"Listen carefully to what I say," the time traveler said, "I shall tell you something that you will not agree."  

 "Why will we not agree?" I asked.

 "Because the science and mathematics you know are not correct,"  he said. "You believe there are only three dimensions(三维空间)-length, breadth(宽) and thickness." 

 "There is nothing to argue with that, " the youngest member of our little group said.

 "Exactly!"  the time traveler answered, "But there is also a fourth dimension - time."   

 "We all know about time, " another member of the group said. "Time passed."

 "I do not agree,"  the time traveler said, "Length, breadth and thickness do not pass. They stay in the same place in space.  We move about them. I can prove that time is the same. It does not pass. We move in time the same way that we move in breadth, length and thickness."

 None of us believed the time traveler, and we argued with him for many hours.

 "If we could travel back in time,"  the scientist said, "We could do things to change the future." 

 "If we could travel forward in time," the doctor(博士) said, "we could do things that change our present." 

 The time traveler smiled, "It is clear," he said, "that there is only one way I can show you that I am right. We must do an experiment. Please wait here." 

 He left the room and soon returned, carrying what looked like a clock.

 "This is a model of a time machine. It took me two years to make it," the time traveler said. "I want all of you to understand that when I start the machine, it will immediately travel in time and disappear from the present." 

 He turned to the youngest of all. "Give me your hand," he said.

 The young man put out his hand. The time traveler took it and placed it on the machine. Immediately, there was a sudden wind, and the little machine disappeared.

 I was certain this was not a trick, but the doctor was not so sure.

 "Are you asking us to believe," he said, "that the machine is now in a different time?" 

 "Certainly! In my laboratory, a full-size machine is almost complete. As soon as it is complete, I shall send myself on a journey through time. Would you like to see my machine?"

 "Are you serious about this?" the doctor asked.

 "I have never been more serious about anything," the time traveler said, "Come." 

We followed him to his laboratory. There, we saw the actual machine, not quite complete, but large enough for a man to sit in.

    Long long ago, there was a swan (天鹅) with golden feathers. She lived in a lake. A woman lived in a small house 1the lake with her two daughters. They were very poor. They worked hard all year round,2still, they lived a hard life and sometimes they even didn't have enough 3to buy food.

    The swan was 4to see that. She said to herself, “I'll give one of my5to them each day, then they can live a happy life with the money selling my feathers.” That evening, she 6to the poor woman's house and left a golden feather on the table without saying7. From then on, the swan came every day and gave them a feather. The woman was very happy   because their life was much8than before.

    But day after day, the woman became greedy（贪婪）.She said to her9. “The swan may fly away one day. If so, we will be poor again. We should take all10feathers if she comes next time.”

    “Oh, no, Mom!” cried the daughters, “This will 11the swan. She helps us a lot!” But the mother wouldn't listen. When the 12came as usual, the mother caught her and took all her feathers. But suddenly, the golden feathers 13chicken feathers.

    Then, the Golden Swan said, “Poor Mother, I came to 14you, but you wanted to kill me. Now, I am leaving and will 15come back. Never be greedy!” With these words, the swan left.

    Twenty years ago, my father, John, wanted to be a businessman. He wanted to be rich. So he worked very hard and every day he went home very late.

    One night when he came home from work, a robber stopped him and wanted to take his money. My father was very afraid. He didn't want to lose his money. But he didn't know what to do. Luckily a policeman came and caught the robber. My father thanked the policeman politely.

    Now my father is a policeman. He wants to help other people.

My name is Luo Xiaowei. I am a teacher in a school in a small town. I came here when I was 22 years old. So far, 20 years has been gone.

People usually ask me what it is like to be a teacher? I think sometimes it can be hard and tiring, because kids are difficult. I have to teach them right from wrong patiently. But most of the time, I feel great to be a teacher. When the students make progress day by day, I am proud of them and myself. Last Monday, when I came back to my office after a lesson, a girl was waiting for me at the door. She is shy and hardly speaks in class. She took something out of her pocket and put it on my hand. Then she ran away. It was a candy with a piece of note saying: "Miss Luo, my mom came back yesterday and taught me to make the candy. You are the first one I want to share with." At that moment, all the tiredness (劳累) had been swept away. And that is why I stick to (坚持) being a teacher.

Steve, a twelve-year-old boy, lives in a small town. He has a round face. He isn't tall or short. He is kind of thin. 

When Steve was one month old, his mom found he couldn't see anything. She took him to many hospitals, but it didn't help Steve much. After that, Steve's mom always told him what things around him were like. With his mom's help, Steve knew everything around him slowly.

It's not far from his home to school. It only takes him about ten minutes to walk to school. He likes all the subjects and studies hard. His teachers and classmates always help him. He doesn't go home for lunch. His mother always cooks his favorite food and takes it to school.

Steve likes playing the piano and he started to learn it two years ago. Now he is in a music club and he can play many songs. Every day, Steve plays the piano for his mom after school. He wants to be a great musician and play the piano for more people. "I know it is difficult for me to be a musician, but I will work hard for it. It will come true some day," said Steve.

There is an old tree on a dry land. The tree has so many branches（树枝）that it brings shadow（树荫）to hundreds of travelers. 

One day, two travelers got to the tree. They walked for a long time in the hot sun. They were too hot and tried to find a place to rest. Luckily, they found the big tree. 

They made a decision to take a rest under the tree. They slept there for a while. When they woke up, they felt hungry and one traveler climbed up the tree. But he was sad to see nothing. 

He started to say bad words to the tree. "Oh, this is just a useless tree without any fruit on it!" The other traveler said nothing about the tree but asked his friend to be quiet. However, the traveler in the tree still shouted at the tree. 

The tree couldn't stand the traveler at last. He said in a sad yet strong voice, "You can't be so ungrateful（忘恩负义的）to me, Just look back to the moment when you got here in the hot sun! I gave you a cool and comfortable place to rest. You would die now without me!"

Many people do much for us, but we sometimes forget to give thanks but only complain（抱怨）! Make sure not to say any bad words to the one who has helped you.