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子曰：“为政以德，譬如北辰，居其所，而众星共之。” So this phrase means that as a high-ranked person in society, you must act reasonably and with respect towards others, even if you think they are lowly and not worthy of it. In other words, you have to set an example. That way, other people will also act with respect towards you, and help you with your troubles. In the story, the villagers eat the emperor's horse because they are really hungry and do not know it is the emperor's horse. The soldiers are just about to kill all of them when the emperor says it's okay and lets them all go. So in the end, when the emperor and all his soldiers are losing the war and getting massacred, the villagers charge in to help, and they win the battle and the enemy is defeated. And the emperor is really happy because he sees that there's a reward for being nice.

Today I read an article about Google testing out its delivery drones. The drones are named Project Wing, because they are literally a rigid triangular wing with propellers. To deliver packages, there is a winch system so that the drone can winch down packages from the air. Then the winch comes back up and it picks up another package and repeats the process. Unlike normal drones, this drone flies like a plane instead of a helicopter. Other companies have also made delivery drones. Amazon has made PrimeAir, which can deliver packages to places within 10 miles of its warehouse in 30 minutes. This would speed up delivery by a LOT. Also, Dominos, the pizza company, has made a DomiCopter, which flies with arced blades, which are not straight like normal helicopter and drone blades. It has a cage-like system to hold the pizza bags in place. But until the FAA allows these companies the use of private airspace, these drones will remain grounded.

大象本来是个很难看的动物。有一天，他觉得因该到别的地方旅行。他去哪儿，别人都会笑他这张遍遍的脸。而且他喝水也很难，差不多要掉到水塘里才行。有一天，他决定要把他的脸改一改。但是他去哪儿都被别人嘲笑。有些人都被他笑死了。今天，他失望的走向一个大大的森林。他一走到里面就用他的厉害鼻子吸住了一个树，然后拼命的往后退。反正他退呀退呀，退呀退呀，退呀退呀，退呀退呀，退呀退呀，退呀退呀，退到了远处的一个城市里。但突然他的鼻子飞了回来，把他撞飞了，他飞了一圈地球，又回到城市里啦！但他这个鼻子有问题。这个鼻子实在太长了！他在地球一边站着，鼻子就可以伸过整个地球回到自己。大家现在都不笑他了，大象很高兴。但是大家都跑了，因为他们都爬这个长鼻子怪物。大象现在知道长鼻子不是好事，因为另外一边地球的人都觉得大象鼻子好吃。

Today I was reading the book called Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Today I was reading a section about summer break. In general, for middle and upper class students, summer is a good thing because during the summer they learn a lot, like reading and math. They read a lot, go to extracurricular activities, and go to summer camps. They have homework and other things to do. However, for poor kids, the summer break is not an opportunity to learn. Their shelves are not jammed with books. They do not have money for summer camps. They just watch TV and play outside and have fun. The thing is, when they are having fun, their upper- and middle-class counterparts are out-learning them, and by the time school starts up in September or August, they are really behind on things. The article talked about an experimental school named KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program). This school, with 50% African American and 50% Hispanic students, starts at 7:25 and ends at 5:00. Most student...

从前有一个荒山，山上有个庙，庙里脏脏的，因为好久都没有人用过。有一天有一个小和尚来，他喜欢这个地方，就打扫了一下庙，挑了一点儿水，开始念经了。后来来了一瘦和尚，应为很累，一下子就喝掉了半缸水。小和尚很不服气，要瘦和尚在去打两桶水来。瘦和尚觉得不公平，就坐在那儿什么都不干。后来他们决定一起抬水。他们高高兴兴地过了日子，但又来了一个胖和尚，应为他很渴，一下子把整个缸水喝掉了。瘦和尚和小和尚都叫他去打水。他打完又把水都喝了。后来，庙着火了，三个和尚同心合力得把火灭了，后来他们都热情的打水给大家喝，水缸一次都没有空过了。

Recently I went to San Juan Island. My favorite activity there was definitely the Zip San Juan zip lining tour. It started out easy, with two tiny ziplines, but then the zip lines got longer and the zip lines became more fun. For example, the last zipline was 612 feet long. You flew over a lake and through a forest. I thought it was interesting to see my own reflection in the lake while I flew over it. There was also a suspension bridge, which was terrifying and fun at the same time. There was no railing and the bridge swayed from side to side! My favorite restaurant would have to be the Market Chef. I loved the tuna salad sandwich I had. The tuna salad was rich and creamy. The pickles were perfect, and the bread was crispy. I also liked the chickpea soup, even though I would have preferred it without the chickpeas. I want to go back to these places again if we ever visit the island again!

