The USA is the fourth largest country in the world in size after Russia, Canada and China. The population(人口) of the USA is the third largest in the world.

   The Mississippi River is the longest river in America. It's over 6,000 kilometers long. The Mississippi River has been called the "Father of Waters" or "Old Man River". The most important lakes in the United States are the Great Lakes. They are Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. All of them are between Canada and the United States except(除了) Lake Michigan.

   Let us talk about American education(教育). There are two kinds of schools in the United States: public schools and private schools. Most children go to public schools. Their parents do not have to pay for their education. If a child goes to a private school, his parents have to pay for their schooling. Children start school when they are five years old. Most students are eighteen years old when they leave secondary(中级) schools.

I went home one Saturday afternoon in the autumn of 1993 to get some work done in the garden. While sweeping leaves on the ground, my five-year-old son Nick came over and asked me to write something on a piece of paper to make a sign for him.

    "What for?" I asked.

    "I'm going to sell some of my stones," he answered.

    Nick was fascinated with stones and had collected many stones from all over. "I'm too busy to do that for you. Go and ask your mum for help," I said.

    A short time later, Nick, returned with a sign, reading, "Stones, One Dollar Each". He took the sign, a small chair and 4 of his best stones and walked to the road in front of our garden. There he put the stones in a line and sat down on the chair.

    After half an hour, nobody passed by. I walked to him and asked him to go back, but he didn't. Another half hour later, a small car came down the road. I watched as Nick stood up, holding his sign up. A woman rolled down a window and read the sign. I couldn't hear their talk, but I saw the woman turn to the driver and the man reach for his pocket.

    I sat in the yard, as Nick ran to me. Waving the dollar, he shouted, "I told you I could sell one stone for a dollar—if you believe in yourself, you can do anything."

    Jim is a young farmer. He was once put into prison(监狱).

    One day, he got a letter from his mother. "I'm so worried about our farm, "she wrote." It's time to plant potatoes. I can't dig(挖)all the fields(田地)by myself."

    Jim read the letter and became sad. "What can I do?" he thought. Then he had a good idea. He wrote to his mother, "Don't dig the fields. There is much money in the earth. Don't plant potatoes until I come home."

    Some days later, Jim got another letter from his mother. It said, "Two days ago, about ten men came to our farm and dug all the fields. I can't understand it. It seemed that they were looking for something. What should I do?"

    Jim smiled when he read his mother's letter. He wrote a letter to his mother at once. It was very short. Guess what it would say.

    Once upon a time, a young man wanted to go to a village on business. Halfway there was a mountain. Before he left home, his family warned him to stay calm and climb onto trees if he was in face of beasts(凶猛的野兽). In this way, the beasts couldn't do anything to him.

    The young man remembered these words and began his trip He walked for a long time carefully and found no beasts were out there. He thought his family's worries were unnecessary. And he became relaxed as he walked. Just at that moment, he saw a fierce(凶猛的) tiger running to him and he climbed onto a tree nearby at once.

    The tiger roared(咆哮) around the tree and even jumped to reach the man. The young man was too scared to hold the tree and fell right on the back of the tiger. Full of fear, he had to hold the tiger tightly. The tiger thought that must be a giant beast. So it was afraid and started running madly.

    People on the road didn't know what happened and said, "Look at the young man. He is riding a tiger." "Cool!" "Superman!"

    Hearing these words, the young man was very angry. "Why can't they see I'm suffering a lot? Don't they understand I am in fear and almost scared to death? He said to himself.