Once Effendi had a joke with the Prime Minister（宰相）. He said that the Minister would die the next day. The next day，the Minister fell on to the ground from a horse and really died. When the king learned this，he got angry and sent his men to catch Effendi at once.

    When Effendi was brought to him，the king shouted angrily," Effendi, since you knew when my Minister would die, you must know the date of your own death.

    Say it out, or you'll die today. "Effendi looked at the king for a while.  Then he answered, "But how can I know? I'll die two days earlier than you. "The king was afraid that if he killed Effendi, he himself would die after that. He thought he must keep Effendi alive as long as possible, so he let Effendi go.

    Frank was a very talkative little boy. He never saw a new thing without asking a great many questions about it.

    His mother was very patient and kind. When it was proper to answer his questions, she would do so. Sometimes she would say, "You are not old enough to understand that, my son. When you are ten years old, you may ask me about it, and I will tell you." When his mother said this, Frank never bother(烦扰)her any more. He knew she always liked to answer him when he asked proper questions.

    The first time Frank saw an hourglass, he was very much interested, but he did not know what it was. His mother said, "An hourglass is made in the shape of the figure 8. The sand is put in at one end and runs through a small hole in the middle. As much sand is put into the glass as will run through in an hour."

    Frank watched the little stream of sand. He was impatient, because it would not run faster. "Let me shake it, mother," said he, "it is lazy, and will never get through."

    "Oh, yes, it will, my son," said his mother, "The sand moves by little and little, but it moves all the time. When you look at the hands of the clock, you think they go very slowly, and so they do, but they never stop. While you are at play, the sand is running, grain by grain(一粒粒). The hands of the clock are moving, second by second. At night, the sand in the hourglass has run through twelve times. The hour hand of the clock has moved all around its great face. This because they keep at work every minute. They do not stop to think how much they have to do, and how long it will take them to do it."

    Now, Frank's mother wanted him to learn a little hymn(赞美诗), but he said, "Mother, I can never learn it."

    His mother said, "Study all the time. Never stop to ask how long it will take to learn it. You will be able to say it very soon."

    Frank followed his mother's advice. He studied line after line, very busily; and in one hour and a half he knew the hymn perfectly.

Jacob Tremblay (雅各布•特伦布莱) : a promising young actor

    While you might not recognize the name Jacob Tremblay, you may have seen him in the movie called Wonder (《奇迹男孩》). He plays the role of Auggie, a boy with facial deformities (面部畸形). The director calls the eleven-year-old boy "a once-in-a-life-time actor of his generation". So what about some background information to explain all this success?

    Born in 2006, Jacob started appearing in TV dramas at the age of five. His breakthrough came in Room(《房间》) in 2015. In that movie, he plays Jack, a young boy who has been kept in a small room since he was born. His first-rate portrayal (角色的刻画) of this role won him a lot of praise and several important awards. People then really began to notice this very talented young actor.

    Jacob impressed people again with his acting skills in Wonder. Although the movie audience can see only his eyes under the heavy make-up, they can feel the emotions of the character. People also wonder how he was able to get inside the character so successfully without a shared experience in real life.

    The young actor had, in fact, done a lot of research on children with facial deformities before shooting began. He sent a video to children with facial deformities and asked them to send him letters telling him anything they wanted him to know. He always kept the letters by his side and read them over and over again between takes (录制). He said those letters helped him prepare for scenes with emotional content.

    Jacob's performance on screen has made him one of the most promising actors in his age group. Hopefully, we will see a lot more of him in the future—on the silver screen or on TV.