A long time ago, there was a man. He wanted to buy a pair of new shoes. He measured(量) his feet with a straw(稻草)，and then went to a shoe shop in town.

    The shopkeeper took out a pair of new shoes, and let him try it on. But when he looked into his pocket, he found that the straw was not there. So he said, “I'm sorry, I forgot to bring the size(尺寸) here! Let me go home to get it.” After that, he ran out of the shop. It was very far from his home to the shoe shop. When he got back home, he was out of breath.

    With a straw in his hand, he hurried to the shoe shop again. But the shop was closed.

    Someone near the man said, “Your feet are with you. Why don't you try which pair of shoes fits(合适)? And why do you believe your straw, but not your feet?”

    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》）

    The teacher gave each student a piece of paper. There were some questions on it. "What is your favorite color? Tell us about your hobbies and interests. Do you like your brothers or sisters?"

    Judy hated answering questions. She looked at the questions, and she had no idea how to start. She was the only child in her family, and she had lots of interests, such as running, skating and swimming and so on. She could never fill out what hobby she enjoyed the most. For example, she was interested in all kinds of sports, but she is not good at any of them. So she never knew how to answer questions like these.

    Mrs. Jones, her teacher, walked quietly through the room when the students worked on the project(课题). She stopped at Judy's desk to ask her if she needed some help.

    Judy looked up and said, "I am interested in so many things. I just don't know how to choose."

    Mrs. Jones smiled. She knew Judy was a smart girl but she couldn't focus on what she did." Maybe you could just list three of them."

    Judy seemed to relax and said she knew what to write down.

    Judy liked having the guidance (指点) so she could know what she should do. She finished the project quickly.

    The car was invented just a century ago. You may know all kinds of cars' names, but many people don't know who was the inventor of the first car.

    The first car was invented not by an Englishman, but by an American. His name was Henry Ford.

    Henry was born in a poor family. He was the eldest of the six children. When he was a boy, he became interested in watches and machines. When he was twelve years old, his mother died. Soon he had to work in a machine shop for two dollars and fifty cents a week.

    In the evening, he repaired watches for another dollar a week. The hard life made him strong and able.

    At that time, there was another interest in the life of the young Ford. He wished of making a machine.

    It could run without horses, so named horseless carriage. He overcame a lot of difficulties and in April 1893, the "horseless carriage "was invented at last. It was the first car.

    Later Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company. He was really the first inventor of the car in the world.