Tom went to see his grandparent with his father. In the train Tom often put his head out of the window. His father said, "Tom, don't put your head out of the window." But Tom went on putting his head out of the window.

    His father took Tom's hat quietly and hid it behind his back and said to Tom, "You see your hat is gone." Tom was afraid. His father said, "Well, whistle(吹口哨) once. Maybe your hat will come back." Tom whistled. His lather put his hat on Tom's head quickly. "Oh! It's wonderful!" Tom laughed and said. He quickly took his father's hat and threw it out of the window. "Now it's your turn to whistle, Dad!" he said happily.

      Mr. Smith made many tests 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. 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.

    It takes a lot of skills and hard work to set a world record in pumpkin-carving(雕刻南瓜). Steve Clarke, a sixth-grade teacher from Pennsylvania, is a famous carver(雕刻师). Clarke has set many world records for carving pumpkins quickly. When he competes, he must cut our two eyes, two eyebrows, a nose, a mouth, and two ears as fast as possible. But Clarke knows something else about pumpkin-carving. It's easier to get a record than to keep it.

    He took the title in 2000 when he carved a pumpkin face in 74.8 seconds. That time was 19 seconds faster than what Jerry had set. From then on, Clarke broke his own records five times. In 2006, he set his best time in Florida. His winning time was 24.03 seconds!

    The only problem is that someone finally beat that mark. On October 7, 2010, David set the new record with 20.1 seconds. Clarke was not able to break that record this year, but he has planned to break the record. After Halloween, he will go to local pumpkin farms to practise designs and new skills.

    Clarke is popular because of his super pumpkin-carving skills. In 1999, he carved more than 30 pumpkins at the Halloween party for then vice-president Al Gore.

    Last month, a common graduation ceremony (毕业典礼) was held in Tianjin University, but it received much attention. Xue Minxiu, born in 1937, graduated with excellent grades after working hard for 4 years.

    Going to a university has always been a dream for Xue. But for some reasons, she didn't have the chance when she was young. Even so, she never forgot her dream. In 2014, she was accepted by Tianjin University and finally her dream came true. Since then, Xue has been a model for the people around her. She got up at 5 o'clock every morning. Then she studied for a while before brushing teeth and having breakfast. Her room was filled with books and newspapers. Wherever she went, she would take books with her.

    In fact, for her age, Xue had many difficulties during the four years. But nothing could stop her. Whenever she had problems, she would either solve them by herself or ask teachers for help. Through her hard work, she passed the exams and was named "a star student" during the first period of her college life.

    "I think the true meaning of our lives is to challenge (挑战) and improve ourselves whether we are old or young. Xue said at the graduation ceremony. "For me, learning something I enjoy is a lifelong journey. I want to thank Tianjin University for giving me the chance to achieve my dream. Our lifetime is short, so we should make good use of it."

    Do you have to be very smart to live a happy life? The character of McDull (麦兜) tells you that this is not true. He is famous for having a birthmark on his right eye. He is not very clever, but he has a heart of gold. He is also happy, with lots of dreams. McDull wanted to visit the Maldives (马尔代夫). But his mother didn't have enough money for a trip there. So she lied to him and took him to a place called Hong Kong. The place has a sign that says, “Go to the Maldives.” It made McDull very happy. He thought he was really excited in the Maldives!

    McDull is just a common pig. He has many dreams, but they never come true. That doesn't stop him trying. McDull lives his life in a simple and happy way. His idea towards life is “Never give up”.

    The cartoon pig character was created in Hong Kong by Alice Mark and Brian Tse. McDull first showed up as a character in the McMug comics. McMug is another cartoon pig. But McDull is more popular with a huge number of fans everywhere!