A farmer had a brother in town who was a gardener, and his brother had a garden full of the finest fruit trees. So his skill and his beautiful trees were famous everywhere. One day the farmer went into the town to visit his brother, and was surprised at the trees that grew quite well.

      "Look, my brother," said the gardener. "I will give you an apple tree, the best from my garden, and you, and your children, and your children's children will enjoy it."

       Then the gardener called his workmen and ordered them to take up the tree and carry it to his brother's farm. They did so, and the next morning the farmer began to wonder where he should plant it.

"If I plant it on the hill," he said to himself, "the wind might catch it and shake down the delicious fruit before it is ripe. If I plant it close to the road, passersby will see it and take away the apples--but if I plant it too near the door of my house, my children may pick the fruit." So, after he had thought the matter over, he planted the tree behind his barn (谷仓).

      Time passed, but the tree had no fruit the first year, nor the second-then the farmer called his brother. When the gardener came, the farmer said angrily, "You have cheated me, and given me a useless tree instead of a fruitful one. This is the third year and still it brings out nothing but leaves! "

      The gardener laughed and said, "See where the tree was planted, it has no sun or warmth. How could you expect flowers and fruit?"

    It was only with her death that Nurse Edith Cavell became known, but her story became one of the great epics (ASF) of the First World War. Edith Cavell, born on December 4, 1865 at Northfolk, England, studied nursing, and became First Matron(护士长) at a hospital in Brussels, Belgium. During the war she became an important link in a chain of people helping the wounded and stray Allied soldiers (离散的盟军士兵) back to their own lines. The Germans caught her and she was sentenced to be shot. This brave woman, who had helped over two hundred soldiers to safety, acted with great pride during the short trial(审判). She said at the end her only regret was that she could not have done more than she did.

    Edith Cavell was killed by several German soldiers on October 12, 1915 after an American's request to spare her life had been rejected. There is a statue(雕塑) of her in London, arid Mount Edith Cavell in Canada is named for this heroic nurse.

B

    July 4, 2015 was American's 239th birthday. This country had an International Hot Dog Eating Competition for the big day.

    Since 2007, Joey Chestnut is always the winner of the competition. His best show was in 2009. He ate 69 hot dogs in ten minutes. This year, Chestnut's winning history came to an end. Matt Stonie, a 23-year-old man won the competition by eating 62 hot dogs. He ate two more than Chestnut. Stonie took home 10,000 dollars as a prize.

    Though it was the young man's first win here, Stonie already won some other eating competitions. He once got the first place in eating the most birthday cake (5.5 pounds in nine minutes).

    Women took part in the competition too. The 2015 women's winner was Miki Sudo who ate 38 hot dogs.

    It is said the competition started on July 4,1916. Now it is one of the traditions (传统) on America's National Day.

    Tommy and his mother go shopping today. Tommy's father likes apples very much. They buy some red apples for him. Tommy's mother likes yellow bananas, but the bananas are green. "Look! The Strawberries are very nice, Mum. Do you like them?" Tommy says to his mother. "Yes, I like strawberries very much." Tommy's mother buys some for herself. The oranges are very nice. Tommy's mother buys some for Tommy. He likes oranges very much.

    They need some vegetables. The vegetables in the supermarket are very good. They buy some tomatoes, cabbages and carrots. Tommy doesn't like carrots, but his parents like carrots. They like carrots very much. They buy lots of carrots.

    Then Alice saw a small glass table. There was a little golden key on it. She picked it and put it in all the locks on the doors but it didn't open any of them. She moved a curtain on one of the walls and discovered another door, a very small one. She put the key in the lock. It was exactly the right size! She opened the door and looked through it. At the end of a low passage she saw a beautiful garden. It was full of brightly coloured flowers and fountains.

    "Oh, how beautiful!" she said. "I'd love to go there but I'm too big to get through the door."

    She walked back to the table. There was a bottle on it now.

    "I'm sure that bottle wasn't there before," she said, a little confused.

    She put down the key and picked up the bottle. She read the words "DRINK ME" on it. Alice wasn't a stupid girl. She didn't drink it immediately. First she looked at the bottle carefully. There wasn't a label on it that said "POISON".

    So she put the bottle to her lips and drank.

    "Mmm, ifs nice," she said. It tasted like cherry tart, pineapple, roast turkey and toast-all the things that she liked to eat-so she drank some more. And some more. Soon the bottle was empty.

    "What a curious feeling," she said. "I'm getting smaller and smaller.'" It was true! She was now as small as her cat Dinah.

    "Good! I can go through the door into the garden," she said. But, poor Alice! When she got to the door, she didn't have the key! It was on the table. She couldn't reach it because she was too small now. She sat down and cried.

    After a while she said, "Alice! Stop crying! Crying doesn't help! Dry your tears immediately!"

    When she looked at the table again, she saw a small glass box under it. She picked it up and opened it. There was a small cake inside. It had the words "EAT ME" on it. She put a small piece of it in her mouth.

    "If I grow bigger I can reach the key," she thought. "And if I grow smaller I can go under the door."

    But nothing happened so she finished it.   

    Today is Friday. Peter has six classes today. He goes to school at 7:30 a. m. At 8:00 a. m., he begins his first class. The first class is English. At 9:00 a.m., he has Maths. Peter likes Maths because it's interesting. At 10:00 a. m., he has a biology class. Peter thinks it's very boring. Then at 11:00 a. m., he has a history class. That's his favourite subject. He can learn a lot about the past from History.

    Peter has lunch at school at about 12:00. Then he has a short break. At 1:30 p.m., he has a music class. At 2:30 p.m., he has a PE class. Peter likes this afternoon, because Music and PE are easy and interesting. School is over at 4:00 p.m. Peter is happy because he can go home and have a good time on Saturday and Sunday.