Canadian Geese are large blue and white birds. When autumn comes, they have to fly south where the weather is warmer. The winters are so cold in Canada that the birds will die if they stay there.

    Last spring, Bill Lishman found sixteen young Canadian Geese on his farm. They had lost their parents. Bill thought, "These young birds won't know what to do in the autumn." He had a small plane and he decided to teach the birds to follow him. All through the summer, he went on short trips in his plane and the young geese flew after him.

    When the cold weather arrived in the autumn, Bill flew to Virginia in the United States, 600 miles south of his home in Canada. The geese followed him all the way. Bill left the geese in Virginia and he returned home.

    This spring, Bill was waiting for the birds to come back. They didn't arrive, so Bill flew to Virginia to get them. He looked for them for two weeks, but he couldn't find them. When he arrived back home, he found the geese waiting for him. They had found their way home without him!

    Roald Dahl was one of the most successful writers of children's books. He sold millions of books all over the world. Many of his books have been made into films and videos. He is so famous that there is even a Roald Dahl Museum you can visit.

    Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales, Britain. His father was rich but he died when Roald was very young. Roald and his mother lived a hard life. He had to leave school and went to Africa where he worked for an oil company.

    In 1939 Roald became a pilot, but he had a bad accident. It made him limp(瘸的) for the rest of his life. After this, Roald went to America where he wrote a story about his experience as a pilot. It was so good that it was put in a magazine.

    Roald married an American film star. They bought a house in England and had five children. From 1960 to 1965, ____： Theo, one of his children, was hit by a taxi and was seriously hurt. Olivia, one of Roald's daughters, died of a strange illness. Soon after this, his wife also had a serious illness. It took her years to get completely better.

    Gradually Roald became more and more successful. He always did his writing in an old shed(棚) at the back of his house. He always sat in the same old armchair with a wooden board on his lap.

    “One of the nice things about being a writer,” he once said, “is that all you need is what you've got in your head and a pencil and a bit of paper.”

    In 1983 Roald won a big prize for his book The BFG. During his life, Roald wrote many famous books, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox.

    After he died in 1990, Roald left money to help people with serious illnesses and those with problems with reading and writing.

    Mr Smith gave his wife money every Friday evening. His wife always spent it all the next Wednesday, so that for the next three days she had no money to spend at all. One day Mr Smith asked her," But how did you spend all that money?" She answered, "I don't know." So one Friday evening, Mr Smith gave her money together with an exercise book and a pencil. He said to his wife, "Please write down how you spend the money." Next Tuesday, his wife had no money again. Mr Smith took the exercise book to see how she had spent it. "I have done what you told me, "she said gladly. She had written "Friday, I got 18 pounds from Mr Smith." on the first page, and on the second page, she wrote, "Tuesday, I have spent it all."

    Working as a vet(兽医), I met a family who taught me an unforgettable lesson. They came to my clinic with their dying dog, Coco. I examined Coco and found he was old and had a serious illness. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Coco, and euthanasia(安乐死)would be best for the dog.

    On that day, their little boy Eric seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if Eric understood what was going on.

The little boy seemed to accept Coco's death without any difficulty. We sat together for a while after Coco's death, explaining that animal lives are shorter than human lives.

    Eric, who had been listening quietly, piped up:\"I know why. \"

    He said, "People need a lifetime to learn how to live a good life-like loving everybody and being nice, right? The six-year-old boy continued, "Well, animals already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long."

    I'd never heard a more soft-hearted explanation as to why animal lives are so short. It has changed the way I live. I see every day as the day that my life could be easily taken away, so I try to live my life to the fullest.