Teenager Jake Denham was skiing with his family in the USA when he fell over and lost one of his skis(滑雪板). His family didn't know that he had a problem. They kept on skiing. When they got to the foot of the mountain, there was no sign of Jake.

    Jake couldn't find his ski anywhere. In the end, he decided to take off his other ski and walk down the mountain. But he couldn't work out the right way to go.

    It was now getting dark and he was a long way from any place of safety. He knew that he might die that night in the cold temperatures. But Jake kept calm. At home, Jake watched a lot of TV programmes about living in difficult situations. He remembered the advice from these programmes and knew that he should build a hole in the snow. He made a hole and pointed it up the hill so the wind couldn't blow into it. Outside his hole the temperature fell to a dangerous —15℃ that night, but inside it Jake was safe from the cold.

    But he had to get down the mountain. The TV programmes always said, ^”If you are lost, you should find someone else's tracks (轨迹) through the snow and follow them.” “I wanted to live my life”, remembers Jake.

    So I got up and I found some ski tracks and I followed those. He walked and walked and finally he saw lights.

    Nine hours after he lost his ski, he found a team of workers who came to save him. He was safe!

    His mum was very happy when she heard the news. Amazingly, Jake didn't even have to go to hospital. He got through the terrible experience without any injuries.

    So, the next time someone says that watching TV is a waste of time, think of Jake. Sometimes TV can save your life!

    Jane always goes to school early. She likes to talk to her friends before class. After school she does not go home early. She is always late. Jane stops to see the animals in the pet shop. She likes to see the dogs. One of them is a little dog. She watches the little white dog play in the window of the shop. She watches for a long time, so she comes home late.

    One day her father and mother ask why she is late, and she tells them about the little dog in the pet shop.

    Jane is not late the next day. She stops to look in the window of the shop. But she doesn't see the little white dog, and she is very sad. She is also very happy, today is her birthday.

    Mother shows her a big birthday cake and Father gives her a birthday surprise. He gives the little white dog from the shop. Jane is very happy. The next day Jane does not come home late. She runs home to play with the white dog.

    This is a story about a boy called Sparky. For Sparky， school was all but impossible. He failed every subject in the eighth grade. He got a zero in physics. It made him the worst physics student in the school's history. He didn't do much better in sports. Although he tried to join the school's golf team， he quickly lost the only important match.

    He didn't have friends， either. Other kids didn't care about him. If a classmate said “Hello” to Sparky outside of school， he would feel very surprised.

    Sparky was a loser(失败者） and everyone knew it. So he accepted it.

But one thing was important to Sparky—drawing. He was proud of his artwork. In senior high school， he sent some cartoons to the editors of the yearbook but he was refused. Sparky was hurt. But he didn't lose hope because he believed in his ability and he stuck to drawing. He decided to become a professional artist.

    He wrote a letter to the Walt Disney Studios after graduating from high school. The studio asked him to draw some cartoons on a certain subject. Sparky spent a lot of time on the cartoons. Finally， the reply came from Disney Studios: they aren't like cartoons.

    Was it time to stop drawing?

Sparky didn't think so. He started to put his own life in the cartoons. He created his childhood self—a little boy loser: Charlie Brown. He wasn't good at football.But Charlie Brown would soon become famous worldwide. Sparky， the boy who used to fail in school and who was refused again and again， was Charles Schulz. He created the Peanuts comic strip and the world-famous cartoon characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

    Long ago there was a man with the name Smith. He made a living on making caps. One day he went to sell his caps. He went through a forest. There were many monkeys in it. It was very hot and the man wanted to rest a little. He came up to a large tree, put his caps on the ground, took one of them and put it on his head. Then he lay down and soon fell asleep.

    "Where are my caps?" Smith cried when he woke up. He looked up and saw many monkeys in the trees and each monkey had a cap on its head.

    "Give me back my caps!" The man shouted at the monkeys. But the monkeys didn't understand him. They only laughed. The man got very angry, took off his own cap, threw it on the ground and cried, "If you want all my caps, you may take this one, too!"

    And what do you think happened? The little animals did the same. Each monkey took off its cap and threw it on the ground. The man was very glad. He quickly collected all his caps and went on his way.

    Just as I came back home, I heard a sound coming from the bedroom upstairs-it was from my favourite violin.

    "Thief!"

    I rushed upstairs and saw a boy in dirty clothes pulling my violin down. At first sight, I found a new pair of shoes missing. It seemed he was surely a thief.

    However, when I saw his eyes full of fear, my anger disappeared. I smiled and asked," Are you Mr. Ram's student Rubens? I'm his butler (男管家). I've heard Mr. Ram say his student will come. It must be you."

    "Has my teacher gone out?" the boy said, "I think I'd better visit him again in a while."

    I nodded and asked him, "Do you like playing the violin?"

    "Yes, but I'm too poor to afford one." the boy replied.

    "Then, I'll give you this violin." The boy looked at me surprisingly, but he picked up the violin. While going out of the room, he suddenly saw a huge photo of me playing the violin at the Grand Theatre of Sydney on the wall. His face turned pale. He stood there for a moment and ran out. He must have understood what had happened because no master (主人) would put up the butler's photo on the wall of his living room.

    A few years later, at a music competition in Melbourne, I was invited to be the judge (评委). Finally, a violin player called Merritt won the first prize.

    After the prize-giving, Merritt ran to me holding a violin box, his face red, and asked," Mr. Brian, do you still know me? You gave me the violin, which I have treasured ever since! Today, I want to say sorry and give back this violin to you without regret…"

    He was just the "Mr. Ram's student"!