One day a poor man was cutting a big piece of wood (木头) near a river. Suddenly his old axe (斧子) fell into the water. He felt very sad because he lost his only axe. Then all at once a beautiful fairy (仙女) came out and asked the man what was the matter.

    "I have lost my axe." he said, "It fell into the water when I was cutting the wood."

    The fairy showed him a gold axe and asked, "Is that yours?"

    "No." said the man.

    The fairy then showed him a silver (银) axe and asked again, "Is this yours?"

    "No." again answered the man.

    Then she showed  him the old axe.

    "Yes, that is mine." called out the happy man.

    "I know it well enough." said the fairy, "I only wanted to see if you would tell me the truth, and now I'll give you the gold axe and the silver axe besides (包括)  your own one."

    For all his life，my grandfather has lived in the Valley of Koi．A rushing river and the Eagle Mountain divide the valley into two．They keep the villagers safe from wolves．The soil is so rich that our crops seem to grow well by themselves，and even the precious （珍贵的） fire flowers can be found here．

    Although life in the valley was good，my grandfather still worried about his people．The mountain and river kept danger out，but they also kept us far away from the world．"We must find a way to reach out to other villages，"Grandfather said，"to trade，exchange stories and make friends．If we do not，Koi will one day disappear．"

    One day，grandfather saw a spider （蜘蛛） in his garden．He bent down to look more closely and saw it building a web between two grasses．Suddenly，Grandfather knew what the people of Koi must do．

    Many villagers were skeptical ． "It comes easily to the spider，but it is so difficult for humans，"they didn't believe it possible．"We cannot fly through the air like a spider．And what would happen if strangers learned where the fire flowers grew？"

    "If I were a fire flower，I would rather be picked from the earth and loved than left alone and unseen，"Grandfather said．Some of the villagers agreed．After that，the strongest men and women of Koi began to work．Finally，the bridge was finished!My grandfather was the first Koi villager ever to stand on the far bank of the river．When he reached the other side，a stranger came to greet him friendly with a precious ice flower as a gift to share with us．

    Our village is still small and quiet，but we are no longer shut away from the world．Next spring，I'm going to walk through the mountain to enjoy the ice flowers，I would also like to meet more strangers from other places and share them fire flowers of Koi．

    It is interesting to visit another country, but there are some problems when we don't know the1very well. It may be difficult to talk with the people there. We may not know how to use the telephone in the country we are visiting. We may not know how to buy the things we need. In a2country we might not know where to eat or what to order in a3. It is not easy to decide how4to tip waiters or taxi drivers. When we need help, we might not know how to ask for help. It is not pleasant to have an experience5that. After a short time, however, we learn what to do and what to6, We learn to enjoy life in another country, and then we may be sorry to leave.

    A bus stops at the bus station. It's 8:00a.m.Mr. Brown looks out of the window and he sees a woman. The woman is selling cakes. People from other buses buy a lot. He also wants to buy one. He doesn't have breakfast at home this morning. But the woman is far from his bus. And he doesn't want to go out.

    At that time, he sees a boy. He is not far from the bus. "Come here, boy!" Mr. Brown calls to him.

    "Do you know how much those cakes are?" Mr. Brown asks the boy.

    "Thirty cents for one," The boy answers.

    Mr Brown gives sixty cents to the boy and asks him to buy two cakes. Mr. Brown says "One cake is for you and the other is for me." After five minutes, the boy comes back with one cake. He eats the cake and gives thirty cents to Mr. Brown and says, There is only one left.

Ray was thought to be a strange boy. One day when he was flying his kite, he said to himself," Did anybody ever try to fly a kite at night? I think it must be very fun. But the kite can't be seen in the dark. What if I tie a light to it? That would be really good. I {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(try) it tonight."

As soon as it was dark, he {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(take) his kite and lantern, and went to a large field about a mile from his home. He tied the lantern to the tail of his kite. The lantern {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(make) of paper. The kite flew higher and higher. He tied the string (线)to a tree, and then he stood there, staring at his kite. It floated (飘) high up into the air. How wonderful! While Ray {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(enjoy) his special kite, some people in the village also saw it.

"Look! A light{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (fly) in the sky," one person said. "It can't be a light," said a man.

"Perhaps it's a big firefly (萤火虫) ,"said another,

"Maybe it's a comet (彗星),"said another man.

"How strange!" said a boy.

"Let's find out what this strange light{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (be)," the last one said. Then they went to the field.

Ray, who had gotten tired of standing, was sitting behind a tree. He{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (see) the men as they came, but they didn't see him. When they reached under the light, and saw what it was, they looked at each other and said, "There is nothing unusual {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(happen)! This is just a trick of some naughty boys, but it {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (fool) us all.

Let's keep the secret. "Then they laughed and went back to the village. When the men had gone, Ray thought it was time for him {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(go), so he went home, too. When his mother heard what he had done, she hardly knew whether to laugh or scold (责备), but just told him to go to bed.