Once there was a man and a woman. They had been married for more than 60 years. They kept no secrets from each other except that the old woman had a shoe box under her bed. She told her husband never to open or ask about it.

For all these years， he had never thought about the box. But one day the old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would never get better.

The woman said it was time that he should know what was in the box. The old man took the shoe box to his wife's bedside.

When he opened it， he found two beautiful doilies(装饰小垫) and some money. The money was $25,000.

“When we got married，”she said,“my grandmother told me that the secret of a happy family was never to fight. She told me if every time I got angry with you， I should just keep quiet and crochet(编织) one doily.”

The old man was so moved because only two doilies were in the box. He thought she had only been angry with him twice in all those years.

“My dear，”he said， but what about all the money？ Where did it all come from？”

“Oh，”she said，“that's the money I made from selling the doilies. So far， I have sold 2,500 doilies.”

    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.

    O. Henry was a pen name of an American writer. He wrote short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he tried to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas. There he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. When some money was lost from the bank, others believed O. Henry took it. So people sent him to prison﹡. He stayed in prison for three years. There he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and went on writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because they always finished with a sudden change at the end, to the reader's surprise.

    Mr. Brown is a teacher. He is from New York, America. He would like to work in China because he likes our country. He thinks Chinese people are very friendly and he likes to live in China. He is happy to work in our school. He likes the school life here. He teaches English. There are 50 students in his class. Mr. Brown is kind. He and his students are good friends, too.

    Now some of Mr. Brown's students are playing sports on the playground(操场). Bill and Mike aye playing tennis. Tom and John are playing ping-pong. The other students are playing basketball. Mr. Brown is happy to play basketball with them. They really have a good time.