Long long time ago, the Jade Emperor, organized an animal race. He told all the animals that the first 12 animals to win could get a place in the Chinese Zodiac (十二生肖), and have a year named after them.

    The cat and the mouse both asked the ox to wake them up early on the day of the race. That day, the ox tried to wake them up, but without success. So the kind ox carried them on his back and started running when the race began. The mouse woke up just when the ox was going to across the last river. He knew that he could never beat the cat. So he pushed the cat off the ox's back. When the ox reached the other side of the river, the mouse jumped off and ran to the finishing line, just before the ox.

    So the 12-year cycle（循环） begins with the mouse. The ox comes after him. The tiger follows the ox. The rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig come after them. The cat didn't get a place in the Zodiac. That's why the cat hates the mouse and always wants to kill it.

B

    Frederic Chopin(弗兰德里克.肖邦) was born in March, 1810, near Warsaw in Poland(波兰). He was one of the greatest musicians in the world. In 1831, he went to Paris. No people but he could play the piano very well.

    At that time people in Paris liked the Hungarian(匈牙利的) pianist Franz Liszt(弗朗兹.李斯特).One night, at a concert, Liszt went to the piano and the people shouted. As all the lights in the concert were turned off, a wonderful piano concert started. The music was so good that the listeners were all greatly interested. They kept praising the pianist and thought that Liszt had reached something new in playing the piano. Suddenly, all the lights were turned on again as the music came to an end. And there stood a young man instead of the famous Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt.

    Liszt had planned all this. As the lights went out, Liszt left his chair and let Chopin take his place. So with the help of Liszt and his own talent(天赋), Chopin soon became famous.

    Long long ago, there was a crowd of antelopes(羚羊)in the forest. In this crowd there was a wise teacher. He was admired by everyone because he taught the young the tricks and strategies of survival (生存策略). One day, his younger sister brought her son to him and asked him to leach what was important to antelopes. She said, "Dear brother, this is my son, Dick. Please teach him the tricks and strategies of survival. The teacher said to Dick, "You can come at this time tomorrow for your first lesson."

    At first, Dick came to have lessons on time every day. But soon, Dick became more interested in playing games with others, so he began to cut classes. However, he didn't realize how dangerous it could be for a young antelope who learned nothing but games.

    Unfortunately, one day the young antelope stepped in a trap(陷阱). Knowing Dick was missing, his mother was worried. She went to her brother and asked him "My brother how is my son? Have you taught him the tricks and strategies of survival? The teacher replied, "My dear sister, I tried my best to leach him, but your son did not want to lean the tricks and strategies of survival. He cut classes. How could I possibly teach him?"

    At this time, they heard that Dick was caught in a trap. They hurried to rescue him before it was too late. Dick was too scared to move and regretted deeply.

    If the young antelope had kept learning carefully all the time, he wouldn't have been caught.

    My best friends are John and Ann. We do many things together(--起).

    John lives near my house. He's fifteen years old and he's tall and slim，with blonde hair and blue eyes. He's a little bit shy but very clever. He's very good at math and he helps me with my homework.  He usually wears a T-shirt and jeans. We also play basketball at a nearby park together and sometimes we play video games at my house.

    The other friend is Ann. She's short and strong, with straight brown hair and brown eyes. She likes wearing T-shirts and a baseball cap. She never stops talking. She says she would like to be a boy. We all have kung fu lessons every Tuesday and Friday afternoon. We love it. Ann is really good at kung fu. We call her the "Kung Fu Kid". She often plays basketball with us, too. We often have great fun together.

Most of us think the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}In fact, an Italian named Antonio Meucci was officially recognized (认定) as the inventor a few years ago. Who is Meucci and why wasn't he known for his invention at the time?

Antonio Meucci was born in Italy in 1808. He studied engineering and drawing. During his studies Meucci started to experiment with electricity. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} When two places were connected with wire, people in those places could hear each other talk.

In 1850, Meucci and his wife, Ester, moved to New York. Meucci was worried about his wife because she had become very ill. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} To solve this problem,he connected metal cables between his home and his workshop. This way, they could talk to each other conveniently.

Meucci invited a group of people to see his new invention. They listened in amazement as the voice of a singer was heard through the wires. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Even worse, Meucci never applied for a patent(专利) on his invention. Meanwhile，Alexander Graham Bell was working on the same idea and in 1876 the patent for the telephone was given to him. In 2002, more than a century after Meucci's death, his work was finally recognized by the government.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}