William Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers in English literature. His plays can be divided into three categories: histories, tragedies(悲剧) and comedies. Shakespeare wrote eighteen comedies, although two were lost. These comedies usually have happy endings and a light-hearted tone and style that are quite different from his tragedies.

    All of Shakespeare's comedies have five acts and the most important or exciting point always takes place in the third act. The hero does not appear until after other characters have talked about him. Shakespeare had some themes that he usually wrote about: the fight between good and bad, love's great effect on people, and the difference between first appearance and a person's true personality or face. Shakespeare also wrote his play in a certain style. For example, Shakespeare used words in such a clever and humorous way that they had more than one meaning. Some of the characters changed their appearances so that people didn't know who they were.

    Even though the tone is lighter in these plays. Comedies in Shakespeare's day were quite different from modern-day comedies because their purpose was not to make people laugh. Shakespeare's comedies are very emotional(有感染力的) and often include serious topics to think about.

    It was a sunny night. Jim was having a drink with his friend.  He drank too much, and he had to leave at half past eight because he had a ticket for a music festival, which would start at nine o'clock.

    It was half past an hour's walk from the pub to the theatre. Jim knew a shortcut that would only take ten minutes, but it meant crossing rails(铁轨), and was dangerous. He took the shorter way, however, and when he reached the rails, he tripped(绊倒) and fell over. Then he fell asleep with his face down. After a while, a train came. When the driver saw a body lying on the track, he tried hard to stop the train. When it finally stopped, it was several meters before the body. The driver quickly got off and checked. Luckily, he found the man was still alive, but sleeping. Though the driver tried hard to wake him, Jim just kept sleeping. The driver took Jim to the hospital, where he woke up at last.

    When Jim was told what had happened, he decided to give up drinking. “I'm so lucky that I have a chance to turn my life around,' he said.

    One day a poor farmer was taking a bag of rice to the town. Suddenly the bag fell down from his horse on the road. He didn't know what to do about it because it was too heavy for him to lift (举起) it by himself. He only hoped that somebody would soon pass (经过) by and help him.

    Just at this moment a man riding a horse came up to him. But the farmer was very disappointed(失望的)when he saw who he was. It was the great man living nearby. The farmer had hoped to ask another farmer or a poor man like him for help.

    But to his surprise, the great man got off his horse as soon as he came near. He said to the farmer, "I see you need help, my friend. How good it is that I'm here just at the right time！" Then he took one end of the bag, the farmer took the other. They together lifted it and put it on the horse.

    "Sir, " asked the farmer, "how can I pay you？"

    "It's quite easy, " the great man answered with a smile, "Wherever (无论在哪里) you see anyone in trouble, do the same for him. "

    Mr Brown was a dance teacher. He was a nice man and always had a lot of students who came to his classes every week. One year he moved to a new town and taught a lot of students in a dance school there but then he decided to move again to a big city where he would have work.

    When one of the ladies who often came to his classes heard that he was leaving, she said to him, “The teacher who takes your place won't be as good as you are. ”

    Mr Brown was happy when he heard this. He said, "Oh, no! I'm sure he'll be as good as I am, or even better. ”The lady said, "No, five teachers have come and gone since I lived here, and each new one was worse than the last. ”

    The famous director（导演）of a big and expensive movie planned to film a beautiful sunset（日落）over the ocean, so that the audiences could see his hero and heroine in front of it at the end of the film as they said goodbye to each other for over. He sent his camera workers out one evening to film the sunset for him.

    The next morning he said to the men, "Have you provided me with that sunset?"

     "No, sir," the men answered. The director was angry. "Why not?" he asked.

     "Well, sir," one of the men answered, "we're on the east coast here, and the sun sets in the west. We can get you a sunrise（日出）over the sea, if necessary（必要）, but not a sunset. "

     "But I want a sunset!" the director shouted."（Go to the airport, take the next flight to the west coast, and get one."

    But then a young secretary had an idea. "Why don't you photo a sunrise," she asked, "and then play it backwards? Then it'll look like a sunset."

     "That's a very good idea!" the director said. Then he turned to the camera workers and said, "Tomorrow morning I want you to get me a beautiful sunrise over the sea."

    The camera workers went out early the next morning and filmed a bright sunrise over the beach in the middle of a beautiful coast. Then at nine o'clock they took it to the director. "Here it is, sir, "they said, and gave it to him. He was very pleased.

    They all went into the studio（工作室）. "All right, "the director explained, "now our hero and heroine are going to say goodbye. Run the film backwards so that we can see the 'sunset' behind them. "

    The "sunset" began, but after a quarter of a minute, the director suddenly put his face in his hands and shouted to the camera workers to stop.

    The birds in the film were flying backwards, and the waves on the sea were going away from the beach.