Jim, a young farmer, was once put into prison (监狱).

    One day, he got a letter from his mother. "I'm so worried about our farm," she wrote. "It's time to plant potatoes. I can't dig(挖) all the fields by myself. "

    Jim read the letter and became sad. "What can I do?" he thought. Then he had a good idea. He wrote to his mother, "Don't dig the fields. There's a pot of money in the earth. Don't plant potatoes until I come home."

    Some days later, Jim got another letter from his mother. It said, "Two days ago, about ten men came to our farm and dug all our fields. I can't understand it. It looks as if they were looking for something. What shall I do?"

    Jim smiled when he read his mother's letter. He wrote a letter to his mother at once. It was very short. Guess what it would say?

    When I was a little child, my mom sometimes liked to make breakfast food for dinner. And I remember one night she made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.

    That evening, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and burned cookies in front of my dad. I remembered waiting to see if anyone would say anything. Yet all my dad did was to reach for his cookie, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him eat every bite of that cookie!

    When I got up from the table that evening, I remembered hearing my mom say sorry to my dad for burning the cookies. And I'll never forget what he said, "Dear, I love burned cookies."

    Later that night, I went to kiss Dad goodnight, and I asked him if he did really like his burned cookies. He kissed me and said, "Your mom had a hard day at work today, and she's very tired.  Besides, a little burned cookie never hurt anyone!"

    Life is full of imperfect(完美)things and imperfect people. We need to learn to accept each other's faults and differences.

    The story of the fall of Troy is one of the oldest stories in history. It dates back to around 800 BC, to a poem written by a man called Homer. The poem is called The Iliad(《伊利亚待》). Ilium is the Greek name for Troy.

The story is a myth(神话), but many believe the city of Troy actually existed. Some people have thought it was in modern Turkey. Others have suggested it may have been in central Europe, northern Europe or even England.

    You could write a long book on all the paintings, music and stories about Achilles. His name is used for many things. Since 1744, about nine Royal Navy warships have been named after him, for example.

    A Trojan horse is a saying that now means something that seems friendly, but is actually a trick to hurt you. Some kinds of computer virus (病毒) are now called Trojans. An Achilles heel means a person's main weakness. The Achilles tendon(腱) is a medical name for part of your heel at the back