Years ago, there was an old man who loved his young son very much. And the old man had a lot of art collections, such as the works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and many others.

As war broke out in their nation, the son became a soldier and left to serve his country. Only a few weeks later, the old man received a message that his son died in the war.

On Christmas morning, a soldier knocked on the door and said, “I am a friend of your son. He saved my life before he died. I am also an artist, and I want to give you this painting that I drew in the war.” It was a portrait (画像) of the man's son.

The old man told his neighbors it was the greatest gift he had ever received. The following spring, the old man became ill and passed away. According to the will of the old man, all of the art works would be sold at an auction (拍卖会)  on Christmas Day, the day he had received his greatest gift.

On Christmas Day the auction began with the portrait of the old man's son, The auctioneer (拍卖师) asked for an opening bid (竞价), but the room was silent. Finally, a friend of the old man said, “Will I take $10 for the painting? That's all I have.” The gavel (小木槌) fell.

The auctioneer looked at the audience and announced that the auction was over. He explained, “It is very easy. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the portrait of his son gets all his art collections.”

    John is five years old now. He is a good boy. He is very clever and can read very well. But he can't tell the right time by clock. He doesn't say eight o'clock in the morning, twelve o'clock or four o'clock in the afternoon. He always says "breakfast time" for eight o'clock, "lunch time" for twelve o'clock and "tea-time" for four o'clock in the afternoon. His mother wants to teach him to know the time by clock.

    "Can you count, John?" his mother asks him. "Yes. Let me count for you. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve..." "That's good, John. Now let me tell you to say the time. Now, look! I put the long hand on twelve and the short hand on one. That is one o'clock. If I put the short on two, that's two o'clock. Do you know?"

    "Yes, I do." John tells his mother. "Good. If I put the short hand on four, what's that?" his mother asks and really puts the short one on four. "Tea-time, Mum. And I am hungry."

    “Reading makes a full man,” novels written by famous writers help us to know more about our history, culture and many other things.

    Jane Austen was one of the most well-known women writers of the world. She was born in England in 1775. Jane liked reading and writing. She wrote a number of famous novels in her life. Among them, Pride and Prejudice written in 1779 was the most popular.

    Ernest Hemingway, an outstanding American writer and reporter, was born in 1899. His life experience had a great influence on his writing style. Hemingway lived in France and Italy between the 1920s and 1950s. Most of his books such as The Sun Also Rises were written at that time. He won the Nobel Prize in 1954 mainly because of the novel The Old Man and the Sea.

    Tony Wheeler was born to travel. His father worked for an airline. For the first 16 years of his life, Wheeler and his family lived in many different countries.

    In the early 1970s,Tony met a young woman named Maureen. They soon married. Before getting jobs, Tony and Maureen wanted to travel. They took a year long trip from England, through Asia, to Australia. On the trip,they visited places like Iran(伊朗),India, and so on.

    When Tony and Maureen arrived in Australia, people asked many

questions about their trip. To answer these questions, Wheeler wrote a book called Across Asia on the Cheap. The book told people about different countries' weather, customs (风俗), and places to see. But unlike other travel books then,Tony Wheeler's book also talked about places most tourists did not go. He also wrote about unusual things to see and do. The book was very popular.

    Tony and Maureen started a company called Lonely Planet. They

continued travelling. They wrote books for each place they visited. Today,800 people work {or Lonely Planet. The company has over 650 books. Tony Wheeler,the great traveller, still writes about travels to many places and will bring us more surprises.