One day, a woman walked into a pet store to buy a bird for her Thanksgiving Day party. The guy said, “We only have one parrot. But I think you do not want it because it can talk…”

    The woman said happily, “That's great. I've always wanted a talking bird.”

    So the guy said, “Since you are a nice lady, I'll give it to you as a gift.”

    And the lady went home and put the bird on her bed and walked out of the room. But as soon as she walked into the kitchen, the bird started to speak dirty words as loud as it could. The woman walked back into the room thinking, “I can't have this at my party!” So she took the bird and put it in the fridge.

    A few hours later, while the woman was eating, she remembered that her bird was still in the fridge. Quickly, she opened the door and found it was shivering. Then she took out the bird at once. She said to the bird, “I'll keep you out of there if you don't use that language again. Do you agree with me?”

    The bird nodded and asked, “Can I just ask a quick question?” The lady nodded and said, “Yes, you may.”

    The bird pointed at the turkey behind him and asked, “What did he do?”

    One day, some tourists came to a hotel but there were only two rooms left. One was on the fourth floor and the other was on the seventh floor.

    "We Chinese like the number 8. 8 means we will get rich. We also like 9 because it means we can live long. But we don't like the number 4 because it sounds like 'death' in Chinese. I think if we sleep on the fourth floor, we may die?

    The Greeks said,"We want the room on the fourth floor." In Greece, 4 is a lucky number.

    The South Korean said, "We don't like number 4 or 13. 4 sounds like 'death', and 13 is an unlucky number in the west." The tourists from the west said, "Oh, we love number 7. There are seven days in the world as it says in the Bible(圣经).We don't like the number 13. It is an unlucky number. If we sleep on the 13th floor, oh…"

    "In Japan, 4 sounds like 'death', so we don't like it. And 6 is also not welcome. There isn't the fourth floor or the sixth floor in the tall buildings in our country. However, we like 7 very much", said the Japanese.

    At last, only the Greeks lived on the 4th floor, and the rest slept on the 7th floor.

    This afternoon Alan and Frank do their homework in Mike's house. At five, Mike and Alan go and play baseball. Frank can't play it. He doesn't go with them. He sees some things on the desk. "Let me tidy it up(整理),"Frank says. "The black pencil and the yellow eraser are Mike's," he says and puts them in Mike's schoolbag. Then he puts the green pencil and the purple ruler in Alan's schoolbag.

    At six, Mike and Alan come back(回来).

    "Where is my green pencil?" Mike asks.

    "It's in my schoolbag. Is my black pencil in your bag?" Alan says.

    "Yes, it is. And your yellow eraser is in my schoolbag, too," says Mike.

    "I'm sorry, boys," Frank says.

    "That's all right, Frank. We should thank you. Next time we will tidy up the desk," Mike says.

Just outside a village, there was a pretty but small Fir tree. He lived in a very beautiful forest with a lot of sunshine and fresh air. However, he didn't care about that, and always wished for something more interesting instead of enjoying the simple things in his life. 

One day, the largest trees were cut down. They would be made into masts. The Fir tree thought happily, "I want to be a mast. It seems so cool. "

The air and the sunshine heard the tree and said, "Don't wish for another life. Be happy now. You have warm sunlight. You have a health y trunk. "But the tree did not understand them.

This year, some young trees were cut down. They would live in a warm room and were decorated(装饰) with so many colors and lights. The Fir tree was very interested in this and really wanted to be like that. 

Again, the sunlight and the air said to the tree, "Do not be so silly. Your life in the forest is the best. Be happy with that. "But the tree didn't listen to them.

Finally, the woodcutters came to cut down the Fir tree and put him into a large room. 

On Christmas Day, many servants came in. They decorated the tree. On its top, there was a large golden star. Later, all people came in and sang Christmas carols together. The tree enjoyed watching all of this. 

"This is all for me!"thought the tree, "I will live my life in this warm room. The sunlight and the air were all wrong. "He felt very good about his future.

However, the next morning, some servants came into the room. They put him into a dark room. He was forgotten. 

As many lonely nights passed, the door to that dark room finally opened. Two servants came in and took the tree outside. 

"This is wonderful. "thought the tree. "My new life is beginning. "He relaxed in the sunlight. Just then, he discovered something terrible. His branches were all yellow. They were weak.

At that time. Some children were running around the garden They cned, "Look! The Christmas true is old and ugly. But it still has the yellow star on top of it. "One of the children took the star from the tree. Now, there was nothing beautiful about the tree anymore.

Soon, a gardener came with an axe. He chopped the poor Fir tree into pieces. Then, he placed each piece into a fire. The poor tree burned in the flames. As he burned, he could see the children playing. They were playing with his golden star. But it was too late for regrets now. 

"This really is the end, "thought the tree.

When I was in high school, I was in the FIRST Robotics Club. It had {#blank#}1{#/blank#} activities to help students learn about engineering(工程学).

I didn't know what engineering was about,{#blank#}2{#/blank#} I joined the club. My friend Mark {#blank#}3{#/blank#} me to join it, and there I began to learn a lot {#blank#}4{#/blank#} engineering. It is a different way of thinking. It lets students think about how {#blank#}5{#/blank#}a dream come true.

There were about thirty {#blank#}6{#/blank#} in the club and we were in six groups. Once the teacher asked us to make {#blank#}7{#/blank#} own(自己的) robots in a month. At first I thought it was impossible, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} we made it finally and then we took part in the competitions(竞赛). My group won the first prize. It was so {#blank#}9{#/blank#}!

I'm a college student now and I am in some clubs, but I really {#blank#}10{#/blank#} my FIRST Robotics: I think it is the best {#blank#}11{#/blank#}.

 My name is Henry Adams. When I was 27, I worked in San Francisco. One Saturday afternoon, I sailed my little boat but a strong wind pushed my boat into the Pacific Ocean. Luckily, I was saved by a British ship heading to London.

I had only one dollar when I arrived in I ondon. I was tired and hungry. At that moment, the window of a nearby house opened and a man said to me," Come in here, please."I was taken to a beautiful room. There were two old gentlemen discussing something.      ①     

 The two gentlemen were brothers.      ②      One brother said, " If an honest and clever stranger arrives in London without friends and money, except for a £1,00,000 bank note, he will starve to death. If he goes to the bank to change this big note, the police will think he stole it and arrest(逮捕) him." The other brother answered,‘ No,I disagree."

 The two gentlemen decided to end their argument with a be t(赌约).      ③      They chose me because I had an honest, clever face. Also,I was a stranger to England. One of them gave me an envelope and told me not to open it until I was in my hotel room.

     ④      After leaving the house, I opened the envelope and saw money inside of it! I rushed to the nearest restaurant. After eating, I tried to pay with the money but discovered that it was a bank note worth five million dollars! It made my head swim. No one could possibly cash(兑现金) it. The owner said," You can pay for the meal whenever you want, sir. I understand that you are a rich gentleman. You like playing jokes on people by dressing like a poor man."

I quickly returned to the house but was told that they had left on a trip. Then I remembered the letter inside the envelope. It said, " In this envelope you will find some money. It is yours for only 30 days. At the end of that time, return to this house. We have a be t on you." How strange!

 Then, I entered a clothes store to buy a cheap suit. When I showed the owner the bank note, he was angry since the salesman sold me such terrible suit.

(To be continued...)