I could never forget my first composition lesson at middle school. It was full of excitement.

　　My Chinese teacher walked into the classroom one morning， and instead of taking out some books， she only held an egg in her right hand.

　　With a big smile on her face， she looked into our surprised eyes and walked up to her desk. She put down the egg， and it rolled on the desk.

　　She looked at us with teasing¹ eyes and asked， “What are we going to do with this， class？ Guess！”looked at the egg， and scratched my head. “What are we doing with a funny egg？ Eat it？ Not me， I don’t like to eat eggs. ” I told myself.

　　“Helen， what do you think we are going to do？” The teacher asked me.

　　“Er…， I suppose you will give the egg to a classmate to eat.”“ No， I’m going to challenge you to stand the egg up on its tip. Now， who wants the first try？”

　　To stand the egg up on its tip？ How？

　　A big boy had the first try. He carefully picked the egg up and stood it up on the desk. But as soon as he took his fingers off the egg， it fell down and tumbled² around. He tried some more times， but each time the egg came rolling down. He went back to his seat， looking rather distressed³.

　　“Never mind， who wants another try？” The teacher asked. “I will.” said Joe， a boy who was often full of tricks. As he went up to the teacher’s desk， he took out a tube of paper glue from his pocket， and started to stick the egg to the desk. Several classmates giggled⁴， but we watched with interest. Unfortunately， the paper glue was not useful， and the egg rolled like a tumbler as if it was laughing， and it couldn’t help tumbling⁵ back and forth⁶. We burst into laughter. The boy made a face at the egg， and had to give up.

　　“I say， why don’t girls have a try？ It seems quite interest-ing. ”

　　“OK， I’ll have a try. ” Oh， it was my-friend， Elizabeth， a very clever girl.

　　She examined the egg from “head ”to “foot”， and smelled it. Suddenly， she seized the tiny pointing end of the egg and PRESSED it against the desk. With a crisp little sound， the egg husk of the tiny end cracked a little， but the egg—stood right up！ We all opened our mouths with astonishment⁷， unbelieving our ？eyes. What a sight it was—an egg， standing⁸ up firmly on its tip！ We began to clap our hands loudly.

　　“Congratulations to you！ What a nice job you have done！ Would you tell us how you stood the egg up？ ”The teacher was mightily⁹ pleased. “Yes， yes， tell us please！” We all demanded.

　　“Oh， that’s easy， I found the egg was boiled， so when I pressed it against the desk， it didn’t break and let the egg white and yolk¹⁰ flow out. In fact， the egg did crack a little， but that didn’t matter， after all， it stood. ”

　　“Thank you！ That was a fine explanation！ Now attention， everyone. Would you like to write down this experience as today’s composition？” So we did， and wrote excellent papers.

　　What an interesting lesson it was！