Jane Austen(1775-1817),an English novelist, started writing young and completed six novels in her life. Today Austen's books are more popular than ever. In the last 10 years, five of her six novels have been made into Hollywood films, while her books continue to be best-sellers.

Richard Jenkyns, a professor of English at Oxford University, says that her novels are about marriage, friendships and the family, which are still with us today. “The stories are timeless," Jenkyns said.

Pride and Prejudice(偏见)(1813) is Austen's most famous work. It is a love story about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. At first, these two dislike each other. Elizabeth is pretty ,smart and lively. She is proud because Darcy doesn't know about her family.  Mr. Darcy is handsome, rich and has a better family background. So, he is proud as well. At the same time, Darcy holds a prejudice against the Bennet family. He has no understanding of why the family, especially its mother and daughters should try so hard to find wealthy and powerful husbands. He thinks they are vulgar. Anyway, Elizabeth and Darcy finally fall in love and become a romantic couple but their families don't want them to.

In Pride and Prejudice, some of the main things that Jane Austen wants to teach people are as follows.  Opposites can attract each other. Lovers should not ony make each other feel relaxed or comfortable, but also educate and improve each other.

 Austen is often called the greatest romanti writer, so it is surprising she remained unmarried. "Maybe she was too romantic, waiting for the perfect man,”Jenkyns says.

Have you ever heard of a rattlesnake? It is a poisonous (有毒的) American snake.When it is angry or afraid, it makes a noise like a rattle with its tail. It's very scary. But Heather Ramirez and her husband, from California, in the UnitedStates, make a living in an unusual way. They are self-employed (自雇的) snake catchers!They catch snakes, especially rattlesnakes which have gone indoors, and returnthem to the wild.

    Heather describes her work as “protecting people from rattlesnakes — andprotecting rattlesnakes from people!” In the area where they live, rattlesnakesoften come face to face with people. They are found in stores, offices, housesand gardens. Heather explains that it's not the snakes that are moving into places where people live, but it's the other way round. The snakes lived in these places first and then the people built houses.

Most people who see a rattlesnake are feared. If you keep your distance,however, the snake won't bite (咬) you. In twelve years as a snake catcher, Heather has nevertouched a snake. She doesn't take the risk. She picks up the snakes with aspecial tool. This doesn't hurt them,but it keeps them at a safe distance so that they can't bite her.

    Heather and her husband are very busy because they are never off duty.Catching snakes is a full-time job and they don't often have a day off. Peoplecan get to them at any time of the day or night. Not everyone can do this job,but Heather doesn't want to do anything else. “I just love my job,” she says.

    A university professor recently made several tests with different animals to find out which was cleverer than other animals.

    In one test the professor put a monkey in a room where there were several small boxes. Some boxes were inside other boxes. One small box had some food in it. The professor wanted to watch the monkey and to find out how long it would take the monkey to find the food. The professor left the room. He waited a few minutes outside the door. Then he got down on his knees and put his eye to the keyhole (钥匙孔). What did he see? To his surprise, he found himself looking into the eye of the monkey. The monkey was on the other side of the door and looked at the professor through the keyhole.

    A farmer had a cow. He took very good care of this cow and one day when it was ill, he was very worried. He telephoned the vet.

    "What's the problem?" The vet asked him when he arrived.

    "My cow's ill," the farmer said. "I don't know what's the matter with her. She's lying down and won't eat. She's making a strange noise."

    The vet looked over the cow. "She's certainly ill," he said, "and she needs to take some very strong medicine."

    He took a bottle out of his box, put two pills into his hand and said, "Give her these. The pills should make her better."

    "How should I give them to her?" the farmer asked.

    The vet gave him a tube (管子)and said, "Put this tube in her mouth, then put the pills in the tube and blow. That'll make it."

    The next day the vet came to the farm again. The farmer was sitting outside his house and looked more worried.

    "How's your cow?" the vet asked.

    "No change," the farmer said, "and I'm feeling very strange myself."

    "Oh?" the vet said, "Why?"

    "I did what you said," the farmer answered. "I put the tube in the cow's mouth and then put two pills down it."

    "And?" the vet asked.

    "The cow blew first," the farmer said.

    A 50-year-old American officer(官员)came back to his school. The teacher asked him to give a talk to the small boys and girls there. The talk was about the love of their great country. All the little ones were sitting in a large meeting-room. The old officer went up and began speaking. He said, "Boys and girls, I studied in the school forty years ago. When l was your age, we were not as happy as you are today. Think about it and answer me, why are you so happy now?"

    No sound came from the children. The old marl waited for a long time. Then a short boy in the front put up his small dirty hand. "Good boy! Please answer me, dear, "said the officer.

    With a big smile on his face, the boy stood up and said. "If you speak long enough, we won't have math and biology(生物)lessons this morning."