There was an old mule(骡子). One day accidentally he fell into the farmer's well. The farmer thought for a while and said to himself that neither the well nor the old mule was important to him. So he decided to use soil to bury the old mule in the well.

    Then the farmer called his neighbours and they started to put the soil into the well together. The old mule was quite afraid in the beginning. But soon one hopeful idea came to his mind - every time when a shovel(铁铲) of soil landed on his back, he would shake it off and step up!

He said these words to himself again and again, "Shake it off and step up." This way he could fight against the panic (恐慌) and encourage himself. After some time, the mule had stepped over the well's wall. Although terribly tired, he was the winner and he saved his own life. He decided to face his difficulty bravely and not to give up, and finally he won.

    A group of friends from Italy wanted to do something different for their vacation. They decided to drive through Australia in a jeep. The journey was a real adventure, but sometimes the long hours on the road made them tired.

    It was Bill's turn to drive. Tony, Allan and Jeff were sleeping. Bill was thinking of the cool drink and shower in the next town when suddenly something jumped in front of the jeep. Bill tried to stop the jeep, but it was too late, he hit it. When the four friends got out, they saw a kangaroo lying on the road. They thought it was dead. What could they do? It wasn't their fault. It was an accident.

    The friends were sad, but they wanted to have a photo of the kangaroo to show everyone back home. Jeff got his camera, and the others picked up the kangaroo and stood it up against the jeep.__ They put a cap, sunglasses and a jacket on him. They took several photos with the kangaroo.

Suddenly, to their surprise, the kangaroo moved its head—moved its body, and jumped away with Bill's cap, Allan's sunglasses, and Tony's jacket—-with his passport and one thousand dollars.

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    One day Mrs. Smith invited many people to her house. She wanted to cook them a good dinner of meat and soup. She had five daughters. They were all busy. Mrs. Smith was busy, too. She forgot to put any salt into the soup. So she asked Mary, one of her daughters, to help her. “I can't, Mum. I'm busy now.” said Mary. She asked the other girls, but got the same answer. So she did it herself.

    Now, Mary thought she should help her mother. So she put some salt into the soup. And then all the other girls did the same.

    Mrs. Smith put the soup on the table. The friends took a little soup and their eyes opened wide. She took the soup, then she knew. “Which of you girls put salt into the soup?” she asked. “I did, Mum.” All the five girls said together.

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    It was wonderful in Taiwan. I still remember my last trip to Taiwan.

First, I visited the National Palace Museum in Taiwan. It began to be built in 1962. It was completed in 1965. In this museum, you can find lots of exhibitions(展品). The museum keeps about 600, 000 artworks. The clerks of the museum say they change exhibitions every three months.

    Yinke was the second place I visited. It is a great town. There are some beautiful buildings in the town. The buildings look like European houses. These buildings make Yinke look like old England.

    It was a great experience to visit Keelung. The Keelung coasts are very famous for their wonderful scenes. There is also a seafood market. You can buy fresh product there.

    Then I arrived at Danshui. The most interesting place of Danshui is the Lover's Bridge. The bridge connects one side of the river with the other side. It is about 40 meters long. However, only one person can cross it at a time.

    I like Taiwan and I want to visit Taiwan again if I have free time.

Do you know about Sally? She's good-looking and well-spoken, but also is obedient(听话的). That's to say, she'll do anything that you ask her to do. Sally is a personal assistant robot. Bill Moir. a university teacher and computer engineer, spent more than a year finishing this robot. And now Sally can do many things, such as turning on the radio, and even playing and working on computers.

In other parts of the world, there are similar robots,but Bill's is to help disabled (残疾的) people around the home.

About one month ago, Bill said, "I'll make a special house. When you come in, Sally will be there on the big screen for you. You can ask her to read your e-mails, tell you the news and how the weather is. You can also askher to help you buy something you need.She'll be able to do many other things if you like."

Although Sally is a robot, it seems that she could do a better job than a human helper.

Bill's working on a new project (项目) now. He wants to improve Sally so that she can do more and better work for people.

 There are many deserts on the earth. And the following are some facts you may find interesting.

What are deserts like?

 Deserts can be hot and dry places. Rain may not fall there for months or years. Some deserts are sandy and stony. Deserts can also be very wind y places. The wind can change the shape of the deserts. It moves sand around from place to place.

 Temperatures in the desert can vary greatly. During the daytime, the temperature may reach 40℃ even in the shade. At night, deserts can become very cold. In winter, there may even be a frost early in the morning.

Living in the desert

 The camel is sometimes called" the ship of the desert". It stores food in its hump and can go for days without water. It has large feet which help it not to fall into the soft sand. Its long eyelashes keep out the sand during sandstorms.

 An oasis(绿洲) is an area of the desert where water may be found. People and animals visit an oasis for water and food. Plants grow at an oasis. Some farmers are able to grow crops here.

The Arabian Desert

 The Arabian Desert lies between the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. Oil under parts of the desert has made some countries in the area very rich. The government has spent money building fine cities with lovely parks and lakes, and people live a comfortable life there.