Four men who would become fathers were in a hospital waiting room while their wives were going to give birth to their babies. The nurse arrived and proudly said to the first man, “Congratulations, sir. You're the father of twins!”

    “What a surprise! Believe it or not! I work for the Minnesota Twins Baseball teams!”

    Later the nurse returned and congratulated the second father on the birth of his triplets (三胞胎).

    “Wow! That's unbelievable! I work for the 3M Company.”

    An hour later, the nurse returned to congratulate the third man on the birth of his quadruplets (四胞胎). Surprised, he only could answer, “I don't believe it! I work for the Four Seasons Hotel!”

    After this, everyone turned to the fourth man who had just fallen down. The nurse ran fast to his side. As he slowly came to himself, they could hear him speak in a very low voice over and over, “I should never have taken that job at 7-Eleven. I should never have taken that job at 7-Eleven. I should never have taken that job at 7-Eleven.”

    A young man worked very hard at his lessons. He was too busy to have a rest. At last, he became ill, so he couldn't go to sleep. Every night, when he went to bed, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But he always stayed awake and couldn't fall asleep.

    After some days, he decided to see a doctor.” I just can't go to sleep at night. What should I do? Could you please help me?”

    “I have a suggestion(建议)，”said the doctor. “Try counting numbers. By the time you reach one thousand, you'll be asleep. I'm sure of it.”

    The next day the man returned to the doctor's office. “Well,” said the doctor, how are you today? Did you try my suggestion?”

    The man still looked tired. “Yes,” he said, “I tried counting one, two, three-up to one thousand. But when I reached five hundred and sixty-nine, I began to feel sleepy. I had to get up and drink some tea so that I could go on counting up to one thousand. But then I still couldn't fall asleep.”

    In the morning, a grandfather took his grandson to a school. When the boy and his grandfather went into the playground, some children came up.

    "What a funny old man!" one boy said, making a face.

    "Hey, fatty (胖子)," another one shouted.

    The children jeered at them and jumped up and down.

    Without saying a word, the old man took his grandson out of the school gate. "Wonderful! I don't have to go to school!" the boy said.

    "You do, but not this one," his grandfather replied. "I'll find you a school myself." The grandfather took his grandson back to his own house, asked the boy's grandmother to look after him, and then went out to look for a school himself.

    Every time he got to a school, the old man went into a playground, and waited for the children to come out at break time. In some schools the children completely ignored (不理会) the old man, and in others, they made fun of him. When this happened, he would turn sad and go home. Finally, he went into the very small playground of a very small school, and stood tiredly against the wall. The bell rang, and the children got out into the playground.

    "Sir, are you all right? Shall I get you something to drink?" a voice said.

    "We've got a bench in the playground — come and sit down," came another voice.

    Soon a young teacher came out into the playground. The old man greeted him and said, "Finally, I've found my grandson the best school in town."

The history of chocolate begins with a plant whose name is cacao (可可豆). For centuries, people worldwide have been enjoying the rich favor of chocolate, a product made from cacao. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Americans eat an average of more than five kilograms of chocolate per person every year. The specialty （特产） shop shows the culture of chocolate and sells chocolates from different areas of the world. 

Historians believe the Mayan people of Central America first learned to farm cacao plants around 2, 000 years ago. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Then they grew them around their homes. They cooked the cacao seeds（种子）and pressed them into soft powder （粉末）. They mixed the powder with water to make a delicious chocolate drink. There are often images of cacao plants on Maya buildings and art objects. The rulers drank chocolate at ceremonies. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

The Aztecs also valued chocolate in the Aztec culture. But the cacao plant could not grow in the area where they lived. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} They even used cacao seeds as a form of money to pay or give as offerings（祭品）to the gods. Only the very rich people in Aztec societies could afford to drink chocolate because cacao was so valuable. 

The explorer Christopher Columbus brought cacao seeds to Spain after his trip to Central America in 1502. The rich people of Spain first enjoyed the chocolate drink. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Nowadays, the English, Dutch and French all plant cacao trees in their own countries.