Long time ago, there were two friends working for the King（国王）. One boy wanted to give his sick（生病的） younger sister something to make her happy.

    One day, he walked with his friend in the garden, and he saw the beautiful flowers. He took one to his sister, thinking that no one would see him do so. He did the same thing the next day, and the next, and the next……. One day, the King noticed few flowers were left. He was so angry（生气的） that he called everyone to get together.

When they were all before the King, the boy thought he should tell King that he took the flowers. But his friend told him to be quiet, because the King would be very angry with him. The boy was very afraid, but when the King came near, he decided to tell the King what he did.

    When the King knew why the boy picked the flowers, he smiled （微笑） and said, "I couldn't think of a better use for my flowers." From that day, the boy and the King took two of those beautiful flowers every day, one for the boy's sister, and the other for the Queen（女王）.

    During his life Dr James Naismith worked as a doctor, taught P.E and wrote several books. While he never thought it very important, Dr Naismith is today best known for one thing. He was the inventor of basketball.

    Dr James Naismith was born in Canada in 1861 and his first job was at a special sports school in the USA.

    One day the school principal（校长） told James he was having a problem with the students. Because of heavy snow, the students could not go outside. He told James that they needed a sport the boys could play indoors and gave the teacher two weeks to think of something.

    It was on the very last day that James came up with his idea. The "birth of basketball" is said to be on December 21, 1891, when two teams from the school played the first game. It was quite different from the basketball games of today. It had 9 players on each team and footballs were used instead of basketballs. Soon after, the game changed to 5 players on each side, using special "basketballs" through nets.

    Although Dr Naismith did not live to see basketball become the worldwide game it is today, in 1936, just three years before his death, basketball became an Olympic sport at the games in Berlin.

    I have a little dog. Its name is Jim. Every morning Jim goes to the shop in the village. The girl in the shop gives him two things: a sweet（糖） and a newspaper. Jim eats the sweet and takes the newspaper in his mouth. Then he runs home.

    I like reading my newspaper in bed before I get up. Jim knows that and he brings the newspaper to my bedroom. When I am eating my breakfast he brings all the letters to me. After that he goes outside to wait for the bus. When he sees the bus coming down the road, he makes a noise（噪音）. I run out, and the bus stops for me. Jim never lets me miss the bus.

    Shaking the head doesn't always mean the same in different countries. Maybe some visitors would be surprised when they first come to India. When they talk to an Indian, they would find he would often shake his head. The visitors might think that the Indian doesn't like what they say. But in fact, they would be completely wrong. Indians always shake their heads when they talk to others. It doesn't mean "No". If someone wants to visit India, he should know this, or he will be in trouble.

    One day, a foreign officer went to India on business. He hired a car and asked an Indian to drive him. When he told his driver to take him to his office, the Indian shook his head at once. The officer said again and the driver shook his head again. At last the officer, of course, got angry.

    "How dare you refuse my order?" he shouted. "Drive me to my office at once!"

    The driver answered in quite a loud voice too, "Yes, sir!" But to the officer's surprise, the driver shook his head at the same time.

    The car started and the foreign officer was now too surprised to say a word. He thought about it for a while, and then he nodded with a smile, "'No' means 'Yes' here!"

    Esperanza lives in a poor Latino(拉丁美洲人) neighborhood in Chicago, .America. She dreams of having her own house one day. Her parents told her that when they moved from their last house, they would have a new' and shiny(亮闪闪的) house. But the house is small and old.

    Many people live in Mango Street in a big old house. Esperanza lives behind it with her family. A lot of the people who have come from Mexico don't speak English. Many miss their home country. Esperanza understands their sadness, but she also feels at home in America. She is an American, but her roots(根) will always be Latino,

    Esperanza is young. Like her friends, she has to grow up fast. She is stuck between being a girl and being a woman. In the poor and dangerous area where she lives, this is difficult for her. Mexican people usually live in a close neighborhood. This means that people live packed(挤塞的) in together. Everyone knows everyone else. So Esperanza knows other older girls that do things she is not comfortable doing. It is just a fact of her life.

    But Esperanza has good friends too. She becomes friends with two sisters named Lucy and Rachel. They ride bikes and have adventures together. Esperanza is also friends with a girl named Alicia. Alicia is afraid of the rats in her apartment. She shares her poems with Esperanza.

    An Englishman was showing a foreign visitor around London. "What's that strange building?" asked the visitor. "That's the Tower of London." "I see. How long did it take to build it?" "About 500 years." "In my country we can build it in five months." Shortly after that they came to St. Paul's Cathedral（大教堂）. "Very interesting!" said the visitor. "How long did it take to build it?" "Nearly forty years." said the Englishman. "In my country we can finish it in forty days at most," said the visitor. This went on all day.

    They visited most of the best known buildings in the city. Every time they saw a new one, the visitor asked what it was and how long it took to build it. Then he said that they could do the same thing much faster in his country.

    At last the Englishman got angry with the visitor though he tried not to show it. Several days later they came to the House of Parliament（议会）and the visitor asked his usual question, "What is that? . "The Englishman answered, "I have no idea. It wasn't there last night."