A

    As we all know, Hong Kong is a great place for shopping. If you like shopping, you will love Hong Kong.

    Bruce is an 18-year-old boy. One day, Bruce's father asked him to go to Hong Kong for shopping. His father gave him a big trolley case (拉杆箱) and a shopping list. His father would like him to buy 20 boxes of milk, 20 apples, some chocolate, and some bread. Bruce was very happy to go to Hong Kong all by himself. He got up very early and went to Hong Kong by train.

    He bought all of the things in the shopping list. When he was ready to leave Hong Kong, he wanted to go to the toilet. So he carried the heavy trolley case into the toilet. Just then, an old man in the toilet saw him and said to him, "No one will steal your trolley case, even if (即使) there is a large piece of gold in it."   

Jack had an unusual experience last night. He is sharing it with his friends. Ken and May.

Ken: What were you doing, Jack What did you see

Jack: It was half past nine last night and I was getting ready for bed. I heard some strange noise outside while I was brushing my teeth. I wondered what was happening and I went to the window and looked out. To my surprise, I saw a bright yellow green light in the sky.

May: Maybe the light you saw was a UFO! Or a ghost! A few years ago, an American man saw a flying saucer while he was driving along a road. He also saw some strange yellow light. You have heard about it, haven't you

Ken: Don't be imaginative, May. Jack didn't see anything, or anybody. It wasn't a ghost. It was probably a plane, or a shooting star .Perhaps Jack just made a horrible dream!

Jack: I am very serious .I did see something. The light disappeared and then suddenly some “tiny people” were standing in the garden .There were four of them .Two of them ate some flowers in the garden .It was always stretching out its arms.

Ken: Oh, come on, Jack. I really doubt what you have said.

Jack: I am not joking! One of the people was looking at me through the window.

May: Really What did it look like Were you frightened

Jack: Its whole body was green. It had no ears and nose. Its hands were huge. Its eyes were very big and resembled eggs. It started at me and I could hardly move.

Ken: What happened then ?

Jack: I was able to move eventually. I ran and got my camera immediately.

May: And......

Jack: I didn't have a film.

May: Oh no!

    Thomas Edison lost the first job. For the next five years he went around the country from job to job. At last Edison went to New York. He had little money. He could not buy enough food to eat. He had no place to sleep.

    For many days Edison looked for work. He was hungry. At last he found work fixing machines. He could fix the old machines. He also made new ones. The head man liked Edison's new machines. He was going to give Edison $40， 000 for them. Edison would now have money to do what he wanted.

    Thomas Edison was then 23， He used the money to build a shop in New Jersey. He had many people working for him. But he worked more than 40 new things at one time.

    In 1876 Alexander. Graham Bell made a telephone. But it could carry voices only a little way. Edison wanted to make a better telephone. He soon made one.  It could carry voices a long way.

    Stephen Hawking was one of the most famous scientists in this century. He was born in 1942. He's a world well-known on space and time. Stephen is researching some very big questions, such as: How did the universe begin? How will it end?

Stephen was a student at Oxford University. He studied math and science. Then, at the age of twenty, he became sick. He was so young, but the doctors said to his family, “He has only two more years to live.” As a matter of fact, the doctors were wrong—- he didn't die. He can't walk now but he uses a wheelchair(轮椅). He can't feed himself and get in or out of bed himself. But he refused to give in to the condition. He talks with the help of a computer. After Oxford, Stephen went to Cambridge University. Three years later, in 1965, he became a doctor of philosophy(哲学).

    Because of his serious health problems, it was difficult for him to draw diagrams(图表)or to write. So he started to think in pictures. With this new way of thinking, he became one of the most famous scientists in the world. In 1991, he met the Pope(教皇) in Rome. They talked about his ideas. Then in 1998, he wrote his first important book, A Brief History of Time. It sold more than 5.5 million copies in 33 different languages. He was once invited to China, he impressed us with his self-confidence, humorous and witty(风趣的) conversation.

    Mary was afraid of the dark. She thought there were terrible monsters（怪物） in the dark. One day her aunt Valerie came to visit. Valerie was a brave woman. Mary wanted to be like her. So Mary asked her aunt, "Are you afraid of the dark?"

    "A lot of times" answered her aunt. "When I was small, I was afraid of staying in the dark."

    Hearing this, Mary felt better.

    "I know a secret not to be afraid of the dark. Some blind children told it to me."

    "Can you tell me?" asked Mary.

    "Of course! The secret is to change your eyes. Because blind children can't see, and their hands are their eyes. At night, if anything makes you afraid, close your eyes, get out of bed, and try to see what it is. But use your hands as eyes..."

    That night when Mary felt afraid of something in the bedroom, she closed the eyes of her face and opened the eyes of her hands. She went to touch it with her hands...

    The next morning, Mary ran into the kitchen.

There was a big smile on her face. "The monster is so lovely," she cried. "It's my toy dog!"

    A poor (贫穷的) man goes to a rich (富有的) man's house. On the way, he sees a box under a tree. He opens it and sees some apples in it.

    The man thinks, "I will have dinner in the rich man's house. He will give me nice food to eat. It will be very delicious." So he doesn't eat the apples. He throws them away (扔掉).

    The man walks on and comes to a river. He can't go across it. He waits for some time, but there is no boat coming. "What a bad day! I can't go to the rich man's house today," he thinks.

    The man has to go back home. He doesn't have any food at home. He is very hungry. He thinks of the apples. He goes back to the tree. He is very happy to see them near the tree, and he eats them quickly.

   The story tells us: Do not throw away good things; you may need them some other time.