Gail Mirabella works as a dog trainer for a circus (马戏团). She used to train her dogs to do tricks when she was a kid. Finally, her hobby turned into her job. Several days ago, she talked to Time Magazine reporter, Cameron Young, about her love for dogs.

    Reporter: Did you always want to be a dog trainer in a circus?

    Mirabella: When I was a little kid, I did my first dog show, a kid's dog show. And I took first place (第一名). From then on, I knew I wanted to work with dogs, but who would know I'd be in a circus?

    Reporter: Did you have any dogs growing up?

    Mirabella: Of course. I had a white dog when I was a little baby. Three years later, it died. And then we got two family dogs. On my fourteenth birthday, my uncle bought me a dog. It was a big dog.

    Reporter: How long does it take you to train a dog, one month, half a year or one year?

    Mirabella: That depends on the dog. I have thirteen dogs and I let them all play together, but I do a lot of special work with each dog. They know I am their owner because I do all the feeding.

    Reporter: If you aren't a dog trainer, what will you be?

    Mirabella: A dog. Just joking. I will probably still work with animals.

    Jack is a twenty-year-old young man. Two years ago, when he finished middle school, he found work in a shop. Usually he works until ten o'clock in the evening. He is very tired when he gets home. After a quick supper he goes to bed and soon falls asleep. His grandma who lives downstairs is satisfied with (满意) him.

    One day, on his way home, he met Mary. They were both happy. He asked the girl to his house, she agreed happily. He bought some fruit and drinks for her. And they talked about their school, teachers, classmates and their future (未来). They talked for a long time.

    "Have a look at your watch, please," said the girl. "What time is it now?" "Sorry, something is wrong with my watch," said Jack. "Where's yours?" "I left it at home."

    Jack thought for a moment and found a way. He began to stamp his foot on the floor, "Bang! Bang! Bang!" The sound woke his grandma up. The old woman shouted downstairs, "It's twelve o'clock in the night, Jack. Why are you still jumping upstairs?"

    Captain Nemo seemed very sure that that savages could not harm us. I slept well. When I went outside the next morning, I saw that there were many more natives on the beach. It was low tide, and many of them had come quite close to the Nautilus. I asked Conseil to get a net, and we used it to get some shells from the water. They were very pretty shells. Suddenly, I saw a very rare and beautiful shell. We looked at it together. One of the savages threw a stone at us and broke the shell. Conseil was very angry. He fired his gun at the savage. Then, we noticed that the savages had come very close to the Nautilus in their canoes. A few moments later, they began to shoot their arrows at us. We went inside and told Captain Nemo about it. He ordered his men to close the doors.

    “But what will happen tomorrow?” I asked. “You will have to open the doors to get more air, and the savages will come in.”

    “Do you think they will dare?”

    “I am sure they will.”

    “We have nothing to fear,” he said again.

    Captain Nemo asked me about our trip to the island. I told him what we had seen and done. We talked about another French sailor called D'Urville, whose ship was wrecked in the Torres Strait. He told me again that the high tide the next day would lift the Nautilus off the reef.（选自《海底两万里》）

    Lisa goes to school on foot every day. One morning, Lisa leaves home after breakfast without an umbrella. Then it begins to rain. The rain becomes heavier and heavier. Lisa's mother worries about her daughter and decides to find Lisa to give her an umbrella. She drives along the way her daughter always walks. She looks left and right through the car windows to look for Lisa. Finally, she finds Lisa walking in the street happily. She also finds that every time lightning strikes, Lisa will stop, look up at the sky and smile. Lisa's mother is very surprised. She shouts to Lisa, "Lisa, what are you doing?" She answers, "God is taking photos of me, so I smile!"

    Today is Sunday. It's fine today. Jenny goes to the zoo with her mother. They can see many animals. There are tigers, lions, pandas, snakes and other animals. Look! The pandas are over there. They're from Sichuan, China. Look at the baby panda! It's climbing the tree. How cute it is!

    Next, they go to see the lions. The lions are so strong. Their mouths are too big. The tigers are next to them. They are from Asia. They are yellow and black. At last, Jenny and her mother go to see the monkeys. Some are climbing mountains, and some are eating bananas. The monkey is Jenny's favourite animal. It's so fun!

    Jenny sees a lot of animals at the zoo and she is so happy today!

    Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh(1853-1890) killed himself by shooting himself in the chest(胸膛).

    This is what van Gogh himself told his brother, the doctors and the police just before he died.

    However, in a new book Van Gogh: The Life, two Pulitzer (普利策奖) Prize-winning authors, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, argue that van Gogh may have been murdered. They believed that the artist was protecting a 16-year-old boy named Rene Secret, who shot him accidentally.

    Van Gogh's statement that he shot himself was accepted because he had been mentally unstable(精神状况不稳的) for two years. He suffered from psychotic(精神病的) attacks and imagined things that were not really happening. Art critics (评论家) believe that his unstable mental state is shown in his work, describing his style of painting as shaken. Some of his most famous paintings, such as The Starry Night, were produced during this period.

    Van Gogh is among a number of creative minds who suffered from mental health problems. In fact, mental illness is so common among famous creative figures that scientists have studied whether there is link between creativity and insanity(精神错乱). Research began in the 1970s, but the idea that an unstable mind could be linked to creative genius(天才) was already around in ancient Greece.

    Some scientists believe mental illness, in its more manageable state, gives artists creativity. Research has found that doing creative activities can also be therapeutic(有疗效的) for people suffering from mental illness. Painting, writing, or making something can be a positive way for people to express their thoughts.