Dick was born in a poor family. His father had a small boat and went fishing in the morning and sold the fish in the market in the afternoon. Then he bought some food for his family. When winter came, they were often hungry. One morning the hungry man fell into the river and wasn't found. Dick's mother left her three-year-old son without saying good-bye. His aunt had to look after him.

    Twenty years passed. Dick became a tall, strong man. He found work on a farm. He worked hard and wanted to get more money. He often went to see his aunt with some nice presents. The woman was very happy but one day she died in a traffic accident. The young man was very sad. After he buried her, he decided to buy a beautiful tombstone (墓碑)for her. He went to town and came in a shop, but all the tombstones were too expensive. He asked, "Do you sell an old tombstone, sir?" "Yes, we do, sir," answered the shopkeeper. "Is it as expensive as the new one?''

    "No, it's much cheaper," said the man. "But another name was engraved(刻) on it." "It doesn't matter," said Dick. "My aunt couldn't read."

    Our family went to the Yellow Stone National Park last summer vacation. Our son, Tom, wanted to see bears there. And what an experience(经历)it was!

When we got there, we put up our tent(帐篷) and went to explore(探险). As we returned, we heard our daughter Susie cry out. And then we saw a bear go into our camp.

    Tom wanted his father to chase(追赶)him away. His father said, “No. It's dangerous to chase a bear. And don't let him chase you. ”Susie said, “What shall we do? Maybe we should climb a tree. ”Tom said, “No. We have to get him out of there. He might go to sleep in our tent. ”“Maybe we could make him leave if we put some honey outside for him to eat. ”Susie suggested. Then I said, “How are you going to get the honey? It's in the tent. ”We watched the bear go into the tent and heard him upset(翻倒; 弄翻)everything inside. “It's foolish for us to try to chase him away. ”said my husband, “Leave him alone and wait for him to come out. ”We waited, but the bear stayed inside. We had to sleep in the car that night.

    One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas. The father said, "Look! There's a horseshoe. Pick it up arid put it in your bag. "Thomas said." It isn't worth(值得) the trouble. "His father said nothing but he picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the few pennies he bought some cherries(樱桃).

    The father and the son continued their way. The sun was well up in the sky, and there wasn't a house or even a tree where they could have a rest. Thomas felt too thirsty(口渴的) to walk on. At the moment, his lather dropped a cherry on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it. After a while, his father dropped another cherry and once again, his son picked it up and put it in his mouth.

    And so they went on. The old farmer dropped the cherries and the son picked them up. When Thomas had caught' up all the cherries, his father said to him," My dear son, if you had bent(弯腰) down in the beginning to pick up that horseshoe, you wouldn't have bent so many times for the cherries. Always remember this lesson：If someone don't worry about the little things, he will find it impossible for him to do the great things."

    People all over the world don't like mice, but they like one mouse the famous Mickey Mouse. More than fifty years ago, most films were silent（无声的）. An American man called Walt Disney made a cartoon mouse. The mouse could talk in the films. He called his mouse Mickey Mouse. People were excited at Mickey Mouse.

    Soon Mickey Mouse became very successful and popular.

    Both young people and old people enjoyed Mickey Mouse. They loved to see their lovely friend because he brought joy and laughter to them. Mickey was a clean mouse from the beginning. So people hated real mice, but loved Mickey Mouse. In his early life, Mickey made some mistakes. People were very angry, and they wrote to Disney. They said they did not want Mickey to do silly things. Because Mickey could not do all of the things, Disney made a new animal called Donald Duck. He also made a dog Pluto. This dog always does stupid things and makes mistakes.

    Now Mickey is more important. He is a star of beauty and wisdom. He has friends in almost every country.

    Kevin lived in a village in Africa. One morning, the teacher came into Kevin's classroom with a new girl. "Hi, guys! My name is Jenny. I am from America. I came to Africa with my dad. It's nice to meet everyone," the girl said.

    Kevin noticed (注意) that he looked different from Jenny. As soon as school was over, he ran home to ask his mother, "Mom, there is a new student Jenny in our class today. She comes from the US. Everyone in Africa has curly hair, right? Then, why is Jenny's hair straight?"

    Mom thought for a minute and said, "It's always hot in Africa. Curly hair is like a sponge (海绵) with many holes (洞), so the air can get in and out easily. If your hair was like Jenny's straight hair, you wouldn't be able to stand the heat (热). Our curly hair is necessary (必要的)!"