One morning, Mr Black was driving in the country and looking for a small hotel. When he saw an old woman on the side of the road, he stopped his car and said to the old woman, “I want to go to the Sun Hotel. Do you know it?”　

“Yes,” the old woman said,“I will show you the way.” She got into Mr Black's car and they drove about twelve miles. When they came to a small house, the old woman said, “stop here!” Mr, Black stopped and looked at the house.“But this isn't a hotel.” He said to the old woman.

 “No”the old woman answered, “This is my house. And I'll show you the way to the hotel. Turn round and go back nine miles. Then you'll see the hotel.”

Wang Kai is my new friend. His father, Wang Ming, is a doctor. His mother, Liu Ying, works in a big clothes store. They are very busy every day. Wang Kai is 13. He is a student in NO.1 Middle School. There are twenty boys and fifteen girls in his class. They are all friendly to him, and they often help him.

    Liu Tao is Wang Kai's classmate, and he is his good friend, too. He often helps Wang Kai with English. Wang Kai's Chinese teacher is Mrs. Dai. She is friendly to Wang Kai, and her classes are very interesting. Wang Kai likes her and her classes.

    Long long time ago, the Jade Emperor, organized an animal race. He told all the animals that the first 12 animals to win could get a place in the Chinese Zodiac (十二生肖), and have a year named after them.

    The cat and the mouse both asked the ox to wake them up early on the day of the race. That day, the ox tried to wake them up, but without success. So the kind ox carried them on his back and started running when the race began. The mouse woke up just when the ox was going to across the last river. He knew that he could never beat the cat. So he pushed the cat off the ox's back. When the ox reached the other side of the river, the mouse jumped off and ran to the finishing line, just before the ox.

    So the 12-year cycle（循环） begins with the mouse. The ox comes after him. The tiger follows the ox. The rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig come after them. The cat didn't get a place in the Zodiac. That's why the cat hates the mouse and always wants to kill it.

    In 1909 an English newspaper offered £ 1,000 to the first man to fly across the English Channel in an aeroplane. Today, modern jets cross it in minutes. But at that time it still seemed a good distance. The race to win the money soon became a race between two men. Both were very colourful.

    One was Louis Bleriot. He owned a factory in France that made motor car lamps. He was already well known as a pilot because he had had accidents several times. Some people laughed at him. One man said, "He may not be the first to fly across the Channel but he will certainly be the first to die in an accident!" But Bleriot was really a good and brave pilot. He also had many good ideas about aeroplane design.

    The other man was Hubert Latham. He was half French and half English. He took up flying when his doctors told him he had only a year to live. "Oh, well," he said, "if I'm going to die soon, I think I shall have a dangerous and interesting life now." Latham was the first to try the flight across the Channel. Ten kilometres from the French coast, his plane had some trouble. It fell down into the water and began to sink under the water. A boat reached Latham just in time. He was sitting calmly on the wing and was coolly lighting a cigarette. Bleriot took off six days later. He flew into some very bad weather and very low cloud. He somehow got to the English side and landed in a farmer's field. When he did so, a customs (海关) officer rushed up to his plane. Planes have changed since then, but customs officers have not. "Have you anything to say?" The officer asked.

    Emma and Hannah are 13-year-old school girls from Minnesota, USA. They are good at making new things both of them are also good at sales. They are selling charms (小装饰物) made out of bottle caps.

    The girls came up with the idea last summer when they saw charms were popular with kids. They talked with their parents about the idea. Since then they have sold enough charms to buy a bike for Hannah.

    The girls collect bottle caps and then clean them. They find some interesting pictures on the Internet or on paper, and then glue them onto the inside of the caps. There are different kinds of pictures, "Peace signs are popular with girls, and single-letter charms are popular with boys whose names start with those letters," Emma and Hannah said.

    Now, charms can be found everywhere at Dakota Hills Middle School in Eagan. "Students put charms on purses, backpacks, and their lunch boxes," said Emma. Emma and Hannah also have a shop on the Internet. They hope they can sell their charms to more kids. They're thinking about selling their charms at the Eagan Market Festival next summer.

    Their business is not only for getting money. At their Valentine's sale, 20% of the income (收入) went to charity.

    Little Mike's grandma died weeks ago. He missed her very much. One afternoon Mike went to the city park where his grandma used to go. There he saw an old lady. She looked very kind. She was sitting there, watching pigeons(鸽子). Little Mike went up and sat next to her. He took out his food and drinks and gave some to her. She smiled at him. Her smile was so sweet that Mike wanted to see it again. She seemed to understand him, so once again she smiled. Mike was very glad.

    They sat there all the afternoon, eating and talking. As it grew dark, Mike got up to leave. Before he left, he hugged(拥抱) the old lady and she gave him her sweetest smile.

    When Mike got home, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. "I met a granny in the park. Her smile was like the kind of smile I had seen on Grandma's face."

    The old lady also returned to her home happily. She told her son that she had food and drinks with a little boy. "He was as lovely as Brittany." she said. Her son was surprised, because he had never seen her so happy since Brittany, her grandson, died weeks ago.