It was Sunday yesterday. Michael sat on the sofa and watched TV. He was very relaxed. His mother was doing the dishes. Suddenly, she felt terrible. She had to stop. Michael came to his mother and asked, "Are you all right, Mom?" "Yes. I'm OK, but I need to take a rest," said his mother.

    Michael felt sorry for his mother. He thought he should help his mother do the dishes. She felt terrible because she was too tired. So he did the dishes and cleaned the room when his mother was lying in bed. Michael felt happy because the room looked clean.

    When Michael's mother felt better, she went to do the dishes. But she was surprised to see the clean room. "You are really a great boy," she said happily. Michael was happy, too.

It is easy for many people to catch a cold in the springtime or fall. It makes us wonder if scientists can send a man to the moon, why can't they find a cure for the common cold? The answer is easy. There are actually different cold viruses out there. You never know which one you will get, so there isn't a cure for each one.

When a virus attacks your body, your body works hard to get rid of it Blood rushes to your nose and causes a block in it. You feel terrible because you can't breathe well, but your body is actually eating the virus. Your temperature goes up and you get a fever, but the heat of your body is killing the virus. You also have a runny nose to stop the virus from getting into your cells. You may feel very uncomfortable, but actually your wonderful body is doing everything it can to kill the cold.

Different people do different things to deal with colds. In the United States and some other countries, for example, people might have chicken soup to help them get over the cold. Some people take hot baths. Other people take medicine to stop different symptoms(症状)of colds.

There is one interesting thing to note一some scientists say taking medicine when you have a cold is actually bad for you. The virus stays in you longer because your body doesn't have a way to fight it and kill it Bodies can do an amazing job on their own. There is a joke, however, on taking medicine when you have a cold. It goes like this:

It takes about one week to get over a cold if you don't take medicine, but it takes only seven days to get over a cold if you take medicine.

    A lady and her husband in usual clothes walked into the president of Harvard's outer office. "We want to see the president," the lady said softly. Looking at the usual couple, the secretary said, "He'll be busy all day."" We'll wait," the lady replied.

    For hours, the secretary did nothing for them, hoping that they would finally go away. They didn't. "Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll leave," the secretary finally told the president.

    The president looked down at the couple. The lady told him, "We had a son that had studied in Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. But he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to build something for him in Harvard. "Madam," the president said angrily, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died."

    "Oh, no," the lady explained quickly, "we mean we would give a building to Harvard." The president looked at their usual clothes, and then said, "A building! Do you know how much a building costs? It took us over seven and a half million dollars to build Harvard."

    The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a university?" Her husband nodded. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they built a university with their name—a memorial（纪念）to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

    You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.

Archimedes and the golden crown

One day in ancient Greece, King Hiero asked a crown maker to make him a golden crown. At first, he was very 1 with it.

"It's a nice crown, isn't it?" he asked his men. Later, however, he began to doubt 2it was a real golden crown. "Is it made completely of gold?" he wondered. He sent it to Archimedes and asked him to find out the truth.

"This problem seems difficult to solve. What should I do?" thought Archimedes.

Archimedes was still thinking about this problem 3he filled his bath with water. When he got into the bath, some water ran over.  

"That's it!" shouted Archimedes. "I know 4 to solve the king's problem!"

Archimedes went straight to the palace to see the king. First, he 5the crown and asked the king for some gold of the same weight.

Next, he put two pots into two big bowls and filled 6pots with water. He put the gold into one pot, and some water ran into the bowl. Then he put the crown into 7pot. This time, even more water ran into the bowl.

"Look at this," said Archimedes to King Hiero. "A crown 8completely of gold displaces 9water than a crown made of gold and another metal. This crown displaced more water than gold of the same weight, so I'm certain that it is not 10made of gold. "

"The crown maker tricked me, didn't he? What a bad man he is!" shouted King Hiero. He then sent the crown maker to prison.

Lisa is serious about the chores in her house. She gives her children things that they 1 . do according to their age. She started by asking John, the2 of her two sons, to help with the dishes. It is now an easy cho re3 . the 15-year-old. His13-year-old brother, Dave, now4 John, too. They take turns (轮流) washing the5 each week. The boys also clean their study tables, make their beds and6 food from the market on Sunday mornings. Besides(除了) these, the boys also know how to cook easy meals 7 their parents are not at home.

The family of 8 live in a big house but they do all the housework themselves.

Lisa says," When I was young, my father wanted us to do things on our own(独立地)and learn how to9 ourselves. Now I'm doing it to my kids." John says," Doing chores is10 . You learn important life skills and responsibility(责任)."