3 . Every year on my birthday, from the time I turned 12, a white gardenia（栀子花）was sent to my house. No card came with it. Calls to the lower shops were not helpful at all. After a while I stopped trying to find out the sender’s name and was just very pleased with the beautiful flower in soft pink paper.

But I never stopped imagining（想象）who the giver might be some of my happiest moments were spent daydreaming about the sender. My father encouraged this imagining. He’d ask me if there was someone for whom I had done a special kindness. Perhaps it was the old man, who I looked after when he was ill. As a girl, I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy.

One month before my graduation, my mother died. I felt very sad and didn’t want to go to the coming graduation dance at all. And I didn’t care whether I had a new dress or not. But my father, in his own sadness, would not let me miss any of those things. He wanted his children to feel loved and lovable. In fact, my father wanted his children to see themselves much like the gardenia-lovely, strong and perfect with perhaps a bit of mystery.

My father died ten days after I was married. I was 22. That was the year the gardenia stopped coming.

5 . Do you have a friend who always complains (抱怨), but never tries to deal with their problems? What suggestions can you give them?

In one town, there was a wise man who would listen to people’s problems and try to offer advice. The problem was that it seemed like people always complained about the same problems over and over again.

The wise man gave good advice to these people in order to help them solve their problems. But it seemed that they never actually took his advice. In fact, it almost seemed like the people simply enjoyed complaining and didn’t want to listen to the wise man.

He came up with an interesting solution to this problem. Every time someone came to him with their complaint, he would tell them a joke. The joke was funny the first time they heard it, as they came back over time with the same old complaints, the man would say the same old joke. It got less and less funny as time went by.

Finally, one person asked. “Wise man, why do you always tell the same joke over and over? It isn’t funny anymore.”

The wise man replied with a question of his own. “If you can’t laugh at the same joke over and over, then why do you always complain about the same things over and over again?”

There is no point in worrying or complaining about something if you can’t or won’t take action to solve it. Remember that you alone are in charge of(负责) your life. The world is what you make it.

6 . Grace waved her hand in a dance pose with joy to show off her new painting to her mom. Her mom spoke quickly, "Shh…honey, I am busy with an important talk. I will see it later." She frowned and turned to her dad. "Dad, see what I have done," Grace said aloud in an excited voice. Her dad turned around while putting on his coat, and showed his thumbs up! Immediately, Grace complained, "Dad, you haven't seen it carefully yet." He smiled at her, saying, "No time, baby. I'll see it once again later. "Her elder brother was always busy in his own dream land! She didn't feel like wasting her time trying to show him the painting.

Grace stood there for a few seconds, and then stormed off to her own bedroom. She threw the paper on the table, banged the door and dropped herself on her bed. Looking up to the ceiling, she wove her anger net.

When her mom called her for dinner, she came late on purpose. She kept silent, and didn't look at anyone. Her mom was surprised to see the unusual behavior. Softly she asked, "Honey, are you OK? Did I do something wrong?" Grace was so angry that she ran away to her room.

Next day, when Grace came back home, she went to her bedroom straight away. When she turned on the light, she surprisedly found her oil painting was beautifully framed and put up on the wall. Just below the painting, it was written "We are so proud of you Grace, our little girl!”

Grace was so happy that she hugged her mom tightly. Her mom said, "Honey! I am so sorry, dear! We would never say 'no time' for anything in the future, whether big or small. Got it?" She kissed her mom and said, "Yes, mama, got it. You're my sweet mom!"

7 . Mom and dad are the most important people in your life. They are your first teachers in your life. They love you and help you all the time.

Do you want to get on well with them? Here are four ways to help you be happy with your parents.

How much time do you spend just enjoying being with each other? Ask your parents to play with you. Go outside together, try some sports, or go to the movies.

Little things may bring a lot to your parents. Make a meal for them by yourself and that can make your parents happy.

When you are in trouble or meet some sad things, you can ask your parents for help and advice. They will be happy to listen to you and help you.

You don’t have to be the best but you need to have a try. They will be happy to see you have the courage（勇气）to achieve your dream. It lets them know they’re doing a good job in helping you grow up.

8 . Once upon a time there was a bird and a snake. They built their homes in the same tree.

Whenever the bird laid eggs, the snake would eat them. The bird was very unhappy. “That bad snake. I must do something. Let me go and talk to him,” thought the bird.

The next morning, the bird went to the snake and said politely, “Please don’t eat my eggs. Let’s live like good neighbors.”

“Huh! You cannot expect me to go hungry. Eggs are what I eat,” replied the snake.

The bird was angry and she thought, “I must teach that snake a lesson.”

The very next day, the bird was flying over the king’s palace. She saw the princess (公主) wearing an expensive necklace. Suddenly she had an idea. She took the necklace in her mouth and flew home.

When the princess saw the bird flying off with her necklace, she cried, “Somebody, help! The bird has taken my necklace!”

Soon the palace soldiers were running around to look for the necklace. Within a short time the soldiers found the bird that was sitting in the tree. Then she dropped the necklace, and it fell right into the snake’s house.

When the snake heard the noise, he came out of his house. The palace soldiers saw the snake and killed him.

Then the soldiers took the necklace and went back to the princess. The bird was happy. “Now my eggs are safe,” she thought.

9 . The idea that red means stop and green means go has influenced our lives in more ways than just traffic signals（信号）. We have been taught from a young age that the color red means danger and green means it's okay to move forward. But why were those colors chosen for traffic lights in the first place? For something we have to look at every day, why couldn't they have been prettier colors?

Well, it's important to know that before traffic lights for cars, there were traffic signals for trains. At first, railway companies used red to mean stop, white to mean go, and green to mean warn．As you could imagine, trains ran into a few problems with white meaning go. For example, one train mistook a bright star for a white light and something unexpected happened. Because of that, railway companies finally moved green meaning go and used yellow to mean warn. And it's been that way ever since.

Red has always been a color that mean danger, long before cars were even around．This most likely started because it's the color with the longest wavelength（波长）so it can be seen somewhere farther than other colors.

But, believe it or not, yellow was once used to mean stop. Back in the 1900s, some stop signs were yellow because it was too hard to see a red sign in a poorly lit area. Finally, highly reflective materials（高反射材料） were developed and red stop signs were born. Since yellow can be seen well at all times of the day, school zones, some traffic signs, and school buses continue to be printed yellow.

So next time you are impatiently waiting at a traffic light, don't get so mad at them, they've certainly come a long way.

10 . Sally Smith is a teacher in a middle school. She goes to school at seven thirty. Her classes are from 8:00 to 8:40. All the students like her Chinese classes a lot.

But in March, the students are always sleepy in class. They don't listen to her in class. Sally Smith is not happy about this. "How can I make my classes more(更加) interesting?" she thinks.

Then she has a good idea(主意). She comes to the classroom, and then she starts to tell her students some interesting riddles(谜语). All the students like the riddles. They are very happy in class. They like Sally's classes again.