Mr Robin（知更鸟）had his house in a tree.
     His four baby robins lived in it. They grew very fast. Soon the house was too little for them.
   “It is time for you to fly,” said Mr Robin.
   “Oh, we can not fly,” said the baby robins.
   “You can, if you try, ” said Mr Robin.
     A robin tried. He flew into a tree.
   “Oh, how interesting!” said the little robin. “I like to fly. See me go!”
     Then the other robins tried.
     In a little while they could all fly.
     The robins could fly, but they could not sing.
   “No, Dad, we can not sing.”
   “You can, if you try. Hear the other birds sing. Look at the pretty flowers and the blue sky. Then you will want to sing. Hear me sing to you. Now sing for me.”
      One little robin sang.
     Then they all sang.
     A little girl came by. “Wow, hear the birds sing!” she said. “How happy they are!”

    Chores weren't popular at my house. My children didn't like to do chores. They always saw me do chores, but they hardly ever helped me dothem.

    A year ago, I made a game called "The Endless ChoreGame". It's really great. Here's how the game works.

    I make a card with forty squares(方框), and I write adifferent chore on each square. These chores can be easy and interesting likemaking dessert. Then my family roll the dice(骰子)to decidewhat chores we have to do. The card also has a few squares with fun things, like watching TV and singing. If you're lucky, you can watchTV when the others are doing the chores.

    My son likes the game very much. He goes to the kitchen happily every morning to do the game. It's really a good way to make my children do chores. You can have a try if you have the same problemas me.

    "Listen carefully to what I say,"  the time traveler said, "I shall tell you something that you will not agree."

    "Why will we not agree?" I asked.

    "Because the science and mathematics you know are not correct," he said. "You believe there are only three dimensions(三维空间)-length, breadth(宽) and thickness."

    "There is nothing to argue with that, "  the youngest member of our little group said.

    "Exactly!"  the time traveler answered, "But there is also a fourth dimension - time."

    "We all know about time, " another member of the group said. "Time passed."

    "I do not agree,"  the time traveler said, "Length, breadth and thickness do not pass. They stay in the same place in space.  We move about them. I can prove that time is the same. It does not pass. We move in time the same way that we move in breadth, length and thickness."

    None of us believed the time traveler, and we argued with him for many hours.

    "If we could travel back in time,"  the scientist said, "We could do things to change the future."

    "If we could travel forward in time," the doctor(博士) said, "we could do things that change our present."

    The time traveler smiled, "It is clear," he said, "that there is only one way I can show you that I am right. We must do an experiment. Please wait here."

    He left the room and soon returned, carrying what looked like a clock.

    "This is a model of a time machine. It took me two years to make it," the time traveler said. "I want all of you to understand that when I start the machine, it will immediately travel in time and disappear from the present."

    He turned to the youngest of all. "Give me your hand," he said.

    The young man put out his hand. The time traveler took it and placed it on the machine. Immediately, there was a sudden wind, and the little machine disappeared.

    I was certain this was not a trick, but the doctor was not so sure.

    "Are you asking us to believe," he said, "that the machine is now in a different time?"

    "Certainly! In my laboratory, a full-size machine is almost complete. As soon as it is complete, I shall send myself on a journey through time. Would you like to see my machine?"

    "Are you serious about this?" the doctor asked.

    "I have never been more serious about anything," the time traveler said, "Come."

    We followed him to his laboratory. There, we saw the actual machine, not quite complete, but large enough for a man to sit in.

Scene 1

    (The setting is a room in the palace of the Queen of Sheba. The Queen sits at one end of the room on a chair. Zahrah stands on one side of the chair. Amram is showing some silks to the Queen.)

Amram: Would your Majesty be good enough to feel this silk? See how fine and soft it is!

    (Amarm comes a little closer to the Queen and holds out some purple silk. She feels it.) 

Queen: Yes, it is. And I like this bright purple color very much. (She turns to Zahrah.) Zahrah, what do you think of it?

 Zahrah:  I like it very much, and it is a good color for a queen, your Majesty. (She folds up the silk and puts it to one side.)

Amram:  The king of my own country, the wise King Solomon, likes this bright purple better than any other color.

Queen: I have heard many things about your king.   

Amram: He is a good king, your Majesty, and a kind man. All his people love him.

Queen:  I have also heard that he is very wise. Is it true, Amram, that King Solomon understands what animals say?

Amram: It is true, your Majesty.

Queen (Smiles): It's very hard to believe.

Amram: If I told you what happened one time when I was with the king, I think you would believe it.

Queen: I'd like to hear your story.

Amram: Well, one day our king and some men of his palace were riding on horseback to a nearby city. The king was riding ahead of the rest of us. All at once he pulled his horse to stop. He looked down at the sand in the road.

Queen: Go on.

Amram: Then the king turned his horse off the road and onto the grass. He kept his horse on the grass a little way before turning back onto the road.

Queen:  Did he say why he stopped and then turned his horse off the road?

Amram: King Solomon told us he had seen some ants hurrying along in the sand of the road. He said he had heard them say they were afraid that the horses would walk on them.

Queen (Surprised): And that was why your mighty king turned off the road?

Amram (Proud)Yes, your Majesty. The mighty King Solomon stopped to hear what the little ants in the sand were saying. He turned off the road to save them from being hurt.

Queen: Then he must be as wise and as kind as people say he is.

Amram: Now you can believe it, can't you?

Queen:  I won't fully believe it until I see and hear him myself, Amram.

Amram: Then why don't you come to our country and pay him a visit, your Majesty?

Queen:  Yes, I think I shall do that, Amram. But first I must think of a way to test this wise king. You may go now, Amram,

Amram: Good day, your Majesty. (He backs away.)

(Curtain)

    Once upon a time, a wealthy old man lived alone in a big house. He was growing weaker day Toy day and was unable to take care of himself, so he decided to hire (雇佣) a nurse to help with housework and take care of him.

    One day, the old man interviewed two nurses—Anthony and Peter. Anthony happened to be a handsome young man, while Peter looked quite ordinary (普通的). The old man asked Anthony to make tea for him. After Anthony left, the old man turned to Peter and said, "Anthony has given me a very bad account (描述) of you. He said you are rude (粗鲁的) and untrustwarthy (信赖的) . Is this correct?"

    Peter thought for a minute and said, "If Anthony has a bad opinion of me, there must be something wrong with me. I shoutd take some time to change these things."

    The old man was very impressed by Peter's character. Meanwhile, Anthony returned with a cup of tea for the old man, The old man sent Peter to make breakfast for him. He then turned to Anthony and told him, "Peter spoke very poorly of you while you were gone. What do you think ahout this? " After hearing this, Anthony became angry and started cursing (咒骂).

    In the end, the old man hired Peter. Altbough Peter looked quite ordinary, he had impressive inner (内在的) beauty.

    A farmer was put in prison(监狱). One day, he got a letter from his wife. "I am worried about our farm," she wrote. "It's time to plant potatoes, but I can't do all the digging(挖) by myself." The farmer thought over and then had an idea. He wrote to his wife, "Don't dig the fields. This is where my gold(金子) is. Don't plant potatoes until I come home." A few days later, the farmer got another letter from his wife. It said, "Two days ago, about ten prison guards(监狱看守) came to our fields. It looked as if they were looking for something. They have dug our field." The farmer wrote to his wife at once. "Now you can plant our potatoes," he wrote.