In 1995, Ma Yun was working for a US trading company（公司）when he was introduced to the Internet. "I know nothing about computers and has never touched a keyboard," he said. He searched the word "beer" and nothing came up about Chinese products.

Ma Yun had an idea. Why not build a large Internet market to connect customers with companies from all over the world? They could do business online in that way. That was how Alibaba began. His company grew quickly. But that didn't mean everything went smoothly. In 2000, many Internet companies failed including Alibaba. But later, he was successful because he managed to attract(吸引) investment（投资）into his company. "You should stick to your dream," he said. "Everyone thought I was daydreaming when I started. But the most important thing is that we believe in our dream from past to today and tomorrow. Of course we made many mistakes, but we never give up."

Ma Yun is also smart. For him, success in business is like trying to catch a rabbit. If there are nine rabbits, focus on catching one - don't try to catch them all," he said. "Change your ways if you need to, but don't change the rabbit. Get one first, put it in your pocket and then catch the others."

    A man was walking along the street when he saw a woman carrying a large box. It was half in and half out of her car. So the man went up and said, “The box looks very heavy. Let me give you a hand.”

 “That's very kind of you,” the woman said, “I'm having a lot of trouble with it. Maybe it sticks (卡住) in the car door.”

 “Together we'll soon move it,” the man said. “I'll get in and take the other end.” And he got in the car.

 “Right,” the man said. “I'm ready,” and he began to push the box hard. For several minutes, the man and the woman tried to move the box. Soon they felt very tired.

    They rested for a moment. Then the woman said, “Let's try again. One, two, three!” They went on moving the box.

    At last, when they were exhausted, the man said, “I'm sorry, but I don't think there's any way to get it out of your car.”

 “Get it out?” the woman cried. “I'm trying to get it in! You know?”

    Christopher Columbus is famous because he found something he wasn't looking for.

    In 1492, Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in order to reach India. What he found was something far different. He found the New World. How did this come about? It all started in Italy.

    Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451. His family didn't have a lot of money, and Christopher wasn't an only child. He didn't have much of an education until he was much older. Instead, he went to sea. He sailed around the Mediterranean(地中海) and as far north as England and Ireland.

    During his travels, Columbus heard the reports of land to the west of the Madeira and Azores Islands. They were in the Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal. He wanted to know more and got maps and books on geography.

    Marco Polo said that Japan was only 1,500 miles east of China. As a result, Columbus thought that Japan was only 3,000 miles west of Portugal. And 3,000 miles was a distance that ships could travel in those days.

So, Columbus decided that he wanted to get to the East by going west. He thought that if he sailed far enough west, he would sail around the world enough to reach the East. Based on his calculations(计算), Japan was only 3,000 miles away, after all.

An adventure of a mouse

    It was time to leave the cave．I'd been with my mum and brothers and sisters for the first five weeks of my life{#blank#}1{#/blank#} So I packed up a bag．I nside were things that I thought I'd need to have along the way．

    This included a toothbrush，a change of clothes，and，of course，my lucky bottle cap．

    My Uncle Louie had found the bottle cap on his travels long ago．He was running from a fierce cat．That's when Uncle Louie discovered it was"lucky"．He used it to slide down a hill．At the bottom of the hill，rushing water began to carry him away．{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Luckily，he was able to guide the boat through the waters．I listened to Uncle Louie tell the story many，many times．One day，to my surprise，he gave me the lucky charm （幸运符）．

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}With that，I said my good﹣byes．Then I left the cave that I had known for so long．Outside the sun was shining．Birds were singing high in the trees．{#blank#}4{#/blank#} All of a sudden my ears caught the sound of something unusual．The sky darkened like night．The wind blew strongly．I quickly searched for cover．There was none．The next thing I knew，white stones began hitting the ground．Then it hit me．My bottle cap!{#blank#}5{#/blank#}I placed it over my head just as one of the ice balls crashed onto the cap．Stunned，but not hurt，I sat still for some time．Then I smiled．The lucky charm had saved the day and my life!

A．I have carried it with me ever since．

B．I wanted to explore the outside world．

C．Thinking quickly，he used the bottle cap as a boat．

D．I reached into my pack and pulled out my lucky charm．

E．With each step I took，the excitement of being on my own grew bigger and bigger．

    Long long time ago, the Creator created a man and a woman, they lived together very happily for a time. But then they began to get angry with each other, and at last the woman left and started off to the Sun land in the east.

    The man followed alone and felt very sad, but the woman kept on ahead and never looked behind, until the Creator, took pity on him and asked him if he was still angry with his wife. He said he was not, and the Creator then asked him if he would like to have her back again. He answered yes.

    So the Creator created a patch（一块）of the fine stripe（成熟的）tomatoes along the way in front of the woman，but she passed by like seeing nothing at all. Later，he put a patch of beautiful flowers but again she refused to notice. Until suddenly she saw in front of her a patch of large ripe strawberries. They looked delicious.

    She stopped to pick a few to eat，and as she ate them she turned her face to the west by accident，and at once she remembered her husband and she found herself unable to go on. She sat down，but the longer she waited，the more she missed her husband，and at last she took a lot of the best strawberries and started back along the way to give them to him. He met her kindly and they went home together.