One day, Mr. Smith went to a dinner party. He was wearing very old clothes. He came into the room. But people in the room didn't look at him. They didn't ask him to sit at the table. He wasn't happy. But he said nothing.

    Mr. Smith went home quickly and put on （穿上） his best clothes. He went back to the party. Everyone in the room stood up and looked at him. They gave him good food to eat. Mr. Smith took off his coat, and put it on the food and said, “Eat, coat!” The other people were surprised and asked, “What are you doing? Why do you do that?”  Mr. Smith answered, “I am asking my coat to eat food. When I wore old clothes, you didn't look at me. You didn't ask me to sit down.

    Now I am wearing these nice clothes. And you give me good food. Now I see, you give the food to my coat, not to me.”

    Henry was an office worker in a big city. He worked very hard and enjoyed travelling during his holidays.

    He usually went to the seaside, but one year he saw an advertisement in a newspaper." Enjoy country life. Spend a few weeks at West Hill Farm. Good food. Fresh air. Walking. Fishing. Cheap and interesting."

    "This sounds a good idea," he thought. "I'll spend a month at West Hill Farm. I think I can enjoy walking and fishing. They'll make a change from sitting by the seaside and swimming."

    He wrote to the farmer. In the letter he said that he would like to spend the whole July there. Then on the first day of July, he left for West Hill Farm.

    But four days later, he returned home.

    "What was wrong with West Hill Farm?" his best friend, Ed. asked him. "Didn't you enjoy country life?"

    "Country life was very good," Henry said. "But there was another problem."

    "Oh. What?"

    "Well," he said, "on the first day a sheep died, and we had roast mutton (烤羊肉) for dinner."

    "What's wrong with that?" Ed asked. "Fresh meat is the best."

    "I know, but on the second day a cow died, and we had roast beef for dinner."

    "Lucky you!"

    "You don't understand," Henry said. "on the third day a pig died and we had roast pork for dinner."

    "A different kind of meat every day," Ed said loudly, "and you are complaining!"

    "Let me finish, "Henry said. "on the fourth day the farmer. died, and I didn't dare (敢) stay for dinner!"

    Today is the fifth day of July. It is Judy's birthday. When she comes back home from school, she sees a card on the table. It says, "There's a present(礼物)for you, Judy. Look for(寻找)it in your bedroom. "Judy runs in—to her bedroom. Her parents are looking at her and smiling. On the chair she sees a red box. She thinks her present is in it。She opens it, and there is a piece of paper in it. She reads it, "Dear Judy, I'm your present. My first letter(字母)is in the word 'dear', but not in 'pear'. My second letter is in 'red', but not in 'bed'. My third letter is in 'bus', and in' four'. And you can find my last letter in both(两者) 'home' and 'music'. What am I? "Judy thinks for a while and says, "Aha, I know. But where is it?" Her father tells her it is in her drawer.

    What is it? Do you know?

For many children, their birthday is their favorite day. They like spending it with their parents and friends. All parents want to hold (举办) wonderful birthday parties for their children.

Last Saturday was Tom's fourth birthday. His mother, Mrs. Green, helped him to invite six friends to their house. She held a very nice party for Tom.

Mrs. Green prepared for the party for a long time. She thought about their ages, the activities, the time, the food, the cake and the gifts. She said,"Don't let the party last(持续) too long. For children's party, 90 minutes or two hours is enough. "At the party, Mrs.Green chose a nice cake for the children. She also prepared some gifts for them. They were very happy.