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    Once a very rich man and his son collected valuable paintings by famous artists like Picasso, Van Gogh and Monet.

    Later, the son left to join the army. After a few weeks, the old man received a letter saying his son had died while taking another soldier to a hospital. The old man became very lonely and sad.

    One day, a soldier visited the old man and gave him a painting—it was a portrait（肖像）of his son. The painting of his son became the old man's most valuable item. He told his neighbors it was the greatest gift he had ever received. The following spring, the old man died.

    All of the old man's paintings would be sold at an auction（拍卖会）. The auction began with the painting of the old man's son.

    “Who will open the price at $100?” the auctioneer asked. Moments passed and no one spoke or raised their hands. Someone said, “Who cares about that painting? Let's get on to the good ones.” More voices followed in agreement. “No, we must sell this one first,” replied the auctioneer. “Now, who will take the portrait of the son?”

    Finally, a good friend of the old man spoke, “Ten dollars!” “Will anyone go higher?” called the auctioneer. After more silence he said: “ Going once… going twice…Sold!” The auctioneer then announced that the whole auction was over. “According to the father's will, whoever takes the son's portrait gets the whole collection.” The auctioneer said.

    Because of the father's love, whoever took the son got it all.

    Mr Black is a football fan. Every morning he goes to work by train. As he has a long trip, he always buys a newspaper. It helps to make the time pass more quickly. One Wednesday morning, Mr Black turned the important football matches. He knew the Football World Cup would be held in his city soon. He decided to go to watch the football game.

    While Mr Black was excited to be at the Football World Cup, he was disappointed（失望的）at the location of his seat. Peering（仔细看）across the stadium through his telescope（望远镜）he saw an empty seat far away and made his way there. Mr Black asked the man in the next seat, “May I sit here?” “Sure,” the man replied. “This was my wife's seat. She was a super football fan, and we used to come to the games together all the time until she passed away.”

    “I am sorry for your loss,” Mr Black said. “But I am curious（好奇的）. Why didn't you give the extra（多余的） ticket to a friend or a relative?” The man replied, “They are all at the funeral（葬礼）.”

    Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s. The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach (菠菜) to make him strong. People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach. Popeye helped sell 33 per cent more spinach than before! Spinach became a necessary part of many people's diets. Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable.

    Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not-true. Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetables.

    People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake. In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables. This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did. The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it.

    Today, we know that the little iron there is in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is. However, spinach does have something else which the body needs—folic acid.

    It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong. Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along.

    Jim, a young farmer, was once put into prison (监狱).

    One day, he got a letter from his mother. "I'm so worried about our farm," she wrote. "It's time to plant potatoes. I can't dig(挖) all the fields by myself. "

    Jim read the letter and became sad. "What can I do?" he thought. Then he had a good idea. He wrote to his mother, "Don't dig the fields. There's a pot of money in the earth. Don't plant potatoes until I come home."

    Some days later, Jim got another letter from his mother. It said, "Two days ago, about ten men came to our farm and dug all our fields. I can't understand it. It looks as if they were looking for something. What shall I do?"

    Jim smiled when he read his mother's letter. He wrote a letter to his mother at once. It was very short. Guess what it would say?

    Two men are walking in the park. One is Mr. Brown, a worker, the other is Mr. Black. Mr. Brown is going to a chair. It is beside the road. Mr. Black is after him. Mr. Brown finds Mr. Black. Now Mr. Black begins to walk faster (更快), because he wants to get to the chair before Mr. Black. Now Mr. Black begins to walk faster because he also wants to get to the chair first. Then they both run. Mr. Black runs faster than (比) Mr. Brown. So he gets to the chair first and sits down on it. Mr. Brown runs after Mr. Black. When he gets to the chair, he sees Mr. Black sitting on it. He is sorry to show a notice (通知) with the words "Wet Paint (油漆未干)" to Mr. Black. Now Mr. Black knows why Mr. Brown is going to the chair.