One cold winter night in Shanghai, I was walking home at one in the morning after long tiring work. I was having trouble with my job in the bank. As I walked, I thought seriously about giving up living there. City life had become too much for me.

 As I walked down empty streets, I felt very small and cold. I began running, both to keep warm and to keep away any possible danger. Very few people were still out except a few sad-looking homeless people under blankets（毛毯）.

 Suddenly, I heard a sound behind me. I turned quickly, all I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me nervous, so I started to run faster. When I reached home, I realized what the noise had been. It had been my wallet falling to the sidewalk.

 Now I wasn't cold or tired anymore. I ran back to where I'd heard the noise. Although I searched carefully for fifteen minutes, my wallet was nowhere to be found.

Just as I was about to give up the search, I heard the garbage truck（垃圾车）come to me. When a voice called from the inside, “Alisa Chen?” I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? The door opened, and out jumped a small red-haired man “Is this what you're looking for?”he asked, holding up a small square shape.

 It was nearly 3 a. m. by the time I got into bed. But I had got my wallet back. I also had got back some enjoyment of city life. I realized that the city couldn't be a bad place as long as people were willing to help each other. 

阅读理解

Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous scientists in the world. He was born in 1942. He's a famous scientist and expert on space and time. Stephen is trying to find the answers to some very big questions, such as: how did the universe begin? How will it end? These questions are very hard for us to understand. But they are very important and can tell us many things about the universe.

Stephen studied Maths and science when he was a student at university. Then, at the age of twenty-one, 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. He can't feed himself and get in or out of bed himself. But he refuses to give in. 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.

Because of his serious health problem, it was difficult for him to draw diagrams (图表) or 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 1981, he met the Pope (教皇) in Rome. They talked about his ideas. Then in 1988, he wrote his first important book, A Brief History of Time. It was sold more than 5.5 million copies in 33 different languages. He was once invited to China. He impressed us with his self-confidence and humorous conversation.

    The wind tried pushing Colin to the ground. It felt as if Colin's news-bag was full of potatoes.

    Maybe it had to do with the news Dad read before Colin left. The morning headlines（标题）were full of the usual sad stories.

    “No good news again!” Dad said.

    Car accidents! House burns! Storm damage（损害）!

    Colin moved quickly from house to house leaving papers in the mailbox. He wished he could bring only good news to his family, also to his friendly neighbours. “How could I make things better for everyone?” he wondered.

    Colin noticed Alice coming. She only had one real eye. The other was made of glass. He liked Alice even if many others laughed at her. He didn't realize how much it helped her, having a friend like Colin.

    Each time Colin left a paper by a customer's door, he thought, “How could I make some good news?”

    Colin gave his usual cheerful “Hi” to everyone on his way. His smile was like the rising sun.

    Someone was crying and he ran to where a little boy had fallen and hurt his leg. Colin calmed him down until the boy's mother arrived.

    “I'm glad you're my paperboy,” she told Colin.

    He continued on his way, but he didn't feel tired. It was fun doing what he usually did—helping others.

    He raced up the street to his last customer. Mrs. Williams saw Colin coming and had peanut butter cookies as a treat for her favourite paperboy. She wondered why such a lively boy always had time to chat with an old lady.

    Colin's own treat for his customers came from his heart. He did have much good news to share, even if he didn't realize it. His smile and polite manners brought cheering-up news to all his customers.

    A group of swans flew down to a beach where a crow(乌鸦) was jumping around. The crow watched them with disdain(鄙视).

    "You have no flying skills at all!" he said to the swans. "All you can do is to move your wings. Can you turn over in the air? No, that's beyond you. Let's have a flying competition. I'll show you what real flying is! "

One of the swans, a strong young male, took up the challenge. The crow flew up and began to show his skills. He flew in circles, performed other flying tricks, and then came down and looked proudly at the swan.

    Now it was the swan's turn. He flew up, and began flying over the sea. The crow flew after him, making all kinds of comments(评价) about his flying. They flew on and on till they couldn't see the land and there was nothing but water on all sides. The crow was making fewer and fewer comments. He was now so exhausted that he found it hard to stay in the air, and had to struggle to keep himself from falling into the water.

    The swan pretended(假装) not to notice, and said, "Why do you keep touching the water, brother? Is that another trick? "

    "No," said the crow. He knew he had lost the competition. "I'm in trouble because of my pride! If you don't help me, I'll lose my life…"

The swan took pity on him, and took him on his shoulders and flew back to the beach.

    Canada Geese are large blue and white birds. When autumn arrives, they have to fly south where the weather is warmer. The winters are so cold in Canada that the birds die if they stay there.

    Last spring, Bill Lishman found sixteen young Canada Geese on his farm. They had lost their parents. Bill thought, "These young birds won't know what to do in the autumn."

    Bill had a small plane and he decided to teach the birds to follow him. All through the summer, he went on short trips in his plane and the young geese flew after him.

    When the cold weather arrived in autumn, Bill flew to Virginia in the United States, 600 miles (英里) south of his home in Canada. The geese followed him all the way. Bill left the geese in Virginia and he returned home.

    This spring. Bill was waiting for the birds to come back. They didn't arrive, so Bill flew to Virginia to get them. He looked for them for two weeks but he couldn't find them.

    When he arrived back home, Bill found the geese waiting for him. They had found their way home without him!