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.

    A father and his son went to a kite-flying festival. The son was full of joy when he saw the sky filled with colorful kites. He wanted to fly a kite, too. The father then bought a kite for him.

    The son started to fly the kite. Soon, his kite was high up in the sky. After a while, he said, "Father, it seems that the string (线) is stopping the kite from flying higher. If we cut it, the kite will be free and fly even higher. Can we cut it?" The father cut the string. The kite started to go higher. This made the little boy happy.

    But then, slowly, the kite started to come down. And finally it fell to the ground. The son was surprised to see this. He asked his father, "I thought that after cutting the string, the kite would fly higher. Why did it fall down?"

    The father explained, "The string was not stopping the kite from going higher, but was helping it stay in the sky. You helped the kite go up in the right direction using the string. But when you cut the string, it could no longer support the kite."

    Sometimes, we may feel like there are certain things that are holding us back (阻碍) and stopping us growing. But in fact, these might be the things that support us the most.

   In thetime it takes you to read this sentence, the population of the Earth will have grownby 10 people. That may not sound much, but it is about 14,000 people an hour. Thatis the same as adding most of the population of Germany to the world every year!

   Most of these new people are born in developing countries. These countriesare found in much of Africa, South America, and parts of Asia. In the developedcountries of Europe and North America, the population is growing very slowly. Thisis because women in these countries have, on average, only one or two children.In the developing countries, many women have five or more children. In 1950, aroundone quarter of the world's population lived in the developed countries. By 2050,these countries will be the home to only around one tenth of the world's people.

   In the developing countries, more than one billion people already live belowthe poverty line (贫困线).These people don't have enough food to eat and they live in poor housing;children get little or no time at school and suffer from many kinds of diseases.

   The United Nations (UN) tries to guess population growth. At the beginningof the 21st century, the world's population was around six billion people. The UNhas said that the world's population will level off at 12. 5 billion people by theyear 2100. Other people think the world's population will continue to grow, reaching14 billion people before it becomes stable or even falls.

A man was sitting in the doctor's office. He was telling the doctor about his {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. "I like football, Doctor. "He said, "Please help {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. My life has {#blank#}3{#/blank#}been a good one since I became {#blank#}4{#/blank#} in football and it is getting worse and {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. I can't even get away from it in my sleep. When I close my {#blank#}6{#/blank#}, I'm out there in the football field and running {#blank#}7{#/blank#}a flying ball. When I wake up, I'm more {#blank#}8{#/blank#} than I was before I went to bed. What am I going to do?" The doctor sat back and said, "{#blank#}9{#/blank#} of all, you have to do your best not to dream about football. Before you fall asleep, try to think about something else. Try to think that you are at a party and someone is going to give you several million dollars. "" Are you crazy（疯了）?"the man shouted {#blank#}10{#/blank#}，"I'll miss the ball !"

Feeling quite hopeless, Jack walked down the streets, knowing he came to the end of life. In his fifties, Jack had never been married, experienced the happiness of having children or spent holidays with his family. On this sad rainy night, he felt that there was 1 in the whole world cared whether he lived or died.

At that time I was sitting in my room watching the rain 2 my window. When I heard the doorbell ring, I jumped from my chair and ran out. But my mother was already at the 3 . Opening it, she saw a very dirty-looking man with tears falling down his face. My mother, always 4 and warm-hearted, invited the man inside, and he sat with my parents in our living room.

As I wanted to know what the man looked like, I walked downstairs secretly. The man, holding his head in his hands and crying, made my heart ache. I ran back upstairs and took 5 my only half-dollar coin. Then I walked right into the living room. The three persons looked at me 6 as I quickly made my way over the stranger. I put the half-dollar coin in his hand and gave him a 7 . Running back upstairs, I felt excited but happy.

Downstairs, Jack sat quietly with tears falling down his face as he tightly held that coin. Finally 8 my parents, he said, "I thought nobody cared. For the last twenty years, I have been so 9 . That is the first hug I have ever got. It's hard to believe that somebody 10 ."

Jack's life changed that night. When he left our house, he didn't want to die but to 11 . We never saw Jack again, 12 we received letters from him from time to time, letting us know that he was doing fine.

My life changed that night too, as I 13 the power of giving a hug, although it's only a gift of fifty cents. 14 Jack left, my parents asked him why he had knocked on our door. Jack said that when he'd walked along the streets that rainy night, 15 and ready to die, he had noticed a sticker on the car. It read: SOMEBODY LOVES YOU.

Long ago in China, there lived five brothers who looked almost the same. The only way to tell them was by their amazing 1 . First Brother was as strong as ten horses. Second Brother could fly in the sky like a bird. Third Brother could 2 an ant sneeze (打喷嚏). Fourth Brother could make his body iron hard. Fifth Brother could make a river when he cried.

One day, Fifth Brother came across a strange 3 . When he was enjoying the delicious apple picked from the garden, 4 three men appeared. They took him to the owner of the garden. The owner was a bad, greedy man. He 5 Fifth Brother in his deepest prison. He said only if Fifth Brother 6 the treasure of Fire Island to him, he could set Fifth Brother free. Fire Island was in the middle of a nearby 7 . A dragon lived there, guarding its treasure. Stealing it seemed like a(n) 8 task, but Fifth Brother agreed to try.

That night, far away, 9 Brother heard Fifth Brother call for help. After listening to his story, Third Brother told other brothers what had happened. They made a 10 to go to help their brother get the treasure.

The next day, the five brothers worked together and with great 11 , they got the treasure from the dragon in the lake. Then Fifth Brother gave it to the owner. 12 the owner would not let Fifth Brother go because he thought Fifth Brother had many powers.

When Fifth Brother knew this, he started to 13 . Soon, his tears tan like a rushing river that swept the owner away.

Once the land dried out, the brothers journeyed home. They were 14 to be together again.

The next day, Fifth Brother said he was going on another walk. His brothers made him 15 that he would never eat in strange gardens again. Fifth Brother laughed and left.