A long time ago, there was a grandma who visited her three daughters every Monday. So one day, when she was going for a visit, she got eaten up by a wolf. Meanwhile, the parents were going for a walk outside, and the wolf seized this opportunity by knocking on the door and asking in. After some persuading, the girls were just about to open the door when their parents came back and killed the wolf with a stick. They saw that the wolf ate grandma and was just about to eat them. After this event, they learned to not open doors so hastily.

Recently I have been looking at a few stocks: Microsoft (MSFT), InvenSense (INVN), Wesco Air Holdings (WAIR), and Nintendo (NTDOY). First of all, I think Microsoft is a good choice for a few reasons. One, Microsoft is tentatively planning Windows 9 for developers September 30, and this will likely boost up the price of stock. The public will get it early next year. Along with the Windows 9 release, Microsoft is working on a combined version of Windows RT and Windows Phone, which might also boost up the stock. Third, the graph shows a steady upwards trend, especially the one year graph. Second, I think InvenSense is a good investment because it is making the iPhone 6 and iWatch motion sensor chips. With the release to the public rumored for September 16 to late October, The stock would jump very high. Devices like Google Glass, smartwatches, and other phones show higher rates of having gyros and movement chips in them, further boosting Invensense's income. The graphs also seem to ...

笨笨猪很笨。有一天，他决定要学会怎么飞。所以他一大早就跳下了一个大山，拼命地呼扇胳膊。但他根本就没飞起来，一下子就掉下去了。他觉得很痛，但还是想要飞。所以他又爬上了山，跳下去了。这次他呼扇胳膊飞了一点儿，但没坚持多长又掉了下去。后来，他觉得自己飞得很好就去找鸟跟他飞。跟鸟飞很难，他飞一会儿就要转个弯，飞一会儿就要往上还是往下飞了。笨笨猪一开始飞就飞不下去了，掉到地上。笨笨猪每天都飞，可是每天都不过几秒钟就掉下来了。笨笨猪学了几天，什么都没学到。所以，他去问妈妈为什么它飞不了。妈妈呆呆的看了他一会儿，最后晕倒了。笨笨猪的妈妈醒后批评笨笨猪，说：“难道你不知道猪不能飞吗？你真的是笨笨猪。太笨啦！”

Today I read a bit in the 7 Habits about Sharpening the Saw. Sharpening the Saw is basically improving on yourself. This is like a lumberjack taking thirty minutes to sharpen his saw and another thirty minutes to saw the tree instead of taking five hours to saw the tree with a blunt saw. It is the idea that you need to review things that you have already gone over, that you cannot just forge ahead. An example of this is two people's relationships. If you do not sharpen the relationship with them after some time, thereby also understanding and learning about the other, and just forge ahead, the relationship will eventually blow up because you do not seek time to understand them. Also, your principles must be sharpened, or else they will fall out of practice and you will go back to being without principles, which will change a lot of things for the worse in your life. In conclusion, you must sharpen the saw, or else a lot of things will rust and fall away.

