One day, a fisherman caught a golden fish.” People let me go,” the golden fish said.” I will give you whatever you want.”

    “Thank you, but I don't want anything.” the fisherman said. He put the golden fish back into the sea.But the fisherman's wife was angry.” You should ask for a bigger wooden basin!” she shouted. The fisherman went to the seaside and told the golden fish.

    “Don't worry, she has a new basin now.” the golden fish said.

    The fisherman went home. But his wife was even angrier. “I want a large house!” The fisherman went to tell the golden fish again.

    But the old woman was never satisfied. “I want to be the queen of the sea! And I want the golden fish to serve me!”

    The fisherman went to tell the golden fish. Then golden fish swan away without saying anything. Then fisherman walked back. His wife was in her cold clothes. Her old and broken wooden basin was next to her.

    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.

    The Lee Family was asleep in bed when the smoke alarm outside their bedroom went off. Mr. Lee knew something was wrong. He ran downstairs and was surprised to see that the kitchen was full of smoke. Firstly, he closed the kitchen door to keep the other members of the family were safe. They each took a coat quickly from the living room, came downstairs and ran outside. Ala, their pet dog, followed closely behind. They chose a safe place in the yard. Mr. Lee told his son, "Never go back inside!"

    Their neighbour Mr. Bell, who lived opposite, said he had already called the emergency services. He had come downstairs for a drink of water and had seen the fire through his kitchen window. The fire engine arrived shortly afterwards, and the firefighters soon had everything under control.

    Mrs Lee was crying, so Mr. Lee put his arm round her and said, "Don't worry. Our insurance company will pay for all the damage. "Mrs Lee said, "That is not why I am crying. I think the fire was caused by my carelessness. When I boiled the milk for our bedtime drink, I may have forgotten to turn off the gas ring. Something must have fallen onto it and caught fire.

    Terry Fox was only seventeen when he got a cancer (癌症). He must have felt hopeless when the doctor said his right leg would have to be cut off 6 inches above the knee.

    But to everyone's surprise, Terry Fox made up his mind to become a long-distance runner and do something about the cancer. What a dream!

    Although it seemed impossible, Terry decided to run across the whole country. He hoped to raise one million dollars for cancer research. Few believed he would make it. Anyway, on April 12, 1980, Terry Fox began his Marathon of Hope. For the first days of his marathon, Terry Fox was alone. He started running at 4:30 am. Day by day, people began to realize that something big was happening on the lonely road. As people saw Terry, they stopped and donated (捐赠) money for cancer research.

    However, his health took a rapid turn for the worse several months later. He had to give up his marathon on September 1, 1980. Terry died three months later, at the age of 22. In his short life, he raised $24 million for cancer research—one dollar for each person in his motherland.

    Since his death, the yearly Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to be the world's largest one-day fundraiser (筹资活动) for cancer research.

    Toby's family often goes on ski (滑雪) vacations. They are great fun. The snow is cold and wet, but the sun is warm. Toby loves the 1 of skiing down a mountain. It's always great.

    But there is one thing that Toby doesn't 2about skiing. There are so many things to 3. The most important things are the skis and ski boots (滑雪板和滑雪靴), of course. He also has to wear big socks to keep his feet 4and long underwear (内衣) for his legs. And he can't 5his hat and mittens (连指手套).

    Toby didn't like ski lessons before. He knew it was 6to learn, but he didn't like his teachers. They always gave very boring lessons. Also, the lessons always took very long 7they had to wait for everyone to get ready.

    However, this year Toby was glad to have the8. One time Toby's hat flew off while he was going down the mountain. One of the teachers went and got it9him. The teachers also showed him10to stop faster and turn better. Lessons were not so bad after all!

Once upon a time，there was a boy named Tim. He lived in a small 1 with nice mountains（山） and rivers. It was great to play there，2 Tim was always busy with his computer games and never noticed the beauty around him. 

Tim's grandfather was worried and always 3 about how great the nature（自然） was with him. "What clean and beautiful lake it is!"，his grandfather often said. One day，his grandfather asked Tim to go on a trip with him. Tim agreed，but he was not very 4 . 

As they walked in the village，Tim's grandfather pointed out many 5 things，such as colourful flowers with bright leaves，mother birds flying back homes with food to 6 their babies. They even climbed to the top of the hill so that they could see the sights 7 . His grandfather also told him some stories behind each place. Some of the stories were really funny and made Tim 8 all the time. Tim got to enjoy these beautiful things for the first time. 

At the end of the trip，Tim's grandfather told Tim not to 9 the small things in life，like a sunny day or a friendly smile. From that day on，Tim learned to enjoy every moment and be thankful. 

He thought that there was much more to life compared to 10 . Tim decided to spend more time outdoors and take short trips with his grandfather more often.