It takes a lot of skills and hard work to set a world record in pumpkin-carving(雕刻南瓜). Steve Clarke, a sixth-grade teacher from Pennsylvania, is a famous carver(雕刻师). Clarke has set many world records for carving pumpkins quickly. When he competes, he must cut our two eyes, two eyebrows, a nose, a mouth, and two ears as fast as possible. But Clarke knows something else about pumpkin-carving. It's easier to get a record than to keep it.

    He took the title in 2000 when he carved a pumpkin face in 74.8 seconds. That time was 19 seconds faster than what Jerry had set. From then on, Clarke broke his own records five times. In 2006, he set his best time in Florida. His winning time was 24.03 seconds!

    The only problem is that someone finally beat that mark. On October 7, 2010, David set the new record with 20.1 seconds. Clarke was not able to break that record this year, but he has planned to break the record. After Halloween, he will go to local pumpkin farms to practise designs and new skills.

    Clarke is popular because of his super pumpkin-carving skills. In 1999, he carved more than 30 pumpkins at the Halloween party for then vice-president Al Gore.

    “Well, we're in our new house. Let's get a new pet to get along with it,” Mrs. Brown said to her husband.

    “That sounds like a pretty good idea. Do you want to see the ads in the newspaper?”said Mr. Brown.

    “Let's go to the animal shelter. Many pets there need homes. Since tomorrow is Saturday, we can both go,” she said.

    The next morning, the Browns met Mr. Snow at the animal shelter. “We want to be sure that the pets here can go to good homes,” Mr. Snow said, “So I need to ask you some questions.”

After they talked for a while, the Browns decided to get a small dog. It wouldn't need a big house or a big yard. A small dog would bark and warn them if someone tried to break into their house. After Mr. Snow gave the Browns a book on pet care, they chose one and wanted to take her home right away. But the animal doctor hadn't checked her yet. So Mr. Snow told them to return on Sunday.

    On Sunday afternoon the Browns went to the animal shelter. The animal doctor said, “Shadow has had all of her shots（预防针）. She will be healthy.” Then, the Browns thanked the doctor and took Shadow home.

    Michael Perham (born on 16^th March, 2000 in Hertfordshire, England) is a boy who, at the age of 17, became the youngest person to sail around the world in the 50 feet racing boat, completing his journey on 7^th August, 2017. He started the world trip on the 15^th of November 2016 from Portsmouth, England.

    Just six days after Michael Perham set sail from Portsmouth, he started having serious problems with the boat, which he was unable to fix himself on the sea. He had to stop in Portugal. Just one day later, he set sail once again, with the hope of breaking David Dick's world record for the youngest person to sail around the world.

    Michael met many challenges along the way, including rough seas and knock-downs in the Southern Ocean, terrible loneliness and fighting storms, but the largest difficulty Michael faced was the boat itself. It caused one problem after another. He celebrated his birthday in March last year among the dolphins in Indian Ocean.

    Michael Perham has entered the record books after becoming the youngest person to sail around the world. The teenager already holds the record for being the youngest people to sail across the Atlantic, aged just 14.

    Michael Perham plans to create the Sail Michael Fund to encourage young people to take to the water. He is also aiming to take part in the 2020 Olympics.

    A heavy rain hit a small village. The floods (洪水) started to rise. A priest (神父) was praying (祈祷) in a church (教堂). The flood was almost above his knees. A rescuer (救助者) shipped to the priest and said, “Godfather, come up or you will die.” The priest said, “No, I'm sure God will save me. You may leave for others.”

    After a while, water covered his shoulder, the priest had to move onto an altar (祭坛). This time a policeman came over in a yacht (游艇) and said, “Come up or you will die!” The priest said, “No, I have to keep my church. I believe God will save me. You just go and save other people.” A moment later, his church was flooded. The priest had to hold firmly (牢固地) the cross on the top of the church.

    A helicopter (直升机) was flying over him where a pilot put down a rope ladder and shouted, “Godfather, come up! This is your last chance! We don't want you to die!” But he said firmly, “No, I have to keep my church. I believe God will save me. You just go and save other people. God will be with me.” Great flood soon came over. The priest was killed.

    The priest went to Heaven (天堂) where he saw the God. He asked angrily, “God, I served you honestly, but why didn't you save me?” The God said, “Didn't I? The first time I gave you a ship and you refused. The second time I gave you a yacht you refused again. The third time I sent you a helicopter you still didn't accept. So I thought you wished to stay with me in a hurry.”

    In fact, the obstacles (障碍) in our life are because we are stubborn (顽固) and ignorant(无知).

    Alfred Nobel, the great Swedish inventor and engineer, was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833, but moved to Russia with his parents in 1842, where his father, Immanuel, made a strong position for himself in the engineering industry. Immanuel Nobel invented landmines and made a lot of money from the government during the Crimean War(克里米亚战争), but went bankrupt soon after. Then, the family returned to Sweden in 1859, where Alfred began his own study of explosives in his father's lab. He had never been to school or university but had taught himself, and by the time he was twenty, he became a skillful chemist and excellent linguist, speaking Swedish, Russian, German, French and English. He built up about 100companies in 20 different countries. He was always searching for a meaning to life. He spent much time and money working on how to end the wars, and the peace between nations, until he died in Italy in 1896. His famous last will, in which he left money to provide prizes for outstanding work in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace, is a memorial to his interests and ideas. And so, the man is remembered and respected long after his death.

    One day I happened to meet an Englishman in the street and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be very surprised, gently shaking his head and saying "You don't say!". I was puzzled, and I thought, "Perhaps this is not a right thing to talk about." So I said to him, "Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? Have you ever been there?"

    "Certainly! Everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave here without seeing it. The Great Wall is wonderful!" "Yes, it is one of the wonders in the world. And people of many countries have come to visit it." As I went on telling him more about it, he stopped me again, "You don't say!"

    I couldn't help asking, "Why do you ask me not to talk about it?"

    "Well, I didn't ask you to do so," he answered, greatly surprised.

    "Did you say 'You don't say!'?" I asked again.

    Hearing this, the foreigner laughed loudly. He began to explain," 'You don't say!' means 'Really'. Perhaps you know little about English idioms."

    Wow! How foolish I was! Since then I have been careful with English idioms.