Everyone wants a blue ribbon (丝带). Blue is the first place. Even kindergarten children (幼儿园小孩) ________ that blue ribbon. In sports, I was never a winner.

During the spring of my kindergarten year, our class had a field trip in a nearby park. We planned to have a race. However, it was not a common race. It was called the three-legged race. Our feet were tied together with a little red ribbon. One ________ boy got me for a partner. He almost always won, but I knew that, with me, he didn’t have a chance. Certainly, he didn’t ________ that at first.

The gun sounded, and we were off to the other side. ________ were falling around us but we stayed on our feet. Only one other pair even had a chance. Unluckily, only one foot away from the finish line, I fell down. We were close enough that my partner could have ________ pulled me across the finish line and won. But he didn’t. Instead, he stopped and helped me up, just as the other couple crossed the finish line. I still remember that moment, and I still ________ that little red ribbon.

When we graduated many years later, I stood on that stage and gave the valedictory address (告别演说) to that ________ group of students, none of whom even remembered that moment any more. So, I told them about that little boy who had made a ________ that helping a friend up was more important than winning a blue ribbon. I keep that ribbon ________ it is a reminder that you don’t have to be a winner in the eyes of the world, but to be a winner to those closest to you. The world may judge you a failure or a success, but those closest to you will know the ________ . That’s important to remember as we travel through this life.

Castles are made to last. But sandcastles wash away. They are pretty enough for kings and queens.

But most people would not think of living in them. Sandcastles are works of art. And they are fun to make!

Ready to Build

You need the right tools to build sandcastles. The first tool is your mind. If you can picture a sandcastle, you can build it. Tools will help you.

Sand

Sandcastles are made of sand, of course. First, pack the wet sand together. For this to work, the sand has to be wet. Wet sand holds together. However, if your sand is too wet, it will fall down.

Pails

Pails are a must for great sandcastles. Push wet sand into a pail to make it hold together. You can even use a pail with a fun design. Then, flip the pail of sand into place.

Shovels

Use shovels to dig a pit (深坑) for building. Then, use them to spread the ground smooth. Next, use shovels to scoop ( 铲 ) sand into pails. You can also pat the sand into shape with them.

From the ▲    

You can use the utensils in the picture. They will help you sculpt shapes. You can use them to make designs as well. Any tool in the picture can become a sand tool.

Spray Bottle

Sandcastles take time to build. Wet sand will dry in the sun and may break when you touch it. Use a spray bottle of water to keep the sand wet. Keep spraying where you are working.

Try, Try Again

Sandcastles can fall down. They are often easy to break. But do not give up! If your castle falls, try again. Who knows? The new design might be better that you planned!

“Come on, Simon,” said Gabe. “Let’s try out our new saucers! The snow is perfect.” “I’m not ready,” Simon said. He watched his older brother set out for the door. “What’s to get ready?” Gabe asked. Simon wanted to say “I need to learn how to steer (掌握方向) the saucer.” or “What if the other kids laugh if I mess up?” But he said nothing. “You’re going to miss a lot of fun,” Gabe said.

“Come on, Simon,” said Mom. “Your brother will help you.”

Simon spent as much time as he could pulling on his snow trousers and boots. His brother walked to the front hall. “Let’s go!”

The brothers walked to the park, the saucers bumping against their snow pants. Simon could see the sledding hill in front of them. To him, it looked more like a sledding mountain. It was so high that he thought he couldn’t conquer (征服) it. Kids were taking turns on sleds and saucers, screaming all the way down. Simon couldn’t tell if their cries meant they were happy or scared. He knew which one he felt.

Gabe was taking the steps two at a time. “Come on!” he called to Simon. Simon started up. He was both sweating and freezing. Should he turn back? But the line of kids on the steps behind him meant he had to keep climbing. At the top, the kids waited excitedly. Was he the only one who could not move his legs?

His brother stopped. “Do you want me to go down with you?” he asked. When they were younger, they used to ride on one sled down the gentle slope in their backyard. Seeing his older brother’s face calmed Simon. Memories came flooding back. Gabe had encouraged him a lot in the past. But he knew Gabe wanted to fly down without him.

“Are you two going or not?” a girl behind him asked. Simon took a deep breath. “I’m going. By myself.” “Good for you, Simon,” Gabe said.

Simon sat on the saucer and tightly held the plastic handles. His heart was doing leapfrogs. Gabe gave him a small push on his back. Suddenly, he was moving down the hill like a wild polar bear. He had the handles in a death tightly held when the saucer spun around. But he dropped rapidly down the hill backward. Backward! He couldn’t stop. Was he going to crash? Why had he thought this was a good idea?

The ground leveled off and Simon’s saucer slowed, and then suddenly stopped at the man-made pile of snow. He fell down and lay on his back, breathing hard.

“Are you all right?” Gabe asked, walking over him. Simon sat up slowly and looked around.

“Simon, say something! Say something!” Gabe said. Simon smiled widely. “Again?”

The Chinese language differs from Western languages in that, instead of an alphabet (字母表), it uses characters which stand for ideas, objects or deeds. Chinese words are formed by putting together different characters. In many cases, a single character can also make up a word. As one kind of the most ancient characters, Chinese characters have played an important role in the development of Chinese culture. At first, ancient Sumerian and ancient Egyptian symbols existed (存在), but only Chinese characters remain today. The history of the Chinese language can be examined by looking at how these characters developed.

Chinese writing began thousands of years ago. According to an ancient story, a man named Cang Jie invented Chinese writing. One winter day while he was hunting, he saw the footprints of animals in the snow and noticed that the appearance of each one was different. Then he had the idea that he could use different shapes to represent different objects. The first Chinese characters were drawings of physical objects. Some characters have been simplified (简化) and others have been made more difficult over time.

However, as a whole, the characters have developed from drawings into standard forms. The character for a mountain was at first three mountaintops together. This became one mountaintop and three lines, and over time turned into the character used nowadays.

Sometimes to express ideas, some characters were made by combining two or more characters together. For example, “rest” was made up of the characters for a man and a tree. The character “prisoner” was formed with a “man” inside a square. Other characters were developed for directions and numbers. It is easy to distinguish (区别) their meanings by looking at them, for example, the characters for “up” and “down”, which are opposites of each other.

Though these kinds of characters indicate meanings, one of their shortcomings is that they do not show how they should be pronounced. Therefore, a method was developed to have one part of a character represent the meaning and the other suggest the pronunciation. Many Chinese characters used today were made this way.

In the 1950s the Chinese government introduced simplified Chinese characters in the hope to make learning to read and write more understandable to the general population, which would increase literacy (读写能力) across the country. And now they have widespread use in China’s mainland.

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