Some British and American people like to invite friends for a meal at home. You should not be upset if your English friends don't invite you home. It doesn't mean they don't like you.

    Dinner parties usually start between 7 and 8 p.m. and end at about 11 p.m. Ask you hosts(主办人) what time you should arrive. It's polite to bring flowers, chocolates or a bottle of wine(酒) as a gift.

    Usually the evening starts with drinks and snacks. If you want to be very polite, say how much you like the room, or the pictures on the wall. But remember—It's not polite to ask how much things cost.

    In many families, the husband sits at one end of the table and the wife sits at the other end. They eat with their guests(客人).

    You'll probably start the meal with soup or something small, then you'll have meat or fish with vegetables, and then dessert followed by coffee. It's polite to finish everything on your plate and to take more if you want it.

    Did you enjoy the evening? Call your hosts the next day, or write them a short “thank you” letter. British and American people like to say “thank you, thank you, thank you” all the time!

    Captain（船长）Nemo invited me and my friends to go hunting with him in the forests of Crespo Island. I asked him why he was so interested in Crespo Island. “I thought you preferred the sea to being on land.”

    “I do,” replied the captain. “But these forests are under the sea.”

After going through a door, we were about ten meters under the water. The light from the sun reached us. Everything looked very colourful. We were going deeper and deeper. At 100 meters deep, we could see quite well, and Captain Nemo stopped and pointed to some dark shapes. This was the forest. The “trees” in the forest were giant seaweed, and all their “branches” were vertical（垂直的）.We could not stop looking at them. Fish swam around the branches like birds in a forest.

    Suddenly, I saw a large sea spider about a meter tall. It was going to attack me. Captain Nemo's man killed it with his gun, but it reminded me that the sea could be as dangerous as it was beautiful. When we reached 150 meters, it was dark. The sun's light could not reach this depth（深度）. We turned our lights. We could see about 20 meters around us. Finally, we found Crespo Island—where a steep rock wall rose in front of us.

    We could go no further, so we walked back toward the Nautilus. Suddenly, Captain Nemo stopped and shot an animal with his gun, it was a beautiful and rare sea otter. At last, we could see the Nautilus. Several large sharks swam over us. Luckily they didn't see us. We re-entered the Nautilus safely. I was tired but amazed by what I had seen.

    Cody and his sister April decide to buy a dog. They go to the local pet store and have a look around. It is a very small pet store that doesn't have many animals.

    The owner of the store is a nice old man-Mr. Smith. He walks over and greets Cody and April.

    "How can I help you?" he asks.

    "We would like to buy a dog," April responds(回答).

    "Ah, well, our shop is not a big pet shop," Mr. Smith tells her. "So we only have two dogs to choose from."

    They ask Mr. Smith to show them the dogs.

    Mr. Smith leads them to the back of the store where the two dogs are. One of them is a very big bulldog(斗牛犬) named Buster. The other is a very tiny chihuahua(吉娃娃) named Teacup.

    April wants Teacup. Cody wants Buster. They walk outside to discuss.

    They can't agree on a dog. April suggests they race home for it. The winner of the race chooses the dog.

    Cody agrees, then tells April her shoelace(鞋带) is untied. When April looks down, he runs off and gets a head start.

    Cody runs as hard as he can. He really wants that bulldog. He looks back. April is so far behind, and he can't even see her.

    Cody finally gets home. He is tired but he is happy. He knows he is the winner.

    April arrives a few minutes after Cody. She congratulates him. They return to the pet store to purchase Buster, the bulldog.

    However, when they arrive they only see Teacup.

    They ask Mr. Smith where Buster is.

    Mr. Smith gives the details. He explains that a few minutes after April and Cody leave, two boys walk in and buy the bulldog.

    Cody looks at April, and she holds back a smile. He turns back to Mr. Smith.

    "Sometimes you win the race, but not the prize!" Cody looks sad. "We'll take the chihuahua, please."

    Tony Wheeler was born to travel his father worked for all airline. For the first 16 years of his live. Wheeler and his family lived in many different countries.

    In the early 1970s, Tony met a young woman named Maureen. They soon married. Before getting jobs, Tony and Maureen wanted to travel. They took a year-long trip from England, through Asia, to Australia. On the trip, they visited places like Iran(伊朗), India, and so on.

    When Tony and Maureen arrived in Australia, people asked many questions about their trip. To answer these questions, Wheeler wrote a book called Across Asia on the Cheap. The book told people about different countries' weather, customs(风俗), and places to see。But unlike other travel books then, Tony Wheeler's book also talked about places most tourists did not go. He also wrote about unusual things to see and do. The book was very popular.

    Tony and Maureen started a company called Lonely Planet. They continued travelling. They wrote books for each place they visited. Today, 800 people work for Lonely Planet. The company has over 650 books. Tony Wheeler, the great traveller, still writes about travels to many places and will bring us more surprises.

    One day Bob took two of his friends into the mountains. They put up their tents (帐篷) and then rode off to a forest to see how the trees were growing.

    In the afternoon when they were about ten kilometers from their camp(营地), it started to snow. More and more snow fell. Soon Bob could not see his hands before his face. He could not find the road. Bob knew there were two roads. One road went to the camp, and the other went to his house. But all was white snow. Everything was the same. How could he take his friends back to the camp?

    Bob had an idea. The horses! Let the horses take them back! But what would happen if the horses took the road to his house? That would be a trip of thirty-five kilometers in such cold weather!

    It was getting late. They rode on and on. At last the horses stopped. Where were they? John looked around. What was that under the tree? It was one of their tents!