Manu，an eight﹣year﹣old boy，was sleeping comfortably in his bedroom．After a weekend break from his school，Manu failed to get up on time on Monday morning again．

    "Manu，wake up．It's time for you to go to school，"shouted out Manu's mother，

    Akhila，from the kitchen．Manu pulled the blanket over him and pretended he didn't hear his mother's repeated shouting．"Manu! Please wake up!It's already 6：30and your school bus will be here in ten minutes．Wake up and get ready．"

    After much yelling，Manu finally got up lazily when the school bus stopped in front of the house．Akhila had to ask the driver to wait for a few minutes．She quickly helped Manu get ready and helped him get on his school bus．

    "Phew!Manu didn't miss his bus today．Akhila sighed and thought to herself．"What should I do with this boy？Manu neither wakes up on time nor completes any of his daily tasks at the right time．It's time to teach him a lesson．"

    The next morning，Akhila was in the kitchen as usual．Everything seemed normal in the house except for the  unexpected silence．

    Manu finally woke up at around 9o'clock．He looked at the clock and ran to the kitchen，crying out，"Mamma!Why didn't you wake me up？I am really late for school．"He couldn't stop crying．"I have a maths test today and Madam Mangat will punish me if I miss her class and the test!"Madam Mangat was the strictest teacher in Manu's school．The fear of missing her class made Manu cry even louder．"Mamma，what should I do now？Please help．I promise I will wake up every day on time．"

    Akhila could no longer see her son crying and said，"Just promise me one more thing that you will do your daily task on time without pestering you to do it．

    "Sure Mamma!I promise!

    Akhila said in a loving voice．"I have already got permission from your math teacher and she has allowed Myou to take up the test today．"

    Manu hugged his mother．"Mamma!Thank you．"He quickly got himself ready for school without any help from Akhila．

    On the way to the school，there was silence in the car but a smile on Akhila's face．

    Do you suppose Darwin, one of the greatest scientists of all time, really did fools' (傻瓜的) experiments? Or did he do experiments that were so simple and basic (基础的) that other people just thought they were foolish?

    Sometimes, people think they already know the answer to a question or a problem．Sometimes, they really do know an answer, but without thinking it is important．

    Charles Darwin didn't just think he knew something．And, he believed all things could be important no matter how simple they seemed to be．

    Suppose you drop pieces of paper that are of exactly the same size and shape．If you drop them at the same time in the same place, they will fall in the same way．Now make one of the sheets of paper into a tight little ball and let it drop along with the other pieces．What happens? You have done an experiment that is so simple that you might think it couldn't be worth anything．

    But this simple experiment is important．It explains part of our present day understandings of physics (物理学) ideas that were worked out long ago by Galileo and Newton．And these understandings set aside some of ancient Greek (古希腊的) physics．

    The scientist sometimes stops to look at very simple things and to think very hard about them．Even the simplest idea, which we might think is foolish, can shake the foundations (基础) of science．

    There are two girls in Mr. Whites family. They're Tina and Anna. They are twin (双胞胎) sisters. Each of them has a long face and a small mouth. But Tina is a little heavy and she has short curly hair. Anna is thin and she has long straight hair.

    They are in the same school and the same class. Their math teacher Grace likes them very much. Are there any differences between them? Yes. Tina likes to talk with her classmates, but Anna is kind of shy. Tina's favorite subject is science, but Anna likes history best. Tina is good at drawing and Anna is good at dancing. Their dreams are different, too. Tina wants to be an artist, but Anna wants to be a teacher.

    Both (两个) of them study hard to make their dreams come true.

    Athena was born and raised in Ukraine. Her parents wanted her to become a lawyer or a doctor. But she always knew she wanted to paint. She also realized a career in painting would not be possible if she stayed in her country.

    Even though she was painting in her whole life and it was her passion(热情)but it was only a hobby. And she never really took it to the next level because back in the country all the artists were hungry artists. So she knew for some reason she never took art as a career because she would never be able to make money and be successful in it in several years.

    So. Athena came to the United States when she was 14 years old to pursue(追求)an American Dream. She was clear on her goal. Athena first worked at a health food shop. She began to paint on the shop's menu boards. A customer praised her skill and asked if she would help paint faces at street fairs. Athena says it was a good start. Then she went to FABAIC to start body painting.

    Body painting is quite different from plain painting. And she loves it very much. She says. "With body, you work with the people factor and it's not only you. Maybe they want to talk or move, and they cannot stand still for several days while the painting will last three to four days. When I paint. I can't stop."

    Night after night, a wolf walks around a group of sheep, looking for one of them to eat, but the shepherd (牧羊人) and his dogs always make him go away.

    But one day, the wolf finds the skin (皮)of a sheep. He puts the skin carefully over him. Then he walks into the group of sheep.

    The shepherd thinks that the wolf is one of his sheep, and makes the wolf eat the grass with the sheep, and even lets him sleep with the sheep.

    For many days and nights, the wolf eats and sleeps very well. The wolf enjoys himself very much. But one day, the shepherd wants to sell one of his sheep at the market. He finds the biggest and fattest sheep and brings him into town. Can you guess who it is? It is the wolf!

    Science fiction is a popular kind of writing, and many people think of Jules Verne(儒勒·凡尔纳) as the father of science fiction. He was born in France in 1828. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but from his early 20s Verne decided to become a writer. At first he wrote plays for the theater. Then, in 1863, he wrote a story called Five Weeks in a Balloon. The success of this book encouraged him to write more stories such as A Journey to the Center of the Earth(1864) and From the Earth to the Moon(1865).

    In the 19th century, many people were interested in science and inventions. Jules Verne wrote about scientific subjects in his stories and, as a result, they were very popular. Verne's writing included many predictions(预言) for the 20th century and many of them came true. He described space flight, movies, and air conditioning, a long time before they appeared. These books were very successful and they made Verne rich.

    Jules Verne's books have been the subjects for many movies. 20, 000 Leagues under the Sea was a successful movie for Walt Disney. It was the first time that Disney movie had used real actors instead of cartoon drawings. Around the World in Eighty Days is another famous movie based on one of Verne's books. The main character is an Englishman called Phileas Fogg. For him, the most important thing is to be always on time!