Even though I just had lunch not long ago, I was felling hungry again. I went to the kitchen to look for something to eat. That was when I discovered the pudding in the fridge. It was made from milk, sugar, eggs and fruits, and it looked so yummy. I noticed that there was only one left.

    I was putting the pudding on a plate when my brother came into the kitchen. He found the pudding and asked for it. “It's mine! I was the only one who found it!” I shouted. “You are my elder brother, you should give it to me!” said he. Then he started pulling the plate towards himself and I did the same.

    Suddenly, the plate moved to one side and the pudding slipped (滑动) out of the plate. It landed on the floor and turned into a yellow mess. My brother and I both looked at each other, feeling amazed and disappointed at the same time. It was such a waste!

    To my surprise, Ollie, our pet dog, walked over to the mess on the floor. It began to lap up the pudding happily, within minutes, the mess on the floor was gone. Ollie licked (舔) its lips when it was done.

    After watching Ollie finishing the whole pudding by itself, we realized      . If both of us had shared the pudding, we would both have got to eat half of it. It was because of our greed (贪婪) that we ended up with nothing. That day, my brother and I learnt a good lesson.

    A boy thought that he was the most unhappy person in the world. He thought he was 1 because almost everything bad always happened to him. So he wanted to 2 the secret (秘密) to happiness. He walked a long way and finally came to a beautiful 3. There he met the king（国王）.

     After learning why the boy had come, the king advised that he should  4 the palace and come back in two hours. "At the same time, I want you to hold (拿住) this spoon with milk," said the king. "As you walk around my palace, carry(携带) this spoon 5spilling(溢出) the milk."

    The boy kept his 6 on the spoon and began to walk around the fantastic palace. After 7 hours, he came back to the king. "Well," asked the king. "Did you see the wonderful paintings in 8 palace? Did you see the colorful flowers in the garden(花园)?" The boy felt 9 because he saw nothing. He 10 paid attention(注意) to the milk.

    "Then go back and see the beauty of my world," said the king. 11 time the boy saw all of the works of art on the walls. He saw the greatest gardens and mountains all around. 12 he came back, he described everything he saw.

    "But where is the 13?" asked the king. Looking down at the spoon he was holding, the boy saw there was 14 on the spoon. "Well, there is only one piece of advice I can 15 you," said the king. "The secret to happiness is to see all the beauty of the world and also keep an eye on the milk on the spoon."

C

    My name is Lin Tao. I am a Chinese boy. Now I'm studying in America. There are many kinds of clubs here. When I first come here, I don't know anything about clubs. I'm a shy boy, so I can't speak English well. In my first year in America, I don't like to speak to others. In my second year I have to change (改变) myself by doing some new things. I realize that school is not just about getting good grades (成绩), it's also about being part of a club. One day, when I go to the Media Center with my classmate Jim, he tells me something about the club. It's interesting, so I join it. I am in many clubs now. It's good to be part of a club. These clubs help me to make new friends.

    This year the US will honour(纪念)one of the country's most famous writers-Mark Twain(1835-1910).Most readers know that his real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, but how many know where the pen name "Mark Twain" came from?

    The answer shows Clemens' colourful early life before he became a writer. "Mark Twain" was the cry shouted on a ship when the ship entered a part of a river that was two fathoms(6 feet) deep. "Twain" is an old-fashioned way of saying "two". Twain trained as a ship pilot on the Mississippi river for two years, a time that he wrote about in the humorous Life on the Mississippi(1883).

    The famous river would become an important theme in many of his works-who could forget the journey of Huck and Jim along it in his most famous book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn(1884).

    With little education, he had to teach himself how to write stories. Whenever possible, he would go to public libraries. There he spent much time reading and thinking, which greatly helped him with his writing.

    On the other hand, his life experiences gave him wonderful material to write about and attract readers. Twain wrote in a style that has been called "local colour" because it shows great knowledge of local people and their customs.

    The gift is very clear in the two books for which Twain is still celebrated today: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer(1876) and its follow-up The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which many people call "The Great American Novel".

    The most amazing invention in his book is the voice of Huck himself. Huck did not enjoy schooling. It shows in the way he uses language, in a spoken style. Only a master like Twain could copy the way a young southern boy talked so well.