Tina woke up at midnight. She looked out of her window and saw a yellow light in the sky. It suddenly dived towards the ground. She heard a noise and saw a red light.

    The next morning, Tina mentioned it to her brother Tom. "I'm sure something landed in the forest near the hills as I heard a loud noise last night" she said, "Let's go there and have a look after school."

    At 6 p.m., Tina and Tom reached the forest. They heard some voices speaking a strange language, so they hid behind some gees and kept quiet. Then they saw an alien! It was tall, with a round head and a silver body. It was standing next to a long spaceship.

    The children were frightened. Suddenly, another alien appeared from the trees in front of them. It discovered them and made a terrible noise! The children ran away in fear.

    The next morning, Tina and Tom told their parents about the strange aliens. "They were very ugly. They had some hair, but they didn't have any feathers." said Tina.

    "There was something written on the spaceship," said Tom. "It looked like this. I wonder what it means." He drew some lines on a piece of paper.

    But Dad said, "Since no one else saw these aliens. I refuse to believe you. Now go to school!"

    The children opened their wings and flew to school together.

    Dad looked at the piece of paper with the strange marks on it. "It looks strange," he said, as he looked at the word "EARTH".

    John and Bobby joined the same company together just after they completed their university studies the same year. Both of them worked very hard. Several years later, however, the boss promoted(提拔) Bobby to manager but John was still a worker. John could not take it, and gave his resignation(辞呈) to the boss. He complained that the boss did not think much of those who were hard- working, but promoted only those who flattered(奉承) him.

    The boss knew that John had worked very hard for the years. He thought a moment and said," Thank you for what you said, but I hope you will do one more thing for our company before you leave."

    John agreed the boss asked him to go and find anyone selling watermelons in the market. John went and returned soon. He said he had found a man selling watermelons. The boss asked how much they cost every kilogram. John shook his head and went back to the seller to ask and returned to tell the boss $1.2 every kilogram,

    The boss told John to wait a second, and he called Bobby to come to his office. He asked Bobby to go and find anyone selling watermelons in the market. Bobby went and returned, saying. Boss, only one person is selling watermelons. $1.2 every kilogram, and $10 for 10 kilograms. The seller has 340 melons. On the table there are 58 melons, and every melon weighs about 2 kilograms. They were brought from the South two days ago. They are of good quality.

    Hearing what Bobby said, John realized the difference between himself and Bobby. He decided to stay and learn from Bobby.

    Marco Polo was born in Italy in 1254. When he was 17, he travelled across Europe and Asia along the Silk Road with his father, who wanted to do trade with the Chinese. Finally they arrived in Beijing. They were guests at the Emperor's Palace. Although Marco was young, he was very clever and could speak four languages. The Emperor was impressed by him and they became friends. He asked Marco to serve in his court and sent him to do many important tasks across the country.

    Marco was amazed by how beautiful China was. He was impressed by Beijing and the Emperor's Palace, especially the Summer Palace which he described as "The greatest palace that ever was..."The walls were covered in gold and silver and the hall was so large it could easily seat 6,000 people for dinner.

    There were inventions and developments in China which couldn't found in Europe at that time. Marco was surprised to see Chinese people using paper money in the markets. In Europe, people paid for goods with gold and silver. He could not understand how people paid for food and valuable things with paper! He was also puzzled by the black stones people used to burn to produce heat. The black stones were coal, but Marco had never seen coal before!

    In 1291, after 17 years of service to the Emperor, Marco returned to Italy. He was now a very wealthy man. A writer wrote down all the stories that Marco told him in a book called The Description of the World, which became one of the best - selling books in Europe.

    Although people enjoyed reading the book, many of them thought that Marco's stories about China were too fantastic to be true. But Marco always stood by his tales. Just before he died, aged 70, Marco was asked the question, "Was it all true?" And this was his answer, "I have only told a half of what I saw!"

    You may have heard of people who are allergic (过敏) to seafood, smoke or pets. But did you know that some people were allergic to Wi-Fi signals(信号)?

    Rose White, a 44-year-old woman from Britain, first found herself being allergic to Wi-Fi signals in 2015. She had a cough, heart trouble and great pains in her head when she stayed at the places covered with Wi-Fi signals.

    Rose has tried many ways to keep away from Wi-Fi signals. In the past six months, she either slept in her car or in tent which she had put up in the woodland and in the fields. She even tried sleeping in a shed(棚子). Being completely tired, Rose had no choice but to quit her job and moved 370 kilometers away from her home to avoid Wi-Fi signals, but failed. Because of the hard life, she got a stomach problem.

    She is now living in a small house in the rural (乡下的) area in England. There is far fewer Wi-Fi signals. However, the house, which belongs to her friend, will be sold to others, so she has to move again soon.

    Rose is planning to move to a more rural area. She is also planning to buy a camper van (野营车) so that she can drive away from Wi-Fi signals whenever she is feeling uncomfortable. As she can not work to make money, she has to raise money online. She is hoping to raise 15, 000 pounds. So far, she has raised over 1, 600 pounds. She still has a long way to go.

    Canada Geese are large blue and white birds. When autumn arrives, they have to fly south where the weather is warmer. The winters are so cold in Canada that the birds die if they stay there.

    Last spring, Bill Lishman found sixteen young Canada Geese on his farm. They had lost their parents. Bill thought, "These young birds won't know what to do in the autumn."

    Bill had a small plane and he decided to teach the birds to follow him. All through the summer, he went on short trips in his plane and the young geese flew after him.

    When the cold weather arrived in autumn, Bill flew to Virginia in the United States, 600 miles (英里) south of his home in Canada. The geese followed him all the way. Bill left the geese in Virginia and he returned home.

    This spring. Bill was waiting for the birds to come back. They didn't arrive, so Bill flew to Virginia to get them. He looked for them for two weeks but he couldn't find them.

    When he arrived back home, Bill found the geese waiting for him. They had found their way home without him!

    A boy was sitting on the steps of a door one day. He had a stick in one hand,1in the other hand a large piece of bread and butter, which somebody had kindly given him. While he was eating it and singing a song happily, he saw a poor little dog quietly2not far from him. He called out to it, “Come here, poor dog!”

    Hearing this, the dog woke up, rose with its ears3and wagged its tail. Seeing the boy eating, it came near him. The boy held out to it a piece of his bread and butter. As the dog stretched out its head to take the4, the boy quickly drew back his hand and hit it5on the nose. The poor dog ran away,6loudly, while the cruel boy sat, laughing at the trick he had done.

    A gentleman, who was looking from a window on the other side of street, saw what the7boy had done. Opening the street door, he called him to8over, at the same time9up one dollar between the finger and thumb.

    “Would you like this?” said the gentleman.

    “Yes, if you10, sir,” said the boy, smiling, and he quickly ran over to seize the11.

    Just as the boy stretched out his hand, the gentleman hit12on the knee with an umbrella. “Why did you do that?” shouted the boy angrily. He made a very13face and cried, “I didn't hurt you, nor ask you for money.”

    “14did you hurt that poor dog just now?” said the gentleman. “It didn't hurt you, nor ask you for bread and butter. As you served it I have served you. Now, remember it can feel as well as you, and learn to behave15towards animals in future.”