Science fiction is a popular kind of writing, and many people think of Jules Verne as the father of science fiction. He was born in France in 1828. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but from his early 20s Verne decided to; become a writer. At first he wrote plays for the theatre. Then, in 1863, he wrote a story called Five Weeks in a Balloon. The success of this book encouraged him to write more stories such as A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864)and From the Earth to the Moon(1865).

In the 19th century, many people were interested in science and inventions. Jules Verne wrote about scientific subjects in his stories and as a result, they were very popular. Verne's writing included many predictions for the 20th century and many of them came true. He described space flight, movies, and air conditioning, a long time before they appeared. These books were very successful and they made Verne rich.

    Jules Verne's books have been the subjects for many movies. 20, 000 Leagues under the Sea was a successful movie for Walt Disney. It was the first Disney movie to use real actors instead of cartoon drawings .Around the world in Eighty Days is another famous movie based on one of Verne's books. The main character is an Englishman called Phileas Fogg. For him, the most important thing is to be always on time!

    Edward Estlin Cummings (E. E. Cummings) was a poet famous for writing his poems with capital (大写的) letters in the words. He also used "i" instead of "I" to refer to himself in the poems.

    Edward was born on 14 October, 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Young Edward's mother Rebecca loved to spend time with her children. She taught young Edward how to write poems. Edward's father was also named Edward. He was a great scholar (学者) and taught his son to learn by using his hands as well as his mind.

    Edward was a very smart boy. He was only 12 when he became a freshman in high school. He graduated (毕业) from Harvard in 1915. During World War Ⅰ, he joined the army and was sent to France. Edward and his friend from Harvard were caught because people thought they were sent by the German army. They were kept in one room. Their life was boring and full of fear. Edward therefore wrote his first book The Enormous Room and published it in 1922.

    Edward was a poet that made his own rules in poetry. He was one of the most popular poets of the 20th century.

    Dr Seuss was born in Springfield, Massachusetts 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 combine(结合) funny words, pictures, and social opinion. Children enjoy the invented words and the pictures of unusual funny animals and plants.

    Dr Seuss wrote his first book for children in 1937. It is called And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. A number of publishers refused to publish(刊登) it. They said it was too different. A friend finally published it. Soon other successful books followed. Over the years, he wrote more than forty children's books. They were fun to read. Yet his books sometimes dealt with serious subjects.

    In 1954, life magazine published 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 1957, Dr. 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. The story is about a cat who tries to entertain(娱乐) two children on a rainy day while their mother is away from home. The cat is not like normal cats. It talks. The book was an immediate success. It was a fun story and easy to read. Children loved it. Their parents loved it, too. Today it is still one of the stories they like best. The success of The Cat in the Hat made him want to write more books for children. In 1960, he wrote a book using less than fifty words, which is called Green Eggs and Ham.

    In 1984, 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. Doctor Seuss once said, "I do not write for children. I write for people.

    Zak's grandfather, Stan was very famous. Why? Because he had a very, very, very long white beard (胡子).

    One day, Zak asked his grandfather, "When you sleep, do you put your beard over or under the quilt (被子)?" "I'm not sure. I never care about that," said his grandfather, "I'll look tonight."

    Stan got into bed that night and pulled up the quilt. Then he remembered his grandson's question. Aha! His beard was under the quilt. But wait. Did that feel right?

    He lift his beard from under the quilt and put it above it. This also didn't feel right. Si he put the beard under the quilt again. But he soon felt it would be better if it were out. The beard went in and out—first under the quilt, then over it, under, over, all night long.

    Stan spent a sleepless night. In the morning, he was so tired and unhappy that he cut his long beard right off!

    Stan's wife was so happy. She advised Stan to cut that beard off many times, but he never did it. Now a simple question made him do that.