Long long ago, there was a spider. She found a beautiful farm. She liked the farm and decided to live there forever.

      One day, the spider caught a little bug. When the spider ate it, the bug said, “If you let me go, I will tell you an important thing. The thing will save your life.” The spider stopped and listened.

      The little bug said, “You'd better get out of the farm. The harvest is coming! If you stay here, you will be killed by the farmer's machine.”

      But the spider didn't listen to the bug and ate it for lunch. The next day when she was sleeping, the farmer came to have a harvest. The spider was killed by the machine.

    Mr. Smith made many tests (作试验) with different animals and the monkey was the cleverest of all the animals. One day Mr. Smith put a monkey in a room. He also put some small boxes in it. In one of the boxes there was some food. "How long will it take the monkey to find the food?" Mr. Smith said to himself. "Let me wait and see." He left the room and waited outside. Three minutes later, he put his eye to the keyhole (钥匙眼). What did he see? He saw the eye of the monkey. The monkey was on the other side of the door and looked at Mr. Smith through the keyhole.

    A man sat at an underground station in Washington, D.C., and started to play the violin. It was a cold day in January. He played six Bach（巴赫）pieces for about 45 minutes. It was rush hour and thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

    Three minutes went by and the first person, a middle-aged man, noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed down and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

    After a minute, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a young woman threw the money in the box and continued to walk. Then another few minutes went by and someone stood against the wall to listen to him, but the young man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

    During the musician's performance, only six people stopped and stayed for a while, twenty gave him money but continued to walk. When he finished playing, no one applauded（鼓掌）. No one knew the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world.

    This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing in the underground station was organized by The Washington Post（《华盛顿邮报》）as part of a social experiment. One of the conclusions from this experiment could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music, how many other things are we missing?

    September 21st, 2050—At a press conference today, it was announced that the first tourist heading for Mars would be the 38-year-old American businessman Patrick Clifford. He would leave the Earth in the launching window of June, 2052, and he would set his foot on the surface of Mars in November, together with 6 astronauts who would further explore the planet.

    Patrick has a two-year training ahead of him to get ready for the trip. Not only will he spend five months in getting to Mars, but another 600 days there before he can go back home. Patrick was very excited, "This has been my dream since I was four, and seeing the first man on Mars 20 years ago made me realize that it was possible."

    To be able to pay the 1.3 billion dollars for his ticket for the trip, Patrick sold his majority stocks in the company which his father had built. "I know that my father would have been proud of me if he had still been alive today. He knew what this meant to me," says Patrick.

    So, how is he going to spend his 600 days on the red planet? "Well, since I don't have a job, when I get back after selling the company, I have plenty of time to come up with a new business idea," Patrick says and laughs. If he brings a shovel(铲子), he can start building the first hotel there, but maybe he shouldn't expect too many guests until someone can offer a lower transfer fare.

    Are you always happy during your vacation? Many people may say "yes". But last week I had a bad vacation.

    My parents and I took a bus to the Great Wall We got on the bus at 7:00 a, m. But on the half way, there was something wrong with the bus. After an hour, it started again. It was about 11:00 a. m. when we got to the Great Wall.

    We were excited when we stood on the Great Wall. My father took out the camera and wanted to take some photos. But just then, it started to rain. We had to go back to our bus. When we wanted to eat something, we found we left our food at home.

I am David. My home town, Bao Loc, is just a small town in Vietnam (越南). But for me, it's really a paradise (天堂). 

The weather is very comfortable. It's not very hot or cold. In the centre of the town, there is a beautiful lake. You can lie on the bank (河岸) and see the white clouds in the blue sky or count (数) the stars at night. You can go there just to relax when you have a lot of things to think about. One of the most famous places is Dambri Waterfall (瀑布). You can enjoy this beautiful waterfall if you come. Don't forget to take some pictures with your camera. 

Bao Loc is very small. It will take you 45 minutes or 1 hour to go around this town. It's so small that people here know each other. They are very friendly. 

Tea and coffee are Bao Loc's local food. I think you will like them very much. 

Why does Bao Loc become a paradise? Because my family are here and they always make me feel warm and safe.