“Well, we're in our new house. Let's get a new pet to get along with it,” Mrs. Brown said to her husband.” That sounds like a pretty good idea,” he answered. “Do you want to see the ads in the newspaper？” “No. Let's go to the animal shelter. Many pets there need homes. Since tomorrow is Saturday, we can both go,” she said.
    The next morning the Browns met Mr Snow at the animal shelter. “We want to be sure that the pets here go to good homes,” Mr Snow said, “So I need to ask you some questions.”
    After they talked for a while, the Browns decided to get a small dog. It wouldn't need a big house or a big yard. A small dog would bark（吠）and warn them if someone tried to break into their house. After Mr Snow gave the Browns a book on pet care, they chose one and wanted to take her home right away. But the animal doctor hadn't checked her yet. So Mr Snow told them to return on Sunday.
    On Sunday afternoon the Browns went to the animal shelter. The animal doctor said, “Shadow has had all of her shots(预防针). She will be healthy.” The browns thanked the doctor and took Shadow home.

    An old man was fishing in the bank of a river. A girl came to see him fishing. The old man was really good at fishing and it didn't take long for him to catch a full basket of fish. The old man saw that the girl was very cute, and he wanted to give her a whole basket of fish. But the girl shook her head. The old man was surprised and asked "Why don't you want the fish?"

    The girl replied, "I want the fishing rod（竿）in your hands.”

    The old man asked, "Why do you want the rod?"

    "It doesn't take long to eat all the fish in a basket. But if I have the fishing rod, I can go fishing by myself and I won't be afraid of not having any more fish to eat."

    I think you will certainly say that the girl is very smart. Wrong! If she doesn't know how to fish, she can not have fish to eat, even though she has the fishing rod. It's useless to only have a fishing rod. Fishing skills are the most important, not the fishing rod.

    Too many people think that if they have a "fishing rod" in their life, they will no longer fear the wind and rain. They are just like the girl, who thought that if she had a fishing rod, she would have fish to eat.

    Johnnie Martin was born in a worker's family. His parents lived a simple life, saving money for the day when they could send him to a good university. They had dreamed that their son could get a good job and live a better life. However, to Johnnie, school lessons seemed like a wall that was impossible to go through. They were not so easy for him.

    One day when he was in Grade 11, Johnnie went to the school psychologist's (心理学家的) office to ask for help. "I've been trying hard, but…" Johnnie was about to cry.

    The psychologist put his hand on the boy's shoulder, "People have different kinds of talents, Johnnie. There are painters, who were never able to learn math, and some day you will find what you are good at. When you do, you will make all of us very proud of you."

    Johnnie didn't go to university. He found a job in the garden in the town. Soon something amazing happened. People began to notice that Johnnie had what they called a "green thumb". The plants grew well and the roses were in bloom (花). People started to accept his advice for gardening (园艺).

    One day while he was walking, he found an unusual dirty land. He volunteered to make it into a garden. That afternoon he started the work, but he couldn't afford all the tools or the plants. People gave him young trees, rose-bushes, benches and many other things. Before long, it had become a beautiful little park.

    Today Johnnie is the head of the business in gardening. Wherever he and his men go, they spread beauty before the eyes of people.

    They say that "travel is the best teacher" and there is no better example of this idea than the Ming dynasty travel writer and geographer Xu Xiake (1587-1641). His book The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake, not only encouraged a love of travelling among Chinese people but provided important scientific information about the country's land and geography.

    Born into a wealthy Jiangyin family, Xu became interested in books about different places at anearly age and wanted to travel. When he was 18, however. Xu's father died and so, it seemed, did his travelling dreams. He now was responsible for the family farm and taking care of his 60-year-old mother as tradition required.

    But his mother had different ideas. Understanding her son, slove of travel and valuing the knowledge he could get from such experiences, this modern-thinking woman refused to keep her son at home. She agreed that Xu could travel for three months every year, when there was less farm work.

    So at the age of twenty and with his mother's support, Xu set off for the first time, leaving behind not only his mother but his new wife as well. He would repeat this goodbye each year for most of the next 30 years. During this time, he travelled throughout the Ming kingdom, carefully studying the lands he passed through and recording his experiences and many discoveries in a diary. This diary, which once had over 500,000 words, would eventually become The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake.

    Although rich, Xu avoided comfortable travel, preferring to go almost everywhere on foot. This way he could research the environment in detail and get a true picture of the natural world. Many of his trips were to hard-to-reach mountain areas, and through wild forests where few people lived. His willingness to face hardships came at a cost however. Progress was slow and tiring and he was frequently sick, robbed and beaten during his journeys

    Sadly Xu became seriously ill during his last and longest journey, a 4-year trip through the Southwest of China. He died in 1641, soon after returning to his hometown for the last time. When his diary was finally printed years after his death, much of it had been destroyed or lost. Although incomplete, it still made Xu a travelling legend around the world.

    A train stopped at a small station. A man looked out of the window and saw a woman who was selling cakes. People from the train were buying them. The man wanted to buy a cake, but the woman was standing far from the window. It was raining, and the man didn't want to go out in the rain. Suddenly he saw a boy who was walking on the platform(站台) not far from him.

    "Come here, boy!" the man said. "Do you know how much those cakes cost?" "Five cents for each," the boy answered. The man gave the boy ten cents and asked him to buy two cakes. "One for me, and one for you," he told the boy. A few minutes later, the boy came back. He was eating a cake. He gave the man five cents and said, "There was only one cake."