3 . The Taj Mahal(泰姬陵)is a love story, a sad and beautiful one. If it didn’t exist, we would easily imagine that the story of its construction was simply a fairy tale. Three hundred years ago, there lived an Indian emperor called Shah Jahan. His wife was a beautiful and bright woman whom he loved greatly. Her title was Mumtazl

Mahal: its shortened form Taj Mahal, means “pride of the palace”. In the year 1630 this beloved wife of the emperor died. He was so brokenhearted that he thought of giving up his throne(王位). He decided out of his love for his wife, to build her the most beautiful tomb that he had ever seen.

He summoned the best artists and architects from India, Turkey, Persia and Arabia and finally, the design was completed. It took more than twenty thousand men working over a period of 18 years to build the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.

The building itself stands on a marble platform 29 meters square and 6—7 meters high. Towers rise from each of the four comers. The Taj Mahal itself soars another 61 meters into the air. It is an eight-sided building made of white marble.

The emperor planned to build an identical(相同的)tomb of black marble for himself on the other side of the river connected by a silver bridge. However, his son put him into a prison in the palace before he could finish, and for the rest of his life, he could only gaze across river at the tomb of his beloved wife.

4 . Many high school students want to know the differences between the school life in high schools and universities. In order to help them get ready for the life in the university, four college students are invited to share their school life and give advice to high school students.

5 . One day when some government officials were rebuilding a barn (谷仓), they found a mouse hole in a corner and used smoke to force the mice inside the hole to come out. A while later they really saw mice running out, one after another. Then, everyone thought that all the mice had escaped. But just as they began to clean up, they saw two mice squeezing (挤) out at the mouth of the hole. With some efforts, the mice finally got out. However, it was strange that after they came out of the hole, they did not run away immediately. Instead, one chased after the other near the mouth of the hole. It seemed that one was trying to bite the tail of the other.

Everyone was puzzled, so they stepped nearer to take a look. They realized that one of the mice was blind and could not see anything, and the other was trying to allow the blind mouse to bite on his tail so that he could pull the blind one with him to escape.

After seeing what happened, everyone was speechless and lost in thought. During the meal time, the group of people sat down in a circle and started to talk about what happened to the two mice.

One serious American official said, “I think the relationship between those two mice was that of king and guard.” The others thought for a while and said, “That was why!”

A clever French said, “I think the relationship between those two mice was that of husband and wife.” Again the others thought for a while, and all felt it made sense.

A Japanese said, “I think the relationship between those two mice was that of mother and son.” Once again the others thought for a while, and felt this was more reasonable. So they expressed agreement another time.

At that moment, one Chinese asked, “Why did those two mice have to have a certain relationship?”

Suddenly, the group looked back at the Chinese and remained speechless. The American official, the French and the Japanese who had spoken earlier all lowered their heads in shame, and did not dare to answer.

In fact, true love is not built on friendship, loyalty or blood relationship. Instead, it is built on no relationship.

6 . There are forests, lakes and sea around Stockholm (斯德哥尔摩). So it has the feeling of a small town. To the east, many boats pass by every day. To the west, visitors can do many kinds of water sports. Stockholm’s people are proud of their city. Their city’s blue waters are so clear. People can go swimming and fishing in the center of the city. Few cities can have places like these.

Water is very important in Stockholm in many ways. Visitors can enjoy visiting the beautiful city by boat. The boats can pass by many of Stockholm’s beautiful bridges and palaces. One of the most famous trips is named “Under the Bridges of Stockholm”.

After a boat trip of the city, the next step should be a trip to some of the 24,000 islands in Stockholm. Some of the islands are just rocks; others are green with forests. Many have people to live in. Everyone is welcome to fish, swim and go on a trip.

Every August, the city celebrates for the Stockholm Water Festival. The festival sports and other activities go on 24 hours a day swimming, music, art and dancing. In the evening, we can watch beautiful fireworks (焰火) in the sky. The King gives the Stockholm Water Prize to the person who does the most work in water.

7 . John H. Johnson was born in a black family in Arkansas City in 1918. His father died in an accident when John was six. He was reaching high school age, but his hometown offered no high school for blacks.

Fortunately he had a strong-willed, caring mother. John remembers that his mother told him many times, “Son, you can be anything you really want to be if you just believe.” She told him not to be dependent on others, including his mother. “You have to earn success,” said she. “All the people who work hard don’t succeed, but the only people who do succeed are those who work hard.”

These words came from a woman less than a third grade education. She also knew that believing and hard work don’t mean everything. So she worked hard as a cook for two years to save enough to take her son — then 15 — to Chicago.

Chicago in 1933 was not the promised land that black southerners were looking for, John’s mother and stepfather could not find work. But there John could go to school, and there he learned the power of words — as editor of the newspaper and yearbook of Du Stable High School. His wish was to publish a magazine for blacks.

While others discouraged him, John’s mother offered him more words to live by: “Nothing beats a failure but a try.” She also let him pawn (典当) her furniture to get the $500 he needed to start the Negro magazine.

It is natural the difficulties and failures followed John closely until he became very successful. He always keeps his mother’s words in mind. “Son, failure is not in your vocabulary.”

Now John H. Johnson is one of the 400 richest people in America — worth $150 million.

Of all the emotions (情感) that flow through your head when you go back to college, shyness to be one of the biggest emotions present. Shyness and fear can stop you from becoming the active learner that you wish to be. You may be too shy to volunteer to lead a group or too filled with fear to raise your hand when you know the answer to a question. Here are some things you should pay attention to.

Don’t let your mind go elsewhere. You cannot be an active learner if you don’t know what’s going on in your class. There will always be a student or two that can disturb your focus because they are talking while a lesson is going on or their phone is going off constantly. Don’t let this trouble you.

Your voice matters. During class discussions it’s important to become active in the group conversations. Ask questions when proper, but not if they are unnecessary. For example, don’t ask a question that you know the answer to or can find the answer to easily just to become involved (参与) in a group discussion. Answer questions if you can. Try not to guess at the answers. If you get it wrong, you will feel embarrassed. If you feel embarrassed, you will be less likely to keep contributing. Stay involved with the discussion and voice your opinion on a debate.

Don’t just do the least. Check your curriculum and see what’s on it for your next class. Do some extra research that is not required to prepare yourself for possible discussions. Having extra input (输入) that was not in the text book will impress your tutor and your classmates.

Remember that if you are a shy person, it is going to be harder for you to become an active learner in class, but you determine your own level of involvement in your education. You are in charge of how much you learn and when you learn it.