Sally Ride was born in California in 1951. She was the first American woman to travel into space. She loved to play tennis and wanted to be a tennis player when she was young. But after three months' professional(专业的) training, she changed her mind. She went to Stanford University and started to study science. She studied stars and planets. She did researches at the university and got her PhD in astrophysics(天体物理学博士学位) after several years' hard work.

 In 1977, she took a test to become an astronaut. And then she was picked up from over 8,000 people. In order to realise her dream of going into space, she had to get different kinds of special and difficult training. She learned how to fly a plane, how to jump out of a plane as well as how to operate(操作)special machines

 Sally and four other astronauts flew a spaceship called Challenger on Jun. 18, 1983. She became the first American woman to travel into space. Later, she taught at the University of California. Then she wrote seven books on space for children, encouraging children to study science. Unfortunately, she died in 2012.

    Mo Yan was born in 1955 in Gaomi, Shandong. His real name is Guan Moye. Mo Yan is his pen name. It means “no speaking”. Mo Yan's parents are farmers.

    When he was young, Mo Yan had to leave school and start to work, first as a farmer and then in a factory. In 1979 he married Du Qinlan. Two years later, their only daughter Guan Xiaoxiao was born. Xiaoxiao likes literature (文学) very much. She is a famous writer like her father.

    In 1981, Mo Yan's first novel (小说) Falling Rain on a Spring Night came out. His works — Red Sorghum Clan, The Republic of Wine, Big Breasts and Wide Hips, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out and Frog are very famous. Mo Yan won many prizes (奖). In 2012, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

    One day, Mr. Smith went to a dinner party. He was wearing very old clothes. He came into the room. But people in the room didn't look at him. They didn't ask him to sit at the table. He wasn't happy. But he said nothing.

    Mr. Smith went home quickly and put on （穿上） his best clothes. He went back to the party. Everyone in the room stood up and looked at him. They gave him good food to eat. Mr. Smith took off his coat, and put it on the food and said, “Eat, coat!” The other people were surprised and asked, “What are you doing? Why do you do that?”  Mr. Smith answered, “I am asking my coat to eat food. When I wore old clothes, you didn't look at me. You didn't ask me to sit down.

    Now I am wearing these nice clothes. And you give me good food. Now I see, you give the food to my coat, not to me.”

Have you ever read stories of Sherlock Holmes—a famous detective? Here is one of his cases.

Stapleton, Charles' younger brother, found that he would inherit (继承) the Baskerville lands if Charles and his nephew(侄子) —Henry both died.

    Charles who had a weak heart believed super natural stories. After knowing this, Stapleton had the idea of buying a huge hound, and of using the phosphorus(磷) to make it shine like the hound in one story.

    Then Stapleton asked his friend Laura to write a letter to bring Charles to the moor gate on that sad night. The hound, which was shining with phosphorus, chased Charles down the Yew Alley. Charles' fear was so great that his weak heart stopped, and he died but the animal did not touch the dead body. There was no sign of murder. It was difficult for Holmes to find the murderer.

    Two weeks later, Stapleton learned that Henry had reached England. He took his wife and the hound with him. He wore a false beard and followed Henry in London. He wanted to use the same way to murder Henry there. He needed something to give the hound Henry's smell, so he paid a woman at Henry's hotel to steal one of his shoes. The first one was a new one, which was no use for the hound, so it was put back. And then another older shoe was stolen. Before he was ready to murder Henry, he wasn't sure if his wife would keep his secret, so he did not tell her the truth. He locked her up in their hotel. She knew that he must have some evil plans. She sent Henry a letter which was made of words cut from a newspaper.

    After receiving the letter, Henry realized he was in great danger and it must have something to do with his uncle Charles' death. So he asked Holmes for help.

    It's very hot. An old man is sleeping on the chair. A fly(苍蝇) comes and sits on the end of the man's nose.The old man has a naughty monkey. He chases(驱赶) the fly.

    The fly comes back again and sits on the old man's nose again. The monkey chases it away again and again.

    This happens five or six times. The monkey is very angry. He jumps up, runs to the garden and picks up a large stone.

    When the fly sits on the old man's nose again, the monkey hits it hard with the stone.

    He kills the fly and breaks the old man's nose.

    A lion was getting tired of hunting. He called all animals and passed an order. "Every day one of you should come by yourself as my food." All animals started to obey this order.

    It was the rabbit's day. The rabbit was very sad. As he was going to the lion's den (兽穴), he came across an old well (井). He looked into it. It was very deep and dangerous. He made a plan in his mind.

    The lion was very angry that no animal had come that day. The rabbit slowly came towards the lion. The lion shouted, "Why are you late?" The rabbit humbly (低声下气地) replied, "On my way another lion chased me. I got away with much difficulty to give my life to you."

    The lion was pleased with the rabbit. But the thought of another lion in the jungle made him angry. The lion shouted, "Do you know where he lives?" The rabbit replied, "Yes, sir. Please come with me."

    The rabbit took the lion to the old well. He said, "Sir, that lion lives in this well." The lion looked into the well. He mistook his reflection (倒影) for another lion. He shouted and there was an echo.

    He thought that the other lion was shouting too and jumped into the well. That was the end of the lion.