"Can I see my baby?" the happy new mother asked. When the baby was lying in her arms and she moved the cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped(吃力地喘着气). The doctor turned quickly and looked out of the hospital window. The baby had been born without ears. Luckily, time proved that the baby's hearing was perfect. Though the misfortune(不幸)happened to him, he grew into a handsome boy. Yet he felt ashamed when he communicated with others.
    "You should get in touch with other young people," his mother told him, with a kindness in her heart. The boy's father talked with the family doctor about his ears. "Could nothing be done?"the father asked. "I believe I could give him a pair of outer ears, if they could be got," the doctor replied.
    Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, "You are going to the hospital, Son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need, but it's a secret."The operation is a big success. Later he married and entered the diplomatic(外交的) service. One day, he asked his father, "Who gave the ears? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him or her."
    "You could, my son," said the father, "but the agreement was that you are not to know…not yet."
    The years kept their secret, but one of the darkest days did come. He stood with his father over his mother's casket(棺材). Slowly, the father stretched forth(伸出) a hand and raised the thick, reddish brown hair to reveal the mother had no outer ears.
    "Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut," his father whispered gently, "and nobody ever thought mother less beautiful, did they?"

    Michael Jackson was one of the world's best singers. He was born in the middle west of the city of Gary， Indiana， in 1958. He began singing with his four brothers. They called the group， “The Jackson Five”. The group became very popular after appearing on a television program. In 1970 the group made their  first record with the name of I Want You Back. It was very popular. One of their hit records was Never Say Goodbye.

    Michael was good at dancing as well as singing， for example， his dance moves and moon walking. He was asked to act in a film in 1978 for the first time， and in the same year he made a record on his own， which was sold eight million copies all over the world.

    Michael nearly didn't go out because he was too famous. Once his fans went off in a faint(晕倒）when they saw him at the concert. No one can do it by now. He lived in a large house and kept lots of animals. He never ate meat. He often raised money for charity. This made him win the Guinness world Records（吉尼斯世界纪录）in 2006. He died on June 25th， 2009， but he would live in our hearts forever.

    Mickey is a cheerful boy. No one can make him angry. And he never says anything bad about others. Even his teachers think he is so special.

    One afternoon, Mickey invited his favourite teacher, Mr Anthony, to have a cup of tea at home. On his bedroom door, the teacher was surprised to see hundreds of small colour cards.

    "Some friends at school think I never think badly of anyone," Mickey smiled, "but that's not true at all. In fact, I was easier to get angry than all the other kids years ago. Then my parents helped me start a card collection. With each little card I put on the door, I can easily forget the bad thing." It was true. On these cards, Mr Anthony could read "fool", "pain", "anger" and some other bad things. That day they talked about many other things, but Mr Anthony never forgot the small colour cards on the door.

    From then on, Mr Anthony began his own card collection. He also encouraged his other students to do so.

    Jane Austen(1775--1817), an English' novelist, started writing young and completed six novels in her life. Today Austen's books are more popular than ever. In the last 10 years, five of her six novels have been made into Hollywood films, while her books continue to be best-sellers.

    Richard Jenkyns, a professor of English at Oxford University, says that her novels are about marriage, friendships and the family, which are still with us today. "The stories are timeless," Jenkyns said.

    Pride and Prejudice(《傲慢与偏见》) (1813) is Austen's most famous work. It is a love story about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. At first, these two dislike each other. Elizabeth is pretty, smart and lively. She is proud because Darcy doesn't know about her family. Mr. Darcy is handsome, rich and has a better family background. So, he is proud as well. At the same time, Darcy holds a prejudice against the Bennet family. He has no understanding of why the family, especially its mother and daughters should try so hard to find wealthy and powerful husbands. He thinks they are vulgar. Anyway, Elizabeth and Darcy finally fall in love and become a romantic couple(夫妻) but their families' "don t want them to.

    In Pride and Prejudice, some of the main things that Jane Austen wants to teach people are as follows. Opposites can attract (吸引 ) each other. Lovers should not only make each other feel relaxed or comfortable, but also educate and improve each other.

    Austen is often called the greatest romantic writer, so it is surprising she remained unmarried. "Maybe she was too romantic, waiting for the perfect man," Jenkyns says.

    A man made a nice talking machine. It could weigh people. The man wanted to try the machine before he could make a lot of these kinds of machines. He put the machine into the waiting room of a station. There were always lots of people in and out there.

    The first one began to use the machine. It was an Indian woman. When she stood on the machine, the machine thought for a few minutes to decide which language it should speak. "Good morning, madam," it said in Indian. "Your weight is 72kilos. That's three kilos more. If you eat more fruit and vegetables, you will be soon all right. Wish you a nice day."

    The second one who used the machine was a nice Chinese girl. She stood on the machine and waited to hear weight. "Good morning, Miss," the machine said in Chinese. "Your weight is 45 kilos. It's all right for your age and height. Go on to eat what you eat every day. Wish you a nice day."

    The third one to use the machine was a very fat American woman. She thought for a long time before standing on the machine. But as soon as she stood on the machine, the machine spoke quickly in English, "Good morning. Will one of you get off?"