Two men were going through a forest.

“I am afraid,”said one, “that we may meet with wild animals”Fear nothing, friend Quickwit,” cried the other, whose name was Braggart. “If they come at us, we shall stand by one another like men. I have a strong arm, a strong heart, and”“Hark!”cried the first in fear, as a low sound was heard from somewhere nearby, Braggart, who was light and nimble, climbed up a tree like a squirrel(松鼠), leaving his friend, who was not so active, to face the danger alone! Quickwit could do nothing but throw himself on the ground and pretended(假装) to be dead; for he had heard that bears would never touch a dead body. In no time the bear camp up to him, sniffed(用鼻子吸气) at him. Quickwit did not dare to move; and the bear, thinking him dead, went off into the wood again, leaving him quite unharmed!

 When Braggart saw that the danger was over, he came down from the tree and tried to pass off the matter with a joke. “Well, my friend Quickwit,” he said, “what did the bear say to you when he put his mouth close to your ear?”

“He told me,” replied Quickwit, “never again to trust a man who talks big like you!”

    One day, I saw a boy shop alone at the shop I worked. He chose some school things he wanted and went to the checkout (付款台).

    The young shop assistant (店员) told him he needed to pay $37.60. The boy became very sad and said he only had $20. He took out one thing at a time, and at last he got down to his $20. He cried and asked if he could call his mum to pick him up. He called his mum. However, his mum was too busy to pick him up in a minute.

    He tried to stop crying and walked outside to wait on the chair in front of the shop. This was too much for the young assistant. She looked outside all the time to see if the boy was all right. Then she said, "I hope I can pay for the rest (剩余部分) of his things." One of the other girls said she had some money. Then two others said they could help too.

    These four young girls pooled their money and found they had more than enough to pay for the boy's things. Then they chose more school things, and gave them all to the boy. The boy smiled happily~ His mum arrived much later, but he didn't just run to the car; he ran back into the shop and called out, "Thank you!"

    I was so proud (骄傲的) of my team that day. They did something wonderful for that boy and also found the pleasure (快乐) of giving.

    Life is full of surprises and you never know how things will turn out.

    Sir John Gurdon is a good example of this. As a boy, he was told he was hopeless at science and was at bottom of his class. Now, aged 79，the very same Gurdon shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Japanese stem cell (干细胞) researcher Shinya Yamanaka.

    Like so many scientists, Gurdon shows us where the power of curiosity and perseverance(坚持) can lead.

    When he was 15 in 1948，Gurdon ranked last out of the 250 boys at his high school in biology and every other science subject. Gurdon's high school science teacher even said that his dream of becoming a scientist was "quite ridiculous".

In spite of his teacher's criticisms(批评), Gurdon followed his curiosity and kept working hard. He went to the lab early and left later than anyone else. He experienced thousands of failures.

     "My own belief is that we will, in the end，understand everything about how cells actually work，"Gurdon said.

    In 1962, Gurdon took a cell from an adult frog and moved its genetic (基因的) information into an egg cell. The egg cell then grew into a clone of the adult frog. This technique later helped to create the sheep Dolly in 1996，the first cloned mammal(哺乳动物) in the world.In 2006，Gurdon's work was developed by Yamanaka to show that a sample(样本) of a person's skin can be used to create stem cells. Using this technique, doctors can repair a patient's heart after a heart attack."Luck favors the prepared mind," Gurdon told the Nobel Prize Organization. "Ninety percent of the time things don't work, but when they do, you have to seize(抓住) the chance.

The octopus(章鱼) usually has eight legs.But Ollie, the octopus, has only seven ones. Ollie's mum always feels 1 about it.

At home, Ollie's brother and sister 2 her. "Ollie has only seven legs so she is not our family," her sister Olivia says. But it isn't true. 

"Go away. I don't want to play with 3 ." her brother Oscar tells Ollie.

Ollie is really sad. She swims away and starts 4 . Then, a sea fairy(仙女) comes out, " Don't cry, little octopus, "the fairy says. "You can make three wishes."

Ollie thinks for a minute, and makes the 5 wish. "I hope my mum can always be happy." She says.

 "OK. Now you have two more wishes." the fairy says.

 "I hope Olivia can be honest(诚实的). And I hope Oscar can be 6 ."

 "You are so kind, little octopus. I 7 you all the best." the fairy says and swims away.

When Ollie gets home, her mum gives her a big smile. 8 Olivia and Oscar say "Come and play with us, little sister." Ollie is happy. Her wishes 9 .

On Ollie's birthday, she makes a wish for the 10 leg. The next day, she has the same number of legs as her sister and brother! Great!

Do you know farm animals? Let's get to know some of them together. 

People keep pigs on farms for meat. Pigs like to stay in mud (泥浆) because it helps them to keep cool. Pigs live in the mud but they are very clean animals. Mother pigs can sing to their babies. 

People keep sheep on farms for their meat and milk. Sheep are happy when they live together in a group. Sheep are very gentle animals so people like to keep them. 

Cows give us the milk that we buy from the shops. People use milk to make ice cream and other kinds of food, Cows like to eat grass. Cows can drink a lot of water in one day. 

People can make horses work on farms.  ▲  You can see people ride them in the shows or at the races. 

People keep chickens on farms for their eggs and meat. A female chicken is called a hen and a male chicken is called a rooster. Roosters can ask the farmers to get up every morning by saying "cock-a-doo-die-doo.