有一天，天神告诉动物：“明天早上前十二个先赶到这个树底下的动物会变成十二生肖。”猫告诉老鼠明天早上要老鼠帮帮把他叫醒，老鼠答应了。但早上老鼠就跑了，故意没叫猫。老鼠跳到牛身上，牛往前跑，也没太注意。大象又追上来了，没理老鼠在那儿叫他停下。所以老鼠跑进大象的鼻子，给了大象一个很严重的鼻血，大象追不上了。别的动物一追上就被老鼠轰掉。最后，老鼠跳下牛的背，第一个跑到了终点。别的动物都恨老鼠，特别是猫。

有一个小伙子捡到了一个大田螺，在家里养，每天换水和给田螺喂东西吃。每天他回家的时候，饭桌上都有饭菜，他觉得很奇怪，以为是隔壁的娘娘给他做的。但他去问的时候娘娘却说不是她，连连否认。后来，小伙子比平常早半个时辰回家了，看见了田螺姑娘。他们爱上了，结婚了。但蚂蟥精把田螺姑娘抓走了。最后，小伙子和他的伙伴们在蚂蟥精身上撒盐，他死了，田螺姑娘和小伙子高高兴兴的生活了下去。

有子曰：“信近于义，言可复也。恭近于礼，远耻辱也。因不失其亲，亦可宗也。” The first principle means that to keep a promise or invitation, the promise or invitation has to stick to your integrity and be a promise worth keeping. The second principle means to only show respect to those who deserve it. Those who try to murder you or harm you do not deserve your respect. The final principle means that if the people you rely on and respect are worth your relying on and respect, then you are also worthy of respect.In the story, these principles were shown. The first principle was shown when one of the friends said that he would go to 魏 country first and secure a position, and then invite the other over. If the second friend had used the first principle, he would have discovered that the first friend actually wanted to hurt him, and that he probably should not follow to  魏 country. The second principle was shown when the first friend was really disrespectful to the second friend when he came, just because the empero...

Yesterday Kevin came over to my house. First, we played Blokus. Each of us got two colors and we tried to block the other's two colors from expanding our own territory with the differently shaped pieces. At the start of the game, I sacrificed one of my colors to make room for the other color. We played on, but Kevin still beat me up, winning me with only 4 pieces left, while I still had 8. After that, we played Robocraft on the computer. The new update took a while to download, and in the middle of a battle, Kevin's laptop ran out of battery. So I let him play on the house computer for a while with my robots. He was really good at aiming with the plasma cannons that I had. After he played for a while, I played for a while, and we both enjoyed it. In conclusion, I enjoyed the playdate yesterday because I found someone who was better than me at Blokus and we also got to experience the update together - it brought a lot of changes like tagging and the robot shop.

明明今天在写作文，他觉得一点儿也不好玩。他想把写作文这个作业弄得更好玩一点。所以，他开始一边玩哟哟球一边写作。他如果专心玩哟哟球就写不好作，如果专心写作就玩不好哟哟球。他觉得边写作边喝可口可乐肯定更好玩。他喝到一半，不小心把可口可乐全倒在衣服和作文上了。这下可惨了，要从写作文！他觉得边喝可口可乐也不行，要想别的办法。他觉得边骑着独轮车边写作应该很好玩。但他刚一上独轮车就摔倒了，作文被撕碎了，腿也都破了。妈妈过来批评他。他的屁股都变成大大红红的西红柿了。妈妈还在那儿打，说他现在整个晚上都要写着一片破作文了，动画片也不能看。最后，过了一个晚上的努力写作，明明写完了作文，砰的一声睡着了。他终于知道要专心才能做好事了。

Yesterday I played in a chess tournament on chess.com. It was a 15|10 standard tournament. The first two games I won. The first game, I was losing but played a marvelous combination that resulted in back-rank mate. My opponent resigned. The second game, I just played really well, resulting in a queen-for-rook advantage that led to his resignation after I got his rook too. The third game I lost. I played boss11111, who was the best player in the tournament. He beat me up because he did not have any minor pieces blocking his pawn storm, and I did. Because of that, he stormed me and my storm failed. So I lost. The fourth game I won, because the opponent sacrificed his queen for my rook. Then I promoted and sacrificed my queen for his rook, and I was up a queen in the endgame. He had 3 pawns, while I had a bishop, queen, and two pawns. The fifth game I lost because I played the third highest in the tournament. I sacrificed most of my pawns by mistake and then I didn't notice his ma...

