“Nothing will ever be the same again,” Ally said to herself.

Ally's father died last summer. It wasn't fair, Ally thought. Dad was young and had never been sick. Why had his heart suddenly stopped? Ally sank slow into her father's favorite chair and looked at his picture on the bookcase. Ally smiled. “I miss you, Dad,” she said softly.

At this moment, she felt a hand smoothing her hair and looked up. “Why don't you come outside with me, Ally?” her mother asked. “The birds are nesting in the woods. By this time last year you'd already taken dozens of pictures.”

But her mother must know birdwatching wouldn't be the same this year. How could it be? Ally wondered. Ever since she could remember she and Dad had been a team, searching the woods for the special wood warbler (林柳莺). “I'll be out in while, I promise,” she answered.

After her mother left, Ally reached for the photo album she and Dad had put together. On the cover was a photo of a tiny yellow bird with blue-gray wings and black eyes. Dad cut it from a local newspaper. Ally smiled, remembering the excited look on Dad's face when he showed her the pretty bird.

“I can't believe someone spotted this little guy way up here in New Jersey,” he said. “Wood warblers are usually found in the south, not this far north. I bet if we search really hard, Ally, we'll see this little guy together someday.”

Ally closed her eyes. She loved thinking about the times she and Dad had spent searching the woods for the little bird. They'd never spotted the warbler, but her father had an amazing way of making each outing seem special. He was her best friend.

When they were together, Ally felt comfortable with her favorite blue sweatshirt on.

Just then her mother came to her, carrying the old net.

Once upon a time, there was a big mango (芒果) tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday. He climbed to the treetops, ate the mangoes, and took a nap (小睡) under the shadow...He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him. As time went by, the little boy grew up, and he no longer played around the tree.

One day, the boy came back to the tree with a sad look on his face.“Come and play with me ,” the tree asked the boy.“I am no longer a kid. I don’t play around trees any more, ” the boy replied. “I want toys. I need money to buy them.” “Sorry, I don’t have money...but you can pick all my mangoes and sell them so that you will have money.” The boy was so excited. He picked all the mangoes on the tree and left happily. The boy didn’t come back. The tree was sad.

One day, the boy grown into a man returned. The tree was so excited.“Come and play with me ,” the tree said.“I don’t have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me? “Sorry, I don’t have a house, but you can chop off my branches to build your house.” So the man cut all the branches off the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the boy didn’t come back afterward. The tree was again lonely and sad.

One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted.“Come and play with me!” The tree said.“I am sad and getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?”“Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.” So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and didn’t come back for a long time.

Finally, the man returned after he had been gone for so many years.

The tree in the story represents (代表)our parents.

There was once a troubled family. The parents spoiled their children. The son, John, loved to play video games all day long when summer vacation was around and he did not like to study. The daughter, Emily, on the other hand, loved studying without play. To her, video games were for foolish people who were unable to achieve anything useful. Life went on with parents complaining and not changing anything.

One day two new neighbors arrived in their neighborhood. One lived on the right side of John’s house while the other lived on the left side of John’s house. These two people were twins. They did not communicate with anyone other than themselves. John and his family felt uncomfortable living right between them. Strange sounds came from their houses every midnight until the afternoon. People heard and saw thunder and lightning coming from the house. After a couple of weeks of lightning flashing, machines roaring, this disturbed every household. Everyone could not help but wonder what their new neighbors were doing. It was whispered that they were inventing a time machine in secret.

People were beginning to dislike them. Every moment they heard these noises, they felt like something was going to explode soon. To deal with this problem John and Emily’s parents walked to both houses to speak with the owners. But on each door hung a sign that said, “DO NOT DISTURB!” They tried knocking the door and no one responded or came out from the house. The machine noise kept going but once in a while it did stop for a small break before it continued. They tried nearly every day to get the attention of their new neighbors. But in the end they gave up. They decided to send their kids to get their attention instead. So they made a plan and the kids successfully entered the neighbor’s houses.

Unexpectedly, the kids both experienced a journey to their own future there.

After returning from the neighbor’s houses, the two kids changed totally.