Monty was a high school boy from a poor family. One day his teacher asked the students to write a paper about what they wanted to be when they 1 .That night Monty wrote a seven-page paper describing his dream 2 having a horse ranch (马场).

    Two days later he got his paper back. There was an "E" on it. After class，the boy went to the teacher's office and asked, 3did I get an 'E'?" The teacher said, "This dream is too unrealistic (不切实际的), 4 you need lots of money to buy land (土地), pay for horses and many other things. But you have no 5 . There is no way you can ever do it. Write another paper and I will give you another grade."

    That day Monty 6 a lot about it. Then he had a talk with his father. After listening to the boy's 7 his father said, "Dear son, it's your decision. You have to make up your mind about it, as it's important for you."

    After a week Monty handed in the 8 paper. He just wrote one more sentence at the end of it: You can keep the "E" and I will keep my 9 .

    Years later, the teacher went on a school trip with 30 kids to camp on a big horse ranch. One  evening she met the owner (主人) of the horse ranch. She got a big 10 because the owner was Monty the boy who got an "E" for the paper about his dream.

    It seems very natural that if you have two dollars and add two dollars to them, you have four dollars. But do you know it too men millions of years to be able to think so? In fact, one of the most difficult things to teach children is the idea of numbers.

    In ancient times, when a man wanted to tell how many animals he owned. he had no system(系统) of numbers to use. He put a stone into a bag for each animal. The more animals, the more stones he had. It may explain why the word "calculate" comes from the Latin word "calculus", "calculus" means "stone."

    Then, man used lines to count. People would just draw a line for each thing they wanted to count, but they had no word to tell the number.

    Later on, people used fingers. Again we have word that goes back to this. The word "digit" comes from the Latin word "digitus". It means "finger"! And the fact that we have 10 fingers led to the use of 10 in the system of numbers.

    The number system we use today was invented by the Hindus in India thousands of years ago and was brought to Europe during 8^th to 11^th by Arab traders(商人). In this system, people count things with ten numbers. 1. 2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.and 0. It is decimal system(十进制), that is, it is built on the base of 10.

    There was a boy and his family was very rich. One day his father took him on a trip to a place. He wanted to show his son how poor people were there. They spent several days on a farm. There were many poor families living on the farm.

    On their way home, the father asked the son, "How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad," the son answered. "Did you notice how poor people were there?" asked his father. "Oh, yes," said the son. "So, tell me," said his father. The son said, "Well, we have one dog and they have four. We have a pool in our garden, while they have a river that has no end. We have expensive lanterns, but they have stars above their heads at night. We have only a small piece of land to live on, while they have the endless fields. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have high walls around our houses to protect us, but they don't need walls, because their friends will protect them.

    The father had nothing to say. Then the boy added, "Thank you, Dad, for letting me see how poor we are."

    Mr. Smith works in an office. He's very busy and has no time to have a good rest. Every evening, when he comes back from his office, he's always tired and wants to go to bed early. But his wife always has a lot of interesting things to tell him after supper. She doesn't stop talking until she goes to sleep.

    One day Mr. Smith feels terrible and can't go to work. He goes to see a doctor. And Mrs. Smith goes to the hospital with him. Before her husband says what is the matter with him, the woman tells the doctor all about her husband and the doctor understands why. He writes out a prescription(处方). And when Mrs. Smith takes the medicine to the doctor's room, the doctor says to her, "This kind of medicine is for your husband and the pills are for you."

    "For me?" the woman says in surprise. "I'm fine. I don't need any medicine!"

    "I don't think so, madam," says the doctor. "They are sleeping pills. Your husband will be all right if you take them. "