I was 12 when I came to Maywood School three years ago. Like most schools in the US, classes here began at 8:00 am. However, the head teacher, Mr Bergman, found there was a problem — so many students were either missing (错过) the first class or arriving late. My classmates and I often found it hard to keep our eyes open in the mornings, so lessons were no fun for us. Our marks weren't good either.

    In the end, Mr Bergman asked the school doctor for advice. The doctor said that because children's bodies are growing so quickly, they need more sleep than adults (成人). But their body clocks make it hard for them to go to bed before 11:00 pm, so the best time for them to get up is around 8:00 am.

    Mr Bergman decided to do an experiment (实验). He changed the start time for classes to 9:00 am. The school still opened at 8:00 am and teachers used the extra (额外的) hour to prepare lessons.

    I didn't think the new timetable (时间表) would make much difference, but I was wrong. I felt much better! Everyone's grades improved. Also, more students had time for a hot breakfast together in the dining hall. We all felt healthier and happier.

    After three months, Mr Bergman asked teachers, students and parents if they wanted to keep the new timetable. Everyone did.

    Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Italy. He is best known as an artist today. One of his famous paintings is called Mona Lisa. However, Leonardo had many other natural abilities. He was also a great inventor. Many of his inventions have become important in modern day life. Although Leonardo hated war, he invented many different machines used for wars. His most special invention was the machine gun, which was produced and used in war many years later.

    By watching the way birds fly, Leonardo tried to find out the secret of f lying. Among his sketches we can see several objects. We consider them as modern flying machines.Leonardo spent many hours thinking about how to make good use of time. He developed ideas for labor-saving machines like cutting machines.

    Leonardo was a strange man. He didn't eat any meat, which was unusual in those times. He never published his ideas and scientific discoveries. He usually used mirror writing, which looks like writing in a mirror, starting from the right side of the page and moving to the left.

    We have very little of his work today. Leonardo finished only a few of his paintings. He left many unfinished because he thought they were not perfect. No one in his life time knew how great Leonardo was. We now believe, however, that he was one of the cleverest men the world has ever known.

    Frank was a very talkative little boy. He never saw a new thing without asking a great many questions about it.

    His mother was very patient and kind. When it was proper to answer his questions, she would do so. Sometimes she would say, "You are not old enough to understand that, my son. When you are ten years old, you may ask me about it, and I will tell you." When his mother said this, Frank never bother(烦扰)her any more. He knew she always liked to answer him when he asked proper questions.

    The first time Frank saw an hourglass, he was very much interested, but he did not know what it was. His mother said, "An hourglass is made in the shape of the figure 8. The sand is put in at one end and runs through a small hole in the middle. As much sand is put into the glass as will run through in an hour."

    Frank watched the little stream of sand. He was impatient, because it would not run faster. "Let me shake it, mother," said he, "it is lazy, and will never get through."

    "Oh, yes, it will, my son," said his mother, "The sand moves by little and little, but it moves all the time. When you look at the hands of the clock, you think they go very slowly, and so they do, but they never stop. While you are at play, the sand is running, grain by grain(一粒粒). The hands of the clock are moving, second by second. At night, the sand in the hourglass has run through twelve times. The hour hand of the clock has moved all around its great face. This because they keep at work every minute. They do not stop to think how much they have to do, and how long it will take them to do it."

    Now, Frank's mother wanted him to learn a little hymn(赞美诗), but he said, "Mother, I can never learn it."

    His mother said, "Study all the time. Never stop to ask how long it will take to learn it. You will be able to say it very soon."

    Frank followed his mother's advice. He studied line after line, very busily; and in one hour and a half he knew the hymn perfectly.

Good Neighbours

    Mr. and Mrs. March lived together with their four daughters. Amy was very shy. Beth loved being at home. Meg looked very pretty. Jo was tall and thin and she was a tomboy. Their home was always busy and full of noise and people. Next to them lived old Mr. Laurence and his grandson, Laurie. They lived in a very large and comfortable house. But it was a house without life.

    One day, Joe saw Laurie standing at an upstairs window in his house and looking down at their garden. Jo's sisters were playing in the snow there. They were throwing snowballs and having a lot of fun. But Laurie's face was very sad.

    "Poor boy!" Jo thought. "He's all alone. He needs some friends." She couldn't stop thinking about him. She wanted to go and see him, but how could she go to the house without an invitation?

    Then one snowy afternoon, she saw Laurie's grandpa go out. This gave her an idea. She took a broom from the kitchen.

    "What are you going to do, Jo?" asked her sister Meg.

    "To clear the garden path." Answered Jo.

    When Laurie saw Jo from the window, a big smile changed his pale, sad face.

    Jo laughed and shouted, "How are you? Are you ill?"

    Laurie opened the window and said," I'm better now, thank you. I had a bad cold and had to stay inside for a week".

    "I'm sorry," said Jo. "Are you bored?"

    "Yes, very." he replied.

    "Don't your friends come to visit you?"

    "No. But I don't want to see anybody. Boys are noisy and they give me a headache."

    "Girls are quiet."

    "I don't know any girls."

    "You know us."

    "That's true! Can you come and visit me?" cried Laurie.

    "I'm not quiet, but I'd like to come," replied Jo. "I must ask Mother first." She ran back into her house.

    A few minutes later, she returned and rang the bell on the door of Laurie's house. A servant took her upstairs.

    "Here I am!" she said brightly. "Mother sends her love and my sisters gave me this blancmange (牛奶冻) for you."

    "That looks delicious," Laurie said. He was very happy to see Jo.

Jo looked around. There were lots of books on the shelves.

    "A nice room!" she said. "I can read to you if you like."

    "No, let's talk," replied Laurie.

    "All right," said Jo, "I can talk for hours. My sisters say I never know when to stop."

    "You have three sisters—Amy, Beth and Meg." Laurie continued.

    "How do you know this?" Jo was surprised.

    "You call each other's names when you are in the garden. Sometimes I can see you all around the table with your mother. She has a very kind face. I like looking at her. I haven't got a mother."

     Jo felt sad when she heard this.

    "Why don't you come and visit us?" she said, "It isn't good for you to stay in this house all the time."

    "Thank you. I'd like to come very much." Said Laurie.

    "We know all our neighbours except you." Jo said, "I'm glad we're friends now."

    She told him about all the interesting things in her life. She said," Besides(除了……之外) plays, I also love books." Laurie loved books too, and offered to show her the library in the house. The library was a wonderful room. Jo loved it.

    "Wow!" she said, "All those books!"

    Laurie said, "A person needs more than books."

    (Adapted from Little Women)