One of Harry's feet was bigger than the other. “I can't find suitable shoes for them,” he said to his friend, Jack.

    “Why don't you go to a shoemaker?” Jack said, “A good one can make you the right shoes.”

    “I don't want to go to any shoemaker,” Harry said, “Aren't they expensive?”

     “No,” Jack said, “Some of them aren't. There's a good one in our town. Here's his address. ”

       Harry went to the shoemaker in Jack's town a few days later, and the shoemaker made him some shoes.

       Harry went to the shop again a week later and looked at the shoes. Then he said to the shoemaker angrily, “You are a foolish man! I told you to make one shoe bigger than the other, but you made one smaller than the other. ”

    Mr. Green made a robot. He could say only one sentence—“There is no doubt (疑问) about it.” The robot always repeated the same words when you spoke to him.

    One day, Mr. Green needed lots of money and he took the robot to the market to sell him. “Who will buy my robot? He is very smart,” he shouted, “Twenty thousand dollars for my robot!”

    A man was surprised that he was asking for so much money. Instead of asking Mr. Green why he wanted so much money, he decided to speak to the robot. “Are you worth (值) twenty thousand dollars?” he asked the robot. “There is no double about it,” answered the robot.

    The man liked the robot's answer so much that he bought him and carried him home. But very soon he found that the robot could say nothing else. He was sorry he bought the robot. He stood in front of the robot and said, “How foolish I was to throw so much money away！”

    “There is no doubt about it,” said the robot.

    Here is a story told an American general (将军) who was a very important figure in the American army during the First World War. Everybody in the Untied States knew him and many people wished to have a picture or something of his in their homes. Soon after the war the general returned to Washington. One day he went to a dentist (牙医) and had six teeth pulled out. A week later the general heard that his teeth were being sold in curiosity shops (古玩店) at $5 each. On each of the teeth there was a label (标签) with the name of the general and words, “Buy these teeth and show them to your friends at home.” The general got angry. He rushed to his office and ordered six officers to go around the city and buy all his teeth. The officers went out and visited every curiosity shop in the capital. They were away from the office all day. In the evening they returned and put on the table in front of the general the teeth they had bought. They had collected 175 teeth.

    Phil White has just returned from an 18,000-mile, around-the-world bicycle trip. White had two reasons for making this epic journey. First of all, he wanted to use the trip to raise money for charity, which he did. He raised £70,000 for the British charity, Oxfam. White's second reason for making the trip was to break the world record and become the fastest person to cycle around the world. He is still waiting to find out whether he has broken the record or not.

    White set off from Trafalgar Square, in London, on 19th June, 2004 and was back 299 days later. He spent more than 1,300 hours in the saddle (车座) and destroyed four sets of tyres and three bike chains. He had the adventure of his life crossing Europe first, and then the Middle East, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and finally the Americas. Amazingly, he did all of this with absolutely no support team. No jeep carrying food, water and medicine. No doctor. Nothing! Just a bike and a very, very long road.

    The journey was lonely and desperate at times. He also had to fight his way across deserts, through jungles and over mountains. He cycled through heavy rains and temperatures of up to 45 degrees, all to help people in need. There were other dangers along the road. In Iran, he was chased by armed robbers and was lucky to get away with the little money he had. The worst thing that had happened to him was having to cycle into a headwind on a road that crosses the south of Australia. For 1,000 kilometers he battled against the wind that was constantly pushing him. This part of the trip was slow, hard and depressing, but he made it in the end. Now Mr. White is back and wants to write a book about his adventures.

My name is Maisie Hall and I have five brothers and sisters! Life in our house is fun, but it's difficult, too.

On school days I get up very early at 6:30 a.m. I have my breakfast first. After breakfast I take a shower and get dressed.

At 8:00 a.m. we go to school by bus. School starts at 8:30 a.m. and we go home at 3:00 p.m. After school I don't watch TV. I clean the house for my mom and play with my brothers and sisters.

We have dinner together at 7:00 p.m. My baby brother goes to bed at 8:00 p.m. and my other brothers and sisters go to bed at 9:00 p.m. Then I can study!

From 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. I do my homework and read a book. After that I brush my teeth and go to bed.