The USA is the fourth largest country in the world in size after Russia, Canada and China. The population(人口) of the USA is the third largest in the world.

   The Mississippi River is the longest river in America. It's over 6,000 kilometers long. The Mississippi River has been called the "Father of Waters" or "Old Man River". The most important lakes in the United States are the Great Lakes. They are Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. All of them are between Canada and the United States except(除了) Lake Michigan.

   Let us talk about American education(教育). There are two kinds of schools in the United States: public schools and private schools. Most children go to public schools. Their parents do not have to pay for their education. If a child goes to a private school, his parents have to pay for their schooling. Children start school when they are five years old. Most students are eighteen years old when they leave secondary(中级) schools.

A

    A dog got away from his leash（拴狗颈的皮带）one day and went for a walk in the woods. After a time, he met a wolf.

    The dog said to the wolf, "Brother Wolf, you look so thin! How can you be happy when you are so thin? You should come to live with me and my master. I eat much every day and I never worry about food."

    The wolf thought for a moment and replied, "Yes, you are right. Why should I be out here in the wild hunting for small pieces of food when someone else will give it to me? And you are so well fed. Very well, I will come to live with you."

    "Good," said the dog, "then follow me."

    As they went to the dog's home, the wolf noticed a patch (斑点) around the dog's neck where the fur had been worn off.

    "Brother Dog," asked the wolf, "why do you have that patch around your neck where there is no fur?"

    The dog slowed down, stopped and turned to the wolf with sadness in his eyes.

    "That is where they place the leash around my neck. They do this so they can control me and keep me in my place," replied the dog, sadly.

    "Never!" said the wolf as he began to go back into the forest. "I would rather be hungry and free than be fat and as a slave."

    On Thursday October 3, Adam Harper decided to stop drinking coffee. Adam is a MBA student at Harvard University. He studies long hours, gets very little sleep, so he drinks a lot of coffee—anywhere from five to six cups a day. Recently, Adam felt that drinking thus much coffee was making it hard for him to sleep at all. He also began having problems with his concentration(注意力), and complained of stomachaches. Adam's doctor made this suggestions: stop drinking coffee altogether.

    When Adam got up on October 3, he began his day without his morning coffee. By 11:00 a.m., Adam was in a terrible mood. He was tired and had a headache. At 11:30, he had a meeting with his student advisor. In the meeting, he found it almost impossible to continue. What was going on?

    Caffeine, a chemical found in coffee, was most likely the reason for how Adam felt. Caffeine is a stimulant that boosts(增加) energy levels and improves concentration- but only for a short time. Lowering caffeine consumption(减少摄取咖啡因) often makes a drop in blood pressure and the result is a “coffee headache”. People who stop drinking coffee often say they feel tired and moody, and find it hard to focus.

    The good news is that these feeling usually pass after four and five days. During this time, doctors suggested taking some aspirin for the headache. So, if Adam can wait, in less than a week, he may be feeling much better.

    Do you know any 9-year-olds who have started their own museums? When Theodore Roosevelt was only nine, he and two of his cousins opened the "Roosevelt Museum of Natural History". The museum was in Theodore's bedroom. It had a total of 12 specimens. On display were a few seashells, some dead insects, and some birds' nests. Young Roosevelt took great pride in his small museum.

    Born in New York in 1858, Theodore Roosevelt was not always healthy. "I was a sickly boy", he once wrote. Roosevelt had a health condition called asthma. He often found it hard to breathe. Instead of playing, he watched nature and then read and wrote about it.

    Roosevelt's interest in nature sometimes got him into trouble. Once, his mother found several dead mice in the icebox. She demanded that the mice be thrown out. This was indeed "a loss to science", Roosevelt said later.

    Because Roosevelt was often sickly as a boy, his body was small and weak. When he was about 12, his father asked him to improve his body. Roosevelt began working out in a gym. He didn't become strong quickly. But he did decide to face life's challenges with a strong will. That determination stayed with Roosevelt his whole life. And eventually his body did get strong. As an adult, he was an active and healthy person. He enjoyed adventures, and he loved the outdoors.

    A toy company named the teddy bear for Theodore "Teddy". After knowing that, Roosevelt refused to shoot a baby bear while hunting.

    In 1900, at the age of 41, Roosevelt was elected Vice President. A year later, President McKinley, was shot and killed. Roosevelt became our 26^th President. At 42, he was the youngest leader the country had ever had.

    Denies Walme in Texas, USA, now 14 years old, published his best-seller Unbending Gisula eight years ago. The book is about a little whale named Gisul.

    One day, Gisula did not take his mother's words and went up the beach. Then he got lost and had to learn to live by himself. The colour pictures were drawn by Denies himself. Denies published the books at the age of six He is said to be the youngest writer and picture artist.

    Another surprising thing about the book is that it became a best seller immediately after it was published and brought him a lot of money. Because he spent much time writing the books, his study was not very good and he had to learn the year's work again but his gift of writing is highly praised by the teachers and student. And he was even invited to give talks on writing.

    But Denies does not want to be a writer. He said, 'I like planes most. I dream of becoming a pilot someday.'

    Moziah Bridges was born in 2002 in the USA. He is very young, but he is a successful businessman. He has a company which sells bow ties(领结).

Moziah Bridges always believes in his born sense of fashion. He has made full use of it—by creating his own bow tie company.

    When he was 9, he and his grandmother started making bow ties for him to wear. Some of his friends liked his bow ties and want to buy them. Later Bridges started to sell them under the name of "Mo's Bows".

    His business got better and better. He also tried some different ways to make his business more successful. For example, he even took part in a reality show to get help.

    Bridges company is now worth about 1.5 million dollars. Several months ago, he signed a deal with the NBA to make bow ties with NBA team logos(标志)on them. "My dream is to be a famous person all over the world," Bridges said.