Today morning at 3-4 am, I went outside to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower. At first, I thought it happened every 133 years and so this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Then it turned out that it happened every year, and the comet orbited the sun every 133 years, with the next orbit in 2126. The only special thing about this year was that the Perseids were getting joined by another meteor shower and a waning supermoon, which is a really bright moon. Sadly, I found that it was raining outside when I went to observe the meteors. The clouds completely obscured the sky and it was too wet to do anything. I would really like to see the meteors next year, though. I have seen pictures and it looks like a spinning disc with white dots on it. There are apparently around 50-100 meteors an hour, and an article said you could probably catch a tiny fireball once every five minutes,but I kind of doubt that. In conclusion, I hope it isn't raining next year!

从前有七个兄弟，每个都有自己的长处短处。他们有一天找着一片地，在上面种了许多粮食。粮食长得特别好。皇帝听到了，叫兄弟把粮食都给他。兄弟不肯，还去京城给皇帝讲理。皇帝怕的让他的兵用刀把大哥杀了。但刀都断了。皇帝又想用火烧，用水淹，但总是有个兄弟不怕火，火腿可以长得很长。最后，有个兄弟把皇帝淹死了，因为皇帝太不讲理了。

Today in the 7 Habits book I read about synergy. Synergy is where both people in an argument or conflict are open and understands the other, mutually working toward a solution that will benefit everyone. This is basically Win/Win on a higher level. Instead of a compromise, this is like what the two people want merged together. This way, they both get pretty much what they want, instead of only half of what they want as in a compromise. To achieve synergy, there first needs to be trust. This can be achieved by seeking to understand the other party before explaining yourself to them. After this is accomplished, there will be higher trust, and everybody will be able to open themselves up. Then they can explain what they want or do not want, and both parties can work together towards a common solution. In conclusion, synergy is like the ultimate achievement after all of the other habits - the ability to combine everything together and understand that the whole is greater than the sum of...

牛郎很小的时候，他的父亲，母亲，都死了。他跟他的嫂子和哥哥住着，每天都被嫂子逼地去放牛。嫂子越来越看不起他，有一天给他九只牛，告诉他如果没有十条牛就不准回家。牛郎知道嫂子不喜欢他，开始哭了。一个老人过来，看到牛郎在哭，问他什么事。牛郎告诉了他，老人说只要给山上的牛治好病，他就可以带着十条牛回家了。他治好了病，回家的时候，嫂子气得把他赶出去，他在一个很远的地方住了起来。有一天，他听到老牛在跟他说话。原来这个老牛是个被贬下天的神仙。他告诉牛郎有个仙女会变成他的老婆，这个仙女会在一个附近的池塘里洗澡。他们结婚开开心心的，但后来仙女被王母娘娘揪上了天。牛郎穿着他的仙牛的皮上了天，但王母娘娘用银河把他和仙女分开了。一些飞过的鸟看到这个，感动得做了一个桥给他们，每年这一天他们都可以见面一次。

Yesterday I went digging for clams at a place called Lagoon Beach. I wore rain boots and used a big shovel to try and get clams out from under the dirt. At first, it did not work, as the places I dug in had no clams. Later, I asked a woman where the clams were and she said that there were a lot where there was a lot of seaweed and small crabs, on the far side of the lagoon. I told everyone they should go over there, but of course a lot of people didn't listen. Dad came over with me, though. While we were digging in one spot, we found that in another spot there were a bunch of spurts of water, which meant that there were a lot of clams there! We found over 20 clams in there, a whole family! After a while of digging, I was literally picking clams off the bottom of the beach. I cracked a few on accident, because I was digging the wrong way. But when I learned to dig the right way, I found five clams by myself. When it was time to leave, we accidentally drove towards the wrong ferry, b...

