Many of you have heard a Cinderella (灰姑娘) story, but you may not know that there are over a hundred different ways to tell the Cinderella story. When writers tell the same story in a different way, it is called their “version” of the story. The story of Cinderella has many different versions. Let's read two of them and find out how they are different.

The version that most people know is the oldest one written in 1697 by Charles Perrault from France. This is the version where the birds help make Cinderella's dress and the mice turn into carriage men (马车夫) and help Cinderella go to the dance in a pumpkin (南瓜) carriage. In this version, many of the animals are Cinderella's friends. They help her meet the Prince. Cinderella marries the Prince and they live happily together ever after.

In another version of this story written in the 1850s by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm from Germany, the birds help Cinderella in the whole story. Cinderella's father gives her a little tree when he comes back from a party. She plants the little tree and her tears water it until it grows into a tall tree.

The birds now live in the tree and they give Cinderella a dress of gold and shoes of gold. Cinderella goes to the party to meet and dance with the Prince. Later, he finds Cinderella at home doing work for her stepmother (继母). Cinderella marries the Prince and they live happily ever after.

Now you can understand what the word “version” means and how more than one writer can tell a story in a different way. That is why there are many versions of the same story.

                                                                                              B

    When I was a little girl, my father loved to play catch (抛接球游戏) with me. I wasn't very good, but he would encourage me. He was always telling me “keep your eye on the ball” as I would not be able to catch even the easiest of throws.

    As I got older, we didn't play catch as much. If I had a problem, I would go to my father to ask for his advice. He would try to joke with me and say “keep your eye on the ball”. We would both laugh because usually that advice did not apply to(适用于) the problem, but he would try to make me smile.

    My father became ill in 1995 when I was 23. As he suffered from a stroke (中风), he could not speak. There weren't any more conversations. He could only mouth words, which were sometimes hard to understand. After a while, I seemed to be pretty good at reading his lips (嘴唇), even better than the nurses who were caring for him.

    During our last conversation, I was telling him about a problem I was having with my then boyfriend. Once again, I could read his lips： “Keep your eye on the ball.” We both smiled.

    That was the last time I saw my father before he passed away.

    Since then, when I get into a stressful situation I tell myself “keep your eye on the ball”.

B

    An old man was going home late one night with his horse and cart after a day's hard work. When he was not far away from his house, the light on the cart went out. He tried but could not repair it. He was near his home, and so he went along the road without a light. When a policeman saw this, he stopped the old man.

    "Where is your light?" asked the policeman. "No man may take a cart along the road at night without a light. You know that. You have broken the law." "I had a light, but it has just gone out," said the old man.

    "I don't believe that story. What's your name and where do you live?" asked the policeman. "Please don't write down my name," said the old man. "My home is just there. You can see it from here. I had a light nearly the whole way."

    "You came all the way without a light. What's your name?"

    The old man quickly took the policeman's hand and put it down on the top of the light. The light was still hot and burnt the policeman's hand. The policeman jumped and he was very angry. "Now, what do you think?" said the old man. "Did I come all the way without a light?"

    Dick lived in England. One day in January he said to his wife, "I'm going to fly to New York next week because I've got some work there." "Where are you going to stay there？ "his wife asked. "I don't know yet." Dick answered. "Please send me your address from there in a telegram （电报）," his wife said. "All right," Dick answered.

    He flew to New York on January 31st and found a nice hotel in the center of the city. He put his things in his room and then he sent his wife a telegram. He put the address of his hotel in it.

    In the evening he didn't have any work, so he went to a cinema. He came out at nine o'clock and said, "Now I'm going back to my hotel and have a nice dinner."

    He found a taxi（出租车）and the driver said, "Where do you want to go？"But Dick didn't remember the name and address of his hotel.

    "Which hotel are my things in？" he said, "And what am I going to do tonight？ "But the driver of the taxi did not know. So Dick got out and went into a post office. There he sent his wife another telegram, and in it he wrote, "Please send me my address at this post office."

Choose the right answer