There was once a king who had a great palace with a wonderful garden. In the garden, there lived all kinds of animals. All of them

enjoyed living there.

 There was only one thing in the garden that the king hated: an old tree in the center of the garden. It was so old and dry. This made

the king so angry that he finally asked some people to cut it down and turned the place into a swimming pool. However, after the tree was cut down, the animals left the garden. Without the animals, the garden was not so beautiful as before. The king was sad, but he didn't know what had happened.

 A young man went to the king, and said he could explain what had happened. “This was because you cut the old tree down,” said the young man. “There were thousands of moths (飞蛾)which lived in the tree. Birds needed the moths to eat and then they produced wastes for plants to grow. The plants then attracted many other animals to your garden. So your garden became very beautiful. But as you cut the tree down, the animals had to leave.

“Excellent!” said the king, “I'll make you rich and you will try to make my garden beautiful again.”

“I'm afraid it will take many years to finish. It will take many years for the natural balance(生态平衡) to get back again,” said the young man.

 The king was sad, but all he could do was just to wait.

      There were three big fish in the lake. One of them, Demo, was wise; another one, Jimmy, was half-wise; Martin, the third one, was stupid.

Some fishermen came to the bank of the lake with their nets. The three fish saw them.

      Demo decided at once to leave, to make the long and difficult trip to the ocean. He thought, "I won't discuss with these two about this. They love this place so much that they call it home and will stay on. How silly they are! They still haven't realized we are in great danger now. Their ignorance will cost them their lives."

      Seeing the wise fish had left, Jimmy thought, "My guide has gone and now I've lost my chance to escape." He felt sorry for it and then thought, "What can I do to save myself from these men and their nets? Perhaps I should pretend（假装）to be already dead, giving myself totally to the water." So he did that. He went up and down with the water, helpless, within arm's reach of the fishermen.

      "Look at this! The best and biggest fish is dead." One of the men lifted him by the tail, and threw him up on the ground. He rolled（滚动）over and over and moved secretly toward the water, and then, back in.

      The third fish was aimlessly jumping about, trying to escape with his speed and cleverness. The net, of course, finally closed around him, and as he lay in the hot frying-pan bed, he thought, "If I get out of this, I'll never live again in the limits of the lake. Next time, the ocean! I'll make it my home."

B

    Thomas Edison lit up the world with his invention of the electric light. Without him, the world might still be in the dark at night. However, the electric light was not his only invention. Nearly every two weeks, he created something new.

    Thomas Edison was born in 1847. He attended school for only three months. His mother taught him at home, but he was mostly self-educated. He started trying out his new ideas at a very young age.

    When he was 12 years old, he got his first job. He became a newsboy on a train. He did experiments on the train in his spare time. Unluckily, his first work experience didn't end well. He was fired when he accidentally set fire to the floor of the train. Then Edison worked as a telegraph operator (电报员) for five years, but he continued to spend much of his time creating things until the vote recorder (投票计数器), his first invention, came in 1868.

    Thomas Edison was nearly deaf in one ear, but he never minded. Because of this, he could have more time for work. He always worked 16 out of every 24 hours. Sometimes his wife had to remind him to eat and sleep. Thomas Edison died at the age of 84. He left many inventions that greatly improved the quality of life all over the world.

    A doctor was once teaching a class of medical students at a famous hospital in Edinburgh. An injured(受伤) man was brought in, and the doctor turned to one of his students and asked him, "What's wrong with this man?"

    "I don't know, Sir." the student answered. "Should I examine him and find out?"

    "There is no need to examine him," said the doctor. "You should know without asking questions. He has hurt his right knee. Didn't you notice the way he walked? He hurt it by burning it in the fire. You see his trousers leg is burnt away at the knee. This is Monday morning. Yesterday was fine, but on Saturday the roads were wet and muddy(泥泞的). The man's trousers are all muddy. He fell down on Saturday night. "

    The doctor then turned to the man and said, "You had your pay on Saturday and went to a public house and drunk too much. You got muddy and wet on the way home. Because you had drunk too much, you fell on the fire and burnt your knee. Is that right?"

    "Yes, Sir." said the man.

    Where is Love? How can we find Love?

    Once a little boy wanted to meet Love. He knew it was a long trip to where Love lived, so he got his things ready with some pizzas and drinks and started off. When he passed three streets, he saw an old woman sitting in the park and watching some birds. She looked very hungry. The boy gave her a pizza. She took it and smiled at him. Her smile was so beautiful that he wanted to see it again, so he gave her a Coke. Once again she smiled. The boy was very happy.

    They sat there all afternoon, eating and smiling, but they said nothing. When it grew dark, the boy decided to leave. But before he had gone more than a few steps, turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. The woman gave him the biggest smile ever.

    When the boy opened the door of his house, his mother was surprised by the joy（快乐） on his face and asked what had made him so happy. "I had lunch with Love. I has got the most beautiful smile in the world."

    At the same time, the old woman's son was also surprised at his mother's pleasure and asked why. "I ate a pizza in the park with Love, "she said," and he is much younger than I expected."

    If the world is full of love, we can enjoy a better life.