Once upon a time, there was a king who loved riddles（谜语）. Every year _______ king made a new riddle. He gave a prize to the person who could solve the riddle.

There was a baker who lived in the kingdom. Everybody agreed that he baked the finest bread. The baker had almost everything except for a horse. If the baker _______ one, he could sell his fine bread from one end of the kingdom to the other. One year the riddle puzzled everyone. “Whoever wins will get _______ strongest horse,” the king promised. He then drew a line _______ the ground. “Make this line shorter without erasing（清除）any part of it,” the king said.

Lots of people tried. They put their noses to the ground to take a close look at the line. The dressmaker kicked dirt（泥土）over the line _______ it. The farmer poured water over the line to make it disappear. None of these ways worked, and the people went home _______.

The baker wondered _______ the problem. A week later, he came here confidently with a bag of flour. He poured out a line of flour next to the king’s line. The line the baker made was _______ than the king’s line.

“Your Majesty,” the baker said to the king, “now your line is shorter.”

Finally, the baker _______ a good horse by the king. He was excited ________ he could sell his bread all over the kingdom now.

What kind of apps on the phone do people use the most often nowadays? Here are some apps to make your daily life better and easier.

	Sleep Cycle helps your body get an ideal rest by monitoring your sleeping patterns and waking you up when it senses that it’s the best time. The app is free for the basic functions but you should pay for some other services.
	Coach. me is a kind of app that allows users to connect and encourage each other to keep new habits. This app enables anyone to have many responsible partners while forming new habits. The app is found both on Android and Apple Store for free.
	Khan Academy is an app for all parents wishing to give their children good education from a young age. The app offers different topics ranging from science to maths. The app is free to download on your iPhone, iPad or Android smartphone.
	Daily Yoga is an app to help you fit in a few minutes for simple yoga exercises. You may spend ten minutes or so and do a few yoga poses as instructed by the app. It is free on the Apple Store.

A movie named Full River Red caught people’s eyes. At the same time, many people were moved by the poem written by Yue Fei.

As we all know, Yue Fei is a famous anti-gold star. He is a national hero in many Chinese people’s hearts. Yue Fei was born in a village. His father was a farmer. The poor living conditions even made his four elder brothers dead. That’s why he was called Wulang. When he was ten years old, his parents were almost 50 years old. So he was not even able to study more but he was hard-working. He learned his martial art (武术) from Zhou Tong, who was known for his archery (骑射). Later, Yue Fei leaned spear (枪) from Chen Guang, who was also a very good teacher. Living in the difficult conditions, although he was not strong enough because of malnutrition, he tried his best to improve himself and finally became a man with strong power.

Yue Fei’s mother is also a common woman from village. However, she loved the country very much. After she heard that Yue refused to be a traitor, she felt very happy. One day, she said to her son, “Dear son, I am so pleased that you have done the right thing. I feel proud of you!” She asked Yue Fei to take off his coat and wrote four big Chinese characters “Jing Zhong Bao Guo”.

Later, Yue Fei was very brave and succeeded in many wars. Although he was persecuted(迫害)at last, his spirit lives forever in the heart of every Chinese.

It was last January, when I’d just finished a charity activity and was on the train back home, that I put down my phone and started writing thank-you notes to people who had helped.

When I got off the train, I felt amazingly good. The next day, I wrote more thank-yous and felt good again. I suddenly had the idea: Why not keep on doing this for every day of the year?

To keep on task, I decided to pick out a different theme for each month. January was charity. February would be neighbors. And I thought of a number of names right away: the owner of our local bookstore, who let me and my little son in before the store opened; our babysitter, who took good care of our kids; …

While writing the notes, I realized how often I had spent my time on the phone appreciating（欣赏）other people’s lives. Writing thank-you notes allowed me to do something different, paying more attention to my own life.

In the following months, I wrote to my friends, doctors, teachers and parenting role models. In July, my “food” month, I wrote to Julie, who used to cook at my favorite restaurant. It went like this:

Dear Julie,

Thank you for hosting and cooking beautiful and thoughtful food. Jake and I never forget when you sent out biscuits shaped into the number VI for our sixth anniversary（周年纪念日）. We talk about it every year.

Thank you. We miss you.

Love,

Gina

I was happy to receive a note back from her. Julie replied, “I don’t think I’ve ever received such a touching letter before. I’m undergoing a hard life change right now, and this helps.”

On December 31, I wrote my last card to Jake, my husband, and our two kids. And I took a picture of us, so I could remember the feeling welling up inside me. Thankfulness.