Little Bob was born in a poor family. What's worse is that his father has been ill for a long time and can not do any housework at all. Bob's mother is very busy with the housework besides working in her factory. Bob can understand her mother's hard work and he always does some housework for his mother, though he is only eight years old. Here is what he usually does every day.

    Keep his bedroom clean. Take good care of his things and put them away every day. If he makes them dirty, he will clean them up quickly.

    Ask his mom what he could do. His mother will probably have suggestions for things he could do for her.

    Feed the pets every day. There is a parrot, a cat and a dog in his house. He feeds them and gives them water every day. And after school, he often plays with his dog.

    Wash his own clothes. When his clothes are dirty, he will wash them by himself, he says it's a good thing to make his mother happy.

    Jodie's Daddy is a Garbageman(垃圾清理工)

    Mr Swales wanted to find out what his students' parents did. He had just called Jodie when some girls burst out laughing. Shirley shouted, “Jodie's Daddy is a Garbageman!”

    Everybody in the class laughed out loud, except Jodie. She felt her face turn red.

    “Silence!” Mr Swales said, “Being a garbagemen is a difficult and useful job. We should all be thankful to Jodie's father.”

Jodie's father came to walk her home from school as usual, but she didn't run up to him the way she always did. When they got back home, Jodie went to her room and cried for a long time.

    Her father came into her room, “What happened, Jodie? Why are you so sad?”

    Jodie told her father what had happened and looked at him. He didn't seem angry or hurt. “Well,” he said, “they are right. Being a garbageman is a dirty job. Tomorrow's Saturday. Come to work with me, Jodie.”

    The place really smell too good. Jodie wrinkled her nose. “Don't worry, kid. In five minutes you won't smell a thing.” said her father.

    Everybody there was working hard, and they seemed to have a good time. Jodie's father handed her a pair of gloves and told her to get the little plastic bags and throw them into the truck.

    It was fun, but also hard work. Jodie's arms soom got tired. At last, no more garbage was left and Jodie felt very happy.

    “Garbage is disgusting, but when we clear it away, everything's nice and clean. You can make yourself happy only by making other happy. That's why I like being a garbageman so much.”

    Jodie give her dirty, smeely garbageman daddy a big kiss(吻). She said, “When I grow up, I will be a garbagegirl!”

    Now whenever someone asks Jodie what her daddy does, she says, “He's a garbageman! Everybody makes garbage, but my daddy takes it away!”

    When I was 17, I read a magazine article about a museum called the McNay, once the home of a watercolorist named Marian McNay. She has requested the community to turn it into a museum upon her death. On a sunny Saturday, Sally and I drove over to the museum. She asked, "Do you have the address?'", but I'll recognize it, there was a picture in the magazine."

    "Oh, stop. There it is!"

    The museum was free. We entered, excited. A group of people sitting in the hall stopping talking and stared at us.

    "May I help you?" a man asked. "No," I said. "We're fine." Tour guides got on my nerves. What if they talked a long time about a painting you weren't that interested in? sally had gone upstairs. The people in the hall seemed very nosy (爱窥探的) ,keeping their eyes on me with curiosity. What was their problem? I saw some nice sculptures in one room. Suddenly I sensed a man standing behind me. "Where do you think you are?" he asked. I turned sharply. "The McNay Art Museum!" he smiled, shaking his head. "Sorry, the McNay is on New Braunfels Street." "What's this place?" I asked, still confused. "Well, it's our home." My heart jolted (震颤) .I raced to the staircase and called out." Sally! Come down immediately!"

    There's some really good stuff (艺术作品) up there." She stepped down, looking confused. I pushed her toward the front door, waving at the family, saying, "Sorry, please forgive us, you have a really nice place "Outside, when I told Sally what happened, she covered her mouth, laughing. She couldn't believe how long they let us look around without saying anything.

    The real McNay was splendid, but we felt nervous the whole time we were there. Van Gogh, Picasso. This time, we stayed together, in case anything else unusual happened.

    Thirty years later, a woman approached me in a public place. "Excuse me, did you ever enter a residence, long ago, thinking it was the McNay Museum?"

    "Yes. But how do you know? We never told anyone."

    "That was my home. I was a teenager sitting in the hall Before you came over, I never realized what a beautiful place I lived in. I never felt lucky before. You thought it was a museum. My feelings about my home changed after that. I've always wanted to thank you."

    Chopsticks were invented in China. There are many stories about who may have invented them. One of them is about Dayu.

    Dayu was an ancient Chinese leader who helped his people fight floods. He was always busy and often ate in the wild. He used a pot to boil (煮沸)water and cook animal meat. Most of the time, he was in a hurry and didn't want to wait to eat. But the meat was too hot to pick up with his hands. In those days, people ate only with their hands.

    So Dayu picked up some twigs (树枝)to help him hold the meat. The twigs later became the chopsticks we know today.

    But of course, this is just one story. The earliest chopsticks we have found so far are more than 3,000 years old, dating back to the Shang Dynasty (朝代).The six bronze chopsticks were found in the Ruins of Yin (殷墟)in Anyang, Henan.

    At first, chopsticks were just used as cooking tools. It was only after some time that people started to use chopsticks to eat.

    Today is Sunday. It's fine today. Jenny goes to the zoo with her mother. They can see many animals. There are tigers, lions, pandas, snakes and other animals. Look! The pandas are over there. They're from Sichuan, China. Look at the baby panda! It's climbing the tree. How cute it is!

    Next, they go to see the lions. The lions are so strong. Their mouths are too big. The tigers are next to them. They are from Asia. They are yellow and black. At last, Jenny and her mother go to see the monkeys. Some are climbing mountains, and some are eating bananas. The monkey is Jenny's favourite animal. It's so fun!

    Jenny sees a lot of animals at the zoo and she is so happy today!