B

    John's birthday is on August 16th. His parents are going to have a party for him. He is very happy about it. He would like to invite his friends to the party. Last Sunday night, while John was in his room, his mother walked in.

    "Are you still doing your homework?" she asked.

    "No, I'm writing a letter to Uncle Tom," John answered.

    John's mother was very surprised because John never wrote letters to anyone.

    "Are you asking him to come to your birthday party?"

    "No," John answered, "Uncle Tom never comes to my birthday parties."

    "Then what are you writing about?" his mother asked. "Will you read me the letter?"

    "OK," John said, "but I haven't finished it. I have only written two lines. I'll read them to you."

    "Dear Uncle Tom, thank you very much for sending me such a nice gift. I hope..." her mother stopped him. "But Uncle Tom hasn't sent you any gifts."

    "I know," John answered. "I'm not thanking him for this year's gift. I'm thanking him for last year's. You know, it's never too late to thank him."

    Michael Jordan was born on February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York. Jordan is the fourth of the five children in his family. His family moved to North Carolina when he was just a baby. As a young boy, his favourite sport was baseball, but he soon found that he could play basketball as well. At the age of 17, he began to show people just how talented he really was. Throughout his basketball career, Michael Jordan has won many scoring titles. Many boys and girls look up to Michael Jordan as their hero. Do you know he has a hero, too, when he was growing up? He looks up to his older brother, Larry. Michael Jordan, a basketball superstar, is not just a star on the basketball court. He also works hard to raise money for many children's charities. He encourages children to develop their talents by practice, practice, and practice!

C

    Today is Children's Day. There is a show in the zoo. Many children are in the zoo. Look at the animals. They are so cute. The birds are flying and singing in the sky. The tigers are running. The pandas are climbing trees. They are good climbers. The kangaroos are jumping. Look at the mother elephant and the baby elephant. The mother elephant is eating bananas and the baby elephant is drinking water with its trunk. Look，what are those? They are two lions. They are playing with a ball. And the monkeys are swinging.

    Mr Brown lived in a house less than two miles from his office, so he was able to drive home every day for lunch. Every time he drove home at noon, he found many cars were parked outside his house and there was no room for his own car. He had to drive somewhere else to park his car. Then he had to walk back home. This made him very angry.

    He had put up a board, which said "No parking" in the garden facing the road, but nobody noticed(注意) it. People seemed to obey(遵守) only a police notice with white letters on a blue board：

    Mrs Brown suggested(建议) that he steal(偷) a police notice. He was afraid to do so. She then suggested that he make one just like a police notice. He said he was not the police and couldn't use the word "police". Several days later, Mr Brown made a blue board with white letters：

    "Oh！" Mrs Brown said, "You told me you weren't going to use the word 'police', but why do you use it now？" "Really？" he asked. "Look again. "

    She started to laugh. "You are really clever."