Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales, Britain. His father was rich but he died when Roald was very young. Roald and his mother lived a hard life. He had to leave school and went to Africa where he worked for an oil company.

    In 1939 Roald became a pilot, but he had a bad accident. It made him limp(瘸的) for the rest of his life. After this, Roald went to America where he wrote a story about his experience as a pilot. It was so good that it was put in a magazine.

Roald married an American film star. They bought a house in England and had five children. From 1960 to 1965,    ▲   : Theo, one of his children, was hit by a taxi and was seriously hurt. Olivia, one of Roald's daughters, died of a strange illness. Soon after this, his wife also had a serious illness. It took her years to get completely better.

 Gradually Roald became more and more successful. He always did his writing in an old shed(棚) at the back of his house. He always sat in the same old armchair with a wooden board on his lap.

 “One of the nice things about being a writer,” he once said, “is that all you need is what you've got in your head and a pencil and a bit of paper.”

       In 1983 Roald wona big prize for his book The BFG. During his life, Roald wrote many famous books, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox

       After he died in 1990, Roald left money to help people with serious illnesses and those with problems with reading and writing.           

    I arrived at my mother's home for our Monday family dinner. The smells of food flew over from the kitchen. Mother was pulling out quilt(被子) after quilt from the boxes, proudly showing me their beauties. She was preparing for a quilt show at the Elmhurst Church. When we began to fold and put them back into the boxes, I noticed something at the bottom of one box. I pulled it out. "What is this?" I asked.

"Oh?" Morn said, "That's Mama's quilt."

    I spread the quilt. It looked as if a group of school children had pieced it together; irregular designs, childish pictures, a crooked line on the right.

    "Grandmother made this?" I said, surprised. My grandmother was a master at making quilts. This certainly didn't look like any of the quilts she had made.

    "Yes, right before she died. I brought it home with me last year and made some changes," she said. "I'm still working on it. See, this is what I've done so far. "

    I looked at it more closely. She had made straight a crooked line. At the center of the quilt, she had stitched(缝) a piece of cloth with these words: "My mother made many quilts. She didn't get all lines straight. But I think this is beautiful. I want to see it finished. Her last quilt. "

    "Oh, this is so nice, Mom," I said. It occurred to me(突然想起) that by completing my grandmother's quilt, my mother was honoring her own mother. I realized, too, that I held in my hands a family treasure. It started with the loving hands of one woman, and continued with the loving hands of another.

    "The hound(猎犬)!" cries Holmes. "Come, Watson! Come."

    We run quickly over the moor(荒野). We hear one last cry. A man is lying on the ground. As we approach(靠近) we see the dead body of Sir Henry Baskerville. He is wearing his brown suit.

    "Oh, no!" says Holmes, "This man has a beard!"

    Indeed Selden is dead instead of Sir Henry.

    "So it is all clear to me. I remember that Sir Henry gave his old suit to Barrymore, and Barrymore probably gave it to Selden—his wife's brother."

    "Then Selden is dead because of this suit," says Holmes.

    "Think, Watson! Someone gives the hound some of Sir Henry's clothes—probably the boot from the hotel in London. The hound picks up Sir Henry's scent and runs after this poor man."

    Suddenly we see Stapleton walking towards us. He says, "There was a strange noise. I was worried about Sir Henry. I wanted to check if he was all right."

    "Really?" asks Holmes.

    Stapleton looks at Holmes. "Why, it is Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective! Can you solve the mystery of the Hound of the Baskervilles?"

    Holmes shrugs his shoulders," We cannot solve every mystery. Anyway I will return to London tomorrow."

    "Oh, will you return to London tomorrow?"

    "Yes."

    So Holmes and I walk off to Baskerville Hall and Stapleton walk to his home.

    Holmes thinks Stapleton is dangerous. But we have no proof that Stapleton is the murderer.

    "There are no marks on Sir Charles's body. We know that he died of fright, but we can't prove anything."

    "Things are becoming clear to me," Holmes says to Sir Henry. "It's a very difficult case. And you must help me to catch this hound."

    We are surprised to see one portrait(画像) of a thin man is Sir Hugo, the first victim of the Hound of the Baskervilles. And he's like both Sir Henry and Stapleton. "Stapleton is a Baskerville," replies Holmes. "So he wants to inherit(继承) the Baskerville fortune, and he…," I say. It's an important clue.

    Some parents are always comparing their children with themselves when they were young, or with other people when they were children.

    "When I was your age," a father said to his sixteen-year-old son one day, "I was at the top of my class every year. And I knew what I wanted to do when I left school. I had goals. You are always at the bottom of your class, and you have no goals."

    The man's son said nothing. He had heard this from his father many times.

    "And when your mother was your age," the boy's father went on, "she had a good job and she was earning money. You don't even have a part-time job. You earn nothing."

    The man's son still said nothing. He had heard this before, too.

    "And when your older brother was your age," the boy's father went on, "he studied hard. You just waste your time."

    And the man's son still said nothing.

    Finally, the boy's father said, "And when Abraham Lincoln was your age, he worked all day and studied at night."

    This time the son could not stay silent.

    "And when Abraham Lincoln was your age, Father," he said, "he was the President of the United States. What are you?"

His father had no answer to this.