In Paris, one freezing winter evening, I was having dinner with my friend, Mr. Dupin, the famous detective. We had just finished our meal, when there was a loud knocking at the door. Dupin opened it. There stood Mr. Germain, the chief警长）of the Paris Police.

      We welcomed him warmly, for he was an old acquaintance（熟人）whom we hadn't seen for a great time.

      "I need your assistance," said Germain. "I met a case（案件）that has been giving me a great deal of trouble. It is very simple but very strange."

      “Also, please keep this secret. If anyone found out that I told you this. I would certainly lose my job.”

      “Well, then,” said the Chief,” I have learned that a very important letter has been stolen from the king. We are sure who stole it and that the letter is in his house."

      "But who would dare do such a thing" I cried.

      "The thief," said Germain softly, "He's a man who darers do many dangerous things. He is one of the most powerful and important ministers in the government. He is Minister Danton.”

      "A lot of times, while Minister Danton was out, a lot of well-trained police officers carefully searched the entire house, room by room. In fact, we examined everything in the house but found nothing."…

       A month later, Dupin asked Germain and me to his house. There he took out a letter and handed it to the Chief. We were both very surprised.

      Dupin explained, "I know Minister Danton very well. He could not hide the letter in any of the usual hiding places. I realized that he might have left the letter out in the open, right under everyone's nose, where no one would search for it."

      "Then I visited him with my dark glasses on to help me observe（观察）better. While we were chatting, a dirty, torn letter in the letter holder suddenly caught my eyes-unusual for the Minister, who is careful and neat."

      "I was sure it was the letter."

      "Then I purposely left my gloves behind so I could come back again."

"The next morning, I hired a man to fire a gun on the street, while the Minister went to see what happened, I stole the letter by replacing it with a similar one, On it Dupin wrote these words:

             Your plan was good, but mine was better

             As you can see, I took the letter.

—-Based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe

    To travel around the world is the dream of many adventurous people. But very few people can afford a global tour because hotels, food and airplane tickets are too expensive. Some people, however, have thought of some ways to realize their dreams.

Laura Cody and Tanbay Theune, a couple from Britain, decided to travel around the world. They have found a good way to pay for their trips. They look after pets for rich house owners. In exchange, they can stay in the houses for free. They have looked after horses, cows, cats, dogs and fish. In two years, the couple has been to Australia, Germany, Spain and Italy. They have stayed in big cities and small villages. The home owners are usually very generous and have given them food, wine and day trips.

    Another person who tries to realize her travel dream is photographer Rhiannon Taylor. She travels around the world to visit, review and take photos of the best hotels. She shares the places she stays and the food she eats on the Internet with tens of thousands of followers.

    With these ways of making money, traveling around the world is no longer a dream. More and more young people are thinking creatively to make their dream come true.

    Yuri Gagarin was a famous Soviet astronaut. He was born in a town in the west of Moscow on 9 March, 1934. He showed great interest in flight and universe when he was a school boy. His Maths teacher was a pilot during the Second World War. Yruri Gagarin learnt a lot from him.

    Later, Yuri Gagarin went to a technical school and learnt to fly a small plane. In 1955, after graduating from the technical school, he entered a flight training school.

    In 1960, Gagarin was selected as one of the 20 astronauts for the space programme of his country. Along with the others, he had a lot of tests of his physical and mental abilities. He was the best.

    On 12 April, 1961, he made history. He orbited(绕……轨道而行) the Earth for 108 minutes. After returning safely, Gagarin became a hero in his country, and people in other countries were also very interested in his flight.

    Gagarin never went into space again, but he trained other astronauts, including the first woman in space.

    On 27 March, 1968, the first spaceman died in a plane crash because of bad weather.

    Anna is a 17-year-old exchange student(交换生) from Russia({俄罗斯). She is now studying art in a university(大学) in France. She's going to stay in France for a year and then she will go back to Russia. Anna comes to France because she thinks Paris is the best place for her to study art. She is now staying with the Black family. She helps Mrs Black do some housework every evening and goes to French classes every Wednesday and Friday afternoon.

    Everything in Paris is new to her. She finds things are quite different from those in Moscow. There are many big shopping malls here, but many things are really expensive. It's also expensive to have a meal in a restaurant or go to the cinema. Now Anna has got used to(习惯于) many things, but she cannot get used to the breakfast in France. "They eat so much in the morning," she often says. "How can you face all that food so early in the day?"

    "The hound of Baskervilles" is a legend which tells us that a hound used to kill people in the Baskervilles family. Sherlock Holmes is good at searching and discovering. He is a very careful person as well. In the stories, he can quickly give you the explanation of the things happened just now. Sherlock Holmes is such a person.

    Sherlock Holmes wants to know more about it because Doctor James asks him for help. During the case, Charles Baskervilles dies and the cause of his death may be the hound. After watching the situation in a small house for some time, Holmes finds the murderer and he is going to murder Sir Henry Baskervilles. Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson and Henry Baskervilles kill the hound at last and the murderer(凶手) who wants to get the money of the family finally dies in the marsh(沼泽地).It is a very exciting story shows how clever Sherlock Holmes is. Thanks to Konan Doyle, we can read a lot of good detective stories now.