In a big amusement park, there were some students sitting on the ground. They were listening to a speech after spending a happy morning there. At the beginning of the speech, the speaker told them a story about himself. “When I was in middle school, my teacher gave me an ‘F’ and told me to write it again,” the speaker said. “Her reason was just that it was impossible for a poor boy to make such a dream come true. I went back home and asked my father what I should do. He told me to make the decision by myself. So I decided to make no changes. My teacher can keep the ‘F’ and I’ll keep my dream.”

“And what happened?” the students asked. All of them were interested to know more about the story.

“This is what is happening now. You are listening to my speech in my dream park,” said the speaker. “I told you this story in order to make you know one thing: follow your heart, keep your dream and never let others destroy your dream.”

When the students were leaving the park, their teacher went over to the speaker. “Thank you, Mr. Black. I think my students have learned a lot from your speech. Here I have to say sorry to you. Some years ago, I was once a dream stealer (小偷) and stole (偷) a lot of students’ dreams, including yours. But you didn’t give your dream up because of me,” she said and then left.

【推荐2】A famous teacher was speaking to the students at our school. He began his lesson by holding up a ¥100 bill. Then he said to the three hundred students, “Who would like this ¥100 bill?” The students began to (A) put up their hands at once.

Then he said, “I’m going to give this ¥100 to one of you, but first, let me do this.” He then made the bill into a ball. Then he said, “Who wants it now?” The hands went back into the air.

“Well,” he said, “What if I do this?” And he (B) _______ it on the floor and stepped on it. He picked up the dirty, crumpled (弄皱的) bill and said, “Who (C) _______ wants it?” Hands went back into the air.

“My friends,” he said, “You have learned a valuable lesson today. (D) No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because (E) it did not go down in value. It was still worth ¥100!”

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and stepped on by the chance we take and the things that happen to us. (F) We feel as if (好像) we are worth nothing. But remember, no matter (G) 你已经发生了什么事, you will never lose your value: you are always valuable to choose people who love you. Your value (价值) doesn’t come from what you do or whom you know, but WHO YOU ARE.

You are special and valuable. Don’t forget (H) it.

【推荐3】As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped. He was surprised that these large animals were held by only a small rope(绳子) tied to their front legs. It was easy for the elephants to break away at anytime, but for some reason, they did not.   

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and tried not to get away. “Well,” the trainer said. “When they are very young and much smaller, we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it was enough to hold them. As they grow up, they still think the rope can hold them, so they never try to break away.”

Like the elephants, many of us are sure that we can’t do something in our life, just because we didn’t do it successfully in the past.

Failure(失败) is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle(斗争) in life.

A little river ran down from a high mountain through many villages and forests. Then she reached a desert*. “I went through so many difficulties. I should have no problem crossing the desert,” she thought. As she started, she found herself slowly disappearing into the sand. After many tries, she still failed.

“Maybe I can’t reach the ocean,’’ she said sadly to herself.

At this time, a deep voice said, “If a wind can cross the desert, so can a river.” It was the voice of the desert. But the little river answered, ‘‘That’s because a wind can fly, but I cannot.”

“That’s because you can’t give up what you are. Let yourself evaporate* into the wind, and it can take you across,” said the desert. “Give up what I am now? No! No!” The little river could not accept this idea. “The wind can carry the vapor* across the desert and let it leave as rain. The rain will form a river again,” said the desert. “And whether you’re a river or vapor, your nature never changes.” Hearing this, the little river went into the open arms of the wind. It carried her to the next stage of her life.

The course of our lives is like the experience of the little river. If you want to go through difficulties in your life to head for success, you should also change the way you are.

Obama had a good time at the Great Wall. He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man. US President Barack Obama is a true man. Obama had a four-day visit to China last week. He had a very busy schedule (日程) . But he still spent some time visiting the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

When a leader visits another country, he or she sometimes goes to the country’s most famous places. It is to show respect to the local culture. For the leaders, it’s also a good time to relax during a tiring foreign trip.

Obama spent 50 minutes in the Forbidden City on Tuesday. He thinks the Forbidden City is a “magnificent (华丽的) place to visit”. He said: “I’ll come back to China again with my wife and daughters.”

On Wednesday afternoon, he took a quick tour of the Great Wall at Badaling. There, he enjoyed a moment of peace. “It’s magical (不可思议的). It reminds you of the sweep (进程) of history,” Obama said about the Great Wall.

The word “hobby” is an interesting word. Every person has one thing he or she likes to do for fun. ①一些人喜欢收集像邮票或故事书这样的东西。Others like to play football or go window shopping where you can look at many beautiful things without buying them.

Dennis has many hobbies he does for fun. He sometimes plays golf with his sons. He plays tennis with all the family. He likes to collect music books. He also collects musical instruments from China like erhu, xun, dizi, xiao, suona and pipa. These are the instruments of China.②These instruments cannot be found in America.

He also likes collecting coins, such as the Shunzhi coin from the Qing dynasty (朝代). He has been interested in Chinese stamps when the postman delivers letters from China. Stamps are so interesting because they included (包括) Chinese leaders, buildings, animals, birds and fish.

Dennis’ favorite hobby is fishing. He likes to go and see his brother in the states of Alaska where fishing is excellent. They take a boat and go to a small river where they fish for salmon (大马哈鱼), America’s most famous fish.

Dennis will catch many salmons in one week. They each weigh about four to five kilos. He will take them back to his home in the state of Oregon. He will eat them all winter with his family and friends. This is a very enjoyable hobby.

A 15-second video of a security guard (保安) broadcasting in two languages went hot recently. It happens at the Heihu Spring scenic area in Jinan, Shandong Province. With a light local accent (口音), he said both in Mandarin and English “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Heihu Spring scenic area” and “May you have a wonderful time here”. Tourists were amazed at the broadcast and praised his efforts.

The 56-year-old guard, Zhang Shoujun, is from Yilan County, Heilongjiang Province. Zhang has been interested in English since middle school and he learned it very well. What’s more, he worked as an English teacher in a junior high school from 1987 to 1993. He lives and works in Shandong Province at the moment. Zhang is surprised by the attention he received online, and feels proud to be able to offer help to foreign tourists.

Although Zhang says he is just a security guard, his lifelong learning attitude(态度) is certainly worthy of learning. He spends lots of time in learning English and tries his best to do well in his job. “I will continue to provide broadcasts in two languages. I hope to show all the beauty of Jinan and its people to the tourists,” said Zhang.