A girl was walking in the woods when she found two weak birds. She took them home and put them in a small cage (鸟笼). She took good care of them. The birds grew strong. Every morning, they greeted her with a beautiful song. The girl felt great love for the birds. She wanted them to sing for her forever.

    One day, the girl left their cage door open. The bigger of the two birds flew out. The girl watched as he rose high into the sky. She was afraid that he would fly away and she would never see him again. As he flew close, she caught him in her hand and held him tightly. She was happy. Suddenly, she felt the bird go limp (无力 ). She opened her hand. The bird was dead! Her love had stolen life from the beautiful songbird.

    The other bird was pushing against the bars (条) of the cage. She could see how much he wanted to be free. She took him out of the cage and gently tossed him into the air. Would the bird fly away? She could hardly bear to watch. But the bird just wanted to stretch its wings. He flew around the girl twice and then came to rest on her shoulder.

    The girl watched the bird with joy in her heart. She wasn't worried anymore. She wanted the bird to be happy. The bird sat by the girl's ear and sang the sweetest song she had ever heard.

    The best way to keep love is to give it wings.

    One day in autumn Squire Gordon went on a long journey. John went with him and I pulled the coach(马车). The weather was rainy and windy, but we travelled happily until we came to the old wooden bridge. A villager told us the river was rising fast. "There's going to be a bad storm tonight," he said.

    We arrived in the town, but Squire Gordon's business took a long time. We didn't leave until late afternoon. The wind was blowing, making a terrible sound.

    Suddenly we heard crack. And huge tree fell across the road in front of us. I stopped still(静静地). I was shaking with fear, but I did not turn round or run away.

    "We must go back to the crossroads," said John, "and drive six miles to the wooden bridge." When we got there it was nearly dark. There was water on the middle of the bridge, but the Squire did not stop. As soon as my feet touched the bridge I knew that something was wrong, I stopped dead. "Go on, Beauty," he said.

    Just then a man saw us. "Hey there! Stop!" he cried.

    "What is it?" shouted the Squire.

    "The bridge is broken in the middle," he answered. "If you go on to it, you are all going to drown(淹死) in the river."

    "Thank God!" said the Squire. "Thank you, Beauty!" said John. We turned around and went along the road by the river. For a long time no one said anything. Then John said: "Black Beauty saved our lives. He knew the bridge was dangerous."

    When we returned home, the Squire told Mrs Gordon:

    "We are all safe, thanks to Black Beauty!"

    That night I was glad, because I was very tired.

    Taken from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.

    "What's the matter, Mom?" As soon as I enter the door, I find that my mother is1, It's unusual. She usually opens the door and welcomes me with a smile. "She's dying, "Mom says sadly. I2what she says. The tulip (郁金香), mother's3is dying. A month ago, we moved into our new house and Mom bought a very beautiful tulip.

    Mom liked it very much. When she was free, she would sit in her armchair beside the tulip and enjoyed its beautiful color4sweet smell. She treated it like a baby and looked after it5.She put the tulip by the6so that it can get enough sunshine. The first thing she did when she got up every morning was to7the tulip. Mom also fertilized（施肥）it many times. She hoped that with great care, the tulip would become beautiful and8.But the tulip was dying9too much sunshine, water and fertilizer.

    It's true that mother loved the tulip, But this kind of love10be harmful because love can sometimes kill what you love.

   "Oh boys, don't throw stones at that poor bird." said an old man.

   "Why, sir?" said a little boy, "She is so noisy."

   "Yes, but she uses the voice which God gave her. And it is probably pleasant to her friends. Besides, I am afraid the stone will rebound, and hurt you as long as you live!"

   "Rebound?"

   "Well, let me tell you a story." The old man said.

   "Fifty years ago, I was a boy like you. I liked throwing stones and I could throw accurately(准确地). One day, I went to visit Mr. and Mrs. Smith, an old couple in the countryside, with my parents. And I happened to see so many swallows(燕子）busily making nests under the roof of their house."

   "The Smiths warmly told me that one of the swallows had come to their house for seven years and it was a mother swallow. That day, she had just returned after a long trip. She was building her nest in the some place and she planned to raise her young children there."

   "Half an hour later, the mother swallow sat upon a stick near her nest ad had a rest, looking at me trustfully. For fun, I tried my skill upon her."

   "Unluckily, she was shot on the head, and dropped dead!"

   "Then all day long, her mate(配偶) flew about, and was so sad. I was heartbroken and regretful when seeing this. And I began to hate myself."

   "The Smiths finally found out all of these. They didn't say a word to me on the matter. They just buried the swallow silently."

   "Now the couple have passed away. I have carried the deep wound in my memory for fifty years."

   "Don't you see how that stone rebounded and hit me? Yet if I could prevent you from throwing a stone that may rebound and deeply hurt your later, I shall be very cheerful."

   The boys at once dropped the stones in their hands.

   Once Louis the Twelfth, the King of France, happened to walk into the kitchen of his palace. There he found a small boy busy at work and singing happily.

   The boy had bright eyes, and a happy, sunny face, and his looks and manners pleased the king. With a smile Louis asked him his name. He replied that his name was Simon. In answer to further questions, the king learnt that the boy was an orphan: both his father and mother were dead.

   "Are you content to do this kind of work?" the king asked, pointing at the bowls which the boy was washing. "Are you willing to spend your time in the kitchen when so many of the others work upstairs?"

   "Why not?" answered the boy, with a twinkle in his eyes. "I am doing as well as the best of them. The king himself can do no better."

