John was a very strong man. Once he got a job of cutting wood in a forest. His boss gave him an axe(斧子) and showed him the area where he should work.

    The first day, John cut down 18 trees. "Good," the boss said, "keep it up!" John was encouraged by the words of the boss and tried harder the next day, but he could only cut down 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he could only cut down 10 trees. Day after day he was cutting down fewer and fewer trees.

    "I must be losing my strength," John thought. He went to the boss and said that he could not understand what was going on. "When was the last time you had sharpened(使锋利) your axe?" the boss asked. "Sharpened? I had no time to do it. I have been very busy trying to cut more trees." said John.

    While John was working hard, he didn't think about how to do his job better.

    Once there was a fairy (仙女) on an island. She was the strongest and cleverest among all fairies. However, she was very ugly. On the island, every fairy thought beauty was the most important thing for a fairy, so the ugly fairy had no friends. Every time she was sent to save someone in trouble, before she could say a word, the person would shout loudly, "Ugly! Get out of here, right now!"

    She once wanted to use her magic to become beautiful, but she remembered what her mother told her, "My dear, you are what you are, and never change your look unless you are in danger."

    One day, some witches(巫婆) from another island attacked the island—the ugly fairy's home. All the fairies were sent to prison. The ugly fairy changed herself into a witch just before she was caught. Then she followed the witches back to their island and held a party for them. While the witches were having fun at the party, she went to free all the fairies. When all the fairies were free, they worked together to fight against the witches and put them in prison.

    All the fairies realized that beauty was not the most important thing. After that, they didn't laugh at the ugly fairy any more.

    Curly is my big dog. He is so strong that he can carry everything on his back. He likes to run and play with me. He likes to follow my father around in the fields, too.

    One day my father took off his coat and put it on the ground under a big tree. Curly stood watching him. My father said, "Watch my coat, Curly." Curly sat down on the coat. My father forgot all about his coat and went home without it. Late in the evening I missed my dog. I looked everywhere for him, calling, "Curly, Curly" but Curly did not come. Soon my father wanted something that was in his coat pocket. Then he remembered what he had done. He went back to the big tree. What do you think he saw? Curly was sitting on the coat so that nobody could carry it away.

    One day an American was in Africa. He wanted to go to a small village in the hill. He got on a bus and the driver said: "The yellow ticket is one dollar. I have two other tickets. The red one is fifty cents, and the green, ten cents." "A green one, please "said the man. The bus started to get up the hill. Suddenly it stopped. "Red ticket passengers, get out and walk. Green ticket passengers, get out, close the door, and push the bus." shouted the driver.

    Teenager Jake Deham was skiing with his family in the USA when he fell over and lost one of his skis. His family didn't know that he had a problem. They kept on skiing. When they got to the foot of the mountain, there was no sign of Jake.

    Jake couldn't find his ski anywhere. In the end, he decided to take off his other ski and walk down the mountain. But he couldn't work out the right way to go.

    It was now getting dark and he was a long way from any place of safety. He knew that he might die that night in the cold temperatures. But Jake kept calm. At home, Jake watched a lot of programs about living in difficult situations. He remembered the advice from these programs and knew that he should build a hole in the snow. He made a hole and pointed it up the hill so the wind couldn't blow into it. Outside his hole, the temperature fell to a dangerous-15℃ that night, but inside it Jake was safe from the cold.

    But he had to get down the mountain. The TV programs always said," If you are lost, you should find someone else's tracks(足迹) through the snow and follow them." "I wanted to live my life." remembers Jake." So I got up and I found some ski tracks and I followed those." He walked and walked and finally he saw lights. Nine hours after he lost his ski, he found a team of worker who came to save him. He was safe!

    His mum was very happy when she heard the news. Amazingly, Jake didn't even have to go to hospital. He got through the terrible experience without any injuries.

    So, the next time someone says that watching TV is a waste of time, think of Jake. Sometimes TV can save your life!

①You want to go on holiday, but don't have enough money for luxury hotels and expensive trips? Backpacking might be right up your street. 

②Backpacking is a very cheap kind of travel. European and American students and young adults who may not have all that much money often do it. It is called backpacking because, instead of using a suitcase, people put all their things in a large backpack. A backpack sits on your back, and you pack all your clothes inside. 

③The most popular places for backpacking are Southeast Asia and South America. These countries aren't very expensive, and are also very hot for most of the year. India and Australia are also very popular. Last year over 400, 000 backpackers hit Australia. 

④Backpacking, in fact, is much more than a holiday—for young people in Europe, it is seen as a way of learning about the world. Backpackers often travel alone for many months, as this is seen as more of an adventure and challenge. Beyond finding new worlds, backpacking, people say, is all about "finding yourself".