An old man was fishing on the bank of a river. A child came to see him fishing. The old man was really good at fishing and it didn't take long for him to catch a full basket of fish. The old man saw that the child was very cute, and he wanted to give her a whole basket of fish. But the child shook her head.

    The old man was surprised and asked, "Why don't you want the fish?"

    The child answered, "I want the fishing rod(竿)in your hands."

    The old man asked, "Why do you want the rod?"

    "It doesn't take long to eat all the fish in a basket. But if I have the fishing rod, I can go fishing by myself and I won't be afraid of not having any more fish to eat."

    I think you will certainly say that the child is very smart. Wrong! If she doesn't know how to fish, she can not have fish to eat, even though she has the fishing rod. It's useless to only have a fishing rod. Fishing skills are the most important, not the fishing rod.

    Too many people think that if they have a "fishing rod" in their life, they will no longer fear(害怕)the wind and rain. They are just like the child, who thought that if she had a fishing rod, she would have fish to eat.

    Ann wanted to play in the city orchestra (管弦乐队), but she was nervous (紧张的). She thought it might be too difficult. The first day she was so nervous, and she could hardly breathe. After a few rehearsals (排练), she could comfortably play along with everyone else. She found that there was no reason to be nervous and began to enjoy herself.

    In rehearsals, Ann became friends with Danny. Danny sat next to her and always helped her. Ann often asked him questions about music. Danny's parents were musicians. They started teaching Danny music when he was only five years old. Ann couldn't imagine playing the violin at that age.

    Ann's another friend in the orchestra was Marie. After rehearsal, Marie would tell Ann funny stories. Though Marie was much older than Ann, the two became good friends.

    The orchestra was rehearsing music for a concert. Ann invited some of her friends at school to come. Though they didn't understand music, they promised to come. They all liked Ann and wanted to cheer her. Ann's family also planned to go to the concert. Ann looked forward to the event, and she hoped it would not rain on the night of the concert.

    On the night of the concert, Ann was excited. Danny and Marie both told her that the concert would be fun. Ann knew that she would enjoy it. The conductor (指挥) Mike was nervous. Ann was surprised because she knew that he conducted many big concerts all over the world. After the concert was over, the conductor seemed happy. He said the orchestra gave a fine performance.

    The world is full of amazing things. Today, I'm going to talk about something amazing.

    We have lots of things to do every day, so many of us will be tired after a busy day. They all choose sleeping to have a rest. But do you know that sleeping can consume（消耗） many calories. The energy consumed is even more than watching TV. If you want to have a good health, I think you can't sleep too much.

    Do you like animals? There are a lot of surprising things they can do. Goldfish are a lovely kind of fish. Most goldfish have quite a short life — only 6 to 7 years. Once, the goldfish called Freb had a very long life. It lived up to 41 years. It was the oldest goldfish in the world. Now if people take good care of the goldfish, they can live more than 10 years. Animals are our friends. We should know more about them and give them a good home. Do you have any interesting stories about amazing things? If so, tell us. Let's share them together.

    It's Sunday. Children don't go to school on Sundays. But Kate gets up early in the morning. “It's my birthday. I'm eight years old today.” she thinks, “Where are Dad and Mum? I want to know what they can give me for my birthday.”

    Her father and mother are not at home. They are going shopping. And now they are talking about what to buy for Kate.

—Dad: How about the doll? It looks nice. I think Kate would like the doll.

—Mom: I don't think so. She is not a little girl. I think she likes a new dress. Girls often like new dresses very much.

—Dad: But she has a few new dresses and some new blouses. Oh, I think she must be very happy to have a box of colorful pencils and some picture books. Do you think so?

— Mom: Yes. Let's go over there and buy them.

    There was once a musician. He said he was not afraid of dangerous animals, "Even a bear would be as quiet as the friendliest cat when hearing my music." But he had never played the game, and no one believed him.

    A chance to show his words arrived just when a circus (马戏团) came to the town. The musician came to the ringmaster (领班) and told what he could do.

    "Wow, that's interesting." The ringmaster said. "We just have three new lions and they haven't worked with the lion tamer (驯兽师) yet. Let's see what you can do with them." The musician agreed and the whole town crowded the hall to see what would happen.

    The musician was standing quietly in the center with a smile. Then the ringmaster opened the door of the cage and jumped out angrily a huge lion, shouting and showing his teeth. Everyone was too nervous to breathe.

    Still with the smile, the musician began to play. The beautiful music rose, then the lion sat down and began to enjoy the music. Everyone lost themselves in the music. The lion did, too. For the second lion, ________________.

    Then it was the third lion's turn to appear and everyone there was waiting for the lion to be quiet just like the other two. But the lion ran up to the man and ate him.

    All the people were surprised. The other two lions asked angrily, "What have you done! We were enjoying the music!" The third lion put his paw (爪子) to its ear and said, "Sorry, I can't hear you. I have been deaf for 5 years."