Just as I came back home. I heard a sound coming from the bedroom upstairs—it was from my favourite violin.

“Thief （小偷）！”

 I rushed upstairs and saw a boy in dirty clothes pulling my violin down. At first sight, I found a new pair of shoes missing. It seemed he was surely a thief.

However, when I saw his eyes full of fear, my anger disappeared. I smiled and asked, “Are you Mr. Ram's student Rubens? I'm his butler（男管家）. I've heard Mr. Ram say his student will come. It must be you.”

“Has my teacher gone out ?”the boy said, “I think I'd better visit him again in a while/”

 I nodded and asked him, “Do you like playing the violin?”

“Yes, but I'm too poor to afford one.” the boy replied.

“Then, I'll give you this violin." The boy looked at me surprisingly, but he picked up the violin. While going out of the room, he suddenly saw a huge photo of me playing the violin at the Grand Theatre of Sydney on the wall. His face turned pale. He stood there for a moment and ran out. He must have understood what had happened because no master（主人）would put up the butler's photo on the wall of his living room.

 A few years later, at a music competition in Melbourne, I was invited to be the judge （评委）. Finally, a violin player called Merritt won the first prize.

 After the prize-giving, Merritt ran to me holding a violin box, his face red, and asked, “Mr. Brian, do you still know me? You gave me the violin, which I have treasured ever since! Today, I want to say sorry and give back this violin to you without regret…”

 He was just the “Mr. Ram's student”!

    John is an American boy. His family is in China now. John likes chocolates (巧克力) very much. But his mother doesn't give him any. They are not good for him, she thinks. But John has a very nice grandfather. The old man loves him very much, and sometimes he buys John some chocolates. Then his mother lets John eat them. She wants to make the old man happy. One Sunday evening John says in his room, “Please, God. Make them give me a big box of chocolates tomorrow. It's my birthday.” His mother says, “God can't hear you, my boy.” “I know, but my grandfather is in the next room. He can hear.”

    Tom arrived at the New York airport two hours before the flight to Paris. He was wearing three shirts, a jacket, two pairs of socks, a pair of shorts, and two pairs of jeans. He was carrying one small backpack, which was very full, but he didn't have any other luggage. Tom needed to meet a man named Tony before he checked in for his flight. He found Tony near the Air France counter. Tony gave him a round-trip ticket and a small package.

    “Give this package to Jean-Paul at the airport in Paris. He will have a sign with your name on it. I think you can find him easily,” Tony said, ”You don't have any luggage, right?”

    “Only this backpack,” Tom answered. ”You said I could bring one carry-on bag.”

    “That's right. One carry-on bag is fine. Have a good trip.”

    “Thanks.”

    Is Tom a criminal (罪犯)? Not at all. He is an air-courier(空中信使). And he paid only $110 for the round-trip ticket to Paris. Air couriers get cheap airline tickets because they take important packages and papers to foreign countries. Businesses sometimes need to get packages and papers to people in foreign countries by the next day. Often, the only way they can do this is to use an air-courier company. It is not cheap for a business to send a package with an air courier, but it is quick.

    Every year about 80,000 people worldwide travel as air couriers. The number of tickets for courier travel is growing by about 10 percent a year. However, air-courier travel isn't for everyone. But if you have very little money, can be flexible(灵活的) about your travel plans, and don't mind wearing the same clothes for a week, it can be a great way to take a vacation!

Many people like to collect things. Some people collect stamps, some collect dolls and some collect rocks. 1 , Christa Behmenburg, from Germany, collects something unusual—mouse-related items.

Christa's husband is a geologist (地质学家). He likes collecting postcards about mineral (矿物质) resources. Christa always goes with him to fairs 2 new cards for his collection. Actually, Christa is not fond of mineral resources, 3 she feels bored with these fairs. One day, she asked her husband 4 she could also build up a collection of something she likes. He agreed and advised Christa to collect something about 5 favorite animal. Unluckily, that piece of advice would become the biggest regret he's never had.

Christa's favorite animal is the mouse. Since she 6 a teenager, she has had mice as pets. The animal 7 lovely and clever. Two or three years after 8 the hobby, she went all in. She had hundreds and then thousands of mouse-related items only 9 weeks later.

At first, she and her husband had 10 small flat. However, space was getting much 11 because of Christa's collection. The two had to rent (租) 12 two houses. To everyone's surprise, the number of Christa's mouse-related items was up to 47,398 in early 2022 and she broke the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of mouse-related items 13 the end of this year.

Christa's collection continues to grow. Now, every room in her house, from the kitchen to the bathroom, 14 mouse-related items. Sometimes, Christa's husband complains about the large collection 15 brings them joy and trouble. Christa, however, will remind him that it was all his idea!

Mr. and Mrs. Green are two old farmers in the countryside. George is 1 only son and he is 30 years old. He works in 2 big city and visits his parents only on weekends.

3 the morning of April 2nd, Mr. and Mrs. Green decided 4 to the city to visit George by bus without giving him a call. The bus was very slow 5 they didn't mind it. It was the first time they went to the big city, so they were 6 to see the new things on the way. When the bus arrived there three hours later, George was surprised and happy to see his parents 7 before him. That evening, they 8 out in a restaurant. The food was quite different from that in the countryside. After supper, George showed his parents around the city. His father said, "If we come here next time, we 9 shopping and buy lots of things."

The next morning, Mr. and Mrs. Green went back home 10 . Although they were away for only one day, they began to miss their farm.