A farmer had a brother in town who was a gardener, and his brother had a garden full of the finest fruit trees. So his skill and his beautiful trees were famous everywhere. One day the farmer went into the town to visit his brother, and was surprised at the trees that grew quite well.

      "Look, my brother," said the gardener. "I will give you an apple tree, the best from my garden, and you, and your children, and your children's children will enjoy it."

       Then the gardener called his workmen and ordered them to take up the tree and carry it to his brother's farm. They did so, and the next morning the farmer began to wonder where he should plant it.

"If I plant it on the hill," he said to himself, "the wind might catch it and shake down the delicious fruit before it is ripe. If I plant it close to the road, passersby will see it and take away the apples--but if I plant it too near the door of my house, my children may pick the fruit." So, after he had thought the matter over, he planted the tree behind his barn (谷仓).

      Time passed, but the tree had no fruit the first year, nor the second-then the farmer called his brother. When the gardener came, the farmer said angrily, "You have cheated me, and given me a useless tree instead of a fruitful one. This is the third year and still it brings out nothing but leaves! "

      The gardener laughed and said, "See where the tree was planted, it has no sun or warmth. How could you expect flowers and fruit?"

Many of you have heard a Cinderella (灰姑娘) story, but you may not know that there are over a hundred different ways to tell the Cinderella story. When writers tell the same story in a different way, it is called their “version” of the story. The story of Cinderella has many different versions. Let's read two of them and find out how they are different.

The version that most people know is the oldest one written in 1697 by Charles Perrault from France. This is the version where the birds help make Cinderella's dress and the mice turn into carriage men (马车夫) and help Cinderella go to the dance in a pumpkin (南瓜) carriage. In this version, many of the animals are Cinderella's friends. They help her meet the Prince. Cinderella marries the Prince and they live happily together ever after.

In another version of this story written in the 1850s by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm from Germany, the birds help Cinderella in the whole story. Cinderella's father gives her a little tree when he comes back from a party. She plants the little tree and her tears water it until it grows into a tall tree.

The birds now live in the tree and they give Cinderella a dress of gold and shoes of gold. Cinderella goes to the party to meet and dance with the Prince. Later, he finds Cinderella at home doing work for her stepmother (继母). Cinderella marries the Prince and they live happily ever after.

Now you can understand what the word “version” means and how more than one writer can tell a story in a different way. That is why there are many versions of the same story.

    Tom and Mike are good friends. They are kind to children.

    They want to find summer jobs. One day Tom tells Mike that Beidaihe Kids Summer Camp needs help with sports, music and computers. They are both very glad to hear(听说) this. Tom can play basketball and volleyball and he can swim, too. Mike can play the violin, the trumpet, the drums and the guitar. Tom and Mike like computers very much. Can they join the Summer Camp?

    Bill is only fifteen years old，but he's already very rich．Two years ago，Bill began a football website（网站）for young people. "I became interested in computers when I was 8 years old  because my father's job is with computers．As a little boy，I also loved football and so I decided to make a website，especially for people of my age．"

    Bill started the "Football OK!" website two years ago，and now more than 20,000 people visit it every day．

    Bill is a schoolboy and a businessman as well．He usually gets up at six o'clock and looks at his e-mails．Then he goes to school from nine to four．In the evenings，he always works for about four hours on his website．

    Bill's next plan is a new website." At the moment I am thinking about a new website on American football，maybe for next year．"

    And is Bill the same person that he was three years ago? "'No，I am very different now．I have met a lot of interesting people on the website and I have traveled all over the world．" Bill doesn't know about the future．"Maybe I will sell the websites. I really don't know．I'll just wait and see."

    Some people say that when he is 21，Bill will be a millionaire（百万富翁). He always says, “Anything is possible”!