Dick lived in England. One day in January he said to his wife, “I'm going to fly to New York next week because I've got some work there.” “Where are you going to stay there?” his wife asked. “I don't know yet.” Dick answered. “Please send me your address from there in a telegram (电报),” his wife said. “All right,” Dick answered.

       He flew to New York on January 31st and found a nice hotel in the center of the city. He put his things in his room and then he sent his wife a telegram. He put the address of his hotel in it.

       In the evening he didn't have any work, so he went to a cinema. He came out at nine o'clock and said, “Now I'm going back to my hotel and have a nice dinner.”

       He found a taxi (出租车) and the driver said, “Where do you want to go?” But Dick didn't remember the name and address of his hotel.

       “Which hotel are my things in?” he said, “And what am I going to do tonight?” But the driver of the taxi did not know. So Dick got out and went into a post office. There he sent his wife another telegram, and in it he wrote, “Please send me my address at this post office.”

    More than anything else in the world, Lion liked being King of the jungle.  He walked around, showing off his power and pride.

    Each day Lion took a long lazy sleep under the shade of his favorite tree.  He always dreamed of weaker animals bowing(鞠躬) before him.

    One day Mouse ran through the jungle and tripped over Lion's huge paws.  Lion woke up with a start. “How dare you wake me up!” he shouted angrily. Lion grabbed(抓住) Mouse with one paw. “On the second thought, I'm in the mood for the snack, and you'll make a delicious meal.” he said.

    Mouse cried out, “King Lion, please spare（饶恕） me! If you let me live, I'll always remember your kindness.  And, some day, I might be able to help you.”

    “How could such a powerless little mouse ever help me?” That thought made Lion laugh so much that he decided to let Mouse go.  A week later, Lion was walking through the jungle on the way to his favorite tree when he stepped onto a hunter's net.  The net scooped him up. No matter how he twisted (扭动) and turned, he couldn't escape.

    When Mouse heard Lion's frightened shouts, he raced to help. Mouse quickly chewed（咬）through the ropes to make a hole in the net.  Soon, Lion moved out and was free. Lion looked down at the little mouse. “Thank you for saving my life,” said Lion, smiling his widest smile.  “I was mistaken.  You are not a powerless little mouse. You are a great friend!”

I went home one Saturday afternoon in the autumn of 1993 to get some work done in the garden. While sweeping leaves on the ground, my five-year-old son Nick came over and asked me to write something on a piece of paper to make a sign for him.

    "What for?" I asked.

    "I'm going to sell some of my stones," he answered.

    Nick was fascinated with stones and had collected many stones from all over. "I'm too busy to do that for you. Go and ask your mum for help," I said.

    A short time later, Nick, returned with a sign, reading, "Stones, One Dollar Each". He took the sign, a small chair and 4 of his best stones and walked to the road in front of our garden. There he put the stones in a line and sat down on the chair.

    After half an hour, nobody passed by. I walked to him and asked him to go back, but he didn't. Another half hour later, a small car came down the road. I watched as Nick stood up, holding his sign up. A woman rolled down a window and read the sign. I couldn't hear their talk, but I saw the woman turn to the driver and the man reach for his pocket.

    I sat in the yard, as Nick ran to me. Waving the dollar, he shouted, "I told you I could sell one stone for a dollar—if you believe in yourself, you can do anything."

    Once upon a time, there lived a rich man. He had a servant (仆人). He and the servant(仆人) loved wine and good food very much. Each time the rich man left his home, the servant would drink the wine and eat up all the nice food in the house. The rich man knew what his servant did, but he had never caught his servant doing that.

    One morning, when he left home, he said to the servant, “Here are two bottles of poison (毒药) and some nice food in the house. You must take care of them.” With these words, he went out.

    But the servant knew that the rich man had said was untrue. After the rich man was away from his home, he enjoyed a nice meal. Because he drank too much, he was drunk and fell to the ground. When the rich man came back, he couldn't find his food and his wine. He became very angry. He woke the servant up. But the servant told his story very well. He said a cat had eaten up everything. He was afraid to be punished, so he drank the poison to kill himself.

    O. Henry was a great writer. His pen name was O. Henry and his real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. When he was about 20, he went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then in a bank. When some money went missing from the bank, some people thought he was the thief, so he was sent to prison(监狱). During the three years there, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of the prison, he went to New York and went on writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor people there. And people liked his stories very much.

    Once upon a time there were two boys who lived in a place and worked for the King One boy fell in love with a girl and wanted to give her a present. He suddenly saw a vase filled with the loveliest flowers.

    He decided to take one flower and give it to the girl He did the same thing the next day, and the next, and the next…until, one day, the King noticed a few flowers were left in the vase. The King was so angry that he gathered everyone in the palace and decided to find out the truth.

    When they all stood before the King, the boy thought he should tell the truth.  However the other boy told him not to tell the truth because the King would be angry with him. When the king came near, the boy shook with fear. But he still decided to confess.

    As soon as he told the truth, a smile appeared on the King's face The King said to the boy, "I couldn't have thought of a better use for my flowers".

    Then the King went to the vase and took two of those wonderful flowers, one for the girl, and the other for the Queen.