Once upon a time, a wealthy villager hid a huge piece of gold in a nearby rice field to protect it from robbers（强盗）.

 Many years later, the wealthy man died and no one else knew about the gold. One day , a poor farmer began to plough（犁）the field. After ploughing for some time, his plough struck（碰、撞）the long forgotten treasure.

    At first, he thought it must be a very hard tree root. However, when he went closer to look, he saw that it was a large piece of beautiful shining gold.

    Waiting until midnight, the farmer started to take the gold home. He tried to lift the gold but it was too heavy. He tried to pull it out with ropes, but it was so huge that he could hardly move it. He became frustrated and thought how lucky he was to have found treasure, but unlucky too, as he could not move it. He even tried kicking the gold but it would not budge!

    He sat down and began to use his head. He decided to break the gold into smaller pieces. This would enable him to carry the gold easily.

He thought to himself, “ I will use one part for my daily needs, I will save the second part for a rainy day. I will invest（投资）the third part in my farming business. I will use the fourth part to help the poor and needy.”

    Follow this, he calmly divided the huge piece of gold into smaller pieces. Finally, he took all the gold home easily and lived happily ever after.

    Mike had a nice blue cup which he liked best. It was a present from his aunt for his fifteenth birthday last year. He cleaned it once a day and took good care of it. His cat, Mimi, was very naughty(淘气的) and sometimes it could make some trouble(麻烦) for Mike.

    The day before yesterday, the cup was broken(打破) by his cat. He felt unhappy. Susan saw him and asked, "You look sad. What's the matter with you?"

    Mike said, "There is something wrong with my cup."

    Susan said, "Don't worry. I can repair it."

    Mike felt surprised and asked, "Repair? You can repair it? You?"

    "Yes. Believe me! Where is it?" Susan answered.

     "Here. My cup is broken. Are you sure you can repair it?" Mike took out his broken cup.

     "Ha……, I made a mistake(错误). I think your__1__ is broken," Susan said.

    Hearing what Susan said, Mike couldn't help laughing.

    My grandfather is eighty years old now．He always complains about how fast things have changed, and he often says that life used to be better．

    Families aren't families they used to be．A lot of families have broken up．If husband and wife have problems with their marriage, they no longer stay together．And mothers used to stay at home and take care of their children, but now not any more．Everyone is busy working．Mother used to spend all day cooking in the kitchen．But now the family don't eat home-cooked food any more．

    And the cars! No one walks any more．More and more people drive．Students used to walk 5 miles to school every day, even in winter．But now students don't．And in school, children don't have to think any more．In math class, for example, they used to add, subtract, multiply and divide(加减乘除)in their heads．Instead, they use calculators(计算器)．

    And people today have TV and computers, and they don't talk to each other any more．They are too busy to talk, too busy to eat, too busy to think…．

    Life used to be simple, but it isn't any more．

    Mr Brown got up late this morning. He was going to be late for work.

It was raining hard and the streets were wet. He drove so fast that he didn't see the red light. He couldn't stop his car and hit a car.

    An old man got out of the car and called out angrily, "What are you doing? How can you drive so fast?"

    "I'm sorry, sir, "said Mr Brown. "I didn't see the light turn red." "I will make you drunk(醉的)," he said to himself. Then he brought out a bottle of wine and gave it to the old man. "It's cold today, sir," said Mr Brown." Please drink a little, and then you'll get warm."

    The old man drank some wine and became happy. He asked, "I'm feeling much better now. Why don't you drink any?"

     "I can't drink anything now, sir, "answered Mr Brown." I'm waiting for the policeman. Only drunkards cause accidents, you know! "

    We spent a day in the country and picked a lot of flowers. Our car was full of flowers inside! On the way home we had to stop at traffic lights, and there my wife saw the bookshelf.

    It stood outside a furniture shop. "Buy it," she said at once. "We'll carry it home on the roof-rack(车顶架). I've always wanted one like that."

    What could I do? Ten minutes later I was twenty dollars poorer, and the bookshelf was tied onto the roof-rock. It was tall and narrow, quite heavy, too.

    As it was getting darker, I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed more polite than usual that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.

    After a time my wife said, "There's a long line of cars behind. Why don't they overtake(超车)?"

    Just at that time a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously when they went past. But then, with a kind smile, they asked us to follow their car through the busy traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me. "Right, Sir," he said. "Do you need any more help now?"

    I didn't quite understand. "Thanks, officer," I said. "You've been very kind. I lived just down the road."

    He was looking at our things: first at the flowers, then at the bookshelf. "Well, well," he said and laughed. "It's a bookshelf you've got there! We thought it was something else. "My wife began to laugh. Suddenly I understood why the police drove here.

    I smiled at the officer. "Yes, it's a bookshelf, but thanks again." I drove home as fast as I could.