There was once a king who had a great palace with a wonderful garden. In the garden, there lived all kinds of animals. All of them

enjoyed living there.

 There was only one thing in the garden that the king hated: an old tree in the center of the garden. It was so old and dry. This made

the king so angry that he finally asked some people to cut it down and turned the place into a swimming pool. However, after the tree was cut down, the animals left the garden. Without the animals, the garden was not so beautiful as before. The king was sad, but he didn't know what had happened.

 A young man went to the king, and said he could explain what had happened. “This was because you cut the old tree down,” said the young man. “There were thousands of moths (飞蛾)which lived in the tree. Birds needed the moths to eat and then they produced wastes for plants to grow. The plants then attracted many other animals to your garden. So your garden became very beautiful. But as you cut the tree down, the animals had to leave.

“Excellent!” said the king, “I'll make you rich and you will try to make my garden beautiful again.”

“I'm afraid it will take many years to finish. It will take many years for the natural balance(生态平衡) to get back again,” said the young man.

 The king was sad, but all he could do was just to wait.

Yours

Jack

    One morning it was shining brightly when I woke up. I looked at the alarm clock. It said 3:45! It had stopped! What time was it? I climbed out of bed and went downstairs to the kitchen. The kitchen clock said 8:30—I was late! My parents were away. My aunt had gone to work without checking if I was up. The school bus went at 8:00. I had missed it. I rang my friend Tony on his mobile phone.
    “Tell the teacher I'll be in as soon as I can!”I said.
    “Come on your rollerblades,” Tony said. “It will be faster than the bus.”
    I washed and dressed in a hurry. I grabbed an apple to eat on the way. That was my breakfast! Then I put on my rollerblades and set off for school. It took half an hour to get to the school. I took all the shortcuts I knew. I went across the park — even through some backyards! When I got to school, I was very hot and my legs ached. I had missed math, our first lesson of the morning. But I made it just in time for history, our second lesson. I was very happy because history is my favorite subject.

    I arrived at my mother's home for our Saturday family dinner. The smells of food flew over from the kitchen. My mother was pulling out quilt after quilt from the boxes, proudly showing me their beauties. I knew they were all made herself. She was preparing for a quilt show on TV. 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's this?" I asked.

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

    I spread the quilt. It looked as if a group of school children had made the pieces together. "Grandmother made this?" I asked in surprise. 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," Mom 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 a line straight. At the center of the quilt, she had stitched 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. I was sure now that by completing my grandmother's quilt, my mother was honoring her own mother. I realized 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.

    Mrs. White likes shopping. Today is Sunday. She wants to buy a new dress for herself. Now she is in a clothes store and has a look at a red one. She asks the salesgirl(售货员), “How much is it?”

    “It's thirty dollars.” the salesgirl answers.

    “Can I try it on, please?” she asks.

    “Yes, you can. The dressing room is over there. This way, please.” the salesgirl says.

    After Mrs White comes out of the dressing room, the salesgirl says to her, “You look ten years younger(更年轻的) in this red dress.”

    Hearing(听到) that, Mrs. White says, “I will not take the dress, because I don't want to look ten years older(更年老的) after I take off(脱下) the dress.”

    Things didn't go well for Henry, the village pancake maker. The Great Pancake Contest(比赛) was today. People from different places would try to win the contest .The villagers wanted Henry to win, but Henry had problems. There was not enough wood in the oven to make a pancake. Mice ate half the flour(面粉) during the night.

    The villagers saw that Henry was having problems. The woodsman brought wood for the oven. The farmer gave Henry more flour. This was all very good but he was still missing one more important thing. There was hardly enough time for Henry to make his pancake and take it to the contest. But Henry decided to have a try.

    As fast as he could, Henry put the wood in the oven. When he made the pancake, he thought, "When I had no wood, the woodsman brought me wood; when I had no flour, the farmer brought me flour. My good friends helped me."

    After Henry finished making the pancake, he ran as fast as he could to the contest. "I'm sorry, Henry," one of the judges(评判员) said. "You are too late." Henry's friends were sad for him, but Henry just laughed. "I' m not sad! In fact，I'm happy!" he shouted. "I have good friends who helped me. Now, I have a wonderful pancake to share with them."