Tom arrived at the New York airport two hours before the flight to Paris. He was wearing three shirts, a jacket, two pairs of socks, a pair of shorts, and two pairs of jeans. He was carrying one small backpack, which was very full, but he didn't have any other luggage. Tom needed to meet a man named Tony before he checked in for his flight. He found Tony near the Air France counter. Tony gave him a round-trip ticket and a small package.

    “Give this package to Jean-Paul at the airport in Paris. He will have a sign with your name on it. I think you can find him easily,” Tony said, ”You don't have any luggage, right?”

    “Only this backpack,” Tom answered. ”You said I could bring one carry-on bag.”

    “That's right. One carry-on bag is fine. Have a good trip.”

    “Thanks.”

    Is Tom a criminal (罪犯)? Not at all. He is an air-courier(空中信使). And he paid only $110 for the round-trip ticket to Paris. Air couriers get cheap airline tickets because they take important packages and papers to foreign countries. Businesses sometimes need to get packages and papers to people in foreign countries by the next day. Often, the only way they can do this is to use an air-courier company. It is not cheap for a business to send a package with an air courier, but it is quick.

    Every year about 80,000 people worldwide travel as air couriers. The number of tickets for courier travel is growing by about 10 percent a year. However, air-courier travel isn't for everyone. But if you have very little money, can be flexible(灵活的) about your travel plans, and don't mind wearing the same clothes for a week, it can be a great way to take a vacation!

C

    When my wife and I went to live in an Arab country, my friends told us to be prepared for a culture shock. Later, we realized that the advice given to us by our friends was correct.

    The culture shock started with the weather. Here, the burning sun can cook an egg in a minute! The hot weather made us feel so tired that we were falling asleep at mid-day!

    Another culture shock was the working week. We worked from Saturdays to Wednesdays, including Sundays. It was also strange to see people praying in a certain direction! They have strict rules for women. They do not let people see their faces in public. They do not let women drive cars, either. All dresses worn by women have to cover the body completely. They believe that women cannot be seen in public.

    At the weekends, we went camping in the desert. I will never forget watching the sun setting over the desert. We also enjoyed riding on the camels. In the end, we enjoyed living there, but their culture is very different from the American culture.

    Brenda Bongos was a happy, talented girl. She had one big dream-to play the drums in a band. But one big problem lay in her way. To be good enough to play in a band, Brenda had to practice a lot, but she lived next-door to a lot of old people. Many of them are sick. She knew that the sound of beating drums would really get them nervous. So, she had tried playing in the strangest places: a basement, a kitchen, and even in a shower. But there was always someone who would get mad.

    One day, while watching a science documentary on TV, she heard that sound cannot travel in space, because there's no air. At that moment, Brenda Bongos decided to become a musical astronaut.

With the help of a lot of time, books and work, Brenda built a space bubble (透明圆形罩). This was a big glass ball connected to a machine which sucked out (抽出) all the air inside. All that would be left inside was a drum kit (成套设备) and a chair. Brenda got into the space suit she had made, entered the bubble，turned on the machine, and played those drums like a wild child.

    It wasn't long before Brenda Bongos became very famous. Many people came to see her play in her space bubble. Shortly afterwards she came out of the bubble and started giving concerts. Her fame spread so much that the government suggested that she be part of a special space journey. Finally,           , and it was far beyond (超越) her first dream of playing drums in a band.

    Years later, when asked how she had achieved all her dreams, she thought for a moment, and said," If those old people next-door hadn't mattered so much to me, I wouldn't have found a solution, and none of this would have ever happened."

    Ray's wedding had gone off smoothly. Everyone seemed to have had a good time. A few people had too good a time; they went home with designated (指派的) drivers. All evening, the gift table remained unguarded. Who would steal anything, Ray thought. He had never heard of such a thing happening at a wedding. But his best friend Aaron said there was a first time for everything. He strolled out regularly from the inside festivities (庆祝) to check on the gift table, making sure no one suspicious was hanging around it.

