Once upon a time there was a man in a small town. He had two children, a boy and a girl. The boy was good-looking but the girl was not.

      One day they found a mirror (镜子) for the first time and they saw what they looked like. The boy was very happy and he said to his sister, “How handsome I am! I look much nicer than you!”

      The girl did not like what her brother said and gave him a hard push (推). “Go away!” she said.

      Their father saw what was happening. He went up to them and said to the boy, “You must always BE good as well as LOOK good.”

      Then to the girl he said, “My dear, if you help everyone and do your best to make him happy, everyone will love you. It does not matter that you are not as good-looking as your brother.”

    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.

    Once there was a parrot on sale in a pet store. It was a beautiful red and blue bird. It sat on a perch in the middle of the store, so that everyone could see it when they came in. The owner was very proud of it and asked a high price for it.

    One day a man went into the store. “That's a beautiful bird,” he said to the pet store owner, “But why is it so expensive? Is it unusual bird?”

    “No, it's not very unusual. It's expensive because it can talk,” the pet store owner said.

    “I see. How can I make it talk?” the man asked.

    The pet store owner asked him, “Do you see those string tied to each of the bird's legs?”

    “Yes,”the man answered.

    “Well, you pull those strings,” the pet store owner told him. “That will make the parrot talk.”

    The man asked, “Do you mind if I try?”

    “Not at all,” the pet store owner said.

The man walked up to the parrot and pulled the string on its left leg. The parrot said, “Good morning.”

    The man pulled the string on the parrot's right leg. This time the parrot said, “How are you today?”

    “That's not very interesting, ” said the man. “Any parrot could do that.” Then he laughed, “But what would happen if I pulled both strings at the same time?”

    “I'll fall off my perch, you fool!” the parrot said.

    Roy is a school boy. He often goes out to play after school. But he never gets home late for supper. It was his eleventh birthday last Friday. But his parents didn't see him at supper time. They waited and waited, but Roy didn't come. At about seven o'clock, they felt very worried. They had to go out to look for their son here and there, but they couldn't find him. At last they went to the police station for help. To their great surprise, when they came back home, they saw Roy sitting at the supper table and enjoying the birthday cake, "Why didn't you come upstairs（上楼）to watch TV with me, Dad? "said Roy when he saw his father.

    The film Forever Enthralled was directed by the director(导演)Chen Kaige, and famous stars acted in it, such asZhang Ziyi and Chen Hong. This film shows Mei Lanfang's life.

    Mei, a master of Beijing opera, grew up in a family of Beijing opera performers. He began to perform on the stage(舞台)in 1904 when he was 10 years old. He learnt his acting skills and played female roles and became highly good at singing, dancing and acting. He turned himself into a performer of almost all types of the "Dan" female roles.

    In July 1937, the Japanese army occupied(占领) Beijing. The officer of the army told Mei to perform for them and promised to give him a lot of money. Mei refused to do so, and from then on, he gave up performing on stage during the war. This made him poor until the war ended in 1945.

After 1949, he made the Dan have an important place in Beijing opera through many years of hard working. In his 50-year stage life, he used new acting skills and made lots of good operas. So he became the symbol of Beijing opera.