Bruce shook his money box again.

    Nothing! He carefully counted the coins that lay on the bed. All that he had was $24.52. The 1 which he wanted was at least $ 90. How on earth(究竟) was he going to get the rest of the 2?

    He knew that his friends all had bicycles. It was hard to hang out(闲逛) with people when you were the only one 3 a bicycle. He thought about 4 he could do. He couldn't get money from his parents, because he knew they had no extra(额外的) money.

    There was only one way to get money, and that was to earn(挣钱) it. He would have to find a job. He decided to ask Mr. Clay for 5.

    "Well, you can start right here," said Mr. Clay. "You see, my windows need cleaning and my car need washing."

     That was the beginning of Bruce's part time(兼职) job. For the next three 6 he worked every day after finishing his homework. He took dogs for walks and cleaned rooms.

     The day finally came when Bruce 7 his money and found $ 94.32. He wasted no time and went down to the shop to 8 the bicycle he wanted. He rode home proudly, looking forward to 9 his new bicycle to his friends. Bruce liked his bicycle very much because he had bought it with his own money. At last, his dream came true, and his parents were 10 of him.

阅读理解

    One day I got in a taxi, and we left for the airport. We were driving in the right lane（车道）when, suddenly, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver stopped his car at once. The tire（轮胎） made a very loud noise, and at the very last moment our car stopped just one inch from the back of the other car.

    I was frightened. But then I couldn't believe what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, turned his head and started yelling at us. I couldn't believe it! But my taxi driver just smiled at the guy. So I asked, “Why did you just do that? This guy almost sent us to hospital.”

    This is when my taxi driver taught my what I now call, “The Law of the Rubbush Truck（垃圾车法则）.” He explained that many people are like rubbish trucks. They run around full of rubbish, full of anger and full of bad feelings. As their rubbish piles up, they look for a place to throw it away and sometimes they'll throw it at you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their rubbish and spread it to other people at work, at home or on the streets.

    Successful people never let rubbish trucks change their moods. Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love those who love you and pray（祈祷）for those who don't.

    Matt jumped into bed. His father sat down beside him.

    "What kind of day did you have?" he asked.

    "It was a bad day for me," Matt answered. "I had a fight with Ned. The teacher sent a note home about me. And Mom talked about it with me."

    "Yes, part of the day was bad," Mr. Gold said. "But there were good parts, too. Now it's time to go to sleep. So, tell me about the best thing today."

    Matt smiled. "After school I went fishing," he said. "No one wanted to go with me. So I had to go alone. I didn't think I would have any fun. But I did! I caught a fish!"

    "I'm glad you had a good time," Mr. Gold said. "Think about it until(直到)you go to sleep. Happy dreams!"

    "Good night, Dad," Matt said.

    His father kissed(亲吻)him good night.

    Every night, Mr. Gold and Matt have a little talk like this.

    Every night, Matt answers the same question. "What was the best thing that happened to you today?"

    Every night Matt goes to sleep thinking about the best thing. He has many happy dreams!

    Sometimes he has to think hard to find the best thing. Sometimes it is a very small thing. But he always finds one good thing to think about.

    Matt's father taught his son a good way to end his day. You may want to try it. If you do, why not begin this every night?

    Penny was a five-year-old girl. One day when she and her mother were at a store, Penny saw a plastic pearl necklace. What a lovely necklace! She wanted it very much, so she begged her mother to buy it for her. The mother said, “Well, I can buy you the necklace, but when we get home, we should discuss what you can do to pay for it. Can we do that?” Penny agreed with much happiness, and she got the plastic necklace she loved.

    How much Penny loved the necklace! She wore it everywhere and every minute. Penny also helped with housework to get pocket money and she worked very hard. Soon she managed to pay off the price for the necklace.

    Penny's daddy saw all her effort and knew how much Penny cared about the necklace. One night, he asked Penny, “Penny, do you love me?”

    “Sure, Daddy,” the little girl said.

    “Then how about giving me your necklace?”

    “Come on, Daddy! Not my necklace!” Penny cried.

    “Oh, darling, it's fine,” her father gave her a kiss.

    A week later, her father asked Penny again for her plastic necklace.

    “Oh! Daddy, please don't!” Penny cried even harder.

    However, several days later, Penny went to her daddy with tears in her eyes. “Here, Daddy. I love you.” She held out her hand. Inside it was her plastic pearl necklace that she loved a lot.

    Seeing this, Penny's father smiled with surprise. He then pulled a cute box out of his pocket. Inside of the box was a real and beautiful pearl necklace, which was waiting for Penny for so long.

    Roald Dahl was one of the most successful writers of children's books. He sold millions of books all over the world. Many of his books have been made into films and videos. He is so famous that there is even a Roald Dahl Museum you can visit.

    Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales, Britain. His father was rich but he died when Roald was very young. Roald and his mother lived a hard life. He had to leave school and went to Africa where he worked for an oil company.

    In 1939, Roald became a pilot, but he had a bad accident. It made him limp(瘸的)for the rest of his life. After this, Roald went to America where he wrote a story about his experience as a pilot. It was so good that it was put in a magazine.

    Roald married an American film star. They bought a house in England and had five children. From 1960 to 1965, ：Theo, one of his children, was hit by a taxi and was seriously hurt. Oliva, one of Roald's daughters, died of a strange illness. Soon after this, his wife also had a serious illness. It took her years to get completely better.

    Gradually Roald became more and more successful. He always did his writing in an old shed(棚)at the back of his house. He always sat in the same old armchair with a wooden board on his lap.

    "One of the nice things about being a writer," he once said, "is that all you need is what you've got in your head and a pencil and a bit of paper."

    In 1983 Roald won a big prize for his book The BFG. During his life, Roald wrote many famous books, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Fantastic Mr Fox.

    After he died in 1990, Roald left money to help people with serious illness and those with problems with reading and writing.

    Karen lived with her parents in the Karoo Basin of South Africa. The Karoo was famous for plant and animal fossils(化石) ,Karen's father was a paleontologist(古生物学家) ,and Karen enjoyed looking at the dinosaur bones in his office. She hoped to discover her own dinosaur someday.

    Every summer, Karen's father invited paleontologists from around the world to the Karoo. As they hiked through the dry land, he would show them fossil samples(样本) within the layers of sedimentary rock(沉积岩) and ash.

    This summer, Karen asked her father if she could go along on the hike. He agreed, but he asked her to stay close by. As they drove to the trail(小径) ,Karen's heart beat quickly with excitement. There were so many places to visit.

    The hike was interesting, but Karen was too curious to stay on the trail. Without asking, she ran down into a nearby ravine(峡谷) and looked among the rocks, Then, he heard her father's voice calling to her. She ran up the side of ravine. Suddenly, she spotted something white and shiny. "Dad!" she shouted excitedly.

    Karen's father stood at the top of the ravine with the other people. They looked worried until Karen pointed to the shiny object. All the paleontologists examined it. They nodded to each other in surprise. It was the skull(骨头) of a dinosaur nobody knew about! The paleontologists took pictures and shook Karen's hands. Her father smiled, "Karen." he said. "You are now the youngest paleontologist in the Karoo!"