Tony Wheeler was born to travel. His father worked for an airline. For the first 16 years of his life,Wheeler and his family lived in many different countries.

    In the early 1970s,Tony met a young woman named Maureen. They soon married. Before getting jobs, Tony and Maureen wanted to travel. They took a year long trip from England, through Asia, to Australia. On the trip,they visited places like Iran(伊朗),India,and so on.

    When Tony and Maureen arrived in Australia, people asked many questions about their trip. To answer these questions, Wheeler wrote a book called Across Asia on the Cheap. The book told people about different countries' weather, customs (风俗), and places to see. But unlike other travel books then,Tony Wheeler's book also talked about places most tourists did not go. He also wrote about unusual things to see and do. The book was very popular.

     Tony and Maureen started a company called Lonely Planet. They continued travelling. They wrote books for each place they visited. Today,800 people work {or Lonely Planet. The company has over 650 books. Tony Wheeler,the great traveller, still writes about travels to many places and will bring us more surprises.

Jodie's Daddy Is a Garbageman (垃圾清理工)

    Mr. Swales wanted to find out what his students' parents did. He had just called Jodie when some girls laughed. Shirley shouted, “Jodie's daddy is a garbageman!”

    Everybody in the class laughed out loudly, except Jodie. She felt her face turn red.

    “Silence!” Mr. Swales said, “Being a garbageman is a difficult and useful job. We should all be grateful to Jodie's father.”

    Jodie's father came to walk her home from school as usual, but she didn't run up to him as she always did. When they got back home, Jodie went to her room and cried for a long time.

    Her father came into her room, “What happened, Jodie? Why are you so sad?”

    Jodie told her father what had happened and looked at him. He didn't seem angry or hurt. “Well,” he said, “they are right. Being a garbageman is a dirty job. Tomorrow's Saturday. Come to work with me, Jodie.”

    The place really smelt too bad. Jodie wrinkled her nose. “Don't worry, kid. In five minutes, you won't smell a thing.” said her father.

    Everybody there was working hard, and they seemed to have a good time. Jodie's father handed her a pair of gloves and told her to get the little plastic bags and throw them into the truck.

    It was fun, but also hard work. Jodie's arms soon got tired. At last, no more garbage was left and Jodie felt very happy.

    “Garbage is dirty, but when we clear it away, everything's nice and clean. You can make yourself happy only by making others happy. That's why I like being a garbageman so much.”

    Jodie gave her dirty, smelly garbageman daddy a big kiss. She said, “When I grow up, I will be a garbage-girl!”

    Now whenever someone asks Jodie what her daddy does, she says, “He's a garbageman! Everybody makes garbage, but my daddy takes it away!”

    Every evening at six o'clock an old man goes to a restaurant near his house. He eats dinner. After dinner, he drinks coffee and talks to the people at the restaurant.

    The old man's name is Bill. Bill eats at the restaurant every evening because he is lonely. His wife died and he has no children.

    Every evening the same waitress(女服务员)brings Bill to his dinner. Her name is Cara. She is 17 years old. Cara is kind to Bill. She knows he is lonely, so she talks to him. If Bill is late for dinner, she calls him on the telephone. “Are you OK?” she asks him.

    One evening Bill doesn't come to the restaurant. Cara calls him, but he doesn't answer the phone. Cara calls the police. “Please go to Bill's house.” Cara tells the police. Later the police call Cara at the restaurant. “Bill died in his sleep,” the police tell her. Bill was 82 years old.

    A week later, a man comes to the restaurant. “I have something for Cara,” the man says. The man gives Cara a check(支票) for $500000. The money is from Bill.

“This money is for me? From Bill?” Cara asks the man.

    “Yes,” the man answers.

    “But…why?” Cara asks the man.

    “Bill liked you,” the man says. “You were kind to him”

    Hello! My name is Carl Smith. I am a junior high school student. I come from England, but l'm in Beijing now. I live with my parents and my two sisters. My parents are English teachers in No. 8 Junior High School. I am in the same school. I like my new school very much. It is nice and my classmates are very kind to me. They like to play with me. I look different from them. I have blue eyes and long brown hair. I speak English well, so many students like talking with me. I am happy here.

    There was once a musician. He said he was not afraid of dangerous animals, "Even a bear would be as quiet as the friendliest cat when hearing my music." But he had never played the game, and no one believed him.

    A chance to show his words arrived just when a circus (马戏团) came to the town. The musician came to the ringmaster (领班) and told what he could do.

    "Wow, that's interesting." The ringmaster said. "We just have three new lions and they haven't worked with the lion tamer (驯兽师) yet. Let's see what you can do with them." The musician agreed and the whole town crowded the hall to see what would happen.

    The musician was standing quietly in the center with a smile. Then the ringmaster opened the door of the cage and jumped out angrily a huge lion, shouting and showing his teeth. Everyone was too nervous to breathe.

    Still with the smile, the musician began to play. The beautiful music rose, then the lion sat down and began to enjoy the music. Everyone lost themselves in the music. The lion did, too. For the second lion, ________________.

    Then it was the third lion's turn to appear and everyone there was waiting for the lion to be quiet just like the other two. But the lion ran up to the man and ate him.

    All the people were surprised. The other two lions asked angrily, "What have you done! We were enjoying the music!" The third lion put his paw (爪子) to its ear and said, "Sorry, I can't hear you. I have been deaf for 5 years."