Dan was the doorman of a club in a big city. Every day, thousands of people passed his door, and a lot of them stopped and asked him, “What's the time, please？”

    After a few months, Dan said to himself, “I'm not going to answer all those stupid people any more. I'm going to buy a big clock and put it on the wall here.” Then he did so.

    “Now people aren't going to stop and ask me the time.” He thought happily.

    But after that, a lot of people stopped, looked at the clock and asked Dan, “Is that clock right?”

    Once upon a time, there was a lion and a mouse living in the forest.

    One day, when the lion was sleeping, the mouse ran onto his face. The lion woke up. He was very angry and caught the mouse. “I will eat you!” the lion said angrily.

    The mouse cried out,“If you do not kill me, I would be happy to give you a reward(回报).”The lion laughed at the idea. He did not think a little mouse could help such a big strong animal like himself. But he still let the mouse go.

    After a few days, it happened. The lion was caught by hunters' net(网). He tried his best to leave, after half a day, he still couldn't get out of the net. He was very sad, he thought he was dying. At that time the lion felt something biting(啃，咬) on the ropes. It was the mouse. Just before dark, the work was done. There was a hole in the net. The lion got free through the hole. He was very happy and thanked the mouse, “My friend, you have saved me. I will never doubt the power(能力) of small animals like you.”

    From then on, the lion and the mouse became friends.

    Winnie the Pooh is about 100 years old. It is my favourite, and I'm sure it's also yours. Do you know how it came to our life?

    Winnipeg is a place in Canada. Many years ago, Harry, a soldier, went to Europe from here. When he stopped at train station, he saw a man selling a little black bear. Harry bought it and named it Winnipeg. The name became Winnie in short later.

    Harry went to a lot of places. When he got to London, he left Winnie in the London Zoo. He thought they could look after Winnie.

    Near the zoo, there was a boy named Robin. He loved to visit the London Zoo with his dad. Winnie was his favourite animal. Robin's father was a writer. He wrote the bear in one of his poems for the first time. Later he wrote stories about Winnie and Robin. Slowly, the father wrote more characters(角色) like Piglet, Rabbit, Roo and Tigger and so on in his stories.

    Everyone faces difficulties in their life. Daniel Kish was born with a special eye illness and lost his eyesight before he was only 14 months old.

Soon after, however, he started to do an amazing thing. He learned to make clicks (咔哒声) with his tongue to help him move around. Kish now moves about using sonar (声呐). He is so good at it that he can ride a bicycle by himself on public roads. And he started the organization World Access for the Blind (WAFTB) in 2000, teaching others how to use sonar. In the interview with National Geographic, he explains how the sonar works.

    "When I make a click sound, it produces sound waves. These waves reflect (反射) off surfaces all around and return to my ears. My brain then deals with the sound and turns it into pictures in my mind. Each click is like a camera flash, which helps me make a 3-D picture of my surroundings for hundreds of feet. It's like having a conversation with the environment."

    Kish feels it is exciting to ride a bike using sonar, although he needs to click twice a second, much more than he usually does. "It may sound a bit dangerous to move around the world in this way," he says. "But most people in the world live in fear of things that they imagine. I love hiking and mountain-biking. I go almost everywhere. And I've never had an accident and hurt myself."

    He is happy to be able to help more blind children to improve their life. "We've served over 10, 000 students in nearly 40 countries," he tells the reporter. "Many students are surprised how quickly results come. Seeing isn't in the eyes. It's in the mind."

    After a serious earthquake happened, a father left his wife safely at home and rushed to his son's school, only to find that the building where his son studied had collapsed and looked like a pancake.

    He was shocked. He didn't know what he should do for a while, and then he remembered the words he had said to his son, "No matter what happens, I'll always be there for you!" And tears began to fill his eyes. He started digging through the ruins（废墟）.

    As he was digging, other helpless parents and the firemen arrived and tried to pull him off the ruins, saying, "It's dangerous here! There's nothing you can do!" To them he replied with one line," Are you going to help me now?" And then he kept on digging.

    He went on because he needed to know for himself, "Is my boy alive or is he dead?" He dug for 8 hours…12 hours…24 hours…36 hours… Then, in the 39^th hour, he pulled back a rock and heard his son's words. He shouted his son's name, "Armand!" He heard back, "Dad?! It's me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you'd save me, and when you saved me, they'd be saved. You promised, 'No matter what happens, I'll always be there for you!' You did it, Dad!"

    "What's going on there?" the father asked, "There are 14 of us left out of 33, Dad. We're frightened, hungry. Thirsty, but thankful you're here. When the building fell down, it made a triangle（三角形）and it saved us."

Come out, boy!"

    "No, Dad! Let the other kids out first, because I know you'll get me! No matter what happens, I know you'll always be there for me."

    Ray's wedding had gone off smoothly. Everyone seemed to have had a good time. A few people had too good a time; they went home with designated (指派的) drivers. All evening, the gift table remained unguarded. Who would steal anything, Ray thought. He had never heard of such a thing happening at a wedding. But his best friend Aaron said there was a first time for everything. He strolled out regularly from the inside festivities (庆祝) to check on the gift table, making sure no one suspicious was hanging around it.

    Ray and Julia went on a 3-week honeymoon to Italy right after the wedding. When they got back, they opened all the gifts and sent out thank-you notes. But there was one problem. A married couple that used to be good friends had apparently given nothing. This surprised Julia, because Walt and Mary said they were thrilled to be invited. And, they actually seemed to have had a great time at the wedding. Frankly, Ray didn't even care if they hadn't given a gift. He just needed to know whether to send a thank-you note. Ray called Aaron. Aaron said maybe Walt had left an envelope on the gift table like Aaron had. "Yes, but we got your envelope with the cash inside," Ray said. "Maybe my envelope looked too thin, and some thief thought Walt's envelope looked nice and fat."

    Aaron asked Ray if he had looked everywhere for Walt's gift. Had he called up the wedding site to see if anything had been left behind? Ray said that he had looked everywhere and made a lot of calls that were fruitless.

    Ray didn't know what to do. If he sent Walt and Mary a thank-you note for a gift they hadn't given, they would be insulted. If he didn't send them a thank-you note for a gift they had given, they would get angry.

    "What would you do?" Ray asked. Aaron said he would call Walt up and tell him the problem.

    "You can't go wrong with simply being honest," Aaron said.

    "Oh, yes, you can," Ray contradicted (反驳) him. "Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie." But he thought about it, and finally decided that Aaron was right. He called Walt and told him the problem. Walt said that yes, he had given an envelope. In fact, the envelope contained $500 cash.

    "$500?!" Ray asked. "That's a lot of cash, Walt!" Walt admitted that it was, but he had gotten a fat raise (加薪) early that year and Ray's was the only wedding he'd been to in quite a while. Ray thanked him very much, and apologized sincerely for someone stealing Walt's generous gift. Walt told him that it was "only money".

    When Ray told Aaron about Walt's gift, Aaron laughed. "The only thief at the wedding was Walt! I quit playing cards with him last year because I caught him cheating. And it was only a $10 pot! I'm sure I told you about that."

    "Yes, you did tell me," Ray said. But, of course, he had to send Walt a thank-you note anyway.