There were three big fish in the lake. One of them, Demo, was wise; another one, Jimmy, was half-wise; Martin, the third one, was stupid.

Some fishermen came to the bank of the lake with their nets. The three fish saw them.

      Demo decided at once to leave, to make the long and difficult trip to the ocean. He thought, "I won't discuss with these two about this. They love this place so much that they call it home and will stay on. How silly they are! They still haven't realized we are in great danger now. Their ignorance will cost them their lives."

      Seeing the wise fish had left, Jimmy thought, "My guide has gone and now I've lost my chance to escape." He felt sorry for it and then thought, "What can I do to save myself from these men and their nets? Perhaps I should pretend（假装）to be already dead, giving myself totally to the water." So he did that. He went up and down with the water, helpless, within arm's reach of the fishermen.

      "Look at this! The best and biggest fish is dead." One of the men lifted him by the tail, and threw him up on the ground. He rolled（滚动）over and over and moved secretly toward the water, and then, back in.

      The third fish was aimlessly jumping about, trying to escape with his speed and cleverness. The net, of course, finally closed around him, and as he lay in the hot frying-pan bed, he thought, "If I get out of this, I'll never live again in the limits of the lake. Next time, the ocean! I'll make it my home."

    A jobless man wanted very much to have the position of “office boy” at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed(面试) him and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test. “You have passed the test,” he said. “Give me your e-mail address and I'll send you the form（表格） to fill in and the date when you may start.” The man replied, “But I don't have a computer, neither an e-mail.” “I'm sorry,” said the HR manager. “If you don't have an e-mail, that means you are not living. And anyone who isn't living cannot have the job.”

    The man left with no hope at all. He didn't know what to do with only $10 in his pocket. He thought and thought. Then he went to the supermarket and bought 10 kilos of tomatoes. He sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he had 20 dollars. He did that three times, and started to go early every day, and returned home late. Shortly, he bought a cart , then a truck, then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles(运货车队). Five years later, the man was one of the biggest food retailers (零售商)  in the US.

    One day, one of his friends asked him for his e-mail. He said, “I haven't got one.” His friend couldn't believe his ears. “Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?” The man thought for a while and replied, “Yes, I'd be an office boy at Microsoft!”

    Daniel comes from Sydney. He is now staying in Beijing with his family. He usually gets up at about 6:30 am and has breakfast at 7:00 am. Then he leaves home at 7:15 am.

    He gets to school at 7:45 am. His first class begins at 8:00 am. There are four lessons in the morning. Morning classes are over at 11:50 am, and he has lunch 10 minutes later.

    Afternoon classes begin at 1:30 pm. There are two lessons in the afternoon. They are over at 3:10 pm. Daniel usually stays at school for another hour to play soccer, and then goes home.

    When I was 17, I read a magazine article about a museum called the McNay, once the home of a watercolorist named Marian McNay. She has requested the community to turn it into a museum upon her death. On a sunny Saturday, Sally and I drove over to the museum. She asked, "Do you have the address?'", but I'll recognize it, there was a picture in the magazine."

    "Oh, stop. There it is!"

    The museum was free. We entered, excited. A group of people sitting in the hall stopping talking and stared at us.

    "May I help you?" a man asked. "No," I said. "We're fine." Tour guides got on my nerves. What if they talked a long time about a painting you weren't that interested in? sally had gone upstairs. The people in the hall seemed very nosy (爱窥探的) ,keeping their eyes on me with curiosity. What was their problem? I saw some nice sculptures in one room. Suddenly I sensed a man standing behind me. "Where do you think you are?" he asked. I turned sharply. "The McNay Art Museum!" he smiled, shaking his head. "Sorry, the McNay is on New Braunfels Street." "What's this place?" I asked, still confused. "Well, it's our home." My heart jolted (震颤) .I raced to the staircase and called out." Sally! Come down immediately!"

    There's some really good stuff (艺术作品) up there." She stepped down, looking confused. I pushed her toward the front door, waving at the family, saying, "Sorry, please forgive us, you have a really nice place "Outside, when I told Sally what happened, she covered her mouth, laughing. She couldn't believe how long they let us look around without saying anything.

    The real McNay was splendid, but we felt nervous the whole time we were there. Van Gogh, Picasso. This time, we stayed together, in case anything else unusual happened.

    Thirty years later, a woman approached me in a public place. "Excuse me, did you ever enter a residence, long ago, thinking it was the McNay Museum?"

    "Yes. But how do you know? We never told anyone."

    "That was my home. I was a teenager sitting in the hall Before you came over, I never realized what a beautiful place I lived in. I never felt lucky before. You thought it was a museum. My feelings about my home changed after that. I've always wanted to thank you."

There are many holidays and festivals. Dads have Father's Day. Children have Children's Day. Is there a special day for old people?

Double Ninth Festival is a special day for old people in China. It started long ago. The festival is on lunar September 9th. On this day, people show love to their grandparents.

People do many different kinds of things on this day. They enjoy flowers, eat special cakes and drink wine (酒).

It's very interesting. The best way to celebrate it is climbing hills or mountains. People think climbing will bring them good luck and help old people live long lives. Double Ninth Festival is also a good time for a family get-together. And young people give their presents and best wishes to the old.