Here is a photo. The two girls have big blue eyes and long brown hair. They are both ten years old. They are in the same class. The one in a yellow skirt is Lily. The other one (另一个) an orange skirt is Lucy. Their father (父亲) is Mr. White. He is in a brown coat. Their mom is Mrs. White. She is in a black dress. Who is that boy in a blue cap? He is Lucy and Lily's brother(哥哥), Bob. He is a high school student. Look! Lucy and Lily are in a green car.

    John was a very strong man. Once he got a job of cutting wood in a forest. His boss gave him an axe(斧子) and showed him the area where he should work.

    The first day, John cut down 18 trees. "Good," the boss said, "keep it up!" John was encouraged by the words of the boss and tried harder the next day, but he could only cut down 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he could only cut down 10 trees. Day after day he was cutting down fewer and fewer trees.

    "I must be losing my strength," John thought. He went to the boss and said that he could not understand what was going on. "When was the last time you had sharpened(使锋利) your axe?" the boss asked. "Sharpened? I had no time to do it. I have been very busy trying to cut more trees." said John.

    The moral of this story: While John was working hard, he didn't think about how to do his job better.

    I have tried to write a ghost（鬼魂） story that won't make you unhappy with yourselves，with each other，with the seasons，or with me．I hope it haunts（飘荡） your houses pleasantly．

    By Charles Dickens One Christmas Eve，old Scrooge and Bob were working busily in his office．It was a cold，foggy day．The fog was so thick that the houses opposite were like ghosts．It was only three o'clock in the afternoon，but it was already quite dark．

    "Merry Christmas，Uncle!"cried a happy voice．It was Scrooge's nephew（侄子）．

    "Bah!"said Scrooge，"Humbug（骗人的话）!"

    "Christmas is a humbug？Surely you don't mean that，Uncle．"said his nephew．

    "I do，"said Scrooge．"Merry Christmas!What reason have you got to be merry？You're poor．"

    "OK，then，"replied the nephew cheerfully．"What reason have you got to be sad？You are rich．Don't be angry，Uncle!"said his nephew．

    "What else can I be？"answered the uncle，"I live in a world of fools!Merry Christmas!What's Christmas time to you？It's a time for paying bills without money？!It's a time for finding yourself a year older，but not richer．

    Everyone who goes around saying 'Merry Christmas' should have his tongue cut out．Yes，he should!"

    "Uncle!Please don't say that!"said the nephew．"I've always thought of Christmas time as a good time，a kind，and a charitable（慈善的）and happy time．And so，Uncle，Christmas has never put any gold or silver in my pocket，but I think it has done me good．And it will do me good．I'm sure．"

    Bob，standing in the corner of the room，applauded．He realized his mistake very soon，and went quickly back to his work，but Scrooge had heard him．

    "One more sound from you，Bob Cratchit，"said Scrooge，"and you'll celebrate Christmas by losing your job!"

    "Don't be angry with him，Uncle．Come and have dinner with us tomorrow．"said Scrooge's newphew．

    "No．"said Scrooge．

I'm sorry you don't want to celebrate Christmas．But I do．So a Merry Christmas，Uncle!"

    "Good afternoon!"said Scrooge．

    "And a Happy New Year!"said his nephew．

    "Good afternoon!"said Scrooge again．

    His nephew left the room．He stopped to wish Bob a Merry Christmas．And Bob replied，"A  Merry Christmas to you，too．"

    Steven Jobs, the designer of Apple Computer, was not clever when he was in school. At that time, he was not a good student and he always made troubles. When he went into college, he didn't change a lot. Then he dropped out（退学）. But he was full of new ideas.

    After he left college, Steven worked as a video game designer. He worked there for only several months and then he went to India. He hoped that the trip would give him some new ideas and give him a change in life.

    Steven lived on a farm in California for a year after he returned from India.

    In 1975, he began to make a new type of computer. He designed the Apple Computer with his friend in his garage（汽车库）. He chose the name "Apple" just because it could help him to remember a happy summer he once spent in an apple tree garden.

    His Apple Computer was such a great success that Steven soon became famous all over the world.

    On a Friday night, a poor young violinist was playing his violin at the entrance(入口) of the subway station. He played such great music that people slowed down to listen and put some money into his hat.

    The next day, the violinist came to the entrance again. He put down his hat as usual. Beside the hat was a piece of paper with some words on it. It said, "A George Black has put an important thing into my hat by mistake. Welcome to claim(认领）it." Soon the people were all interested in the words and wondered what it could be. After a while, a man rushed into the crowd, took the violinist's shoulders and said, "I knew you would certainly come." The violinist asked, "Did you lose anything?" "Lottery(彩票)." The violinist took out a lottery ticket with Black's name on it.

    Black took it and danced happily.

    Black was an office worker. He bought the lottery and won a prize of $500000.But when he gave $50 to the violinist for his wonderful music, the lottery ticket was thrown in, too. The violinist was a college student.  That morning he was going to fly to Vienna for high education. However, when he found the ticket, he put off the flight and went back to the entrance.

    Later someone asked the violinist why he didn't take the lottery ticket to pay for his high education. He said, "Although I don't have much money, I live a happy life. If I lose honesty, I won't be happy forever."