In a faraway kingdom, there was a river. It was the home to many golden swans (天鹅). The swans spent most of their time in the river. Every six months, the swans would leave a golden feather (羽毛) as a paying for using the river. The soldiers of the kingdom would collect the feathers and gave them to the king.

    One day, a homeless bird saw the river. "The water in this river seems so cool and nice. I will make my home here," thought the bird.

    The minute the bird landed near the river, the golden swans noticed her. They came shouting, "This river belongs to us! We pay a golden feather to the king to use this river. You can not live here."

    "I am homeless, brothers. I will also pay. Please give me a place to live in," the bird pleaded (乞求). "How can you pay for it? You do not have golden feathers," said the swans, laughing. They added, "Stop dreaming and leave at once." The poor bird pleaded many times. But the arrogant (傲慢的) swans still drove the bird away.

"I will teach them a lesson!" decided the bird, feeling angry.

    She went to the king and said, "Oh, my king! The swans in your river are rude and unkind. I pleaded for a home but they said that they had paid to live in the river with golden feathers."

    The king was angry with the arrogant swans for having driven the homeless bird away. He ordered his soldiers to bring the swans to his palace. In no time, all the golden swans were brought to the king's palace.

"Do you think our kingdom depends on your golden feathers? You can not decide who lives by the river. Leave the river at once or I will kill you!" shouted the king.

    On hearing the king's words, the swans flew away sadly. The bird built her home near the river and lived there happily. She gave homes to all other birds who came to the river.

    TFBOYS is a new young idol group coming out in the summer of 2013. It has three members: Wang Junkai, Wang Yuan, Easy Yang thousand seal. Now a lot of teenagers love TFBOYS because it is a group with great dreams and hard work. Ready? Let's learn something about every member of the group today.

    Home Alone is a very funny 1990 American film. It tells us a boy who is left at home alone by accident.

    One night before Christmas, McAlister family meet at their house. They are planning to fly to Paris for the holiday and are busy getting ready. Eight-year-old Kevin is the youngest child and he is fighting with his brothers, sisters and cousins. When he goes to bed, he is so angry that he wishes all his family would go away. In the morning, everyone wakes up very late. They are all in hurry to get to the airport, so they forget Kevin and he is left alone at home.

Although Kevin is alone, he is very happy at first. His terrible family have gone—his wish has come true. He watches TV, eats lots of fast food and play games. He has a good time. But later on, he goes out and hears two bad men called Harry and Lary. Many things in the house get broken as Kevin tries to stop them. Finally, the police come and the men are taken away.

    The house is now in a mess, so Kevin tidies it up and waits for his parents. They get back from Paris and are very happy to find that Kevin is safe.

    Long ago, a wolf called Howler lived in a valley where lots of fruit trees grew. He often tried to climb up the trees to eat the fruit, but couldn't reach. In the valley, an old man named Martin also had a few fruit trees that he looked after very well. But as he was getting older, he noticed that he didn't have the strength to pick the fruit.Martin had the most beautiful fruit trees in the valley, which was why Howler had his eye on them. One day he decided to steal the fruit and started jumping up and down the tree.Martin looked out of the window and realized that the wolf was trying to steal fruit from his beautiful trees. Howler jumped and jumped, but he couldn't reach even the lowest branches of such a big tree.

    Seeing this, Martin had a great idea: he offered Howler a ladder to climb up, but in return the wolf would have to give him half of the fruit. Howler accepted the deal and began to collect the fruit. For the whole morning, he went up and down the ladder filling his basket with the fruit.

    Howler soon realized that he could eat all the fruit if he didn't give Martin some. He thought up a new and secret plan. Martin, on the other hand, trusted Howler and even began to think they would be friends forever.

    But the wolf stole the ladder and went off to other trees in the area for more fruit.Realizing that the ladder was missing, Martin went looking for it. Martin felt very disappointed at the trick and no longer trusted Howler. Though he wasn't angry with the wolf and they became friends again, he never made any more deals with him.

    At last, Howler learned that he shouldn't trick people and he should keep promises. He also learned that if he had been honest and not greedy, he would still have been able to enjoy more delicious fruit.

    "Everything happens for the best," my mother said whenever I faced disappointment. "If you can carry on, one day something good will happen."

    After graduating from college in 1932, I decided to try for a job in radio, then work my way up to sports announcer (播音员). I took the bus to Chicago and knocked on the door of every station, but I was refused every time.

    In one studio, a nice lady told me that big stations didn't want to accept inexperienced person." Go to the countryside and find a small station that'll give you a chance," she said.

    I returned home, Dixon in Illinois. While there were no radio-announcing jobs in Dixon, my father said Smith Ward had opened a store and wanted a local sportsman to manage its sports department. Since I had played high school football in Dixon, I applied. The job sounded just right for me. But I still failed in the interview.

    At that moment, mom's words came to my mind: "Everything happens for the best." Dad offered me the car to look for a job. I tried WOC Radio in Davenport in Iowa. The program director, named Peter MacArthur, told me they had already hired an announcer.

    As I left his office, I felt frustrated. I asked aloud," How can a man become a sport announcer if he can't get a job in a radio station?"

    I was waiting for the lift when I heard MacArthur calling, "What did you say about sports? Do you know anything about football?"" Then he made me stand before a microphone and asked me to broadcast an imaginary (想象的) game. As a result, I did a wonderful job and was told to broadcast Saturday's game!

    On my way home, I thought of my mother's words again:" Everything happens for the best. If you carry on, one day something good will happen."