George Stephenson was born in 1781 in a poor family. He had to start work when he was only eight. When George was fourteen, he became his father's helper. He spent a lot of time learning about engines. On holidays, he often took one engine into pieces and studied each piece carefully. Soon he became a very good worker though he could not read or write.

      He began to learn the English letters when he was seventeen years old. Every day after he did twelve hours of hard work, he walked a long way to have lessons from a young teacher.

      On his eighteenth birthday, he wrote his own name for the first time in his life. George invented many things in his life. The train was the greatest one among them. Today when we watch or take trains from one place to another, we will think of this great man—George Stephenson.

    George had stolen some money, but the police had caught him and he had been put in prison. Now his trial was about to begin, and he felt sure that he would be found guilty (有罪) and sent to prison for a long time.

    Then he discovered that an old friend of his was one of the members of the jury(陪审团)at his trial. Of course, he did not tell anybody, but he managed to see his friend secretly one day. He said to him, "Jim, I know that the jury will find me guilty of having stolen the money. I cannot hope to be found not guilty of taking it—that would be too much to expect. But I should be thankful to you for the rest of my life if you could persuade the other members of the jury to add a strong recommendation (劝告) for mercy to their statement that they consider me guilty."

    "Well, George," answered Jim, "I shall certainly try to do what I can for you as an old friend, but of course I cannot promise anything. The other eleven people on the jury look terribly strong-minded to me."

    George said that he would quite understand if Jim was not able to do anything for him, and thanked him warmly for agreeing to help.

The trial went on, and at last the time came for the jury to decide whether George was guilty or not. It took them five hours, but in the end they found George guilty, with a strong recommendation for mercy(仁慈).

    Of course, George was very pleased, but he did not have a chance to see Jim for some time after the trial. At last, however, Jim visited him in prison, and George thanked him warmly and asked him how he had managed to persuade the other members of the jury to recommend mercy.

    "Well, George," Jim answered, "As I thought, those eleven men were very difficult to persuade, but I managed it in the end by tiring them out. Do you know, those fools had all wanted to find you not guilty!"

    Mike is a factory worker. He is often very tired after a day's work. His wife, Jenny, has no job, so she stays at home to cook the meals. Every day he can have his dinner when he gets home from his factory.  

    One day, Mike came home very late because he was very busy in the factory. He was very hungry when he got home. He was not happy when he found his dinner was not ready. He was very angry with his wife. He shouted at her, "I'm going out to eat in a restaurant." "Wait for five minutes，" said his wife. "Why? Do you think that dinner will be ready in five minutes?" asked Mike. "Of course not," she answered. "But I can be ready to go with you in five minutes."    

A man made his living by collecting coconuts in the countryside.One day，he went to a small village that he had never been before.

Towards the end of the day，his wagon was filled with coconuts.He decided to head home，because it was getting late.He wished to know how long it would take to get back to his village.

He saw an old man along the roadside and stopped to ask for directions.

"Excuse me，" he said， "Could you please tell me how long will it take to get to Carson from this village？When will I get to my home？"

The old man showed him the right direction and said， "If you go slowly，it will take only a short while for you to get home.But if you go quickly

The man could not understand the answer.He didn't believe the old man's suggestion was friendly.He gave the man an angry look and hit his horse to make it hurry.The horse began to run quickly.But soon，coconuts began to fall from the wagon.Each time，the man got off to collect the fallen coconuts and put them back into his wagon.

The faster he went，the more coconuts fell from his wagon，and the more time he had to take to pick them up.So he went home very late at last.However，△ ，and the man would have arrived home much earlier.

And so，as the old man said ，go slowly and it will take only a short while.

Today is Sunday but Jack is going to school. He goes to tennis school. The tennis lessons will start1 ten o'clock. Jack is very 2 because his tennis teacher，Ms Brown，is a great teacher. She wants 3 Jack to be stronger and play better. 

Ms Brown tells Jack if he has4 good rest，eats healthy food and practises hard every day，he can 5 very strong and good at6 tennis. Jack believes her. He decides to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables and go to bed 7 every night. He also exercises a lot. 

In Jack's town，there isn't a public（公共的） place to play tennis8 Jack can't play tennis every day. Jack and his friend Emily often go 9 in the park after school. 

Next month，Emily will take tennis lessons 10 Jack. Jack is glad to hear about this ﹣ they can go to tennis school together!