Mr Turner teaches in a middle school. He's friendly to his students. And he is always strict with himself. He often tells his students to be polite and to do their best to help the persons who are in trouble.

    One Monday morning, Mr Turner didn't go to work and went to see Mr White who was ill in hospital. As something was wrong with his car, he had to take a bus. At first he easily found a seat, but soon plenty of people got on the bus and it was very crowded. Some of them had to stand. Mr Turner looked around and saw a woman standing behind. He stood up and made room for her. The woman said nothing and sat down. Her behaviour made Mr Turner unhappy.

    "It's necessary for her to be taught how to be polite," he said to himself. Then he asked, "What did you say, madam?"

    "I didn't say anything, "answered the woman.

    "I thought you said 'Thank you!"'

    When the woman heard this, her face turned red.

Jim comes from America．He has lots of good friends in his class，and Su Ling is one of them．Today is Ling's birthday．She has a birthday dinner at home，and she asks Jim and other classmates to her house．Ling's mother cooks Chinese food for them．The food is so delicious，and Jim likes it very much．

In America，Jim usually has hamburgers，potato chips，bread and ice-cream like many Americans．Some people think that's why Americans are so fat．After he comes to China，he knows about Chinese food．At first，he really doesn't like Chinese food．It is different from American food．But later，he loves it! Now he usually has porridge and eggs for breakfast，some vegetables，rice and chicken for lunch，and noodles and fruit for dinner．His favorite Chinese food is dumplings．He thinks they are really delicious．“People in America don't eat them．What a pity!”Jim says．But Jim doesn't eat meat often．He doesn't want to be fat．

    On May 12, a big earthquake in China hit Wenchuan, Sichuan. Buildings fell down and the city was destroyed. A lot of people lost their lives.

    Premier Wen Jiabao got on a plane to Chengdu 尽快地. He was leading rescue (救援) work there.

    During the earthquake, many school buildings fell down. Students were buried. But they didn't give up hope. Many got out with help. Here are some stories about the brave students.

    Jiang Dejia and Liao Li are both students from Shifang Yinghua Middle School in Deyang. They were buried in the school rubble(碎砖) for two days. Jiang and Liao didn't know each other before the earthquake. But they kept each other going during the two scary days. They were both rescued later.

    A Junior 1 girl called Deng Qingqing from Shifang Yinghua Middle School was buried under the rubble. She was cold and hungry. But the brave girl had a flashlight (手电筒). She used it to help her read books.

    Li Anning, 16, is from Beichuan Middle School. She and her classmates sang songs under the rubble to comfort each other. The PLA soldiers and policemen were trying to find people alive in the rubble.Helicopters (直升机) airdropped food, water and medicine. Medical teams went to the quake­ hit areas. People outside Sichuan were also offering money, blood and other things to help.

    One of the best-known American writers of children's books is Alfred Strong, or Doctor Strong, as he is better known to readers everywhere．Now, an art show called "Doctor Strong From Then to Now" is travelling around the United States．The pictures and drawings show the history of Doctor Strong．

    Doctor Strong first became famous almost fifty years ago when his first children's book was published (出版)．Since then, he has written forty—five books that have been sold more than one hundred million copies around the world．

    Doctor Strong's books are known for their easy use of words and colourful, hand drawn pictures．These drawings bring life to his imaginary creatures, The Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and hundreds of others．

    The San Diego Museum, in California, organized the art show．It included about three hundred Doctor Strong's early drawings and some of his writings．

Most of Doctor Strong's books, although written in a funny way, have serious messages．For example, in McElligot's Pool, he describes the danger of pollution．He discusses the arms race (军备竞赛) in The Butter Battle Book, written in nineteen eighty four．

    Doctor Strong says he never planned to write stories just for children．He says he writes stories that interest people of all ages．He says he uses easy words so that everyone, even a child, can understand．

    Uncle Li and Uncle Wang are good friends. They live next to each other and their farms are both at the foot of the mountain. So they can help each other. But neither of them likes to use his head. They're both poor though they work hard. Most villagers have built new houses，but they still live in the low and broken houses. They never find out why.

    Once Uncle Li went to town to buy some medicine for his wife. In the town he heard the apples in a city were expensive. He told Uncle Wang about it as soon a she went back. They decided to carry some apples to the city. They borrowed some money from their friends and bought nearly 1, 000 kilograms of apples in the villages and carried them to the city on a tractor. Bad luck！A lot of apples have already been carried there when they arrived. A few days later they had to sell them at a low price. They felt unhappy and returned to their village.

    "I can't understand why we sustained（蒙受）losses in business while others always profit（盈利）. "Uncle Li asked one day.

    "The tractor was too small，"Uncle Wang said without thinking. "We'll carry more apples on a truck next time！"

    "I agree!" said Uncle Li. "How foolish we were!"