More than 700 years ago，Scotland （苏格兰） was fighting with England．The king of England wanted to 1 Scotland．He had a strong army so it was2for the Scots to fight．They lost many times，King Robert of Scotland had to run from the English army．

    One rainy day，King Robert lay in an old house．He thought that he was not good enough to be king．He was so3that he didn't even see a spider（蜘蛛）near him．He 4when he saw the spider climbing．It was trying to climb up its web at the top of the house but it fell down．

    "How sad"thought King Robert．"The spider is like me．It's not 5enough．"He watched while the spider climbed up again．It fell down a second time．

    "Be careful，little spider，or you might die，"he said．"Life is so hard．You'll never get back to your web．"But the spider 6again and again．King Robert watched while it 7climbed back to its web．After an hour，the spider got do the web．

    "You are such a great 8 ， "he said．"If you can keep trying．I can too．I must keep on fighting．I won't let the English win．"His 9grew strong and they 10the English army．Scotland was free．

    Nobody knows if this is a true story．Many parents tell it to their children because they want them to keep trying．

    Now, almost every family has the television. Television makes people know a lot of things which they don't know before.

    Mike likes watching TV very much. From TV programs, he knows ships. Then Mike loves ships. When he was older, he said, "I'm going to be a soldier (士兵)." But his eyes were not very1, and he didn't get in.

    Then he said, "I'm going to2a small boat and I'm going around the world." But boats were very expensive, and Mike didn't have enough3.

    Last summer Mike found a swimming4near his house. The lessons didn't cost very5, and Mike began going to the school at weekends and having6. Now he is a good swimmer.

    Last week a little boy said to him, "You're a very good swimmer. How do7learn to swim so well?"

    "I'm not good at all," Mike said and he smiled. "8I'm in the water, I say to myself, 'There are9fishes behind me!' Then I'm very afraid, and I10quickly. "

    Once upon a time, there was a swan (天鹅). She lived in a lake. A woman with her two daughters lived in a small house1 the lake. They lived a hard life. Sometimes they 2 enough money to buy food.

    The swan was 3 to see that. She4to help them. Every day she came to the woman's house and left a golden feather without 5anything. The woman sold the feather 6 bought food. She was happy because her life was 7than before.

    But the woman became greedy (贪婪). One day when the swan 8, the woman caught her and took all her golden feathers. Suddenly the golden feathers 9 the common (普通的) feathers.

    The swan said, "I came to help you, but you wanted to kill (杀) 10. I will never come back. Never be greedy." With these words, the swan disappeared (消失).

    Last weekend I went to Beijing. We went to the hotel {#blank#}1{#/blank#} taxi. During the taxi trip. the taxi driver told us many {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (interest) stories about the city. We were very happy and excited to hear them.

    When we {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (get) to the hotel, I couldn't find my mobile phone (手机).But the taxi driver got away. So I went to the police station {#blank#}4{#/blank#} help. There were three mobile {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (phone) in the police station. One of them {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (look) like mine. But it wasn't. Just at that time. the driver {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (come) to the police station and I saw him bringing a mobile phone with him. Ob. it was my mobile phone. I thanked him for {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (return) it tome. I felt so {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (luck) to see my mobile phone again. After I went back to the hotel. I thought the people in Beijing were very {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (friend).

    Long ago, there was a queen who lived in a palace. She felt bored and said to her advisor (顾问):

    "All the things around me are too boring. I need a different kind of beauty. Let everyone know that I will hold a competition for the most beautiful thing in the world. And the prize will be this crown(王冠)."

    Several days later, lots of people came to the competition and showed their things. The queen was not satisfied with what she saw. The advisor suggested, "What you are looking for cannot be brought to you. You must look for it by yourself. What about a journey?"

    The queen was interested in the idea, so she started immediately. As she was on top of the hill near her palace, she looked down and suddenly something cried in her heart, "Why have I never found my palace so beautiful?"

    The queen spent one year travelling. She saw beauty on the farm, in the forest and even in the stars twinkling (闪烁)at night on her journey. But what was the most beautiful thing? She thought it over. Suddenly, she under- stood beauty was everywhere. She should learn to enjoy the world. She left the pieces of her crown at different places that she had seen. As time went by, the queen's crown got smaller and smaller until nothing was left.

    She found the most beautiful thing at last. It was the world!

Several times each year the Queen gives afternoon tea parties at which guests are served tiny cakes filled with cream from her own cows. Cakes and sandwiches are bought in by footmen, yet you never see the Queen touch a thing. She

simply sits beside a big silver plate, pouring cups of tea for everyone and carefully avoiding the cakes.

At cocktail parties the Queen moves from group to group, chatting informally, and manages to make one glass of diet drink to last a whole evening. Tours abroad are difficult because hosts seem to believe the warmth of their welcome must be shown with wonderful state banquets(宴). But the Queen has perfected the art of appearing to enjoy her meal without actually eating much. During one visit to the Pacific islands of Tonga, a specially-prepared dinner was set up in   a hut made of wood and bamboo leaves. Deep holes were dug in the ground, filled with hot stones and baby pigs, and the pigs were slowly cooked with dry heat over several days. The Queen looked uneasily at her plate when she discovered a   whole roast(烤) pig was her serving.

Then she became uneasy when a turkey, some meat, bananas and an apple were also carried in for each guest. So she depended on her old favourite trick of talking with her host, King Tupou IV, carrying on a warm conversation. At the same time she pushed her food around her plate and only ate a piece of turkey and some fruit.

Reporters traveling with her have noticed that the Queen will sometimes seem so interested in a foreign leader's political(政治的) chat that she simply never has time to finish a meal before it is time to get up and make her speech. She will lift her fork, then put it down again to make another point, leaving almost all of her meal untouched.