Jane is only four years o1d and she doesn't go to school. But she is very clever and learns a lot from her grandpa—an old teacher. One day, Jane's mother, Mrs John takes her to a party. The guests（客人）all praise（表扬）a rich woman's son. Mrs John asks him a few questions, but his answers are wrong. Jane begins to laugh.

    The rich woman is angry.  She te11s her friend—a teacher to ask Jane some questions, but the little girl answers all. Then she asks, "There are three birds in a tree. How many will be left（被留下）if I kill（杀死）one?”

    “One” answers Jane. “You're wrong!” calls out the rich woman. “All of them will fly away”,“Do you think a dead（死的）bird can fly?”asks the little girl.

    The guests begin to 1augh and the woman's face turns red.

    One day, Akbar decided to test how wise Birbal was. He took his ring off his finger and handed it to one of his courtiers (侍臣). Akbar said to him, "You must hide this ring safely with you. Make sure that no one can find it."

    As soon as Birbal came to the palace, Akbar said. "Birbal, I lost my ring this morning. It was given to me by my father. Do whatever you want, but you have to find my ring soon."

    Birbal asked Akbar to give him more information, but Akbar didn't say much. He kepp on repeating, "I don't remember anything at all. You must find my ring." Finally, Birbal said, "All right, Your Majesty (陛下)! I will find your ring soon."

    Birbal closed his eyes and pretended (假装) to think for a while. And then he said, "Your Majesty, your ring is somewhere here in this palace. It is with one of the courtiers. The courtier has a grain of rice in his beard."

    The courtier was worried. Hearing Birbal's words, he quickly moved his hand over his beard. Birbal's eyes fixed on the behaviour of the courtier. Pointing towards him, Birbal said, "Your Majesty, this courtier stole your ring."

    Akbar was surprised. He didn't understand how Birbal had succeeded in finding his ring. But once again, Akbar accepted the fact that Birbal was very wise.

    The story of Robinson Crusoe is known all over the world. The story is about the life of a real person. His name was Alexander Selkirk.

    Selkirk was born in 1676 in Scotland. His father made shoes and clothes, but Alexander didn't want to work in his father's shop. He wanted to sail a ship on the sea.

    When Selkirk was 28 years old, he was sailing on the Pacific Ocean. The ship was in a bad state. Selkirk was worried. "This ship is not safe!" he thought. He told the captain that he wanted to get off. The captain didn't like Selkirk, so he agreed. The ship took Selkirk to a small island.

    Selkirk took a few things from the ship: a gun, an axe, and a few clothes. Then the ship left, and Selkirk was alone. There were no people or houses on the island. He was more than 600 kilometres from the nearest country, Chile.

    He found a cave near the beach and this became his home for the first few months. In the day time, he had to leave the cave and find some food. He usually ate fish and other small sea animals. At night, he heard strange noises from the trees. He thought that there were wild animals on the island that could hurt him. He was afraid and didn't want to leave for the beach. He stayed in his cave. He was very lonely.

    One day, when he woke up，he saw hundreds of sea lions on the beach. He couldn't get to the sea, so he couldn't catch any fish. He had to look for food on another part of the island. He was still afraid of the wild animals, but he was hungry! He had to go out in order not to be hungry.

    Janie shook her bank. It was not heavy. She shook it again. It made very little sound.

    She sighed (叹气). How could she buy dad a gift? Father's Day was almost here. She went to talk to mom.

    "Mom," said Janie, I need money. "What do you need money for?" asked Mom. "I need to get dad a gift for Father's Day." "I will not give you the money," said Mom. "I will help you to make it." "What do I have to do?" asked Janie. "You can help me," said Mom. "You can help with housework. I will make a list of jobs. Each one will be worth a price. When you do a job well, I will give you the money according to the price." "OK. That's a good idea." said Janie.

    Mom quickly made a housework list: sweeping the floor, $2; making the table, $0.5 ; washing socks, $1; making the bed, $1; washing the dishes, $2; taking out the litter, $1; cutting the grass in the garden, $3; tidying the room, $3.

    After that, Janie helped with the housework happily every day, "What a pleasant surprise father will have when he gets the gift!" Janie often imagines (想象).