There are four people in the twins' family. They are the twins, their father and their mother.

The twins' names are Lucy and Lily. They are fourteen. They are in the same class in the NO.1 Middle School. They are very good students. They not only work very hard but also sing very well. They want to join the music club. Lucy wants to play the piano. Lily can play the guitar.

      Their father, Mr. King, is a teacher. He teaches English in a school near his home. Their mother, Mrs. King, is a teacher, too. She teaches Chinese. Mr. and Mrs. King are in different schools. But they have the same hobby — play the guitar.

A young man is sitting by the road eating something. A policeman is coming over. At once, the man gets up quickly and runs down the road. The policeman runs after him. The man runs very fast. But the policeman runs faster. After a few minutes, the policeman catches him. ‘Where are you going?' says the policeman. ‘You must be a criminal (罪犯) if you run like that when you see a policeman.' ‘No, no,' says the man, ‘I'm not a criminal. I'm just too fat, you see. The doctor says to me that I must always run fast after eating.' ‘I see,' says the policeman, ‘You are running to help to lose some weight (重量).'

    April 13^th, 1539

    Outside Mexico City

Dear Mariana,

    Today we arrived safe. It was a long and dangerous trip over the ocean. The winter storms were strong. We were always a little sick from high waves.

    The journey from the shore to Mexico City is also long and dangerous. There are robbers in the countryside. We will travel together with the other ship passengers, thinking we will be safer as a group. Tomorrow we will travel into the city to find our uncle.

    Father says it will take a year for this letter to reach you. The trip from New Spain to Spain is very long.

Your loving brother,

Tomas

    April 20^th, 1539

    Mexico City

Dear Mariana,

    Father and I finally arrived at Mexico City. Here, old buildings are being pulled down; new ones are being built. Just around the corner from Uncle's city house, Aztec workers are pulling down a small, beautiful pyramid. Father says it is one of the last Aztec temples.

    In the center of the city, I met an Aztec boy named Carlos. He speaks a little Spanish. Carlos learns Spanish at his new school. He told me that the Spanish set up new schools for the Aztecs. There he got his new name, Carlos. He says he likes his new school but misses his old city. I wonder what this city used to be like before Cortes came.

    Tomorrow we will go to Uncle's farmland. He and father are talking about the Aztec workers that father will oversee.

Your brother,

Tomas

found v. 建立        battle n. 战役        conquer v. 征服

    Once upon a time there was an old man. He was really good at fishing. One day, he was fishing on the bank of a river. Soon he caught a full basket of fish. Just at that time, a child came and said to him, "Can you give me the fishing rod(钓鱼竿) in your hands? The old man looked up at him and said, "I can give you a full basket of fish." But the child shook his head. The old man was surprised and asked, "Why do you want the rod instead of the fish?"

    "Oh! You know it doesn't take long to eat all the fish in a basket. But if I have the fishing rod, I can go fishing by myself and I won't be afraid of not having any fish to eat."

    You may certainly think that the child is very smart. Wrong! If he doesn't know how to fish, he cannot eat any fish, even if he has the fishing rod. It's useless to only have a fishing rod. Fishing skills are more important than the fishing rod.

    Too many people think that if they have "a fishing rod" in their life, they will no longer fear the wind and rain. In fact they will make the same mistake like the child in the story.

    "The hound of Baskervilles" is a legend which tells us that a hound used to kill people in the Baskervilles family. Sherlock Holmes is good at searching and discovering. He is a very careful person as well. In the stories, he can quickly give you the explanation of the things happened just now. Sherlock Holmes is such a person.

    Sherlock Holmes wants to know more about it because Doctor James asks him for help. During the case, Charles Baskervilles dies and the cause of his death may be the hound. After watching the situation in a small house for some time, Holmes finds the murderer and he is going to murder Sir Henry Baskervilles. Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson and Henry Baskervilles kill the hound at last and the murderer(凶手) who wants to get the money of the family finally dies in the marsh(沼泽地).It is a very exciting story shows how clever Sherlock Holmes is. Thanks to Konan Doyle, we can read a lot of good detective stories now.