Today in 7 Habits I learned about ways to build trust. There are six main ways. One of them is to understand others. By understanding them or just seeking to understand them, they will appreciate you more. Also, you will understand that their wants and needs might not be the same as yours. They might not like ice cream, so you would realize that maybe taking them out for ice cream isn't the best idea. This way, you will prevent awkward situations when you suddenly realize that he or she is a vegetarian and probably would not be able to eat much at the steakhouse where you have reserved a table for the evening. Another of them is to keep your promises. If you keep your promises, people will see you as trustworthy and will trust you more. On the other hand, if you do not keep your promises, people will see you as untrustworthy and might not trust you with anything in the future, and might even stop being your friend. I think that these six ways to build or lose trust are very powe...

从前有一个小猪。这个猪叫小屁屁，很笨。他有天放了一个屁，比山还大的屁。他觉得很好玩，所以他追着他的朋友放大屁。本来，他肯定追不上的，但是每个屁都让他奔得老远，很快就追上了。他奔呀奔呀，最后落在他的朋友兔兔快的身上。兔兔快一下子就被压扁了，死了。小猪不知道这些，就接着往前奔。他来到了笨笨熊那儿，一屁股压扁了笨笨熊。小屁屁觉得游戏很好玩，想在玩儿一起。但已经没有人跟他玩了。他学了一个很重要的东西-不要吃太多黄豆，要不然你会放很大的屁。

白蛇传是讲两个蛇精，许仙，和一个坏的和尚叫法海。许仙见到第一个蛇精就爱上了，他们结婚了和开了一个很出名的药店，都没有人去金山寺治病了。一个叫法海的和尚很生气，看出来了第一个蛇精的原样。他把许仙关在金山寺里，蛇精来救他的时候，把蛇精收进金钵。后来，第二个蛇精把法海打败了，第一个蛇精和许仙又高高兴兴地在一起了。

Watermelon tastes good Looks good Smells good Feels good Eggplant tastes bad Looks worse Smells bad Feels worse Now what would you choose If you had to choose Between watermelon and eggplant?

Recently I went paddle boarding on Lake Washington. At first, I thought it was very hard. I couldn't balance. Every time I moved around, the board rocked and it was hard to keep my balance. I almost fell off a few times, but luckily I was able to right the board most of the time. I  found it really hard, but I tried standing up a bit. After a while, I was able to stand up and paddle, something that I found pretty hard. I was proud, but not for long, as a big wave knocked me into the water. After I got confident with the paddle boarding and could stand up and paddle, I started to try new things. First of all, I tried laying on the front of the board and propelling myself with my hands. I actually went pretty fast until my board flipped and I got soaked. I also found that turning was hard this way. Later I tried laying on the back of the board and kicking and swimming, but it still didn't work because the wave pushed the front of the board up and flipped me. In conclusion, I had ...

有个怪兽叫年，每365天他会来到村子里吃人。有个人叫阿宝，她的妈妈，爸爸，妹妹，都被年吃掉了。他痛恨年，但他也不知道应该怎么对付它。365天过了，年要来了，大家都准备离开村子了。但突然有一个老人从森林里走来。谁都不管他，只有阿宝给了他一点儿食物。他告诉阿宝，如果想对付年，就必须在门上挂对联，点燃红色的蜡烛，和点燃爆竹。果然，年一来就被阿宝家的这些东西吓走了。大家一回来都欢呼了，而且别的村子也都知道，如果你想对付年，就要在门上挂对联，点燃红色的蜡烛，点燃爆竹，和走亲串友道喜问好。 走亲串友：visit relatives and friends 道喜问好：say congratulations, send best regards

Recently I went to Camp Colman, which is a overnight camp by the YMCA. My favorite activity there was fire building. The first time we did this, I tried using dry leaves to start the fire because I knew that it took some time for the sticks to start burning. But when we lit the fire, the leaves started burning very quickly and went out before the sticks caught fire. So instead we used dry grass, as the counselor suggested, and it worked very well. The fire started burning, the sticks caught, and it produced a lot of heat. The second time we did fire building, we failed for two reasons. First of all, we were not allowed to go back to our original spot, which had an abundance of dry sticks, and had to rely mainly on big logs and other plants and toilet paper. Second, we had to leave the fire for around ten minutes to move our rafts from raft building into the water. Because of that, our fire died and we were left with a useless lump of charcoal. In conclusion, even though fire building w...