One day, a mother crocodile (鳄鱼) and a baby crocodile swam slowly in a river. Suddenly, the mother crocodile saw a monkey, "Oh, a monkey! How nice if I have it for dinner!"

    "My son, can you go and get the monkey for me? I want to eat his heart (心脏)," the mother crocodile said.

    "All right," the baby crocodile answered.

    The baby crocodile swam near the river bank (岸). He shouted at the monkey, “Hey, monkey！Would you like some bananas? There are many banana trees on the other bank of the river"

    "I like them very much. But I can't swim. How can I get there?" the monkey asked.

    "Oh, I can take you there," the baby crocodile said.

    "Really? Thank you very much!" the monkey jumped onto the baby crocodile's back. In the middle of the river, the baby crocodile went into the water. When he came up again, the monkey was wet all over. "Don't do that again, or you'll kill (杀死) me!" the monkey shouted.

    "I know, but I must do that! My mother wants to eat your heart."

    "My heart? 你为什么不早点告诉我? I left it in a tree. We should go back for it!" So_ they went back.

    As soon as they got to the bank, the monkey picked up a big stone (石头) and climbed up onto the tree quickly. He shouted at the baby crocodile, "Don't you want my heart? Well, catch!" The monkey threw the big stone at the crocodile.

    My friend Mary came to school wearing a brand-new pair of Zee jeans. “Your new Zee jeans are so cute!” I said.

    “My grandma took me clothes shopping last weekend,” Mary said. “The Zee jeans were on sale. They have cool pockets and are unbelievably comfortable. When you're at my house after school, try them on and see for yourself.”

    “Hmm.” I didn't think so. But when I tried them on, I couldn't help agreeing. “I'm totally taking these!” I said. As soon as I got home, I told my mom that I had to get some Zee jeans.

    Mom said, “You already have three pairs of perfectly good jeans. There is no way Dad and I are paying that much for a pair of pants. If you want to buy them with your own money, I would be happy to make a long list of extra chores you can do.”

    “I'll start this minute,” I said.

It took me three weeks to save enough money. I changed kitty litter, watched my little brother and sister, and cleaned refrigerator. The refrigerator cleaning was the worst because one of the shelves fell while I was taking everything out. Food and milk splashed all over the floor. It took me one and a half hour to clean it up!

    Anyway, I finally bought my Zee jeans, and I loved them even more than I thought I would. I loved them half because they had cool pockets and super comfortable, and half because I had worked so hard to earn the money to buy them myself.

B

    Maria Montessori is a famous Italian educationalist, whose method of teaching has influenced people all over the world.

    Born in Italy in 1870, Montessori became the first woman doctor in her country after she graduated from medical school in 1896. Later, working with poor children, she set up a “Children House” in Rome in 1907. The rooms were bright and colorful. This was the place where she developed the Montessori Method, which was formed during 1908-1913.

    Maria thought that children must be free to learn without being criticized(批评) or limited. She let the children make their own choice of what they wanted to do and work with their own speed, not the rest of the class or the teacher. As a result, children enjoy learning and this gives them confidence and makes them happy. The Montessori Method also teaches children skills to help them become independent. Very young children learn to dress themselves, to cook and to put their toys and clothes away. It's a way of teaching which encourages children to learn by doing and experimenting. Children are encouraged to repeat activities as often as they wish, and they develop their observation(观察) skills by doing different activities. In addition, the Montessori Method thinks that teacher is a guide, not a leader of the classroom, helping to open students' eyes to wonder around them.

    A typical room in a Montessori school has many things children can use. The furniture is light so they can arrange it as they wish. Because the environment offers many activities, children like to work together and they develop a social life based on cooperation(合作)rather than competition.

    Maria Montessori travelled around the world to train teachers to use her method. In 1950, she received the World Peace Education Badges.

My dear son,

    Your letter of last week reached us yesterday, and I only have $13 left at present, which I will send to you with this letter. I may sell the other pig next week and meet the need of what you wanted. I will probably have to wear the old overcoat to meetings again this winter, but that doesn't matter as long as you are getting education(教育).

    I want you to be well educated so that you can go anywhere and spell the hardest word. I want you to be able to go among the Romans or the Medes and Persians and talk to any of them in their own language. I never had any advantages when I was a boy, but your mother and I decided that we would support(支持) your learning no matter how much it may take though it means cutting down our daily living costs.

    I hope you will get your education as cheap as you can, for it is a big job for your mother and me to pay the school fees. I knew education comes high but I didn't know the clothes also cost so much. Now look at that basketball suit, and that bathing suit, and that lawn-tennis suit, I don't care about the money, because you say a young man can't really educate himself successfully and completely without them, but I wish you'd send home what you get through with this fall, and I will wear them through the winter under my other clothes. We have much colder winters here than we used to, or else I am failing in bodily health. Last winter I tried to go through without underclothes, the way I did when I was a boy, but a Manitoba wave came down our way and picked me out of a crowd.

    I am not much of a mean man, so you will have to excuse this letter. We are all quite well, except your old grandpa, whose shoulders badly hurt, and hope this will find you enjoying the same great blessing.

Your father

    The famous scientist and thinker, Charles Darwin, was born on February 12, 1809.As a boy, Charles liked to go for walks in the fields and forests. He enjoyed watching nature, and comparing what he saw with everything he had read in science books. He also liked collecting very much. He collected many things, such as birds, eggs, stones and leaves.

    At sixteen Darwin was sent to the University of Edinburgh to become a doctor. But he was interested in the history of nature.

    Then he was sent to study in the University of Cambridge. There he studied until 1831.

    Some time later he heard that the ship Beagle was going on a trip to South America and wanted a scientist. His teacher advised him to go. So when the Beagle left England in December, 1831, Darwin was on it.

    The trip lasted almost five years. Darwin saw many new plants and animals. He collected all kinds of plants.

    In 1842 Darwin went to live in Kent, and there he continued his studies of change in nature. Darwin understood that plants and animals are not always the same, and that they really change.

    By 1859 Darwin had finished his famous book The Origin of Species. It made a great hit in the world of science. He was opposed(反对)by the church and even by some scientists. But later, more and more scientists agreed with him.

    In1871 Darwin wrote another important book. Darwin continued his studies in science until he died in 1882.