Once upon a time, there was a young man living in the mountains. There was a statue (雕像) in front of his house. The statue was the work of an ancient master, but the young man didn’t care about it at all. So it became very dirty.

One day, a wise man from the city passed by the young man’s house. When he saw the statue, he asked the young man if he would sell it. The young man laughed and said, “Who would like to buy that dirty stone?”

The city man said, “I will give you a silver coin for it.” The young man was surprised, and then he agreed happily. Then the statue was carried to the city on the back of an elephant.

Several months later, the young man went to the city. When he walked along the street, he found a shop was crowded. There were even a lot of people standing out of the shop and looking inside of the shop. A man by the door was shouting loudly, “Come in to have a look at the most beautiful statue in the world. Only two silver coins to enjoy this great work of a master.”

The young man paid two silver coins and went into the shop. There he saw the statue—the one he sold for one silver coin months ago!

A few years ago, a friend gave me a restaurant gift card, and I picked a sunny Sunday afternoon to use it. The meal was delicious, and my family and I all had a great time together.

The gift card covered almost all of the check(账单). After finishing the meal, I reached into my wallet to get enough cash to cover the rest. I saw two bills(钞票) inside my wallet. The first would just cover the rest of the check. The second would allow me to cover the check and give the waitress a nice tip(小费). I reached down and planned to pick the first one.

At that moment, my mind flashed back to 30 years ago. At that time, I was working as a busboy(餐厅勤杂工) in a restaurant. I had to work long hours for low pay. I remembered seeing the waitresses worrying about how they were going to pay the rent. I remembered the pain in their eyes and the sadness on their faces at the end of each month. I blinked(眨眼睛) to hide my sadness and smiled to the waitress, pushing the smaller bill back down. Then I picked out the larger bill. I folded it around the gift card and covered both of them with the check. As we all got up from the table, I handed them to the hard-working waitress. “You keep the change,” I said with a smile and happiness.

We are family in this world. Do your best to be kind. Do your best to be a good person and replace other’s suffering with joy.

Sending flowers is popular. More and more young people love to send flowers as a present for others. But there are some taboos on sending flowers. You cannot copy others without thinking. You should know how to choose flowers wisely. Here are some useful ideas about sending flowers.

Every flower has a certain meaning. If you want to congratulate your elders on their birthdays, you can send the jonquil or the Chinese evergreen. The former(前者)means “health and long life”, and the latter means “never growing old”.

Every flower has its silent language. Let’s take roses for example. When a man and a woman are in love with each other, the man usually sends roses to the woman. The roses are very beautiful. The most important thing is that their silent language is “love”.

When you send flowers, you should also choose flowers according to the receivers’ conditions. When you visit a sick person, you shouldn’t send a potted(盆栽的)flower. The sick person may mistake your meaning. Some people might think getting a potted flower means they would be ill for a long time. If the receiver has had an operation(手术), you shouldn’t choose flowers which have a strong smell. They may make him or her cough.

Don’t forget to choose the right number of flowers. For example, don’t send four flowers because “four” sounds like “death” in Chinese. Which numbers are good choices? Well, you can choose to send six, eight, nine or ten flowers. Chinese people agree that these numbers are good choices.

Jayden Miller, a vlogger(视频博主), 26, has lived in China for five years, teaching English in China. In his free time, he likes making videos about his trips to villages and has shared over 10 such videos on the Internet.

Miller has seen the big changes in those villages during his trips over the years. The old bumpy roads in the village become much better now.

“Now you can easily spend a day in a village. You can go to a restaurant to buy some food. You can go to the park to relax. You can pay for everything with your phone. There is always 4 G or even 5 G, so I can use the map on my phone to get back to the city. But there was nothing when I went there for the first time,” says Miller. In some villages, traders told him that they could sell more local products to make more money—thanks to the growing number of visitors brought by the more convenient transport(交通).

Miller thinks it’s China’s effort that makes these changes happen in the countryside. He hopes to go on logging the changes to show the real China to the world.

Congratulations! You’ve finished junior high school. Now you come to the next part—senior high school. As far as studies go, your life in senior high school may not seem too different—you still have books, teachers, homework and exams. If you enjoy studying, this may sound exciting. Senior high school can also help you change for the better.     41    

Manage your time wisely

    42     But try to finish your homework quickly and get enough sleep. A planner or a schedule（时间表）can help you.

Don’t compare yourself with others

In your class, there might be many excellent students from all over your province.     43     If you always compare yourself with the top students, you may not feel good about yourself and lose heart.

Make friends

    44     But that’s OK. Keep your old friends close, but make new ones, too. Make sure you know someone in your class so that you can ask him or her questions.

Keep studying hard

56. My favorite book

Do you like reading books? How often do you read books? Which kind of books do you like best? Please introduce your favorite book to us and tell us why you like it.