Alice needs some money for a Mother's Day present. She tells her father about her problem.

    "I'll pay you to do some housework. You can clean up the yard(院子)," her father says.

    "You can also wash my car and Mum's. Both of them need to be washed because they're really dirty."

    Alice works on the yard and washes her father's car.

    "Too bad! You didn't have time to wash Mum's car," Dad says when he pays her.

    The next morning Alice wakes up early. First she washes her mother's car. Then she goes to the flower shop. She also buys her mother's favourite bread on her way home. After breakfast Alice asks her mother to go to the garage(车库). She opens the gate.

    "Wow!" Alice's mother says. "My car is gleaming."

    "Open the door," Alice says.

    Alice's mother opens the door. There on the seat she sees a bunch of flowers.

    "Happy Mother's Day!" Alice says.

    During all this time I never stopped thinking about escape. When I traveled across to the other side of the island, I could see the other islands, and I said to myself, "Perhaps I can get there with a boat. Perhaps I can get back to England one day."

    So I decided to make myself a boat. I cut down a big tree, and then began to make a long hole in it. It was hard work, but about six months later, I had a very fine canoe (独木舟). Next, I had to get it down to the sea. How silly I was! Why didn't I think before I began work? Of course, the canoe was too heavy. I couldn't move it! I pulled and pushed and tried everything, but it didn't move. I was very unhappy for a long time after that.

    That happened in my fourth year on the island. In my sixth year I did make myself a smaller canoe, but I did not try to escape in it. The boat was too small for a long journey, and I did not want to die at sea. The island was my home now, not my prison, and I was just happy to be alive. A year or two later, I made myself a second canoe on the other side of the island. I also built myself a second house there, and so I had two homes.

    My life was still busy from morning to night. There were always things to do or to make. I learnt to make new clothes for myself from the skins of dead animals. They looked very strange, it is true, but they kept me dry in the rain.

    I kept food and tools at both my houses, and also wild goats. There were many goats on the island, and I made fields with high fences to keep them in. They learnt to take food from me, and soon I had goats' milk to drink every day. I also worked hard in my corn (玉米) fields. And so many years went by.

    A young American doctor was sleeping when suddenly his door bell began to ring. It was already midnight, but what could the doctor do? He had to get up, put on his coat and go downstairs.

    When he opened the door, he saw a man standing with a hat in his hand. “ How do you do, doctor?” said the man. “ Can you come at once to a place out of town? It is quite far, but you have a car and I can show you the way.”

    “Certainly,” said the doctor, “ I am quite ready, I can come at once.” In a few minutes, the car was standing at the front door, the man got on the doctor's car. And they drove off.

    They drove on for a long time, and then the man said, “ Here we are. This is my house. Now I can pay you and you can go back to town.”

    “But I must see the patient,” the doctor said. “How can I go back without seeing the patient? Where is the patient?”

    “There is no patient,” explained the man. “Nobody is ill. I live here, you see, and one must get home from a town, mustn't he? There are no taxis at this time of the night, but a doctor often makes night calls, so excuse me. Here is your money. Thank you, doctor. Good night.”

    Horatio Spafford, who was born in 1828, was a wealthy Chicago lawyer with a promising career, a beautiful home, a wife, four daughters and a son.

    At the very height of his financial and professional success Horatio and his wife, Anna, suffered the loss of their young son. Shortly thereafter, on October 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed most of his real estate(地产) Investment.

    In 1873, Spafford planned a boat trip to Europe in order to give his wife and daughters a much-needed vacation and time to recover from the loss of their young son. Spafford sent his wife and daughters ahead of him while he remained in Chicago to take care of some small business. Several days later he received notice that his family's ship had had a collision (碰撞). All four of his daughters had drowned, only his wife had survived.

    With a heavy heart, Spafford boarded a boat that would take him to his broken-hearted Anna in England. It was on this trip that he wrote those now famous words: When sorrows like sea billows roll, it is well, it is well with my soul.

    Philip Bliss (1838-1876), composer of many songs, including Hold the Fort, Let the Lower Lights be Buming, and Jesus Loves Even Me, was so impressed with Spafford's life and the words of his hymn (赞美) that be composed a beautiful piece of music to accompany the poem. The song was published by Bliss and Sankey in 1876.

    For more than a century, the tragic story of one man has given hope to countless people.

    There is a pilot (飞行员) and four people in a small plane. Suddenly there is something wrong with the machine while it is flying in the air. The plane begins to fall down. The pilot tells the people there are only four parachutes (降落伞). They all become worried and start to make excuses.

    "I must go," says the pilot, taking one of the parachutes and jumps out. The first person stands up, "I'm a doctor," he says. "I help people live longer and I save lives." He takes a parachute and jumps out.

    The next person says, "I must have a parachute. I am a very clever person. I have to attend an important match. I know I will win the game because I'll be the cleverest person there." He picks up a pack and jumps out.

Two men are left—an old businessman and a young mountain climber. At this time the plane is going down fast. The businessman says, "Young man, I am old but you are still young. You take the last parachute." The young mountain climber smiles. "Don't worry," He says. "We can both jump out because there are still two parachutes. Just now the clever man jumped out with my backpack."

    Science fiction is a popular kind of writing, and many people think of Jules Verne(儒勒·凡尔纳) as the father of science fiction. He was born in France in 1828. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but from his early 20s Verne decided to become a writer. At first he wrote plays for the theater. Then, in 1863, he wrote a story called Five Weeks in a Balloon. The success of this book encouraged him to write more stories such as A Journey to the Center of the Earth(1864) and From the Earth to the Moon(1865).

    In the 19th century, many people were interested in science and inventions. Jules Verne wrote about scientific subjects in his stories and, as a result, they were very popular. Verne's writing included many predictions(预言) for the 20th century and many of them came true. He described space flight, movies, and air conditioning, a long time before they appeared. These books were very successful and they made Verne rich.

    Jules Verne's books have been the subjects for many movies. 20, 000 Leagues under the Sea was a successful movie for Walt Disney. It was the first time that Disney movie had used real actors instead of cartoon drawings. Around the World in Eighty Days is another famous movie based on one of Verne's books. The main character is an Englishman called Phileas Fogg. For him, the most important thing is to be always on time!