When Mr. David retired(退休), he bought a small house in a village near the sea. He liked it and hoped to live a quiet life in it. But to his surprise, many visitors came to see his house in summer holidays, for it was the most interesting building in the village. From morning to night, there were visitors outside the house. They kept looking into the rooms through the windows and many of them even went into the house. He decided to drive the visitors away. So he put a notice on the window. The notice said，“If you want to satisfy your curiosity(好奇心), come in and look around. Price: twenty dollars.”Mr. David was sure that the visitors would stop coming, but he was wrong. More and more visitors came and Mr. David had to spend every day showing them around his house. “I came here to retire, not to work as a guide(导游)”, he said angrily. In the end, he sold the house and moved away.

    Kate, Jack and Sam are good friends. They are in the same school.Kate and Jack are classmates. But Sam is in a different grade－Grade Three. They often do sports or play games after school.

    This evening Jack is going to Sam's birthday party and he is going to give him a new book for his birthday because he likes reading very much. Kate wants to go to the party, too. But she has to stay at home because her mother isn't feeling well. She asks Jack to take a present to Sam for his birthday. She wants to give Sam a different present, so she gives him a very mice new pen.

    Larry and Jo Ann were an ordinary couple. Like any other couple, they made efforts to make ends meet (收支相抵) and do the right thing for their children. They often argued about what was wrong with their marriage and who was to blame (责备). They wanted to make changes.

    "You know, Jo Ann, I've got a magic chest (衣柜) of drawers. Every time I open them, they're full of clean clothes," Larry said. "I want to thank you for filling them all these years."

    Jo Ann stared at her husband and felt strange. This wasn't the first time Larry had done something strange recently, so Jo Ann forgot it quickly. But it happened again a few days later.

    "Jo Ann, that was a great dinner," Larry said one evening. "I appreciate all you have done in the past 15 years. You have cooked lots of delicious food for me and the kids. "

    Jo Ann was growing worried. "What's wrong with my husband?" she wondered.

    Day in and day out, Larry continued his praise.

    Over the weeks, Jo Ann grew more used to her husband's unusual behavior. Her step was now a little lighter and she didn't seem to get upset as often.

    Larry has never told Jo Ann the reason for his change in behavior. So it will likely remain one of life's mysteries. But it's one I'm thankful to live with.

    You see, I am Jo Ann.

International Museum Day is coming! Here are some special museums that you must see.

    This year the US will honour(纪念)one of the country's most famous writers-Mark Twain(1835-1910).Most readers know that his real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, but how many know where the pen name "Mark Twain" came from?

    The answer shows Clemens' colourful early life before he became a writer. "Mark Twain" was the cry shouted on a ship when the ship entered a part of a river that was two fathoms(6 feet) deep. "Twain" is an old-fashioned way of saying "two". Twain trained as a ship pilot on the Mississippi river for two years, a time that he wrote about in the humorous Life on the Mississippi(1883).

    The famous river would become an important theme in many of his works-who could forget the journey of Huck and Jim along it in his most famous book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn(1884).

    With little education, he had to teach himself how to write stories. Whenever possible, he would go to public libraries. There he spent much time reading and thinking, which greatly helped him with his writing.

    On the other hand, his life experiences gave him wonderful material to write about and attract readers. Twain wrote in a style that has been called "local colour" because it shows great knowledge of local people and their customs.

    The gift is very clear in the two books for which Twain is still celebrated today: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer(1876) and its follow-up The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which many people call "The Great American Novel".

    The most amazing invention in his book is the voice of Huck himself. Huck did not enjoy schooling. It shows in the way he uses language, in a spoken style. Only a master like Twain could copy the way a young southern boy talked so well.

    I once knew a man who was rich in his love for birds, and in their love for him. He lived in a grove full of all kinds of trees. He had no wife or children in his home. He was an old man with blue and kind eyes, and a voice that the birds loved.

    While he was at work in the grove, the birds came close to pick up the worms(蠕虫) in the fresh earth he dug up. At first, they kept their distance from him, but they soon found he was a kind man, and would not hurt them, but liked to have them near him.

    They knew this by his kind eyes and voice, which tell what is in the heart. So, day by day their faith in his love grew in them.

    All the birds of the grove were soon his fast friends. They were on the watch for him, and would fly down from the green tree tops to greet

him with their chirp(叽叽喳喳叫).

    When he had no work to do, he took bread with him, and dropped the pieces on the ground. Down they would dart(俯冲) on his head and feet to catch them as they fell from his hand.

    He showed me how they loved him. He put a piece of bread in his mouth, with one end of it out of his lips. Down they came like bees at a flower, and flew off with it piece by piece.

    When they thought he slept too long in the morning, they would fly in and _______.

    They went with him to church, and while he sang his hymns in it, they sat in the trees, and sang their praises.

    So the love and trust of birds were a joy to the old man all his life long.