Beijing World Hotel

What is the secret of success? Maybe different people have different ideas. Socrates (苏格拉底) was one of the greatest thinkers in the world. He had his own idea about success.

Once, a young man asked Socrates about the secret of success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. The next morning, they met. The young man asked Socrates, “How do you become so successful? Please tell me.” Socrates said nothing but took the young man along to the river. When the water got up to their necks, to the young man’s surprise, Socrates took him and ducked into the water quickly.

The young man tried his best to get away, but Socrates was strong and kept him there until the young man’s face started turning blue. Socrates pulled the young man’s head out of the water and the first thing the young man did was to gasp (喘气).

Socrates asked, “What did you want the most when you were there?”

“Air,” the young man answered.

Socrates said, “That is the secret of success. When you want success as badly as you wanted the air, then you will get it.”

Grandma’s eightieth birthday was near and I wondered what to give her. She had moved into a nursing home and didn’t have room for extra things. She insisted that she didn’t need any gifts.

Finally, I came up with an idea. In her birthday card, I sent her a gift certificate (礼券) for “A letter a week for the next year!” It was a big promise. I’ve never been much of a letter writer, but now I was living far from home, and should be able to find plenty of news. Growing up just a mile away from my grandparents, we’d always been close. I knew that she’d love to hear what was going on in my life.

The letter gift certificate was a big hit. She got fifty-two letters that first year. All showed her that I was thinking of her regularly (经常). As her next birthday rolled around, she asked for another letter gift certificate. In fact, for nine and a half years I wrote about the cold Michigan winters. Then I wrote about my pregnancy (怀孕). During the kids’ preschool years, I shared every funny thing they did and said, and as they grew they started adding “picture letters” to the envelope. Once I flew home to visit Grandma and found that all the staff in the nursing home knew the details of my life, as they often read letters to her.

My last letter arrived the day after her death. I never missed a letter and I felt I had given her the best gift I could. What I hadn’t counted on (指望) was how her gifts would come full circle to me.

Months later, while going through her things, my dad found a box full of letters from me. Those letters are a journal (日记) of my life, filled with moments and pictures I had completely forgotten. But Grandma saved those memories for me in my letters.

Life really does fly by. Loved ones come and go. But sometimes our gifts to others come back to us in unexpected ways. This is one of those times.

Among all the colors, red is most easily seen. The color red is fresh and joyful. Red is the color of China. And we call it Chinese Red. It is pretty popular with Chinese people.     37     On the other hand, it has rich meaning in Chinese culture and history.

No country in the world has ever used a color in such a way as China. Here, red is a symbol. It gives color to the spirit of the nation.     38     Even now, it is also a theme for China that will last forever. “Chinese Red” has become a very popular phrase, attracting (吸引) the world’s attention.

Finding red objects in China is very easy. You can see the color everywhere. Traditional things such as Chinese knots, lanterns, and paper cuts are almost all red. Most importantly, red is the main color of our national flag. They all play special roles in China.

Red is the color of luck, health, happiness, peace, wealth and so on.     39     When Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou returned to China and stepped out of the plane in a red dress, the color red is alive and breathing at that moment. “The color red, symbolizing China, lightens the brightness in my heart,” she said.

Red is more than just a color in China.     40     “Chinese Red” is filled with mysterious charm (魅力) beyond description and it is right here in China waiting for you to feel and discover!

Thanksgiving Day was near. The teacher asked students to draw a picture of something that they were thankful for. People celebrated the holiday with turkey (火鸡) and other _________ things. So, most of her students’ pictures were about them.

However, Jerry _________ a different kind of picture. Jerry was a different kind of boy. He always looked _______. When other students played together, he was likely to stand close by the teacher’s side. He drew a _________. Other students were all very interested in the picture. Whose hand should it be? One child guessed it was the hand of a police officer, because the police _________ and care for people. Still others guessed it was the hand of god... The discussion didn’t stop _________ the teacher remembered the young artist himself.

During the break, all the _________ ran out of the classroom except Jerry. The teacher came to his _________, bent down (俯身) and asked him whose hand it was. The little boy _________ and said in a low voice, “It’s yours, teacher.”

She remembered the times she took his hand and walked with him here or there. She often said, “Take my hand, Jerry. Let’s go outside.” or “Let me show you how to use your pen.” Jerry might not always say __________, but he’ll remember the hand that reaches out.

A man lived happily in a village because everyone praised him.

One day, he heard some people     51     (talk) about him when he passed by. Hiding behind a tree, he started listening to them. But what they said made him sad. They said he was too proud.

    52     that day on, whenever he saw others talking, he thought they were saying something bad about him. He was     53     (happy) all the time. So he went to a wise old man and told him everything.

The wise old man said, “Stay in my house tonight.”

The man agreed. When he went sleep a night, the croaking of frogs (青蛙呱呱的叫声) fell in his     54     (ear). A pond (池塘) was behind his room and the sound was coming from there. The more he wanted to ignore (忽视) the sound, the     55     (loud) the frogs seemed to croak.

The next morning, the man went to the wise old man and said, “I couldn’t sleep well last night. It felt like there were hundreds of frogs in that pond. You must also have trouble because of them. Can I take at     56     (they) out and put them far away?”

The wise old man nodded (点头) .

So     57     man went to the pond. To his surprise, only ten frogs     58     (catch). Then he went to ask the wise old man where the other frogs were.

The wise old man said, “Even at night there     59     (be) only ten frogs. You cared a lot about the noise,     60     you thought there were hundreds of them. It is the same in your life as well. And always remember, no matter how good you are, there we always be some people who will talk bad about you.”

The man understood the wise old man’s words and thanked him.

Donna Brown, a 14-year-old girl, was very sick. She had a bad heart. “Donna must have a new heart.” Her doctor said, “or she will die soon.” Felipe Green, Donna’s good friend, heard the news, he was very worried about Donna. He didn’t want her to die. He decided to give his heart to her because he knew he was going to die.

Then he talked to his mother about his idea. But his mother didn’t pay much attention to him. “Felipe is just playing a joke,” his mother thought. In fact, Felipe often had terrible headaches and never told his mother about them.

One morning, he woke up with great pain and he couldn’t breathe. The Greens hurried to send him to the hospital. The doctors had bad news for the Greens. “Felipe’s brain is dead.” The Greens were very sad. But Felipe’s mother remembered his words. She told the doctors to give Felipe’s heart to Donna. The doctors did several tests. They said they could give Felipe’s heart to Donna.

Everything was successful. Felipe’s heart was beating in Donna’s chest (胸膛), but Donna didn’t know it. The doctors and her parents didn’t tell her until she was stronger. Donna was very thankful to the Greens. Every time the Greens saw Donna, they thought of Felipe. Donna has Felipe’s heart in her. That gives them great peace.

65. 随着中国的发展，世界各地掀起了“汉语热”。作为中国人，我们更应该学好汉语。请以“Chinese Learning”为主题，写一篇演讲稿，代表班级参加下个月学校举办的“爱我中华”演讲比赛。要点如下：

I’m glad to be here, telling you about___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for listening.