    Ray and Julia went on a 3-week honeymoon to Italy right after the wedding. When they got back, they opened all the gifts and sent out thank-you notes. But there was one problem. A married couple that used to be good friends had apparently given nothing. This surprised Julia, because Walt and Mary said they were thrilled to be invited. And, they actually seemed to have had a great time at the wedding. Frankly, Ray didn't even care if they hadn't given a gift. He just needed to know whether to send a thank-you note. Ray called Aaron. Aaron said maybe Walt had left an envelope on the gift table like Aaron had. "Yes, but we got your envelope with the cash inside," Ray said. "Maybe my envelope looked too thin, and some thief thought Walt's envelope looked nice and fat."

    Aaron asked Ray if he had looked everywhere for Walt's gift. Had he called up the wedding site to see if anything had been left behind? Ray said that he had looked everywhere and made a lot of calls that were fruitless.

    Ray didn't know what to do. If he sent Walt and Mary a thank-you note for a gift they hadn't given, they would be insulted. If he didn't send them a thank-you note for a gift they had given, they would get angry.

    "What would you do?" Ray asked. Aaron said he would call Walt up and tell him the problem.

    "You can't go wrong with simply being honest," Aaron said.

    "Oh, yes, you can," Ray contradicted (反驳) him. "Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie." But he thought about it, and finally decided that Aaron was right. He called Walt and told him the problem. Walt said that yes, he had given an envelope. In fact, the envelope contained $500 cash.

    "$500?!" Ray asked. "That's a lot of cash, Walt!" Walt admitted that it was, but he had gotten a fat raise (加薪) early that year and Ray's was the only wedding he'd been to in quite a while. Ray thanked him very much, and apologized sincerely for someone stealing Walt's generous gift. Walt told him that it was "only money".

    When Ray told Aaron about Walt's gift, Aaron laughed. "The only thief at the wedding was Walt! I quit playing cards with him last year because I caught him cheating. And it was only a $10 pot! I'm sure I told you about that."

    "Yes, you did tell me," Ray said. But, of course, he had to send Walt a thank-you note anyway.

An old man died and left his son a lot of money. But the son was a foolish young man, and he quickly spent all the money, so that soon he had nothing left. Of course, when that happened, all his friends left him. When he was quite poor and alone, he went to see Mr. Smith, who was a kind, clever old man and often helped people when they had troubles.

    "My money has ran out and my friends have gone," said the young man. "What will happen to me?

"Don't worry, young man," answered Mr Smith. "Everything will soon be all right again. Wait, and you will soon feel much happier. "

    The young man was very glad. "Am I going to get rich again then?" he asked Mr. Smith.

    "No, I didn't mean that," said the old man. "I meant that you would soon get used to being poor and to having no friends. "

A girl loves ballet(芭蕾舞). Her name is Linda. Every Sunday she takes the1 lessons and she works very hard at it. Linda has two2 feet, but she never thinks they are bad for her to be a good dancer. 

Soon Linda joins in her first ballet contest(比赛). When Linda is3 her dance, the judges(评委) stop her and say, "Look at4 feet. They are like two boats. You can't be a ballet dancer with such big feet. "So Linda doesn't5 start and everything is over. She is very sad, so she6 there and goes home. "Maybe they are right. I can7 be a good ballet dancer. I won't go to the ballet lessons on8 , "she thinks. then Linda finds a job in a 9 for her free Sundays. One day, a musician comes and has lunch here. There is a piano in the restaurant. After having the meal, he10 to play it. People like his11 and they all dance to it.

"Come on! Let's dance! "they say to Linda. "I can't dance well11 "she says.

"Don't12 ! Just enjoy it, "they say. Then Linda13 them. When she dances, all the people stop to14 . Everyone says she is a15 dancer. Linda is happy that they like her dance and she thinks, "I will keep dancing. "