Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales, Britain. His father was rich but he died when Roald was very young. Roald and his mother lived a hard life. He had to leave school and went to Africa where he worked for an oil company.

    In 1939 Roald became a pilot, but he had a bad accident. It made him limp(瘸的) for the rest of his life. After this, Roald went to America where he wrote a story about his experience as a pilot. It was so good that it was put in a magazine.

Roald married an American film star. They bought a house in England and had five children. From 1960 to 1965,    ▲   : Theo, one of his children, was hit by a taxi and was seriously hurt. Olivia, one of Roald's daughters, died of a strange illness. Soon after this, his wife also had a serious illness. It took her years to get completely better.

 Gradually Roald became more and more successful. He always did his writing in an old shed(棚) at the back of his house. He always sat in the same old armchair with a wooden board on his lap.

 “One of the nice things about being a writer,” he once said, “is that all you need is what you've got in your head and a pencil and a bit of paper.”

       In 1983 Roald wona big prize for his book The BFG. During his life, Roald wrote many famous books, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox

       After he died in 1990, Roald left money to help people with serious illnesses and those with problems with reading and writing.           

    Mr. King was the owner of a large company. One day, he went into his office early in themorning to get ready to go to the airport and set out for a city.

    He was leaving his office when Bill, a night watchman, came in Bill just came off work(下班).

    After saying “Good morning” to Mr. King, Bill told the owner about his bad dream. Last night he dreamed Mr. King's plane crashed after it took off. Mr. King was surprised to hear this. He decided to go by land.

    Bill's dream came true. That morning the plane really crashed just after it had taken off. Later Mr. King returned to his office and heard the accident. To express his thanks, Mr. King gave Bill 5,000 dollars with a letter. Mr. King told Bill that a man like him should be sent away. Bill was surprised and asked, ”Why?” Mr. King said,” Go home and read the letter, and you will know why.”

    Bill went home and opened the letter in a hurry. After he read it, he became sad. In the letter there is only one sentence. But it was enough to tell the reason.

根据短文回答问题

    It was summer. A duck was sitting on many eggs in her house. Her little ducks were going to come to the world. One little duck after another came out from the eggs. The last baby was big and ugly. His brothers and sisters weren't willing to play with him because he was too ugly. Even his mother hated him too. And the girl who fed them kicked him.

    The poor little duck was so sad that he ran away from home in the winter. On his way, a big dog appeared, but the dog did not come close to him. "Oh, I am so ugly that even the dog won't bite me." the duck said to himself.

A kind farmer took him home when the weather got colder. He stayed there for a whole winter and left when the spring came.

    One day, he met three beautiful white swans (天鹅) when he was swimming in a lake. They swam toward him. He was afraid to make friends with them. But what did he see in the clear water? He was no longer a dark grey ugly duck. He was a beautiful swan himself. How amazing! He never dreamed that he could be so beautiful.

    Dr. Lynn Moorman was a young doctor. She had a strange experience in June when she was spending Saturday night at her parents' house. Whenever she stayed with them, she slept on the long sofa in the sitting room. The sofa was set against a wall under a large picture window (整块玻璃做的景观窗).

    Around three o'clock that morning, Dr. Moorman opened her eyes and noticed a flashing light outside the house. She thought that it was a firefly (萤火虫). A moment later, as the light continued to flash, she realized that it was too bright to be a firefly.

    Then the light moved towards the window and unbelievably through the window into the room. It passed in front of her, perhaps as close as three feet. Then Dr. Moorman noticed that it appeared to have two sets of wires coming from the top and bottom. Each time the object flashed, Dr. Moorman saw it clearly. But when the light turned off, the object was no longer seen.

    Dr. Moorman was quite scared. She thought about shouting, but couldn't open her mouth. When the light moved into the kitchen, she ran to her sister's bedroom. "Move over," she said, "I saw something, maybe an alien, that scared me and I'm coming into bed with you." The next morning at breakfast she told her family what had happened, but no one else had noticed anything. Her experience remains a puzzle.

    Did Dr. Moorman meet an alien? Did she imagine the object? Or did she see a small UFO that had come visiting that night?

    Gareth Ellis, 13, is the youngest son of Alan, an engineer, and Kath, a teacher. His older brothers work in banking and computers, but Gareth's dream was always to become a clown. Three years ago, Alan, Kath and Gareth joined the circus(马戏团). "People laugh when we tell them," says Kath. "But it's true. Gareth has wanted to be a clown since we took him to the circus when he was three."

    When Alan lost his job, he and Kath decided to see if they could find full-time circus jobs. They both got jobs with a famous circus and Gareth began training to become a clown. He calls himself Bippo. They travel with the circus during the summer and return home for the winter. Gareth's brothers are old enough to look after the house while they are away.

    "I can't say it was easy," says Kath. "There was a lot to think about and organize. We only had a car and a very small caravan(拖车)to sleep in, and we were leaving behind our lovely house. The only thing Gareth missed was his long, hot baths."

    "People ask about my education," says Gareth, "but from the beginning, wherever we go, someone has always come to teach me. I follow the same books as everyone back at school and I've got a computer. I've never fallen behind my classmates."

    And the future? "It was a difficult decision," says Kath," but there was no other way to teach Gareth about being a clown. I'm happy to say it's working, and we're enjoying it." And Gareth? "I'm going to be the main clown in a circus one day', he says, 'perhaps Bippo's circus."