Hello! I'm Bill Smith. I'm twelve. This is my sister, Jenny. She's ten. We are from the USA. But now we are in China. My father is an English teacher in a school. My mother is a doctor. They work hard.

    At school I have a friend. His name is Ben Jones. He's twelve, too. He's from England. We all like China.

    Treasure hunts have excited people's imagination for hundreds of years both in real life and in books such as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Kit Williams, a modern writer, had the idea of combining the real excitement of a treasure hunt with clues found in a book when he wrote a children's story, Masquerade, in 1979. The book was about a hare, and a month before it came out Williams buried(埋) a gold hare in a park in Bedfordshire. The book contained a large number of clues to help readers find the hare, but Williams put in a lot of "red herrings", or false clues, to mislead them.

    Ken Roberts, the man who found the hare, had been looking for it for nearly two years. Although he had been searching in the wrong area most of the time, he found it by logic(逻辑), not by luck. His success came from the fact that he had gained an important clue at the start. He had realized that the words: "One of Six to Eight" under the first picture in the book connected the hare in some way to Katherine of Aragon, the first of Henry VⅢ's six wives. Even here, however, Williams had succeeded in miss leading him. Ken knew that Katherine of Aragon had died at Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire in 1536 and thought that Williams had buried the hare there. He had been digging there for over a year before a new idea came to him. He found out that Kit Williams had spent his childhood near Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, and thought that he must have buried the hare in a place he knew well, but he still could not see the connection with Katherine of Aragon, until one day he saw two stone crosses in Ampthill Park and learnt that they had been build in her honor in 1773.

    Even then his search had not come to an end. It was only after he had spent several nights digging around the cross that be decided to write to Kit Williams to find out if he was wasting his time there. Williams encouraged him to continue, and on February 24th 1982, he found the treasure. It was worth £3000 in the beginning, but the excitement it had caused since its burial made it much more valuable.

    A poor man worked for a rich man. The rich man made the poor man work all day, but didn't give him enough food. So the poor man often felt hungry.

    One day, when the poor man was having breakfast, the rich man came in and said to the poor man, "It's very troublesome to come back for the other meals. So I want you to have your breakfast, lunch and dinner together now before you go to the fields. ""How can I eat three meals at breakfast time?" the poor man thought but he said, "All right. He finished his meals and went out. Two hours later, the rich man went out for a walk, he saw the poor man sleeping under a tree. He was very angry and said, "Why don't you work in the fields?" The poor man sat up and said with a smile," I've already had my dinner and you know very well that after dinner it is time to go to sleep."

    It was coming up on Marty's birthday. His mom had asked him what he wanted as a gift this year. He thought maybe a new bicycle, or maybe a new camera, a new basketball, or a telescope (望远镜)."Any of those gifts would be great," he said. Secretly, he hoped for the telescope. Marty loved space, stars, and learning about the planets.

    Marty's mom and dad talked about the gifts one night after Marty went to sleep." I think we should get Marty the telescope," said dad." He's so interested in space and the planets, he would like that the best." "Sounds good," said mom. Dad told her he would pick out a telescope for Marty the next day after work.

    Marty's dad had the telescope in his car. He waited until Marty was asleep and brought it into the house. "Wow!" said Marty's mom after dad put it together. "This is wonderful." " Now where are we going to hide it until Sunday？" "How about in the attic(阁楼)?" "Marty won't find it there."

    Sunday morning came and Marty ran down the stairs into the kitchen. His gift was usually near his chair at the table, but this year he didn't see anything. "Happy Birthday!" shouted mom and dad from the next room. They came into the kitchen and saw Marty was looking around for a gift. "I guess you think we forgot to get you a gift," said mom. Marty looked confused. "Well, you usually put my gift in the kitchen," Marty said. Dad told Marty to follow him outside the house in the yard. "This is fantastic!" shouted Marty. "I don't take many pictures, and I probably wouldn't use the basketball much, and my bike is okay for now. But I will use the telescope! Thanks so much." "You're welcome," said mom and dad. All that night, Marty saw many beautiful stars and even the planet Mars. Marty would remember his tenth birthday for the rest of his life!

    Once there was a boy. He loved sweets(糖果) very much. He always asked his father for sweets.

    The boy's father thought hard about how to stop the child asking for so many sweets. There was a saint(圣人) living near their house. The boy's father decided to take the boy to him. He thought he might make the child give up (放弃) sweets.

    So they went to the saint. The father said," Great man, could you ask my son to stop asking for sweets all the time?" But it was difficult for the saint, because he liked sweets, too. Then he told the father to bring his son back after one month.

    During that month, the saint tried to stop eating sweets. At last, he did it. When the boy and his father went back a month later, the saint had a long talk with the boy. From then on, the boy did not ask for sweets any more.

    The boy's father felt surprised and asked, "Why didn't you ask my son to give up sweets when we came to you a month ago?" The saint answered," How could I ask a boy to give up sweets when I loved sweets myself? During the last month, I gave up eating sweets."

    A person's example(例子) is much more stronger(更有力的) than just his words. When we ask someone to do something, we must do it ourselves, too.

    One Sunday evening two men met in a London pub. One of them was very unhappy.

    "Life is terrible. Everything in the world is really boring," he said.

    "Don't say that," said the other man. "Life is marvelous! The world is so exciting! Think about Italy. It is a wonderful country. Have you ever been there?"

    "Oh, yes. I went there last year and I didn't like it."

    "Well, have you been to Norway(挪威)? Have you even seen the midnight sun?"

    "Oh, yes. I went in 1994 and I saw the midnight sun. I didn't enjoy it."

    "Well. I have just returned from Sahara Desert (撒哈拉沙漠) in Africa. Have you visited Africa yet?"

    "Yes. I went to Sahara Desert in Africa last year. It was really boring."

    "Well," said the other man, "I think you're very ill. Only the best psychiatrist(心理学家) can help you. Go to see Dr. Greenhaum in Harley Street."

    "I am Dr. Greenhaum," answered the man sadly.