People usually hate mice, but one mouse has won the hearts of the people all over the world—the famous Mickey Mouse.

    Fifty years ago most movies were silent. A man called Walt Disney made a cartoon mouse that could talk his movies. He named his mouse Mickey Mouse. People, both young and old, were very excited at the talking mouse. Children loved to see their friend, because he brought joy and laughter to them.

    Mickey was a clean mouse right from the beginning. Perhaps this is one reason why people hate real mice and love Mickey Mouse. In his early life Mickey made some mistakes. People were angry. They wrote to Disney and said that they did not want Mickey to do silly things. So Disney made a new animal named Donald Duck. He also made a dog called Pluto. This dog does stupid things and makes mistakes wherever he goes. Now our Mickey Mouse is not only clean but also important. He appears as a beautiful and clever star. He has his friends in almost every country.

    Sarah is thirteen years old. She comes from Manchester in the UK; but now she is living in Geneva in Switzerland. Her father works for the UN and because of that she and her parents have to move a lot.

    Sarah has lived in five different countries: the US, Morocco, Turkey, Switzerland and the UK. But she doesn't remember the UK very well, because they moved to the US when she was only two years old. Still, she visits it often during vacation. She usually stays at her grandparents' house in Manchester. She likes visiting her grandparents, because they often take her to the Peak District National Park. It is very beautiful. Sometimes she stays with her uncle in the little town of Penzance in Cornwall. Sarah likes Penzance, too, but it's often very cold and windy. Penzance is very different from Geneva. In Geneva it is much warmer (更暖和的) in summer, but. also colder  in winter.

    Sarah likes going to new places. But every time she moves, she has to leave behind her old friends. She always needs to make new friends, and then leave them again. Luckily, they can write e-mails to tell each other about their lives.

    It was summer. A duck was sitting on many eggs in her house. Her little ducks were going to come to the world. One little duck after another came out from the eggs. The last baby was big and ugly. His brothers and sisters weren't willing to play with him because he was too ugly. Even his mother hated him too. And the girl who fed them kicked him.

    The poor little duck was so sad that he ran away from home in the winter. On his way, a big dog appeared, but the dog did not come close to him. "Oh, I am so ugly that even the dog won't bite me." the duck said to himself.

A kind farmer took him home when the weather got colder. He stayed there for a whole winter and left when the spring came.

    One day, he met three beautiful white swans (天鹅) when he was swimming in a lake. They swam toward him. He was afraid to make friends with them. But what did he see in the clear water? He was no longer a dark grey ugly duck. He was a beautiful swan himself. How amazing! He never dreamed that he could be so beautiful.

$38. 27. It was almost enough. Maybe by Monday Margaret would have enough to buy the bicycle. 

All of Margaret's friends had bikes. If she didn't get a bike, the girls in her class would forget all about her. During summer holidays, they planned to ride their bikes to each other's houses and they talked about bike trips to different sections of town and to the swimming pool. It would be a long, boring summer without a bike. 

In Margaret's family, there wasn't enough money for extras like a bicycle. That's why Margaret had to work in spare time. 

Margaret headed for Mrs. Perry's house. When she rang the doorbell, Mrs. Perry opened the door with her usual greeting. 

"Well hello, Margaret. Here's my little Miss Sunshine, right on time. "

"Let's see, " Mrs. Perry said, "I put the envelope on the table, 1 think. No, here it is on the kitchen counter. " Mrs. Perry handed the envelope to Margaret. 

"I'll be back soon. " Margaret said. She put the envelope in her jacket pocket and walked quickly down the street. Mrs. Perry could only get around with a walker (助行架). Margaret was glad she could be helpful. 

When she came to the park, she saw Gina and Alice sitting at a picnic table. "Hey, Mags, " Gina called. "Alice's mom made cookies. Come on, there's enough for the whole world, "

"We're going to my house anyway, " said Alice. "You could come after you help Mrs. Perry. "

"Thanks, but . 1 promised the Smiths I'd keep an eye on their dog while they're gone. " Margaret was feeling Warm so she took off her jacket. 

"People really trust you to help them, " said Alice. "Nobody asks me to do anything. It must make you feel great to volunteer. "

Margaret nodded. For the first time she thought maybe she should help Mrs. Perry for nothing, just "volunteer". After she got the bicycle, she might try it. 

"I'm on my way, " Margaret said to Gina and Alice. "See you on Monday. "

A block away Gina caught up with her. 

"I found this by the picnic table. Is it yours?" Gina handed her the envelope. 

"You're a lifesaver, Gina!" Margaret said. "Mrs. Perry's grocery money and the check for her medicine are inside. Thanks, "

At the supermarket, Margaret looked inside the envelope but she saw only the check for the medicine. 

Margaret searched for the money on her way back to the park. She looked carefully around the picnic table but she didn't find anything. She stopped at her house and sat on her bed, wondering what to do. Mrs. Perry might not have any more money, Even worse, she might think that Margaret had just kept the money for herself, She could say it was Mrs. Perry's fault for not sealing the envelope, but that wouldn't be fair. Margaret knew that if she had gone straight to the supermarket, this wouldn't have happened. There was only one good solution. Margaret took her own money from the shoe box, went back to the supermarket. 

Mrs. Perry was surprised when she saw Margaret. "How did you manage to get the groceries, Miss Sunshine? I found the grocery money in this envelope on the TV. I must have put the check for the medicine and the grocery money in different envelopes. Do you have time to take the money to the market?"

Carol and Linda took a trip to San Francisco last July. They went there to visit Nick. Nick is a friend from their old neighborhood in Rome. He moved to San Francisco five years ago. They went there by train because they wanted to see more of the United States. 

They arrived in San Francisco in the evening. Nick met them at the train station. They were so delighted to see him. He looked the same as before. They gave him a big hug （拥抱）. The next day, they went sightseeing （观光）. They saw the Golden Gate Bridge. They had lunch at Fisherman's Wharf. At Fisherman's Wharf, they saw the fishing boats come in. The next day, they visited the University of California at Berkeley. Nick teaches music there. Carol and Linda liked the school. They thought that it was very big and very beautiful. 

They saw all of San Francisco before they left. Nick took them everywhere! They went back to New Orleans by plane because they didn't have time to go back by train. Nick was sad （伤心的） to see them go and they were sad to leave. 

All in all, Carol and Linda had a wonderful trip. They traveled （旅行） across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. They visited all of San Francisco. They had a great visit with Nick. They both wanted to go again next summer!

One day, a young man went to a farm. He lost his job a few days ago, so he was going to 1 a new job there. 

An old farmer 2 him in his living room. 3 the old farmer asked what he could do to help on the farm, the young man just said, "I can sleep well when the storm comes." This short answer made the farmer feel 4 , but he liked the young man very much. Finally the young man got the job and lived 5 the farm. The weather was fine until there was a heavy storm one night. The old farmer and his wife (妻子) got up 6 and began to watch the situation on the farm. They wanted to see whether the things were 7 or not. 

They 8 all the things on their farm. They found the farm tools were safe in the storehouse (仓库). The 9 of the farmhouses were already closed. They were happy that 10 was OK. 

After that, they walked to the young man's11 . They were surprised to see that he was 12 on his bed. The farmer and his wife then understood the 13 of the young man's words. They said that the young man really did a good 14 . 

In fact, the young man got everything 15 when the sky was clear. He was not afraid at all, so he could sleep well when the storm came.