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）.

    Mr Smith is a teacher of English. He comes from America. He teaches English in China. He speaks Chinese quite well.

    He reads a lot of books and his wife often writes books for the students at home. Mr Smith gets up at five in the morning. He leaves home at ten to six. He begins the first lesson at 8:00. He teaches English every day except Saturday and Sunday. At ten to twelve he finishes his lessons. Ten minutes later he has lunch. In the afternoon, he often plays games with his students. Sometimes he teaches his students in his office. Supper time is at about six. After that, he reads newspapers and watches TV. At about ten to eleven he goes to bed.

    Long ago, Bluebird's feathers were the colour of dust. She did not like her ugly colour. She was attracted by the colour of the lake near her home. It was as blue as the sky after a storm. Bluebird wanted to be the colour of that beautiful lake very much. Flapping her wings one morning, Bluebird flew from her tree to the blue lake. Then she bathed in the water three times. After each bath, she sang, "Blue water. Still water. I went in. I am blue." Bluebird repeated this every morning. On the third day, she came out of the lake with beautiful blue feathers.

    Now Coyote was a trickster(骗子)—and hungry too. He stayed behind Bluebird's tree for a long time every day and watched her go to the lake. He pretended(伪装)to be interested in everything she did. He wanted Bluebird for lunch, but he was afraid of the blue water. On the third morning, Coyote saw Bluebird come out of the lake with beautiful blue feathers. Impressed, he sat next to Bluebird's tree and waited for her. When she returned, he asked, "How did you get blue feathers? I want to be blue like the mountains too." Bluebird didn't believe Coyote, but she taught him how to bathe three times each morning and how to sing her song. Coyote did what she said, and after three days of bathing in the lake, his white fur turned deep blue.

    Convinced(确信的)that blue fur was even more beautiful than blue feathers, Coyote forgot all about being hungry. He ran as fast as he could to the top of the hill. Standing on his back legs, he raised his front legs off the ground and howled. But Coyote slipped(滑倒)and rolled down the hill. He couldn't stop himself, and the dust and dirt covered his new blue fur. He rolled and rolled until he hit into Bluebird's tree heavily. No matter how much he tried, foolish Coyote could not shake the dust from his fur. And so the fur of all coyotes had the dull colour of dust to this very day.

A young man named Mark lived with his father, a wise old man. One day, Mark told his father {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (sad) that he made little progress in learning the guitar, although he had tried hard. Mark asked his father {#blank#}2{#/blank#}some help.

"Follow me, and I {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(lead) you to the high hills around our village tomorrow,"said his father. Then, they set out. The road was long and difficult, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Mark still followed his father. As they got higher, the father said that he wanted to go to the top of the highest hill where he had never been. Mark was surprised but decided {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(help) his father. With great difficulty, Mark helped his father climb the hill. Finally, they got to the top.

"When you were {#blank#}6{#/blank#} little boy,sometimes the elder children laughed at you. Do you remember why?" said his father.

Mark nodded. He remembered that as a child, he and all his {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(friend) called this hill Mount Impossible, because small children couldn't reach its top.

"And today,"said his father,"you not only climbed here, but also helped {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(I) to get here."

"I became bigger and stronger than before,"said Mark.

"Instead of {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (climb) Mount Impossible every day, you played on the smaller hills and became {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (good) at climbing,"said his father. "It became possible for you to climb Mount Impossible while you weren't even thinking about it."

I stood by the window, looking at the gray sky and snowy ground. A woman crossed the street, with a thick scarf, looking cold and unhappy.

The morning was ideal for reading, so I turned on the light and lay in bed with a book. The phone rang, and I heard my mum agree to something, mentioning my name. Curious, I wondered what was happening.

Mum entered and told me Uncle Sam was taking me to Sparrow Hills. Unwilling to leave on such a cold day, I hesitated(犹豫) but didn't want to disappoint Mum, so I put on my blue sweater. The doorbell rang, and Uncle Sam asked if I was ready.

"I suppose," I replied, grabbing a warm wool hat. We headed to the station, catching the train to Sparrow Hills. The train was warm, and my body started to relax.

" Can we just stay on the train?" I said as the train stopped. Uncle Sam softly pulled me up and said," You will miss all the fun."

Outside, the wind was blowing strongly. The trees were shining and they s wung in the wind.

"I don't know how long I can stay out here," I said as we started to walk uphill. He pulled me closer to the trees and said," Listen!"

At first, I heard only the wind. Then came a jingling and chiming(叮叮当当)." That's the music in winter," my uncle said. I pulled my hat up to free my ears. The branches(树枝) sounded like hundreds of bells ringing, jingling and chiming. I was surprised and I stood still, looking at the icy branches hitting each other and leaves swinging in the wind. Then we climbed to the top of Sparrow Hills and looked down. The snow- covered trees made buildings appear brighter. Then the sun broke through the clouds.

" The sun is shining!" I shouted. Uncle Sam smiled and said," The sun is always shining. You just need to climb high enough to see it."