   "Indeed!" said the king, no little surprised at the boy's words. "How do you know that?"

   "Well, sir, the king lives, and so do I. I am content with my life. Can the king say that he is content with his life?"

   Louis walked away, and his mind was full of strange, sad thoughts. No one knew better than he did that kings seldom feel content.

   The next day, much to Simon's surprise, he was called by the king. He was still more surprised when he found that his visitor of the day before was Louis himself. The king talked with him about many things, and found him to be a very quick and clever boy.

   After that Simon was made to serve the king directly. Step by step, he rose from one important task to another, until he became one of the best soldiers of that time. He is known in history as General La Roche, and considered as one of the greatest men in France.

   If Simon had not, early in life, learnt to be content with his life, he might never have been given those chances. The king did not want people who were always unhappy because they did not have as good a place as some others. You cannot too soon learn that only those who are content are happy.

    Five years ago, when I taught art at a school in Seattle, I used Tinker toys (积木) as a test at the beginning of a term to find out something about my students. I put a small set of Tinker toys in front of each student, and said," Make something out of the Tinker toys. You have 45 minutes today — and 45 minutes each day for the rest of the week."

    A few students hesitated to start. They waited to see what the rest of the class would do. Several others checked the instructions and made something according to one of the model plans provided. Another group built something out of their own imaginations.

    Once I had a boy who worked experimentally with Tinker toys in his free time. His creations filled a shelf in the art classroom and a good part of his bedroom at home. I was delighted at the presence of such a student. Here was an exceptionally creative mind at work. His presence meant that I had an unexpected teaching assistant in class whose creativity would affect other students.

    Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside, for I might lose those students who had a different style of thinking. Without fail one would declare. "But I'm just not creative."

    "Do you dream at night when you're asleep?"

    "Oh, sure."

    "So tell me one of your most interesting dreams." The student would tell something wildly imaginative. Flying in the sky or in a time machine or growing three heads. "That's pretty creative. Who does that for you?"

    "Nobody. I do it."

    "Really — at night, when you're asleep?"

    "Sure."

    "Try doing it in the daytime, in class, okay?"

    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.

    Last summer my friend and I got into watching Americas Got Talent. One of our favorite performers was Samuel Comroe, an actor with Tourette Syndrome (妥瑞氏综合征). He is brave enough to face disorder (疾病).

    Like Samuel Comroe, writer Ellie Terry has the disorder, too. Her novel Forget Me Not tells a story of Calliope June, a middle school girl with Tourette Syndrome. Calliope sometimes makes faces or strange noises. She can't control herself. The doctor advises her to keep her disorder a secret(秘密), but that only makes things worse. Her classmates begin to make fun of her. It's hard for her to start a friendship.

    Calliope and her mother move a lot. After their most recent move, Calliope makes friends with Jinsong. He lives in the apartment next door. Outside school, he can accept Calliope's differences. He thinks she's an interesting person. In school, however, things are different. Jinsong is the school's student government president(主席) and also the most popular boy in class. It seems that he has to choose between being popular and staying friends with Calliope. As he grows, he learns that he can have both things. As for Calliope, she learns to accept and be open about her disorder and starts to make more friends finally.

    Forget Me Not is Ellie Terry's first novel. With this story, Ellie wants to explain the truth about this disorder. As more people understand it, the kids who have it will feel less lonely.

An Unforgettable Day

    I had mixed feelings today, nervous, worried, happy, excited...My heart went down when Miss Chen, our head teacher, said that Matthew and Beth, two students from England, would spend three months with us! I was worried that I had to speak English so much! But at the end of the school day, I was happier than I thought because the morning with them today was more enjoyable than I expected.

    Today is the most unforgettable first day I have had! Matthew is fantastic! His English is clearer and easier to listen to than I thought. The other English student, Beth, is the most helpful girl I've ever met. There were lots of things to do on the first day. Beth offered to help Miss Chen put up all the notices. Of course, some of the credit (功劳) should also go to ME because I translated (翻译) some of the notices for her. Miss Chen praised us!

    We finished all the preparations 10 minutes earlier than expected, then Beth and I talked for a while. Matthew sang several English songs and did some stand-up comedy at the party. We all praised him. When the bell rang to end the first school day, none of us wanted to leave.

    When I went back home, I had a little headache. I have probably spoken more English today than the whole of last year.

    It was really a happy day! I hope our friendship can continue, even after they go back to England!

    In 1883, an imaginative engineer named John Roebling decided to build a spectacular (壮观的) bridge connecting New York with Long Island. However, bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was a pipe dream. It was not practical. It had never been done before.

    But Roebling refused to listen to them. He thought about the bridge day and night and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. After much discussion and persuasion he convinced (说服) his son Washington, who was a promising engineer himself, that the bridge in fact could be built.

    Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be done. With great excitement, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

    The project started well, but several months after it began, a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was so seriously injured that he was never able to walk, talk or even move again.

    "We told them so", "Crazy men and their crazy dreams", "It's foolish to chase (追求) wild visions", the critics said and most thought the project should be ended since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge can be built. In spite of his handicap Washington still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever.

    Washington's wife tried to inspire and pass on her husband's enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay in his hospital room, an idea suddenly hit him. All he could do was to move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this finger and tapping (轻叩) it on his wife's arm, he slowly developed a code (代码) to communicate with her. Then he used this way to tell his wife what the engineers should do. It seemed crazy but the project was under way again. For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed.

    Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute (致敬) to the great success of one man's spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances (境遇).