"You have saved my horse," Queen Olivia told the young boy standing before her. "Now you shall get a gift for what you did." Peter nervously ran his fingers through his brown hair. That day when he was working in the field, the shocked horse ran past him. Without thinking, he rushed out and controlled it. He didn't know it was the Queen's horse and never expected to get a gift. But he still felt happy for getting one.

    Two of the queen's men appeared. One carried a mirror. Red jewels(珠宝) shone on top of the mirror's silver frame(框架). The other carried a wooden cage with a chicken inside it.

    "Only one gift can be yours," the queen said. "Choose wisely." "That's easy," Peter said. "I'll take the chicken." Some of the queen's men laughed. It was clear that they thought he had made a foolish choice.

    "And why did you choose the chicken?" the queen asked. "Well, I don't know much about jewels," Peter answered. "But I do know about chickens. The chicken will provide eggs for my family for a long while."

    Queen Olivia smiled. "Then you did make a wise choice," she said. "That mirror may look beautiful. But the jewels you see are only colored glass, and the frame is painted silver. The chicken is much more valuable." Peter took the chicken and bowed. "Thank you, your majesty."

    "You are a smart child," the queen added. "I could use a smart boy to help take care of my horses. Would you like to take the job?" Peter smiled. "Thank you very much!" he said excitedly. A job at the castle paid well. Now his family wouldn't worry about their food any more--all because he was kind to help others and smart enough to make the right choice!

    I did something wrong today.

    While at the beach this afternoon, I met a boy called Bob. We talked a lot. He said that it was fun playing on the cliffs(悬崖). I told him that I was not allowed to go near that place. Mum and Dad had always told me it was dangerous to play there. He called me a coward. I wanted to prove to him that I was just as brave, so I agreed to go with him.

    We wanted to make our way down to explore(探索) the area, so Bob started to climb down and I followed him. Unluckily, some rocks came down after us. One of them nearly hit my head. We could not get back up. We shouted and shouted for help, but for a long time no help came. I was really scared. I wanted to cry. Then, we heard some sounds. Someone had heard us. A woman tied (系) a rope around herself while a man at the cliff top held the rope. She made her way down to save us.

    My parents were relieved(宽慰) that I was unhurt , but they were angry that I had done such a risky thing. I apologized and promised that I would not do anything like that again.

    Neel Sethi starred in Disney's cartoon The Jungle Book. The cartoon started being shown in theaters on April 15th. In this cartoon, Neel Sethi plays Mowgli, a boy growing up in the jungle with some wild wolves. When a big tiger named Shere Khan tries to kill him, Mowgli has to leave his wolf family. Along the way, Mowgli meets many animals. Some of them put him in danger, and others help him out of danger. Bill Murray, Lupita Nyong'o and Scarlett Johansson give their voices for the animals in the cartoon.

    In fact, Neel finished most of his parts in front of a blue screen. Later on, people put his parts with the animals and jungle pictures together. In the movie, Mowgli enjoys living with the bear, Baloo, very much. Mowgli stays on the top of Baloo as they play in a river and sing The Bare Necessities.

    "To do well in the movie, I ran and jumped around in my own time," Neel said. "So it really wasn't that hard to be Mowgli."

    Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh(1853-1890) killed himself by shooting himself in the chest(胸膛).

    This is what van Gogh himself told his brother, the doctors and the police just before he died.

    However, in a new book Van Gogh: The Life, two Pulitzer (普利策奖) Prize-winning authors, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, argue that van Gogh may have been murdered. They believed that the artist was protecting a 16-year-old boy named Rene Secret, who shot him accidentally.

    Van Gogh's statement that he shot himself was accepted because he had been mentally unstable(精神状况不稳的) for two years. He suffered from psychotic(精神病的) attacks and imagined things that were not really happening. Art critics (评论家) believe that his unstable mental state is shown in his work, describing his style of painting as shaken. Some of his most famous paintings, such as The Starry Night, were produced during this period.

    Van Gogh is among a number of creative minds who suffered from mental health problems. In fact, mental illness is so common among famous creative figures that scientists have studied whether there is link between creativity and insanity(精神错乱). Research began in the 1970s, but the idea that an unstable mind could be linked to creative genius(天才) was already around in ancient Greece.

    Some scientists believe mental illness, in its more manageable state, gives artists creativity. Research has found that doing creative activities can also be therapeutic(有疗效的) for people suffering from mental illness. Painting, writing, or making something can be a positive way for people to express their thoughts.