David did well in all his subjects except physics, Mr. Brown, his physics teacher, gave him his physics paper and said to him, “Show it to your dad and ask him to sign his name on the paper.”

    David played football until it was 7 o'clock. When he got home, his parents had finished supper. His dad was watching TV and his mother was doing the dishes in the kitchen as usual.

 “Dad, may I ask you some questions?” David asked happily.

 “Yes, of course,” answered his dad.

 “If you can't answer them, you'll have to do something for me.”

 “OK, I'll do as you tell me,” said his dad.

 “Which is cooler, walking or sitting in the sun?”

 “Walking is cooler. It can make wind.”

 “Which clothes can keep out (阻挡）the sunlight，shirts or coats?”

 “Coats can keep out the sunlight because they are much thicker than shirts.” “Is a man smart if he wears a coat and walks in the sun in summer?” David looked at his dad and waited for his answer. His dad thought for a minute and shook his head.

   David took out his paper, “Now sign your name on the paper, please.”

    He is quiet and shy. He likes to hide his eyes behind his hair. He doesn't smile very often. However, if you talk to him about music, he'll have a lot to say.

This is Jay Chou, the 24-year-old Taiwanese pop king(天王). His fans are so excited because he will sing songs in Beijing on September 12. Those songs are from his new album(唱片), "Ye Huimei", and the album was released(发行) in July and was named after his mother.

    Chou grew up just with his mother. He did not talk much and did badly in many school subjects.

His mother noticed the boy's special interest in music and sent him to learn piano when he was only three years old. He loved it and kept on practicing.

Chou is not very handsome. He does not speak clearly when he sings or talks. But the singer has huge crowds of fans. "He is really good at music. It makes him attractive(有魅力的) to me," said Liu Jiajun, a Junior 2 student in NO.101 Middle School in Beijing.

    "He is true to himself. He never follows others," said Zhang Yujie, a Junior l girl at Huaibei Middle School in Sihon9, Jiangsu Province.

    Jane always goes to school early. She likes to talk to her friends before class. After school she does not go home early. She is always late. Jane stops to see the animals in the pet shop. She likes to see the dogs. One of them is a little dog. She watches the little white dog play in the window of the shop. She watches for a long time, so she comes home late.

    One day her father and mother ask why she is late, and she tells them about the little dog in the pet shop.

    Jane is not late the next day. She stops to look in the window of the shop. But she doesn't see the little white dog, and she is very sad. She is also very happy, today is her birthday.

    Mother shows her a big birthday cake and Father gives her a birthday surprise. He gives the little white dog from the shop. Jane is very happy. The next day Jane does not come home late. She runs home to play with the white dog.

    An English traveler found himself in Norway（挪威） with only enough money to buy the ticket for his journey back home. As he knew that it would take him only two days to get to England, he decided that he could easily spend the time without food. So he bought a ticket and went aboard the ship. The man closed his ears in order not to hear the sound of the lunch bell. When dinner time came , he didn't go to the dining room, saying that he was not feeling very well.

    The next morning he still didn't have breakfast and at lunchtime he again stayed in his room.But at dinner time he was so hungry that he went to the dining room and ate everything the waiter put in front of him. He got ready for a quarrel.

    "Bring me the bill," he said. "The bill, sir?" said the waiter in surprise. "There isn't any bill. On our ship meals are included in the money for the ticket," said the waiter.

    A very new, young officer（军官）was at a station. He was on his way to visit his mother in another town, and he wanted to telephone her to tell her the time of this train, so that she could meet him at the station in her car. He looked in all his pockets, but he did not have the coins（硬币）for the telephone, so he went outside and looked around for someone to help him.

    At last an old soldier came by, and the young officer stopped him and said, "Do you have change for ten pence（便士）?"

    "Wait a moment,' the old soldier answered. He began to put his hand in his pocket, "I'll see if I can help you."

    "Don't you know how to speak to an officer?" the young man said angrily. "Now let's start again. Do you have change for ten pence?"

    "No, sir," the old soldier answered politely and quickly.

    Mike lives in the country, and he loves playing in the river near his house. But his father gets a job in a hospital in a big city, and he moves there with his family.

    Their new house has a garden, but the garden is very small. Mike isn't very happy. "Is there a river near here?" he asks his mother on the first morning.

    "No, there isn't. But there is a beautiful park near here, Mike, and there is a pool in it. We are going there this afternoon."

    Mike becomes happier now.

    After lunch, Mike and his mother go to the park. Mike wants to walk near the pool, but there is a sign in front of it. His mother reads it to him. Warning: This pool is dangerous. 46 people have fallen into it. Mike looks into the pool carefully, and says, "But I can't see them."