Mr. and Mrs. Wilson begin their vacation today with their children. And they have to be at the airport (机场) at 11:40 a. m, Yesterday Mr. Wilson said, "It'll take us half an hour to get there in the taxi, so we all have to be ready (准备好的) by eleven o'clock. Nobody should be late.

    Now it's ten minutes to eleven. But they are still all running around doing things, except Mrs. Wilson, who is enjoying the sun in the garden.

    Her husband and children are very surprised (惊讶的) that she isn't in a hurry. Then the taxi arrives and Mrs. Wilson says to them, "Well, I knew that this was going to happen, so before I went to bed last night I moved all our clocks and watches ahead (提前) twenty minutes. So now we can go to the airport without worrying about (担心) being late."

    My grandfather Jack is 96 years old, and he has an interesting life. He has travelled a lot in his life in the Far East. He visited the Taj Mahal in India and the Pyramids, in Egypt. He hunted (狩猎) lions in Africa, and rode a camel in the Sahara Desert. He says the most beautiful place he has travelled to is Kathmandu in Nepal.

    Jack has married twice. His first wife died when she was 32. He met his second wife Maria while he' was cycling round France. They have been married for 50 years, and they have lived happily in a small village since they got married.

    Jack says that he has never been ill in his life. The secret of good health, according to my grandfather, is exercise. He goes swimming every morning. He has done this since he was a boy. He also has a glass of wine every night! Perhaps that is his secret!

    The doctor handed me my medicine and said sorry to me because his register had already closed. He asked if I would mind using the register at the front of the store. I told him not to worry and walked up front. One person was in line ahead of me, a little girl no more than seven with a bottle of medicine on the counter. She held a little green and white coin purse closely to her chest.

    The purse reminded me of the days when, as a child, I liked dressing myself up in my grandma's clothes. One day, wearing her large clothes and hat, I went out to buy something. I gave a fake dollar to the shop owner, but he handed back some real coins for my purse. "Keep the change!" he told me with a smile.

    Now, with both hands shaking, the little girl pulled out a dollar bill and some coins for her medicine. As she tried to count her money, I could see right away that she was about a dollar short. Quickly, I put a dollar bill onto the counter. The child collected her change into her coin purse and ran out.

    As I walked to my car, I felt a tug on my shirt. There was the girl, looking up at me with her big brown eyes. She gave me a smile, and put out her little hand. It was full of coins. "Thank you," she said.

    "That's OK," I answered, smiling. "Just keep the change!"

    William Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers in English literature. His plays can be divided into three categories: histories, tragedies (悲剧) and comedies. Shakespeare wrote eighteen comedies, although two were lost. These comedies usually have happy endings and a light-hearted tone and style that are quite different from his tragedies.

    All of Shakespeare's comedies have five acts and the most important or exciting point always takes place in the third act. The hero does not appear until after other characters have talked about him. Shakespeare had some themes that he usually wrote about: the fight between good and bad, love's great effect on people, and the difference between first appearance and a person's true personality or face. Shakespeare also wrote his play in a certain style. For example, Shakespeare used words in such a clever and humorous way that they had more than one meaning. Some of the characters changed their appearances so that people didn't know who they were.

    Even though the tone is lighter in these plays. Comedies in Shakespeare's day were quite different from modern-day comedies because their purpose was not to make people laugh. Shakespeare's comedies are very emotional (有感染力的) and often include serious topics to think about.