looked up, he found the sky was so clear and bright that he could see lots of stars. Suddenly, he saw some tears(眼泪)were running down the Prince's golden face.
"Why are you crying?" asked the swallow. "In a little street, there's a poor house. From one of the windows, I see a woman sitting at a table. She's sewing(缝)clothes for rich women
to wear. On a bed in the corner of the room, her little boy is sick. He's asking for oranges, but his mother has only water to give him, so he is crying. The boy is so thirsty and the mother is so sad. Little swallow, will you please take her the jewel(珠宝)from the top of my sword (宝剑)?""It is very cold here and I am leaving for a warm place, but I will stay with you and do as you ask." The swallow took the bright red jewel from the Prince's sword and flew away with it in his mouth. He flew into the woman's room and put it beside the woman's needle( 针) .
After he flew back, he told the Prince what he had done. "It's strange," he added, "It's so cold but I feel quite warm now."
"That's because you have done a good thing," said the Prince. The little swallow began to think about this, and then he fell asleep.
It was one o'clock in the morning when I at last succeeded in creating a life. As I looked at the lifeless human being, I saw one eye slowly open. Then he began to breathe and move his arms. At first, I thought he would be a fine-looking man. He had yellow skin, black hair and very white teeth. Unluckily, his eyes were watery, and his lips were thin and colorless. I soon realized that there was nothing beautiful about him. I ran out of the room, disgusted (恶心) by the creature I had created. I tried to sleep, but for hours I could not. Then, when I did get to sleep, I had bad dreams. When I awoke the next morning, I did not want to return to my laboratory and the monster I had created. I went for a long walk until I came to an inn. There, to my pleasure and surprise, I found my friend, Henry Clerval. "Tell me about my family," I asked him. "And Elizabeth, how is she?"
"They are all well, Frankenstein." he said. "But you do not look well, my friend. Your eyes look as if you have not slept for many weeks."
I knew this was true. "I have been so busy," I explained, "that I have been working without rest." Henry walked back with me to my department. I did not want him to, but I could not stop him. I was afraid that the creature I had left there might be alive and walking about. When we reached my apartment, I asked Henry to wait outside for a few minutes. I did not explain why. I slowly opened the door and entered the room. To my surprise, it was empty. The creature had gone. I was so overcome by the feeling that I fainted. I was ill for many months.
During my illness, Henry was my only nurse. He heard me talking in my sleep about a monster. At first, he thought I was just having a bad dream, but then he realized that something very bad happened in my life.
A 93-year-old retired teacher is still busy over the winter vacation, giving lessons to the children in Buchen Village. This is the 20th winter since Mr. Ye first began teaching children Chinese and English for free.
Most of the children in the village are left behind as their parents work in other cities. Mr. Ye decided to offer help by giving free lessons. And his generosity does not stop there. Over the past 20 years, he has spent over 300,000 yuan on the children — almost all his savings. In 2012, he set up a scholarship to help the students in need. He doesn5t have much money now, but Mr. Ye says he is rich in spirit.
In the summer of 2018, Mr. Ye was hurt while riding a bike to school. He was asked to rest in bed for months, but he went back to the children quickly. Now in his 90s, Mr. Ye still keeps teaching for five hours every day. Thanks to him, many volunteers from different universities come to the village to teach the children.
"This is what education should be like. Its purpose is to teach students how to become better people," said Mr. Ye.
My six-year-old daughter, Cindy, and I stopped at a food shop for some bread. As we were going out of the door, a young teenage boy was coming in.
The boy had a strange hairstyle. His nose was pierced(穿孔), and a ring through the hole. He held a skateboard under one arm and a basketball under the other.
Cindy, who was walking ahead of me, suddenly stopped when she saw the boy. I thought he had frightened my daughter. But I was wrong. My daughter backed up against the door and opened it as wide as it would go. Now I came face to face with the young man. I stepped aside and let him pass. He replied very politely, "Thank you very much."
On our way to the car, I praised Cindy for holding open the door for the boy. It seemed that she was not troubled by the boy's appearance, but I still wanted to make sure. I wanted to be ready to talk about the young man who was so different from others. I prepared to tell my little daughter what teenagers should be like.
But it turned out that the person who needed the talk was me!
The only thing that Cindy noticed about the boy was the fact that his arms were full. "He held a skateboard under one arm and a basketball under the other. It would be hard to open the door," said Cindy.
I just paid attention to the hairstyle, the piercing and the ring, while she saw a person carrying something under arms and heading towards a closed door.
What my daughter said reminded me that I should change my ways of judging people and learn from my daughter to be open-minded and warm-hearted.