Peter woke up early in the morning. He went downstairs in a hurry and started to have his breakfast as quickly as possible.

“Why are you in such a hurry, early bird?” Mum asked him. “We will have an English spelling test today, Mum,” Peter said. “Mr. White promised to offer prizes to those who get 100 scores. I’ve been studying the word list since last week. Although the words are difficult, I am well prepared for them.”

Peter reviewed the spelling of each word once more carefully when Dad drove him to school. At last, it was time for the students to have a test. “Responsibility,” Mr. White started. Peter wrote it on his test paper quickly and confidently.

“The second word: contribution,” Mr. White said.

“So easy,” Peter thought. He quickly wrote the word down.

Thirty words later, the test papers were collected by Mr. White. “I am to mark your papers now,” he told the class. After marking the test papers, Mr. White said, “Three of you won a prize today for excellent test scores. Peter, David and Mary got full marks on the spelling test!”

Mr. White praised them. Meanwhile, he gave the three students each a dictionary. Peter’s was an English-Chinese dictionary—the one he liked best. Peter was so excited that he held it high when his classmates cheered. “This is my happiest moment,” Peter thought.

After Mr. White gave the test paper back, Peter had a look at the words, feeling proud of his spelling. All of a sudden, the word “contribusion” confused him. It didn’t seem right. Peter began to compare them after taking out the word list. “C-O-N-T-R-I-B-U-S-I-O-N,” he whispered. He spelled it wrong.

“What am I to do?” Peter said to himself. “I expect my classmates to think I’m a master at spelling. If I tell Mr. White one of my spelling words is wrong, I’ll have to give my prize back, or I will become an example for telling a lie.”

Staring at the full marks written on his test paper, Peter was lost in thought. After a while, he remembered a lesson Mum used to teach him, “We ought to be an honest person.”

Slowly,Peter raised his hand.

Peter looked around.

Sarah’s grandma had been practicing yoga for more than 50 years. She could stand on her hands and pull her body into a ball. But Sarah thought she would never be as flexible as her grandma did. “You need patience for Yoga, Sarah.” said grandma.

Sarah’s school was holding a yoga contest. Sarah wanted to make her grandma proud. She kept practicing. Mountain pose. Standing still wasn’t that hard. She moved to her hands and knees and arched her back. Cat pose. These were easy, but the competition would be harder.

She lay on her belly and pushed up on her hands. Cobra pose. Her arms soon got tired and she sank to the floor. She turned to Grandma. “It’s hard, Grandma.” Sarah said, “How did you get to be so strong?” “Patience” Grandma smiled.

The next morning, Sarah was a frog. The pose made her thighs hurt and she wanted to stop. Then she remembered her grandma’s words. She took a deep breath and held the pose longer.

Sarah practiced a new pose every day. But first she went through the poses she had practiced the days before. She started to feel stronger. Her arms and legs stopped shaking.

The day of the yoga contest arrived. On the bus, Sarah’s stomach whirled like a summer wind. What if she couldn’t hold any poses? When the bus stopped at the gym, her heart was beating wildly.

“It is time to begin,” said their teacher. “Your first pose will be Eagle.” Sarah curled her left leg around her right leg. She bent her arms, winding one around the other. She reminded herself, Focus!

“Triangle Pose.” Sarah stood with her legs apart and arms at her sides. She slowly bent to the right. She then saw Grandma among the audience. Patience.

Camel pose. Bridge Pose. Bow pose, All went smoothly. “Your last pose is the Wheel.” Said their teacher. Sarah lay on her back with her knees bent, took a deep breath and pushed hard to raise her stomach towards the ceiling. A few more seconds and she would succeed.

But her arms felt soft and shaking.

“I didn’t know you could do all these poses.” said Grandma.

A GIFT FOR GRANDPA

Summer vacation was coming. Jack and his brother Berlin were filled with excitement as they thought of visiting their grandparents again.

The big day came at last. After the happy family got ready, they set out for the grandparents’ eagerly. On the way, the brothers were excitedly talking about the fun they had with grandparents.

A little blue house with a tall white chimney finally appeared. Behind the property was the forest carrying their good memories with Grandpa. They arrived at the driveway, at the end of which Grandma was waiting for them joyfully.

Jack and Berlin each gave Grandma a big hug and then swept to the living room, shouting   excitedly “Grandpa, we are back!”

Seeing his grandsons, Grandpa was wild with joy and tried to get up with all his strength from the chair but in vain. A helpless expression flashed on his face. Grandma explained that his health was declining rapidly and maybe couldn’t stand up on his own forever. But Grandpa declared stubbornly (倔强地), “I can!” Certainly, he was stuck in his boyish way. Mum and grandparents were happy to meet again after a long time. They sat together and chatted about what happened recently.

The brothers were soon bored with adult conversation, went out and wandered into the forest. Tall trees stretched up to the heavens with large branches crossing each other, while young ones rose straight like soldiers. Grandpa was once a great explorer full of wisdom. He could tell where the birds came from only by their calls and songs. The trees, birds, lizards, lots of bugs... How many merry moments they spent with Grandpa in the kingdom!

But now Grandpa couldn’t get up. This made them worried. “We’d think out a way to cheer him up.” Jack said. “Grandpa is a bird lover, and we can catch him a bird.” Berlin suggested. “But he hates birds being caged!” Jack shook his head.

Then a bright idea came to Jack’s mind. “Why not make a cane (拐杖) out of a young tree!”.

Jack and Berlin handed the cane to Grandpa.