Big Bear was Skinny Rabbit's friend and neighbor. Big Bear's birthday came and Skinny Rabbit sent him a hammock(吊床). Two trees grew in the space between the friends' houses. Skinny Rabbit and Big Bear tied the hammock between them. Big Bear climbed into the hammock.

    “How does it feel?" Skinny Rabbit asked.

    “Just wonderful!" Big Bear said. "But do you see how the sun shines through the branches (树枝), Skinny Rabbit?"

      "I do. It shines straight onto the hammock," Skinny Rabbit said. "I have an idea."    He put his beach umbrella beside the hammock. "How's that?" he asked.

    "It's almost perfect, Skinny Rabbit," said Big Bear. "Soft music would be nice for someone sleeping in a hammock."

    Skinny Rabbit went back into the house and came out with a radio. He tuned it to a station. The station was playing music.

    "Enjoy your sleep, Big Bear," said Skinny Rabbit. "I'll go and clean up the lunch dishes."    "Wait a minute! I thought of something else."    "What is it now?" asked Skinny Rabbit wearily

    "This hammock needs a friend to share with, Will you join me, Skinny Rabbit? Afterward we can do the dishes together."  

Skinny Rabbit said happily, "What a fine idea, Big Bear."

The Monkey King

    The Monkey King was born from a stone. He wanted to live forever. He was really intelligent and knew what to do. ⑶他能够把他自己变成72种不同的东西, like a tree, a bird or an insect(昆虫). While he was changing himself, people just watched and couldn't believe it. He used the clouds in the sky   ⑷   around! One time he flew 108,000 miles on a cloud.

    The trouble was, the monkey thought he was the king. But he wasn't. The Emperor was. So, the real king decided to give the monkey a title(官职)to keep him quiet. ⑸But the monkey found out that everyone was laughing at him. He was extremely unhappy and decided to fight.  At last, the Emperor asked Buddha(佛) for help.

    The Buddha moved a great mountain to fall on top of him. As the mountain was falling on him, he nearly managed(设法) to get out of the way. He didn't, but he didn't die, either. The trouble was he couldn't move. Five hundred years later ,a monk(和尚) helped the monkey get out from under the mountain. That's when the real story began. You must remember it, don't you? It's a treat story.

    In ancient times, there was a king who loved flowers. His palace was always decorated with beautiful orchids(兰花)and other flowers. As the king grew older, he knew that one day he would have to give up his throne(王位). He had to find someone new to rule the country.

    He came up with a competition. He asked his servants to travel to every part of the country and give every person a flower seed. He then announced that whoever grew him the most beautiful flower would take his throne.

    Everyone in the country then got their own seed. One young man named David was especially excited about the competition, as he had experience growing flowers himself,

    David planted his seed in a pet and put it in a place where it would get lots of sunlight. He took care to water it every day. But as hard as he tried, his flower simply would not grow.

    Finally, it was time for everyone to show their flowers to the king. David took his empty pot to the palace.

    "Your Majesty, I am sorry to say that I could not grow a flower this time at all, ________,"he said.

    The king was quite satisfied with David's honesty. Although he did not choose David as the new king, he gave David a job as a judge(法官). He believed that David's honesty would make him the right person to make sure the justice(公正)in the country.

    One day I got in a taxi, and we left for the airport. We were driving in the right lane(车道)when, suddenly, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver stopped his car at once. The tire(轮胎)made a very loud noise, and at the very last moment our car stopped just one inch from the back of the other car.

    I was frightened. But then I couldn't believe what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, turned his head and started yelling at us. I couldn't believe it！But my taxi driver just smiled at the guy. So I asked, "Why did you just do that？This guy almost sent us to hospital."

    This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call“The Law of the Rubbish Truck(垃圾车法则)".He explained that many people are like rubbish trucks. They run around full of rubbish, full of anger and full of bad feelings. As their rubbish piles up, they look for a place to throw it away and sometimes they'll throw it at you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their rubbish and spread it to other people at work, at home or in the streets.

    Successful people never let rubbish trucks change their moods. Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love those who love you and pray(祈祷)for those who don't.

    When you are ill, you should go to see a doctor. After the doctor looks you over, he will write you a note to take to the chemist for some medicine. Chemists are usually good at reading doctors' notes. But sometimes doctors write too badly and even the chemist can not read them.

    One day a woman wrote to a doctor to invite him to have dinner with her family in the restaurant. The doctor wrote an answer, but he wrote too badly and the woman could not read it. "What shall I do?" she asked her husband, "I don't know whether he is going to come or not. I don't want to call and say that I don't understand him."

    Her husband thought for a few minutes and then he had an idea. "Take it to the chemist," he said, "He will be able to read it for us."

    "Thank you," the woman said, "That's a good idea." She went to the chemist's shop and gave the doctor's note to him. The chemist looked at it for a long time.

    "Could you wait a moment, Miss?" he said. Then he went to the back of the shop. After a few minutes he came back, carrying a large bottle. He gave the bottle to the woman.

    "Take one spoonful(一匙) every day." He told the woman.