Paul: Hi, Bill! Have a look atmy house in the country. I'm sure you can enjoy yourself.

Bill: I'd love to.But I hear that the food is not delicious, and your house is not good. Is it so?

Paul: No, that's not true. Go and see!

Then Bill goes to the countryside with Paul.

Bill: Why do you live in a hole in the field? You should come and live in the city. You would live in a nice house made of stone. You would have better food to eat. You must come and see me at my house in the city.

Paul: Thanks! Maybe you are right. I'll visit your house one day.

Several days later Paul goes to Bill's house in the city. The house is big and beautiful. They are sitting in the sitting-room, having a big dinner comfortably. Suddenly, there a great noise.

Bill: Run! Run! The cat is coming!

Paul: Oh, no! It's terrible! Both the house and the food are nice, but I do not like living in the city. I enjoy living in my hole in the field, for it is nice to be poor but happy than to be rich but afraid.

    I' m ready to do my first jump 10 months after a skydiving (特技跳伞) accident. I can't wait! That accident almost killed (杀死) me and it made me stay in hospital for half a year. During the boring long days, I didn't feel good. "How could I live without my favourite sport?" I thought.

    It all started one evening after a nine-to-five day. I was sitting at home when an ad (广告)came on the television. "Try skydiving," it said. The next day, I went to the skydiving school in my town, At the end of the day's lessons, ] knew I found the right sport for me.

    I will never forget my first jump. Five of us walked to the runway and got into a plane. I was afraid, but the others were talking and smiling, and I started to feel a little relaxed. It was a beautiful, cloudless day and the sun was just going down. Soon it was time to jump. As I jumped from the plane, I shouted. But then everything became quiet (安静的). It was the most wonderful four minutes of my life.

    From the first jump, I was hooked. I started spending all my free time skydiving. It became my reason (理由) for living. Things were going really well. Then an accident happened on my 104th jump. I broke my both legs, right arm and nose. I stayed in hospital for six months, but I still couldn't forget skydiving.

    My mother couldn't understand why the only reason I wanted to get better was to go skydiving again. But for me, skydiving is life, and life is skydiving.

    Mr Jones, the owner of a farm, was one day driven out of the farm by all the animals he kept．The animals were excited to be masters of their farm．Animals made seven rules of their own and Snowball painted them on the wall．

    ⒈Whatever walks on two legs is an enemy;

    ⒉Whatever walks on four legs, or has wings, is a friend;

    ⒊No animal shall wear clothes;

    ⒋No animal shall sleep in bed;

    ⒌No animal shall drink alcohol(酒);

    ⒍No animal shall kill any other animal;

    ⒎All animals are equal．

    They were nicely written, except that "friend" was written "friend"．Snowball read them out, and all the animals agreed．

    "Now, let's go to the field．Let's get in the harvest more quickly than Jones and his men could do．"

    But at this moment the three cows, who had seemed uneasy for some time, shouted because they hadn't been milked for 24 hours．Then the pigs began to help milk the cows successfully．Soon there were five buckets (桶) of creamy milk at which many animals

    looked with great interest．"What's going to happen to all the milk?" asked one animal．"Jones used to mix some of it in our food," said one of the hens．"Never mind the milk," cried Napoleon, standing in front of the buckets, "the harvest is more important．Mr Snowball will lead the way, and I'll follow in a few minutes．"

    So the animals ran down to the field to begin the harvest, and when they came back in the evening, it was noticed that the milk had disappeared．

    After a serious earthquake happened, a father left his wife safely at home and rushed to his son's school, only to find that the building where his son studied had collapsed and looked like a pancake.

    He was shocked. He didn't know what he should do for a while, and then he remembered the words he had said to his son, "No matter what happens, I'll always be there for you!" And tears began to fill his eyes. He started digging through the ruins (废墟).

    As he was digging, other helpless parents and the firemen arrived and tried to pull him off the ruins, saying, "It's dangerous here! There's nothing you can do!" To them he replied with one line, "Are you going to help me now?" And then he kept on digging.

    He went on because he needed to know for himself, "Is my boy alive or is he dead?" He dug for eight hours… 12 hours… 24 hours… 36 hours… Then, in the 39th hour, he pulled back a rock and heard his son's words. He shouted his son's name. "Armand!" He heard back, "Dad?! It's me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you'd save me, and when you saved me, they'd be saved. You promised, 'No matter what happens. I'll always be there for you!' You did it, Dad!"

    "What's going on there? How is it?" the father asked. "There are 14 of us left out of 33, Dad. We're frightened, hungry, thirsty and thankful you're here. When the building fell down, it made a triangle (三角形) and it saved us."

    "Come out, boy!"

    "No, Dad! Let the other kids out first, because I know you'll get me! No matter what happens, I know you'll always be there for me."

    Professor Xu Yuanchong was born in 1921. He is best known for translating (翻译) Chinese ancient poems into English and French. Xu took foreign language studies at Tsinghua University and then he studied abroad. After that, he became a professor in English and French.

    During these years, he has been working on translating. Up to now, he has translated more than 100 Chinese classics from Chinese to both English and French. The first poem he translated from Chinese to English is Don't Cast Away in 1939. It's a poem written by Lin Huiyin. In fact, he translated this poem to express his love to a girl he liked. Though he failed, he got a life-time career in translation.

    In 2007, Xu had a cancer. During the time, he did what he liked every day and didn't give up translating. What's more, he didn't go to sleep till three or four o'clock in the morning. He still held on to work over twelve ours a day. Also, he became the first Asian to win the"Aurora Borealis"Prize.