An American named Crum invented potato chips in 1853, although that was not his intention (意图). He was a chef(厨师长) at a beautiful restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York. A regular dish on the menu was fried (油炸的) potatoes, which was an idea that had started in France. At that time, French fried potatoes were cut into thick slices (片).

      One day, a dinner guest at the restaurant sent back his fried potatoes to the chef because he did not like them so thick. So Mr. Crum cut the potatoes a little thinner and fried them. The guest did not like those either. That made Mr. Crum angry, so he thought he would just show the man. He sliced the potatoes paper-thin and fried them, thinking that the man would say nothing about it. However, to his surprise, the man loved the thin potatoes very much. Other guests tried them and also liked them. So, Mr. Crum's potato chips were added to the menu. They were called Saratoga Chips.

      Finally, Mr. Crum opened his own restaurant to sell his famous chips. Now potato chips are packaged (包装) and sold in stores.

    A couple had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were very naughty. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that, if any mischief(恶作剧) happened in their town, their sons were probably considered.

    The boys' mother heard that a clergyman(牧师) in town had been successful in dealing with naughty children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed, but wanted to see them separately. So the mother sent her 8-year-old first in the morning, with the elder boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.

    The clergyman, a huge man, sat the younger boy down and asked him seriously, “Where is God?”

    The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no reply, sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide-eyed. So the clergyman repeated the question in an even more serious voice. “Where's God!!?” again the boy made no try to answer. So the clergyman raised his voice even louder and shook his finger in the boy's face and shouted, “WHERE IS GOD?”

    The boy screamed and ran away from the room, ran directly home and hid himself in the cupboard, closing the door heavily. When his elder brother found him in the cupboard, he asked, “What happened?”

    The younger brother replied in a nervous voice, “We are in big trouble this time. God is missing—and they think WE did it!”

    Though very cold temperatures continued to trouble the US in January this year, an act of kindness warmed everyone. In Chicago a young man provided a homeless old man with the proper footwear—from his own feet. Jessica Bell, a passenger, saw everything and posted the story on Facebook.

    According to her Facebook post, Bell was taking the train home on Friday when she noticed a homeless old man sitting across from her. Bell wrote that the man was wearing tattered shoes, and many pairs of socks to keep his feet warm, but there was blood seeping (渗) through.

    On the same train was another man. According to Bell's description, he was young, carrying a bag and a suitcase. He was wearing big black snow boots (靴子), which looked new and expensive. They were built for a Chicago winter. Then he did a good thing.

    Bell described that the young man took off his own boots and passed them to the old man. He opened his suitcase and gave him a pair of socks as well. Then the young man put on a different pair of shoes—not as nice as the ones he had given away. He told the old man to try them on and helped him clean his feet and change into the new boots as quickly as he could, and then left the train.

    At the end of her post, Bell wrote. "I love my city. I love that in a time and place where a quiet act of kindness appears without warning." The story has received thousands of comments (评论), with many people describing how moving they found the act of kindness. One wrote, "We can all learn from that young man." Others are thanking Bell for sharing the story—there are still good people in the world.

    Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, a cartoon film based on a popular Chinese cartoon TV series, has won the hearts of children in China. The Chinese cartoon began to be shown in public on 16th January, 2009, the first day of the winter holiday for Chinese primary school students. The children seemed to go straight from the school to the cinema.

    Two weeks after its release(首次上映), the cartoon film got a box office income(票房收入)of 68 million yuan, bigger than that of an American film, Madagascar 2, which was released in China on 1st January, 2009.

    “I think it is more interesting than Madagascar 2, ” said 8­year­old Wang Lu, who had seen both the Chinese and American cartoon films.

    However, some parents don't have the same enthusiasm for Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf. “It's so childish that I almost fell asleep in the cinema, ”Wang Lu's father said.

    But because primary school children's great interest, the Pleasant Goat and Big Big wolf made a great success at the box office results. Parents join their children in the cinema—buying two or three tickets to keep them accompanied(陪同).

    Some young people find the film funny enough to watch. “The Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf are so cute, ” Dong Lei, a 22­-year-­old college student said.

    “However, compared with the animation(动画制作)technology of Hollywood cartoon films such as Kung Fu Panda, the film still has room for improvement, ” said cartoonist Yang Lin.

    It was wonderful in Taiwan. I still remember my last trip to Taiwan.

First, I visited the National Palace Museum in Taiwan. It began to be built in 1962. It was completed in 1965. In this museum, you can find lots of exhibitions(展品). The museum keeps about 600, 000 artworks. The clerks of the museum say they change exhibitions every three months.

    Yinke was the second place I visited. It is a great town. There are some beautiful buildings in the town. The buildings look like European houses. These buildings make Yinke look like old England.

    It was a great experience to visit Keelung. The Keelung coasts are very famous for their wonderful scenes. There is also a seafood market. You can buy fresh product there.

    Then I arrived at Danshui. The most interesting place of Danshui is the Lover's Bridge. The bridge connects one side of the river with the other side. It is about 40 meters long. However, only one person can cross it at a time.

    I like Taiwan and I want to visit Taiwan again if I have free time.

Leeks are so common that you have probably never thought much about them. They grow easily in our gardens and don't look very special, but that doesn't mean they are not interesting! Leeks belong to the Allium family of vegetables, which also includes onions. Like onions and other members of the Allium family, leeks are a kind of vegetable with white soft parts and leafy green tops. The bulb(鳞茎), however, is not round, but just slightly larger than the stem nearest the roots. The more rounded the bulb, the older the leek. Leeks are usually about 30 cm long, but they can grow much bigger. Do you know growing leeks can win you a prize? Some gardeners grow big leeks and hold competitions to find the biggest type of leek. The heaviest leek ever weighed more than 8 kg. 

People have been eating leeks for thousands of years. The Ancient Roman Emperor Nero ordered his cooks to serve him leeks every day, as he believed they would improve his singing voice! People in Wales loved leeks so much that they made them their national symbol. As the story goes, about 400 years ago, Welsh soldiers were fighting in a war. They put leeks in their hats so that they could tell their friends from their enemies. 

Leeks are especially loved by cooks all over the world, as they give flavor(味道) to lots of dishes. Leeks taste a bit like onions, but their flavor is much weaker. They taste especially good in soups. In France, a leek and potato soup is eaten cold. Leeks go well with meat. 

So now we know that leeks are delicious, but are they good for you? Yes! Leeks are full of iron(铁). Experts now believe that eating leeks and other members of the Allium family can also help people keep their blood pressure under control and their hearts healthy.