Ben Jones was walking home from school one day when he saw a black cat. It was walking across the srteet in front of him. Ben stopped, turned around, and walked down a different srteet to go home. Why did he do that?
    "It's unlucky when a black cat crosses the street in front of you,”says Ben,“I did not want to walk down that street!”
     Many people think that some things bring bad luck. For example, some people think that 13 is an unlucky number. They never invite 13 people to a party.
    "I never walk under a ladder(梯子),”says Ben.“And I never open an umbrella inside the house. They both bring bad luck.”And what brings good luck?“We have a horseshoe over the front door of our house for good luck,”says Ben.
 “And when I find a peney on the ground, I always pick it up. That brings me good luck all day!”

     It was my first time in the US. I think there is no other country that I have heard so many things about before I visited it. Burgers, big cars, fat people, good wine and fantastic cities. For sure the real experience was quite different. Although you can find all these things there, you will also find many other things to discover.

     In Los Angeles, I stayed at a place where they even produced home-made videos. I always thought in Hollywood only movies with lots of money are produced. But in this place, even parts of the living room were functioned (运作) into a scene. But anyway, this shows what you imagined about a place before arriving might be totally wrong. Now I started to understand the city is not only the place where the big movies are made, it's also where people are crazy about movies, and always try to start a production even if they don't have lots of money. People there just really love movies, they are motivated (调动积极) to give their ideas a try and at least open up a channel online with their home-made stories.

     Of course, there are many other interesting places in Los Angeles. As I stayed only a few days, it was not enough time to see all. But I advise you to have two apps on your smart phone for traveling in America. First is Yelp to find the closest and best restaurant or coffee place. And the other is Uber because especially in Los Angeles, you won't find taxis and everything is so far. You can also drive but it's wise to park your car close to a subway station and go to Hollywood by subway.

C

    When the American were getting ready to send their first men to the moon, an old Australia was watching TV in a restaurant(饭店). There was an Englishman in the restaurant, too, and he said to the Australian, "The Americans are clever, aren't they? They are going to send some men to the moon. It is a very long way from our world(世界) . " Oh, that's nothing." The Australian answered quickly. " Our country is going to send some people to the sun in a few months. That's much farther(更远) away than the moon, you know."

    "Oh, yes, it is," the Englishman said, " but the sun is too hot for people to go to ."  The Australian laughed and said, "We won't go to the sun in the day, of course. We will go there at night."

    A little boy invited his mother to attend his school's first teacher-parent meeting. To the little boy's disappointment, his mother said she would go. This would be the first time that his classmates and teachers met his mother and he was embarrassed by her appearance. There was a serious scar (伤疤) that covered nearly the whole right side of her face. The boy never wanted to talk about why or how she got the scar.

    At the meeting, the people were impressed by the kindness of his mother with the scar, but the little boy was still embarrassed and hid himself from everyone. However, he could hear clearly the conversation between his mother and the teacher.

    "How did you get the scar on your face?" the teacher asked.

    The mother replied, "When my son was a baby, he was in a room that caught on fire.

    Everyone was too afraid to go in because the fire was out of control, but I went in. As I was running towards his bed, I saw a burning wood falling down and I placed myself over him trying to protect him. I was knocked to be unconscious (无知觉的), but luckily, a fireman came in and saved both of us." She touched the burned side of her face. "This scar will be forever, but until today, I have never regretted doing what I did."

    When the little boy heard this, he couldn't help running towards his mother with tears in his eyes. He hugged her and felt his mother was greater than anyone. He held her hand tightly for the rest of the day.

    Once upon a time, a wealthy old man lived alone in a big house. He was growing weaker day Toy day and was unable to take care of himself, so he decided to hire (雇佣) a nurse to help with housework and take care of him.

    One day, the old man interviewed two nurses—Anthony and Peter. Anthony happened to be a handsome young man, while Peter looked quite ordinary (普通的). The old man asked Anthony to make tea for him. After Anthony left, the old man turned to Peter and said, "Anthony has given me a very bad account (描述) of you. He said you are rude (粗鲁的) and untrustwarthy (信赖的) . Is this correct?"

    Peter thought for a minute and said, "If Anthony has a bad opinion of me, there must be something wrong with me. I shoutd take some time to change these things."

    The old man was very impressed by Peter's character. Meanwhile, Anthony returned with a cup of tea for the old man, The old man sent Peter to make breakfast for him. He then turned to Anthony and told him, "Peter spoke very poorly of you while you were gone. What do you think ahout this? " After hearing this, Anthony became angry and started cursing (咒骂).

    In the end, the old man hired Peter. Altbough Peter looked quite ordinary, he had impressive inner (内在的) beauty.