As a young boy, I sometimes travelled the country roads with my dad. He was a rural mail carrier, and on Saturdays he would ask me to go with him. Driving through the countryside was always an adventure: There were animals to see, people to visit, and chocolate cookies if you knew where to stop, and Dad did.

In the spring, Dad delivered boxes full of baby chickens, and when I was a boy it was such fun to stick your fingers through one of the holes of the boxes and let the baby birds peck on your fingers.

On Dad's final day of work, it took him well into the evening to complete his rounds because at least one member from each family was waiting at their mailbox to thank him for his friendship and his years of service. “Two hundred and nineteen mailboxes on my route, ”he used to say, “and a story at every one.”One lady had no mailbox, so Dad took the mail in to her every day because she was nearly blind. Once inside, he read her mail and helped her pay her bills.

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Smiles make a bus feel like home

I took the bus to work for many years. No one knew each other; the passengers all sat there sleepily in the morning. The bus was cheerless and silent.

One of the passengers was a small grey man who took the bus to the center for senior citizens every morning. No one ever paid very much attention to him.

One July morning he said good morning to the driver and smiled. The driver nodded guardedly. The rest of us were silent.

The next day, the old man boarded with a big smile and said in a loud voice:"a very good morning to you all!” some of us looked up, amazed, and murmured “good morning” in reply.

The following weeks, our friend was dressed in a nice old suit and tie. The thin hair had been carefully combed. He said good morning to us every day and we gradually began to nod and talk to each other.

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Life Is Not Only About Work

A long time ago, there was an emperor who told his horseman that if he could ride on his horse and cover as much land area as he liked, then the emperor would give him the area of land he would have covered.

Sure enough, the horseman quickly jumped onto his horse and rode as fast as possible to cover as much land area as he could. He kept on riding and riding, whipping the horse to go as fast as possible. When he was hungry or tired, he did not stop because he wanted to cover as much as possible.

Finally, the horseman came to a point where he had covered a substantial area but was exhausted and dying. He asked himself, “ Why did I push myself so hard to cover so much land area? Now I am dying and I need only a very small area to bury myself.”

The story above is similar with the journey of our life. We push very hard everyday to make more money, to gain power and recognition. We neglect our health, time with our family and to appreciate the surrounding beauties and the hobbies we love. One day when we look back, we will realize that we don’t really need that much, but then we cannot turn back time for what we have missed.

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How to keep your skin healthy

1. The importance of skin

When it comes to your skin, there is an important fact that you must keep in mind: Your skin is the largest organ of your body. Therefore, it is crucial for the health of skin and its protection. Your skin does everything for you. It can keep your body hydrated (水合的) and regulate your body?s temperature.

Now, here are some helpful tips for you to protect your skin:

2. Avoid being in hot sun

Protection against harmful rays from the sun is one of the most important steps that you need to take. With this in mind it is necessary for you to avoid strong sunlight as often as possible. As for sunscreen you need to buy products that contain UVA-1, UVA-2 and UVB protection.

3. Have a balanced diet

Your diet also has a direct impact on the health of your skin. The most important aspect of your diet in relation to the health of your skin is to make certain that you eat a proper amount of food items that contain the proteins and nutrients necessary for cellular (细胞的) maintenance, repair and regeneration.

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3

To give or not

When a rather dirty , poorly dressed person kneels at your feet and puts out his hands to beg for a few coins , do you hurry on , not knowing what to do , or do you feel sad and hurriedly hand over some money ? What should our attitude to beggars be ? There can be no question that the world is full of terribly sad stories . It must be terrible to have no idea where our next meal is going to come from . It seems cruel not to give some money to beggars .

Certainly , most of the world’s great religions order us to be open-hearted and share what we have with those less fortunate than ourselves .But has the world changed ?Maybe what was morally right in the old days ,when one knew exactly who in the village had suffered misfortune and needed help ,is no longer the best idea. Quite a few people will not give to beggars .Let us look at their arguments.

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高考英语作文经典美文欣赏：Western Customs

现在大城市都流行过西方的节日，如圣诞节、愚人节等，请对这一现象发表你的看法。

Nowadays, there appears a phenomenon that the western customs are spreading into the east countries step by step, thus making many inhabitants who live in big cities enjoy themselves on these western festivals such as Christmas Day, April Fool's Day, etc. Such phenomenon shows us that the world people are getting close gradually and the world is becoming smaller and smaller as well. Therefore, in my opinion, it's a normal phenomenon s well as a necessary trend.

First of all, it shows that we Chinese have become much opener rather than clinging to some very old customs, which are opposite our living. Looking back on the history, we can find the answer to why our China was very poor and weak in the 1800's. Yes, the answer is that we closed ourselves not to let other countries know about us, and this led us to a very hard road on which we suffered many wars that many European countries launched. So I think it is more than necessary to accept other customs instead of closing ourselves. Of course, festivals are just the beginning.

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Holding the hands of time

牵着时光的手

Blow-off vision of the rain, so that you are left with a brilliant rainbow.Shuttle time in my fingers, without any regrets, open stemmed bloom ripples. Blunt rolling thick liquid eternal, but you and I, were dispersed in which period of Acacia leaves.

吹断目光的雨，让虹的光辉带你离去。时光穿梭在我指间，无悔地绽放开朵朵涟漪。钝厚的流质绵延永恒，而你我，被冲散在其中，相思无绝期。

Inexplicable always feel like the time within the next few precious memories will be stripped from me, more than once dreamed that his standing in a dark empty space, only one track at the foot stretch into thedistance, such as the long past your time and ultimately disappear In myfield of vision at the end.

总是会莫名地感到时间在抽丝剥茧般的将宝贵的回忆从我身上剥离，不止一次梦见自己站在一片空旷黑暗的空间里，脚下只有一条铁轨伸向远方，冗长如过往的光阴，最终消失在我的视野尽头。

I am afraid to lose, I fear this time, and I love it but memories. I could not forget the sweat on the pitch with the sway of the brothers, forget accompany me cry close friend, and forget the bright Star of that everynight, and those words have touched me deeply.

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