Doctor Seuss was born in 1904. By the middle 1950s, he had become one of the best-loved and most successful children's book writers in the world. His books are very popular with young readers. They enjoy the invented words and the pictures of unusual funny animals and plants.

In l954, Life Magazine published(刊登) a report about school children who could not read. The report said many children's books were not interesting. Doctor Seuss strongly hoped to help children and decided to write books that were interesting and easy to read. He used words with the same ending sound, like fish and wish. He did not receive training in art. Yet, he drew the pictures for most of his books.

    In l957, Doctor Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat. He used less than 230 words to write the book and even a six-year-old should be able to read it. It was a fun stow and easy to read. Children loved it. Their parents loved it, too. Today it is still one of his stories they like best. In l 960, he wrote a book using less than fifty words. The book is called Green Eggs and Ham.

    In l984, Doctor Seuss won a Pulitzer Prize(普利策奖). He was honored for the education and enjoyment his books provided American children and their parents.

    He died at the age of 87, but his influence remains. Millions of his books have been sold worldwide. People say his books helped change the way American children learned to read. Yet, his books are loved by people of all ages.

    Mr. Smith made many tests with different animals. They found that the monkey was the cleverest of all the animals. One day Mr. Smith put a monkey in a room. He also put some small boxes in it. In one of the boxes there was some food. “How long will it take the monkey to find the food?” Mr. Smith said to himself. “Let me wait and see.” He left the room and waited outside. Three minutes later, he put his eye to the keyhole (猫眼). What did he see? He saw the eye of the monkey. The monkey was on the other side of the door and looked at Mr. Smith through the keyhole.

    I once did a year of voluntary service in a residential(居住的) home for people with learning disabilities. It was set in an English village deep in the countryside, quite different from my home in Sweden. One of my fellow volunteers, a girl from Tanzania, seemed a little unhappy, so I asked what the problem was. She told me she had a friend back home who had financial difficulties and maybe it was impossible for her to complete her university courses.

    So this friend of mine had sent all her money to Tanzania to support her friend! This meant that she didn't have much food to eat and no money to go anywhere outside the village.

    I was so moved and I felt I had to do something. So, during my next trip to one of the nearby towns I walked into a shop. I didn't have much money left myself but I thought I'd buy her an extra box of chocolate we both liked and some rice. I started talking to the woman (also a volunteer) working in the shop and finally told her about my friend.

     The woman looked at me, amazed. "Does she eat pasta?" she asked. "Yes," I replied. She immediately started loading a bag with pasta, cookies, and other things until the bag was full. "Give her this for me. It's my treat!" I couldn't believe it but accepted with happiness. As I left the shop to go home with my unexpected bag of food. I asked the woman her name. "Just Gloria," she said.

    Imagine my friend's face when I arranged the gifts on my kitchen table and attracted her from room to see! I had never seen her so happy! A few weeks later she found Gloria in the shop and thanked her in person.

    These two extraordinary(非凡的) women really showed me what true kindness and compassion(同情) are, and the impression will stay with me for the rest of my life!

    "I can't believe this is happening. " I thought as I saw Jane walk into the restaurant. She hadn't changed at all. She was still tall and beautiful, with wavy blonde hair and bright green eyes. I smiled and thought of how my life had changed since we had last met.

    It all started when I noticed her at a party in a friend's house. I followed her to the dining room and started talking to her about the food. "You seem very interested in food, " she laughed. "Well. I'm a great cook, "I told her. It was a lie, but I had to find an excuse to see her again. "Why don't I cook you dinner sometime? "

    Two days later, Jane came to my house. However, the dinner party was very embarrassing(尴尬的). I ordered food from a nearby restaurant, but I told her that I had cooked it. After dinner, she offered to wash up and found the delivery boxes in the kitchen. She laughed at me and I felt awful. Angry with myself, I decided then and there to learn how to cook.

    I never saw Jane after our terrible dinner date. I started a cookery course and found that I was good at it after all. I went on to train to be a great cook. I worked hard and saved up until I was able to open my own restaurant.

    Now. she had walked into my restaurant. Feeling very happy, I pretended I was a waiter and walked to her table. "Ready to order, madam? "I asked.