George had stolen some money, but the police had caught him and he had been put in prison. Now his trial was about to begin, and he felt sure that he would be found guilty (有罪) and sent to prison for a long time.

    Then he discovered that an old friend of his was one of the members of the jury(陪审团)at his trial. Of course, he did not tell anybody, but he managed to see his friend secretly one day. He said to him, "Jim, I know that the jury will find me guilty of having stolen the money. I cannot hope to be found not guilty of taking it—that would be too much to expect. But I should be thankful to you for the rest of my life if you could persuade the other members of the jury to add a strong recommendation (劝告) for mercy to their statement that they consider me guilty."

    "Well, George," answered Jim, "I shall certainly try to do what I can for you as an old friend, but of course I cannot promise anything. The other eleven people on the jury look terribly strong-minded to me."

    George said that he would quite understand if Jim was not able to do anything for him, and thanked him warmly for agreeing to help.

The trial went on, and at last the time came for the jury to decide whether George was guilty or not. It took them five hours, but in the end they found George guilty, with a strong recommendation for mercy(仁慈).

    Of course, George was very pleased, but he did not have a chance to see Jim for some time after the trial. At last, however, Jim visited him in prison, and George thanked him warmly and asked him how he had managed to persuade the other members of the jury to recommend mercy.

    "Well, George," Jim answered, "As I thought, those eleven men were very difficult to persuade, but I managed it in the end by tiring them out. Do you know, those fools had all wanted to find you not guilty!"

      Mr. Smith made many tests with different animals and the monkey was the cleverest of all the animals.

      One day Mr. Smith put a monkey in a room. He also put some small boxes in it. In one of the boxes there was some food. "How long will it take the monkey to find the food?" Mr. Smith said to himself. "Let me wait and see." He left the room and waited outside. Three minutes later, he put his eye to the keyhole. What did he see? He saw the eye of the monkey. The monkey was on the other side of the door and looked at Mr. Smith through the keyhole.

    I have tried to write a ghost（鬼魂） story that won't make you unhappy with yourselves，with each other，with the seasons，or with me．I hope it haunts（飘荡） your houses pleasantly．

    By Charles Dickens One Christmas Eve，old Scrooge and Bob were working busily in his office．It was a cold，foggy day．The fog was so thick that the houses opposite were like ghosts．It was only three o'clock in the afternoon，but it was already quite dark．

    "Merry Christmas，Uncle!"cried a happy voice．It was Scrooge's nephew（侄子）．

    "Bah!"said Scrooge，"Humbug（骗人的话）!"

    "Christmas is a humbug？Surely you don't mean that，Uncle．"said his nephew．

    "I do，"said Scrooge．"Merry Christmas!What reason have you got to be merry？You're poor．"

    "OK，then，"replied the nephew cheerfully．"What reason have you got to be sad？You are rich．Don't be angry，Uncle!"said his nephew．

    "What else can I be？"answered the uncle，"I live in a world of fools!Merry Christmas!What's Christmas time to you？It's a time for paying bills without money？!It's a time for finding yourself a year older，but not richer．

    Everyone who goes around saying 'Merry Christmas' should have his tongue cut out．Yes，he should!"

    "Uncle!Please don't say that!"said the nephew．"I've always thought of Christmas time as a good time，a kind，and a charitable（慈善的）and happy time．And so，Uncle，Christmas has never put any gold or silver in my pocket，but I think it has done me good．And it will do me good．I'm sure．"

    Bob，standing in the corner of the room，applauded．He realized his mistake very soon，and went quickly back to his work，but Scrooge had heard him．

    "One more sound from you，Bob Cratchit，"said Scrooge，"and you'll celebrate Christmas by losing your job!"

    "Don't be angry with him，Uncle．Come and have dinner with us tomorrow．"said Scrooge's newphew．

    "No．"said Scrooge．

I'm sorry you don't want to celebrate Christmas．But I do．So a Merry Christmas，Uncle!"

    "Good afternoon!"said Scrooge．

    "And a Happy New Year!"said his nephew．

    "Good afternoon!"said Scrooge again．

    His nephew left the room．He stopped to wish Bob a Merry Christmas．And Bob replied，"A  Merry Christmas to you，too．"

    Pablo Casals was a great cello（大提琴） player and music writer. He was born in Catalonia, Spain. He first heard the cello played when he was 11.Generally, he felling love with the instrument. So, he went to school at the Escuela Municipal de Musica. He focused on his studies and got high grades. When he finished school, he played the cello in the queen's palace. He became more and more famous. Soon, he began to play for audiences worldwide.

    After the events of the Spanish Civil War, Casals left Spain. He refused to go back. He went to live in Puerto Roco. He continued his work as a teacher. Healso recorded many albums（相册）. At the age of 80 he married his third and final wife, Marta Montanez.

    Casals died in 1973.The king of Spain had enjoyed Casals' music very much. He ordered a postage stamp to be made. It showed a picture of the cellist.

    In 1909 an English newspaper offered £ 1,000 to the first man to fly across the English Channel in an aeroplane. Today, modern jets cross it in minutes. But at that time it still seemed a good distance. The race to win the money soon became a race between two men. Both were very colourful.

    One was Louis Bleriot. He owned a factory in France that made motor car lamps. He was already well known as a pilot because he had had accidents several times. Some people laughed at him. One man said, "He may not be the first to fly across the Channel but he will certainly be the first to die in an accident!" But Bleriot was really a good and brave pilot. He also had many good ideas about aeroplane design.

    The other man was Hubert Latham. He was half French and half English. He took up flying when his doctors told him he had only a year to live. "Oh, well," he said, "if I'm going to die soon, I think I shall have a dangerous and interesting life now." Latham was the first to try the flight across the Channel. Ten kilometres from the French coast, his plane had some trouble. It fell down into the water and began to sink under the water. A boat reached Latham just in time. He was sitting calmly on the wing and was coolly lighting a cigarette. Bleriot took off six days later. He flew into some very bad weather and very low cloud. He somehow got to the English side and landed in a farmer's field. When he did so, a customs (海关) officer rushed up to his plane. Planes have changed since then, but customs officers have not. "Have you anything to say?" The officer asked.