I read some stories about amazing people today. Here I'd like to share something interesting with you. Xie Qiuping, a Chinese woman, has the longest hair in the world. Her hair is 5,085 meters long! How amazing! Before I got to know this, I thought my hair was quite long. It is nearly 50cm long. I don't know how she washes her hair.

    The tallest man in the world lived in the USA. His name was Robert Pershing Wadlow. He was 2.72 metres tall. I want to know if he lived in a flat like mine, how could he go into the room? The tallest man died in 1940.

    There is a man in France called Michael Lotito. He eats such items as metal(金属), glass and rubber. He even once ate a model plane! How strange! I don't think metal is as tasty(美味的) as sweets or chocolates.

    It is autumn, and the Indians ask their new chief (首领) what the weather is going to be like this winter. The chief looks at the sky and says it's usually cold, and he tells the villagers to collect wood for the winter. As a good chief, he goes to call the weatherman and asks, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"

    "It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold," the weatherman answers.

    So the chief goes back to his people and tells them to collect more food. A week later he calls the weatherman again.

    "Is it going to be a very cold winter?"

    "Yes," the weatherman answers again. "It's going to be a very cold winter."

    The chief again goes back to his people and tells them to collect every piece of wood they can find. Two weeks later he calls the weatherman again.

    "Are you sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"

    "Yes," the weatherman answers again. "It's going to be very very cold."

    "Why are you so sure?" asks the chief.

    The weatherman answers, "Because the Indians are collecting wood like crazy!"

    The world is full of amazing things. Today, I'm going to talk about something amazing.

    We have lots of things to do every day, so many of us will be tired after a busy day. They all choose sleeping to have a rest. But do you know that sleeping can consume（消耗） many calories. The energy consumed is even more than watching TV. If you want to have a good health, I think you can't sleep too much.

    Do you like animals? There are a lot of surprising things they can do. Goldfish are a lovely kind of fish. Most goldfish have quite a short life — only 6 to 7 years. Once, the goldfish called Freb had a very long life. It lived up to 41 years. It was the oldest goldfish in the world. Now if people take good care of the goldfish, they can live more than 10 years. Animals are our friends. We should know more about them and give them a good home. Do you have any interesting stories about amazing things? If so, tell us. Let's share them together.

    Jack thought himself a basketball fan. He watched quite a lot of American NBA basketball games. Not only did he watch them, he spent much of his free time playing on the court too. Then came the final year of his middle school. All of his regular teammates stopped showing up on the court because they were simply too busy preparing for the high school entrance exam to play. He was, of course, under much stress himself, like everyone else. A good exam result meant a good high school; a mediocre(平庸的) score meant a mediocre school. Much was at stake.

    However, he loved basketball so much that he still found time to play, this time with a group of guys who were said to have skipped classes(逃课) before.

    Some of his teachers started worrying about him. They asked his mother to go to school to let her know that Jack was hanging out with problem kids. When his mother returned home that day, she wanted to talk to Jack. Knowing the purpose of her visit to the school, Jack though his mother would punish him for befriending those bad guys. To his surprise, his mother was not angry with him at all. She wanted to hear her son's side of story. So Jack told his mother about what he knew of Simon and Peter. Simon's parents were badly ill; Peter's father had lost his job. They both seemed to Jack to be normal kids. Jack's mother thought for a moment, and then went on to say that she was OK with her son playing with them and that she and her son should think of ways to help these kids. Soon Jack's mother introduced some part -time jobs to Simon and Peter, which they accepted. She believed in her son and cared about those who were less lucky.

    Jack's basketball friends and he have left for different places, but they still keep in touch. He knows Peter is now a manager of a local bank. Simon is currently a freshman at a university. Sadly, it is impossible to get together to play basketball again, but whenever they get on the phone, they talk about all the time.

    Most musicians agree that the best violins were first made in Cremona, Italy, about 200 years ago. These violins sound better than any other violin. They even sound better than the violins made today. Violin makers and scientists try to make instruments like the Italian violins. But they aren't the same. Musicians still prefer the old ones.

    Some people think it is the age of the violins. But not all the old violins sound wonderful. Only the old violins from Cremona are special. So age cannot be the correct answer.

    Other people think the secret to those violins is wood. The wood must be from certain kinds of trees. But the kind of wood may not be so important. It may be more important to cut the wood in a special way. Wood for a violin must be cut very carefully. It has to be the right size and shape. The smallest difference will change the sound of the violin.  Musicians sometimes think that it is the secret of the Italians. Possibly they understood more than us about how to cut the wood.

    Size and shape may not be the answer either. Scientists can make new ones which are exactly the same size and shape. But the new violins still do not sound as good as the old ones. Some scientists think the secret may be the varnish (清漆). Varnish is what covers the wood of the violin. It makes the wood look shiny. It also helps the sound of the instrument. But no one knows what the Italian violin makers used in their varnish.