Tom walked into a shop. It had a sign outside: “Second-hand (旧的）clothes bought and sold.” He was carrying an old pair of trousers and asked the owner of the shop, “How much will you give me for these?” The man looked at them and then said,“Two dollars. ”

  “What?!” said Tom. “I thought they were worth at least five dollars.”

  “No,” said the man “They aren't worth a cent more than two dollars.”

  “Well,” said Toni, taking two dollars out of his pocket. “Here's your money. These trousers were hanging outside your shop. The list price (标价）of them was six dollars and a half. But I thought that was too much money, so I wanted to find out how much they were really worth.”

    Then he walked out of the shop with the pair of trousers and disappeared before the shop owner could think of anything to say.

    Jim went to school to study history, but when he finished his first year, he didn't pass the exam and the teacher said to him, “You have to leave school.”

    When the boy's father heard this news, he was much worried. He came to the school to see the teacher. He found the teacher in the office and asked the teacher to let Jim go on with his studies the next year.

    “He is a good boy. He always does well in history,” said Jim's father, “and if you let him pass the exam this time, he will do better next year and pass the exam.”

    “No, no, that's impossible!”answered the teacher, “Last month I asked him when Napoleon（拿破仑）died and he didn't know.”

    “Please sir, give him another chance.”said Jim's father,“You know we don't have any newspapers in our house, so nobody in our family knew that Mr. Napoleon was ill.”

    My name is Bess Curle, but this is not my story. It is the story of my lady Mary, Queen of Scots. She wrote the story, and then she gave it to me. I am going to give it to her son.

    She began the story a week ago. It was January 1587, and we sat here in our cold room in Fotheringhay Castle, in the north of England. We couldn't see much from the window. One or two houses, a river, some trees, some horses, and a road. That's all.

    The road goes to London, the home of Queen Elizabeth of England. Mary sat with her little dog in her hands and watched it, all day long.

    No one came along the road. Nothing happened. I watched Mary, unhappily.

    "Please, Your Majesty, come away from that window," I said. "It doesn't help. No one is going to come. Queen Elizabeth can't do it-Queens don't kill Queens."

    "Don't they, Bess?" Mary said. "Then why are we here, in this prison? Why am I not free?"

    "Why, Your Majesty(陛下)? Because Queen Elizabeth is afraid of you."

    "That's right," Mary said. "She's afraid of me, and she hates me too. She hates me because I am beautiful, and she is not; because I had three husbands, and she never married. And because many people-good Catholic(天主教的)people in England France, Scotland, Spain-say that I, Mary, am the true Queen of England, not Elizabeth. And E}zabeth has no children, so, when she is dead, my son James..."

    She came away from the window and stood in front of me. "James," she said quietly, "my son, does he think about me sometimes? He was only ten months old when I last saw him. It is nearly twenty years..."

    I'm Sam. My hobby is playing chess（棋）—one of the greatest games in the world. My mom taught me how to play when I was 7. She beat (打败) me every time for the first year. But then on my eighth birthday, I won for the first time. I nearly always beat her from then on.

    It takes about a day to learn the rules (规则). But if you want to be good, you have to practice for years. You don't need much to play chess—just a chess set (棋具) and someone to play with.

    Chess sets can be quite cheap, or very expensive. Some people collect chess sets as a hobby, but some prefers playing.

    There is a chess club in our school, and we meet every week to play with each other. I'm the best player in the club, and the captain of the school chess team. This year we won the All English Schools' Championship (锦标赛), and I had to go up on stage (台子) in front of the whole school to accept the trophy (奖品).

    I'm saving up my money to buy a chess computer. It's very expensive, but very good for practice. In that way, I'll always have someone to play with. One day I will be the world chess champion (冠军).

    A lamb (小羊)was on her way home Suddenly a wolf (狼)came up and stopped her. The lamb said, "I know you are going to eat me.  But before you eat me, I would like to hear you play the flute(笛子). You can play the flute better than anyone else, even the shepherd(牧羊人)himself. "

    The wolf was so happy. And he took out(拿出)his flute and began to play.

    The wolf finished one piece. Then the lamb said some good words and asked him to play another(另一个)piece again.

    The shepherd and the dogs heard the sound. Then they ran to the lamb and the wolf. They caught the wolf and saved the lamb.