一      ． Better luck next time．

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} {#blank#}2{#/blank#} {#blank#}3{#/blank#} {#blank#}4{#/blank#}，there lived a beautiful princess．

    Long long ago，King Swan(天鹅国王)had a beautiful daughter. On her 15th birthday，she wished that when she was old enough，she could choose her own husband．King Swan agreed with her.

    When the princess was old enough，King Swan called all the birds to his home．Birds came from everywhere，even from far away．King Swan told his lovely daughter to choose one she liked．She looked over the many birds． Finally，she chose a green long-necked peacock(孔雀)．She told her father，”This bird, the peacock, will be my husband．”

Hearing that the peacock was the lucky one，all the other birds crowded around to congratulate(祝贺)him．The excited peacock said nothing but held his head high．Later he began to shout and show his beauty in a strange dance．The other birds started to laugh．

    King Swan was angry．Standing in the middle of the birds，he said，“Sir Peacock，your voice is sweet，and you're really very pretty．But you are not modest at all．I will not allow my daughter to marry you!”

    The princess also learned she was wrong．Then King Swan married his daughter to a modest bird．The peacock new away，having lost a beautiful wife．

    Have you heard of the story of The Legend of White Snake (《白蛇传》)? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It's a love story between White Snake and Xu Xian. It has a connection (联系) with the Dragon Boat Festival in China.

    Once upon a time, there were two snakes, White Snake and Green Snake. They had magical powers and turned into two beautiful young ladies. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} White Snake quickly fell in love with him. They got married soon and lived happily.

    The Dragon Boat Festival came. On that day, people drank realgar wine (雄黄酒). {#blank#}3{#/blank#} If she drank the wine, she would turn into the snake again. However, Xu Xian didn't know anything about it, so he asked his wife to drink realgar wine. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} When Xu Xian entered the room, he couldn't find his wife. He only saw a huge white snake on the bed. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Later, White Snake recovered (恢复). In order to save her husband, she went to steal the magical herb (药草). In the end, the god was so moved by her true love that he saved Xu Xian. What a moving love story!

    Thousands of years ago, people couldn't live for long. Most people only lived to be twenty-five or thirty years old. 20% of people died before they were twelvemonths old and another 30% could not live to be five years old.

    Today, people can live much longer. One reason is that the water we drink is cleaner. Clean water does not cause diseases（疾病）. Besides, medical treatment is better today. More and more people live to be over eighty.

    Women often live longer than men. For example, in Japan, women usually can live to be eighty-five, but men can only live to be eighty.

    In the future, people will probably live longer than today. Here are many things we can do to help people live longer. For example, we can make sure that everyone has enough medicine to fight against diseases. Also, it is necessary for everyone to have enough to eat. Today many people die because they do not have enough food.