Mr. Black went to the country on business. Bad luck! The rain (A)lasted from Tuesday to Sunday and all the traffic stopped. His bags were heavy and he could not carry them to a town. He had to stay in an inn(小旅馆) alone. There were several houses in the small village but he could not talk with anybody when night fell. He could not see any televisions and there was no cinema, either. (B)He had to go to bed early after supper. But he often woke up early in the morning. He would not get up, but lay in bed, listening to the rain falling.

    (C)一天早晨他正躺在床上听收音机，suddenly he remembered it was his birthday that day. He borrowed a bike from a farmer. It took him three hours to get to a small town. There he found a restaurant. He told the waiter (D)_______ (take) some nice food for him. He called out after he ate a little. “Waiter! Your food tastes terrible! Call your manager(经理) here! ”

“Sorry, sir, ” said the waiter, “our manager has gone out for lunch. ”

    Once a king got two nice falcons(猎鹰)from his son. He had never seen such beautiful falcons before. He loved them so much and he ordered the best falconer to train them to fly.

    After several months, the king came to see how the training was going on. He found that one falcon had already been able to fly high in the sky, while the other was staying on the branch(树枝) of a tree quietly, just keeping still.

    The king called all his falcons together and ordered them to try every way they could to make the other falcon fly. But none of them succeeded. One day, while the king was taking a walk in the forest, an idea came to his mind. Maybe someone who knew the natural environment well could solve this problem. He sent for a farmer who lived in the forest into his palace to train it at once.

    The next morning, the king saw the other falcon flying above in the sky freely. “It is unbelievable !” shouted the king. How could you make it happen?”

    The farmer replied, “It's very easy. I just cut off the branch where the falcon rested.”

    It is always the same to human beings. We all have “two flying wings” in our hearts as well, but we often seem not to notice them and stay where we just for safety and comfort. We won't realize we can fly so high and freely until the “branch” we are resting on breaks.

    Uncle Li and Uncle Wang are good friends．They live next to each other and their farms are both at the foot of the mountain．So they can help each other．But neither of them likes to use his head．They're both poor though they work hard．Most villagers have built new houses，but they still live in the low and broken houses．They never find out why．

    Once Uncle Li went to town to buy some medicine for his wife．In the town he heard the apples in a city were expensive．He told Uncle Wang about it as soon as he went back．They decided to carry some apples to the city．They borrowed some money from their friends and bought nearly 1，000kilograms of apples in the villages and carried them to the city on a tractor．Bad luck!A lot of apples has already been carried there when they arrived．A few days later they had to sell them at a low price （价格）．They felt unhappy and returned to their village．

    "I can't understand why we sustained （蒙受） losses in business while others always profit （盈利）"Uncle Li asked one day．

    "The tractor was too small"Uncle Wang said without thinking．"We'll carry more apples on a truck next time!"

    "I agree!"said Uncle Li．"How foolish （傻的） we were!"

    I'm not much of a crier most of the time. But recently when I was reading a book on a plane, l started crying. Of course, it came as a big surprise when tears came up, no matter how hard I tried, I wasn't able to control myself.

    Oh no, not this now, I thought to myself. But even as the thought entered my brain, I felt the first hot drop of salty water coming down my face. I put my head down, hoping that I could go on reading.

    In fact, the harder I tried, the more team pushed their way out of my eyes. You could guess how surprised the man next to me looked.

    I dropped my head in shame. He must think I was crazy. Maybe I could turn toward him, hold up the cover of the book and say in my crying voice, "Pm sorry, sir. It's just a really good book!" But I didn't say anything. Instead, I just put my head back against the seat and let the team run. Do you know what decision I made while I was crying? My decision was that it was okay if he thought I was crazy. I'd rather be crazy than be the kind of person who wouldn't cry when the situation called for it, or who wouldn't let herself feel anything at all.

    I've been that girl who has spent so much time trying to make sure people didn't think 1 was crazy. But now I don't want to be that girl any more--that bored and sad girl. I'd rather be this girl who is able to forgive(原谅), love and act, even if it means being disappointed or being hurt again and again.

    Do you remember when your grandma told you the story of Snow White? Ah, the happy days of childhood! But did you know that Snow White comes from Germany? It's just one story from the 209 in Grimm's Fairy Tales (《格林童话》).

    The Grimm brothers started to collect fairy tales in 1806. Their first book came out (出版) in 1812. Why are German fairy tales so interesting? Maybe it's because they come from a great place famous for its stories – the Black Forest.

    The Black Forest is in southwest Germany. It's the largest forest in the country – and one of the most beautiful. It's famous for its trees and lovely views. There are valleys and waterfalls (瀑布) there. It's a good place to start a story.

    Don't forget to bring something back if you visit. People there are good at making clocks, musical instruments and watches.