A

    How do you win a Nobel Prize for writing? Here's the secret from a previous winner: make it short, keep it real, and work hard.

Canadian author Alice Munro, 82, was awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in literature. She is known for her short stories about personal relationships of ordinary people, usually women.

    Munro was born into a farming family in Ontario. The family was very poor. Munro did a lot of physical work as a young girl. She decided to be a writer at the age of 12. Now Munro turns her hard childhood into great writing ideas. The story Dear Life, for example, opens with a description of the neighborhood in which Munro grew up. Also, she talks about her poor relationship with her mother in many of her stories, such as Lives of Girls and Women and Friend of My Youth.

    Since she published her first book in 1968, Munro has won many awards, with the Nobel Prize as her biggest honor. But Munro doesn't see herself as a talented(有天赋的) writer.

    “I'm the opposite of a writer with a quick gift. I don't grasp it very easily at all, the‘it' being whatever I'm trying to do,” she said.

    Do you dream of becoming an author while sadly admitting you are not that talented? Munro has a tip for you: use notebooks and write a lot.

    “I have lots of notebooks that contain(包含) this writing,” she said. But it helps her sort out (整理) her mind. “Stories would just be working in my head for so long that when I started to write I was deep into them.”

    When I was about 12, I had an enemy(敌人), a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings(缺点). Sometimes she said I was thin. Sometimes she said I was lazy. Sometimes she said I wasn't a good student. Sometimes she said I talked too much, and so on. I tried to put up with(忍受) her as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.

    He listened to me quietly, and then he asked, “Are the things she said true or not? Mary, didn't you ever wonder what you're really like? Go and write a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”

    I did as he told me and to my surprise, I discovered that about half the things were true.

    I brought the list back to my dad. He refused to take it. “That's just for you,” he said. “You know better than anyone else the truth about yourself. When something said about you is true, you'll find it will be helpful to you. Don't close your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you think is right.”

    Many years have passed. The situation often appears in my mind. In our life we often meet with some trouble and we often go to someone and ask for advice. For some advice you will treasure(珍惜) all your life!

    It was just three degrees above zero. "That's cold," thought Jane as she got ready to deliver her morning papers. Jane had 50 customers, and on cold mornings when she couldn't ride her bicycle, it took her more than an hour to make her rounds. As she collected her papers and put them into a big canvas bag, Jane regretted that she hadn't finished her math homework the night before. There was still time. She'd hurry with the papers and finish the math before breakfast.

    Less than an hour later, Jane was nearly finished. She had only five customers to go. She could then head for home to complete her math while her room fixed breakfast. As she rounded the corner, she saw a car in the middle of the street. It was Mr. Zimmerman, the elder man, who walked with a walking stick. His car was out of gas. "I'd like to help Mr. Zimmerman," thought Jane, "but if I do, I won't have time to do my homework." She hated to think what Mr. Roberts would say if she hadn't completed her papers.

    "It's his own fault for running out of gas," Jane talked to herself. "The station is only a half mile down the street. Surely Mr. Zimmerman can walk that far, even on a cold morning like this — can't he?" As she walked down the street, Jane wondered what to do.

B

    There is an elephant and a monkey. They're friends. But one day they want to know who is stronger. One of them says, "Who can get apples over there, who is stronger?"

    There is a river over there. The monkey says, "I can't swim." The elephant says, "I can swim. Please sit on my back." They go across the river. The apple trees are very tall. The elephant can't reach the apples. The monkey climbs up the tree and gets many apples.

    Now they know they should help each other.

    A frog was swimming in a pond after a rainstorm. He saw a brilliant rainbow across the sky. He was so excited that he couldn't help crying.

    "I have heard there is a cave filled with gold at the place where the rainbow ends. I will find the cave and be the richest frog in the world," said the frog.

    The frog swam to the edge of the pond as fast as he could. There he met another frog by accident.

    "Where are you rushing to?" asked the second frog.

    "I am rushing to the place where the rainbow ends," said the first frog.

    "There is a saying that there is a cave filled with gold and diamonds at that place," said the second frog.

    "Then come with me." said the first frog. "We will be the two richest frogs in the world."

    The two frogs jumped out of the pond and ran through the grassland. There they met another frog.

    "What's the hurry?" asked the third frog.

    "We are running to the place where the rainbow ends," said the two frogs.

    "I have been told there is a cave filled with gold, diamonds and pearls at that place," said the third frog.

    "Then come with us," said the two frogs. "We will be the three richest frogs in the world."

    The three frogs ran for miles. Finally they came to the end of the rainbow.

    There they saw a dark cave on the side of a hill.

    "Gold! Diamonds! Pearls!" cried the frogs. As they jumped into the cave, they found a snake lived inside.

    He was hungry and had been thinking about his dinner. He swallowed the three frogs quickly.

    An Englishman was showing a foreign visitor around London. "What's that strange building?" asked the visitor. "That's the Tower of London." "I see. How long did it take to build it?" "About 500 years." "In my country we can build it in five months." Shortly after that they came to St. Paul's Cathedral（大教堂）. "Very interesting!" said the visitor. "How long did it take to build it?" "Nearly forty years." said the Englishman. "In my country we can finish it in forty days at most," said the visitor. This went on all day.

    They visited most of the best known buildings in the city. Every time they saw a new one, the visitor asked what it was and how long it took to build it. Then he said that they could do the same thing much faster in his country.

    At last the Englishman got angry with the visitor though he tried not to show it. Several days later they came to the House of Parliament（议会）and the visitor asked his usual question, "What is that? . "The Englishman answered, "I have no idea. It wasn't there last night."