A couple had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were very naughty. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that, if any mischief(恶作剧) happened in their town, their sons were probably considered.

    The boys' mother heard that a clergyman(牧师) in town had been successful in dealing with naughty children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed, but wanted to see them separately. So the mother sent her 8-year-old first in the morning, with the elder boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.

    The clergyman, a huge man, sat the younger boy down and asked him seriously, “Where is God?”

    The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no reply, sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide-eyed. So the clergyman repeated the question in an even more serious voice. “Where's God!!?” again the boy made no try to answer. So the clergyman raised his voice even louder and shook his finger in the boy's face and shouted, “WHERE IS GOD?”

    The boy screamed and ran away from the room, ran directly home and hid himself in the cupboard, closing the door heavily. When his elder brother found him in the cupboard, he asked, “What happened?”

    The younger brother replied in a nervous voice, “We are in big trouble this time. God is missing—and they think WE did it!”

    Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s. The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach (菠菜) to make him strong. People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach. Popeye helped sell 33 per cent more spinach than before! Spinach became a necessary part of many people's diets. Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable.

    Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not-true. Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetables.

    People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake. In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables. This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did. The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it.

    Today, we know that the little iron there is in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is. However, spinach does have something else which the body needs—folic acid.

    It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong. Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along.

    Yesterday wasn't a good day. The weather wasn't very nice. It was cold and rainy. The bus wasn't on time. It was late. My boss（老板）wasn't very happy because I was late（迟）for work. He was a-little angry.

    At 1 o'clock I went to a cafe for lunch, but the food wasn't hot and the coffee was cold. I wasn't very happy. Then I went back to work, but my papers（文件）weren't on my desk. They were missing. I looked for them everywhere, but I couldn't find them. Later someone gave them back to me. I went home from work at 5 o'clock and it started to rain again. I got very wet.

    Zheng He, the Columbus of the East, was an amazing man.

    He was born in 1371 and, 11 years later, was caught by the army of a rich young man called Zhu Di and made to work for him. Over time the rich man saw that Zheng He was very clever and strong and they became close friends. In 1403 Zhu Di was made the King of China and he asked Zheng He to join his new government.

    The King wanted to learn more about the world and show other countries his power. He ordered many new ships to be built and made Zheng He their leader. Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led seven sea trips to different parts of the world. He certainly travelled to India, Africa and the Middle East. A few people think his ships may have even reached South America and Australia.

    Each trip lasted between two and four years and it is believed he sailed more than 50 000 kms during the years of his travels. With 28 000 men and over 300 ships, such as boats for food, water and even soldiers' horses, Zheng He led a fleet whose size would not be equaled by Europeans for over 500 years.

    On these trips he brought with him many Chinese goods like silk and medicine to give to foreign kings or to sell for local goods. He returned from each trip with boats filled with expensive things such as gold and jewellery, foreign guests and strange animals like a giraffe.

    It is a pity that we may never learn everything about Zheng He's travels. After he died in 1433, the new king, who believed these trips were unlucky and too expensive, had them stopped and he burned almost all the books about Zheng He's travels. It is only in the last 50 years that historians have begun to carefully study the adventures of the great Zheng He.

    Once there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was said that the island would go down, so all made boats and left except Love.

    Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to offer her help until the last possible moment. When the island had almost gone down, Love decided to ask for help.

    Richness was passing by Love in a great boat. Love said, "Richness, can you take me with you?" Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."

    Sadness was close by, so Love asked, "Sadness, let me go with you." "Oh, Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"

    Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so happy that she did not even notice when Love called her.

    Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you." It was an elder. Love was so excited that she even forgot to ask who the elder was. So Love asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who helped me?" "It was Time." Knowledge answered. "Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"

    Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time understands how valuable Love is."

Hello, I am Mary. I live in Chengdu. It's sunny and cool in my city now. I'm studying at home. My parents are shopping. What's the weather like in your city? And what are you doing?