I will be traveling to Australia as a Student Ambassador with People to People. People
to People arranges for American students to travel all around the world to learn about other
cultures, and to help others understand American culture. The program was founded by
former President Dwight D. Eisenhower to promote peace through understanding.
     I had to put in many hours of special work to get to this point. First, a teacher nominated
(推荐) me, and then I attended an informational meeting about the program. The application
process included an interview, and finally, I was accepted.
     That's when the hard work really began. In addition to attending monthly meetings to
prepare for the big trip, my parents encouraged my twin sister Beth (also participating in
the program) and me to raise $ 2,000 each to help pay for the cost. And so the fund-raising
began. We did everything from selling candy bars to selling an old car to decorating people's
mailboxes during the holiday season. We also babysat, washed cars, held a yard sale, and
washed windows. After months of hard work I had raised a total of $2319.87! Combined,
Beth and I raised over $ 4500.00!
     Now I have a problem-packing. Yes, I know it sounds unimportant, but my suitcase
seems to have shrunk (收缩) as I placed my belongings inside. According to airline
regulations (规定), a suitcase can be no larger than 54 inches and weigh no more than 44
pounds. For a person who likes to wear a different outfit every day, packing all my clothes
into such a small space seemed an impossible task. However, I have lessened my load and
my suitcase which started out weighting overweight now checks in at a mere 36. Apart from
a slightly bloated (臃肿) carry-on bag, my luggage is definitely manageable.
     I doubt that I will not get much sleep tonight because I am so excited! I know that what
lies ahead is going to be the trip of lifetime!

     Arthur Miller(1915-2005) is universally recognized as one of the greatest dramatists
of the 20th century. Miller's father had moved to the USA from Austria Hungary,drawn
like so many others by the" Great American Dream". However, he experienced severe
financial hardship when his family business was ruined in the Great Depression of the
early l930s.
     Millers' s most famous play, Death of a Salesman , is a powerful attack on the American
system, with its aggressive way of doing business and its insistence on money and social
status as indicators of worth. In Willy Loman, the hero of the play, we see a man who has
got into trouble with his worth. Willy is "burnt out" and in the cruel world of business there
is no room for sentiment: if he can't do the work, then he is no good to his employer, the
Wagner Company, and he must go. Willy is painfully aware of this, and at loss as to what
to do with his lack of success. He refuses to face the fact that he has failed and kills himself
in the end.
     When it was first staged in 1949, the play was greeted with enthusiastic reviews, and
it won the Tony Award for Best Play, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and
the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was the first play to win all three of these major awards.
     Miller died of heart failure at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, on the evening of February
10,2005,the 56th anniversary of the first performance of Death of a Salesman on Broadway.

     I live in the land of Disney, Hollywood and year - round sun. You may think people in
 such an attractive, fun-filled place are happier than others. If so, you have some mistaken
ideas about the nature of happiness.
     Many intelligent people still think fun equals happiness. The truth is that fun and happiness
have little or nothing in common. Fun is what we experience during an act. Happiness is
what we experience after an act. It is a deep, long-lasting emotion.
     Going to an amusement park or a ball game, watching a movie or television are fun
activities that help us relax, temporarily forget our problems and maybe even laugh. But
they do not bring happiness, because their positive effects end when the fun ends.
     I have often thought that if Hollywood stars have a role to play, it is to teach us that
happiness has nothing to do with fun. They have constant access to exciting parties, fancy
cars, expensive homes, everything that spells "happiness". But in memoir(回忆录)after
memoir, they expose the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism,
drug addiction, broken marriages and loneliness.
     Ask a bachelor why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less
satisfying. If he is honest, he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. For
commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure and excitement.
 Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.
     Similarly, couples that choose not to have children are deciding in favor of painless fun
over painful happiness. They can dine out whenever they want and sleep as late as they want.
Couples with babies are lucky to get a whole night' s sleep. I don't know any parent who
would choose the word fun to describe raising children.
     Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the
most liberating realizations we can ever come to. It liberates time: now we can devote more
hours to activities that can truly increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that new
car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless.
And it frees us from envy: we now understand that all those rich and famous people we were
so sure are happy because they are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.