Her name is Mary. She comes from America. She is in China with her father and mother. She can speak a little Chinese. She studies in No. 80 Middle School in Tianjin. She is in the same school as her parents (father and mother). She is a good student. She goes to school six days a week. She likes getting up early. She doesn't like to be late. She often goes to school very early. But today she gets up late. So she gets to the classroom at 7 :30. But there aren't any students in it. She is not late（迟到）. She is still early. It's Sunday today. The students are all at home.

    O. Henry, a famous American writer of short stories, was born in North Carolina in 1862. O. Henry was a pen name. His real name was William Sydney Porter. When he was a young boy, he did not go to school for long because of being born in a poor family, but he tried to teach himself everything he needed to know.

    When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas. There he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. But he got himself into some trouble. Some money went missing from the bank. O. Henry was believed to have stolen(偷)it, so he was sent to prison(监狱). During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and went on writing.

    He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because almost all of them finished with a sudden change. This made the readers surprised.

    Mickey is a cheerful boy. No one can make him angry. And he never says anything bad about others. Even his teachers think he is so special.

    One afternoon, Mickey invited his favourite teacher, Mr Anthony, to have a cup of tea at home. On his bedroom door, the teacher was surprised to see hundreds of small colour cards.

    "Some friends at school think I never think badly of anyone," Mickey smiled, "but that's not true at all. In fact, I was easier to get angry than all the other kids years ago. Then my parents helped me start a card collection. With each little card I put on the door, I can easily forget the bad thing." It was true. On these cards, Mr Anthony could read "fool", "pain", "anger" and some other bad things. That day they talked about many other things, but Mr Anthony never forgot the small colour cards on the door.

    From then on, Mr Anthony began his own card collection. He also encouraged his other students to do so.

    Frank was a very talkative little boy. He never saw a new thing without asking a great many questions about it.

    His mother was very patient and kind. When it was proper to answer his questions, she would do so. Sometimes she would say, "You are not old enough to understand that, my son. When you are ten years old, you may ask me about it, and I will tell you." When his mother said this, Frank never bother(烦扰)her any more. He knew she always liked to answer him when he asked proper questions.

    The first time Frank saw an hourglass, he was very much interested, but he did not know what it was. His mother said, "An hourglass is made in the shape of the figure 8. The sand is put in at one end and runs through a small hole in the middle. As much sand is put into the glass as will run through in an hour."

    Frank watched the little stream of sand. He was impatient, because it would not run faster. "Let me shake it, mother," said he, "it is lazy, and will never get through."

    "Oh, yes, it will, my son," said his mother, "The sand moves by little and little, but it moves all the time. When you look at the hands of the clock, you think they go very slowly, and so they do, but they never stop. While you are at play, the sand is running, grain by grain(一粒粒). The hands of the clock are moving, second by second. At night, the sand in the hourglass has run through twelve times. The hour hand of the clock has moved all around its great face. This because they keep at work every minute. They do not stop to think how much they have to do, and how long it will take them to do it."

    Now, Frank's mother wanted him to learn a little hymn(赞美诗), but he said, "Mother, I can never learn it."

    His mother said, "Study all the time. Never stop to ask how long it will take to learn it. You will be able to say it very soon."

    Frank followed his mother's advice. He studied line after line, very busily; and in one hour and a half he knew the hymn perfectly.

    A woman is at the cinema, and she is enjoying the film very much, but there is a man in the next seat, and he begins looking at the floor under her. The woman is angry and asks, "What are you doing there? What are you looking for (寻找) ?" "A piece of chocolate." The man says to her, I drop (掉落) it on the floor." "A piece of chocolate?" the woman says angrily, t is dirty now. Take this and be quiet, please. I am listening to the film." She gives the man a big piece of chocolate. But the man says, One of my teeth is in the chocolate!