David did well in all his subjects except physics, Mr. Brown, his physics teacher, gave him his physics paper and said to him, “Show it to your dad and ask him to sign his name on the paper.”

    David played football until it was 7 o'clock. When he got home, his parents had finished supper. His dad was watching TV and his mother was doing the dishes in the kitchen as usual.

 “Dad, may I ask you some questions?” David asked happily.

 “Yes, of course,” answered his dad.

 “If you can't answer them, you'll have to do something for me.”

 “OK, I'll do as you tell me,” said his dad.

 “Which is cooler, walking or sitting in the sun?”

 “Walking is cooler. It can make wind.”

 “Which clothes can keep out (阻挡）the sunlight，shirts or coats?”

 “Coats can keep out the sunlight because they are much thicker than shirts.” “Is a man smart if he wears a coat and walks in the sun in summer?” David looked at his dad and waited for his answer. His dad thought for a minute and shook his head.

   David took out his paper, “Now sign your name on the paper, please.”

    Tom was a farmer. He worked on the farm all day，but sometimes he went to the town market to sell fruit and vegetables. One day, a terrible sound attracted his attention in the town market. He saw a young bull for sale. The bull was white and yellow. It was looking at Tom in fear. Tom walked up and touched its head gently. Just at that time they both seemed to have known each other for a long time. How amazing！Tom bought it at once and called it Amba.

    From then on ， Tom and Amba got on well with each other. But some friends told him that it was dangerous to have such a close relationship with an animal.

    One afternoon， Tom was walking through the forest with Amba. Suddenly， Amba stopped walking and kept pushing Tom with its head. Tom was very surprised and looked around. There was a big snake in front of him. It was beautiful but poisonous. Quickly Amba stepped on the snake's tail with its foot and at the same time Tom picked up a stick and hit the snake's head heavily. Soon the snake died.

    Tom was very grateful for Amba's help. When people heard this, they were shocked at the bull's expression of love for Tom. But for Tom, Amba was not a bull but a member of his family.

    Once there was a famine (饥荒) in the town. A rich and kind baker(面包师) sent some bread to twenty of the poorest children. He said to them, "In this basket there is some bread for you. Each of you can have one loaf(一条面包) every day until the hard days end.

    The impatient children couldn't wait to gather around the basket. They shouted and fought for the bread because each wished to have the largest loaf. At last they went away without even thanking the good gentleman. But Shirley, a poorly-dressed little girl, did not join them. Instead, she remained standing modestly in the distance. When the other children had left, she took the smallest left in the basket, kissed the gentleman's hand and went home.

    The next day the children were as rude as before. Poor shy Shirley still took the smallest loaf. When she got home, her mother cut the bread open. Many new shining pieces of silver fell out of it. Her mother was very surprised and said, "Take the money back to the good gentleman at once, for it must have got into the loaf by accident. Be quick, Shirley! Be quick!"

    But when the little girl gave the rich man her mother's message, he said, "No, no, my child. It was no mistake. I put silver pieces into the smallest loaf to reward you because you are a kind and honest girl. Go home and the money is yours now."

On 18th November.1908, three men went up in a balloon (气球).They started early in London. The headman was Augusta Gaudron, and the other two men were Tannar and Maitland. They had a big balloon and they were ready for a long way.

Soon they heard the sea. They were carrying the usual rope, and it was hanging down from the basket of the balloon. At the end of the rope they had tied a metal box. This could hold water, or it could be empty. So they were able to change its weight. It was for use over the sea. They were also carrying some bags of sand.

After the sun rose, the balloon went higher. It went up to 3,000 metres, and the air was very cold. The water in the balloon became ice. Snow fell past the men's basket, and they could see more snow on the ground. The men tried to throw out some more sand, but it was hard. They tried to break the icy sand with their knives, but it was not easy. The work was slow and they were still falling, so they had to drop some whole bags of sand. One of them fell on an icy lake and made a black hole in the ice.

At last they pulled the box into the basket. It was still snowing, so they climbed to get away from the snow. They rose to 5,100 metres! Everything became icy. They were so cold that they decided to land. They came down in Poland heavily but safely. They had travelled 1,797kilometres from London!