Mrs. Smith is an unusual teacher. Once she told each student to bring along a few potatoes in plastic bag. On each potato the students had to write a name of a person that they hated And the next day, every child brought some potatoes. Some had two potatoes；some three；some up to five.

 Mrs. Smith then told the children to carry the bags everywhere they went, even to the toilet, for two weeks. As day after day passed, the children started to complain(抱怨)about the awful smell of the rotten（腐烂的）potatoes.

 Those children who brought five potatoes began to feel the weight trouble of the bags. After two weeks, the children were happy to hear that the game was finally ended. Mrs. Smith asked,“How did you feel while carrying the potatoes for two weeks?” The children started complaining about the trouble loudly．

Then Mrs. Smith told them why she asked them to play the game. She said,“This is exactly the situation when you carry your hatred（仇恨）for somebody inside your heart. The terrible smell of the hatred will pollute your heart and you will carry something unnecessary with you all the time. If you cannot stand the smell of the rotten potatoes for just two weeks, can you imagine how heavy it would be to have the hatred in your heart for your lifetime? So throw away any hatred from your heart, and you'll be really happy．

    Be honest. That's all you have to do on Honesty Day. It would be great if we were all honest every day of the year. It's good that there is a day to encourage honesty. M. Hirsh Goldberg started Honesty Day. He chose the last day of April because the first day is April Fool's Day, which celebrates lies. On Honesty Day, anyone may ask you any question and you should give a true and honest answer. That means that you have knowledge of Honesty Day.

M. Hirsh Goldberg wrote a book on telling lies. He said in his book mat almost all person lie about 200 times a day. In our daily life, a typical(典型的) life for a man is "I did not drink that much” and for a woman is "Nothing is wrong I'm fine.” It is found that nurses are the most honest people, while sales people and politicians(政客) are the biggest liars.

    Every Honesty Day, M. Hirsh Goldberg hands out prizes to honest people.

    Last week, Richard's wife Leila had an accident. Richard's youngest child, John, was at home when it happened. He was playing with his new toy car. Richard gave it to him a week ago, for his third birthday

    Suddenly John heard his mother calling "Help! Help!" He ran to the kitchen. His mother burned herself with some hot cooking oil (油). She was crying and the pan (锅) was on fire.

    Richard went to his office. Both the other children went to school. John was too small to help his mother. ______. She soon put out the fire and took Leila to the hospital. When Richard came, Leila told him what happened. He was very proud(骄傲的，自豪的) of his son. "When you are a man, you will be just like your father," he said.

    There was once a little grey planet mat was very sad. The people living there didn't look after it. They polluted me whole planet so much with rubbish that there were no plants or animals left.

    One day, a little boy was walking on the planet when he passed a cave (洞穴) and noticed a small red flower inside. The flower was very sick, almost dying, so the boy carefully dug up the flower with roots, soil and everything. Then he started looking for a place where he could look after it. He searched all over the planet, but everywhere was so polluted that there was no place the flower could possibly live in. Then he looked up at the sky and noticed the Moon. It seemed to the boy that maybe the plant could live there. So the little boy put on his astronaut suit, and climbed into a spaceship. He put the little red flower in the back, and they went to the Moon.

    Far away from all that pollution, and with the boy visiting it every day to take care of it, the flower started to grow. The flower was so well cared for that it soon germinated, giving birth to others, and these other flowers spread onto other flowers. Before long, the whole Moon was completely covered with flowers.

    That's why, whenever the little boy's flowers open up, for a few minutes the Moon turns red, like a warning light. Maybe it's telling us that if we don't look after our planet, the day will come when flowers will only be able to grow on the Moon.

The Angel of the North

    The Angel of the North is a modern sculpture (雕塑) in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, designed by Antony Gormley. Completed in 1998, it is a steel sculpture of an angel, 20 metres tall, with wings measuring 54 metres across. The angel, like much of Gormley's other work, is based on the shape of his own body.

    According to the artist himself, the Angel of the North symbolises (象征着) the change from the industrial to the information age and stands proudly as a beacon (灯塔) of hope for the future of the region.

    It cost £800, 000 to make, with the money coming from the British government. It took four years to make the sculpture. It was made in three parts, the body, which weighed 100 tons, and two wings, which weighed 50 tons each. Angels are usually thought of being white, as they represent light, but Gormley's Angel of the North is a reddish brown colour. This is because the steel has a special paint to protect it from strong wind.

    The parts of the angel were moved from Hartlepool to Gateshead at night in big trucks. It took 5 hours to move everything, even though the journey is very short. The Angel of the North was put on the hill in Birtley on the 15th of February, 1998.

    The sculpture was made in memory of the coal miners who worked hard in the dark earth below the hill to bring wealth to the North East in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is a sign for Gateshead.

    The sculpture has since become one of the most famous landmarks in England as can be seen in television and film. It is the largest sculpture in Britain. Over 150,000 people come to Gateshead to see the sculpture every year.

    Once upon a time, a young man wanted to go to a village on business. Halfway there was a mountain. Before he left home, his family warned him to stay calm and climb onto trees if he was in face of beasts. In this way, the beasts couldn't do anything to him.

    The young man remembered these words and began his trip.

    He walked for a long time carefully and found that no beasts were out there. He thought his family's worries were superfluous. And he became relaxed as he walked. Just at that moment, he saw a fierce tiger running to him and he climbed onto a tree nearby at once.

    The tiger roared around the tree and even jumped to reach the man. The young man was too scared to hold the tree and fell right on the back of the tiger. Full of fear, he had to hold the tiger tightly. The tiger thought that must be a giant beast. So it was afraid and started running madly.

    People on the road didn't know what happened and said, "Look at the young man. He is riding a tiger!" "Cool!" "Superman!"

    Hearing these words, the young man was very angry. "Why can't they see I'm suffering a lot? Don't they understand I am in fear and almost scared to death? "he said to himself.