Mr and Mrs Albina, with 64 children, have the world's largest family. Not one of their children is adopted（领养）.
When people hear about the Albinas' large family, the first question they ask is, "How is it possible? How can one woman give birth to 64 children in her lifetime?" The answer is simple: Every time Mrs Albina gave birth, she had twins or triplets.
Soon after the Albinas got married the children came quickly, in twos and threes. The first 21 children were boys. Mrs Albina loved her sons, but she wanted a daughter very much.
The Albinas spent the early years in Argentina. Then they decided to move to Chile. To travel from Argentina to Chile, they had to cross the Andes Mountains. Mr and Mrs Albina and their 21 sons made the difficult, two-week joumey on mules. One night there was a terrible snowstorm in the mountains. During the snowstorm, Mrs Albina gave birth to triplets, a boy and-two girls!
The oldest Albina children are in their thirties and forties. They are on their own now, but 18 of the Albina children still live with their parents The family lives in a two-room shack in Colina Chile. The shack has electricity but no toilet or running water. The children wash in a small bowl in the dusty backyard.
At times there is very little food in the Albinas' small house. When there is not enough food for everyone, Mrs Albina makes sure the youngest children do not go hungry. "The smallest eat first, and then the bigger ones. We've always done it that way," she says. Obviously, the Albinas do not have enough money for their big family. Why, then, do they continue to have children?
The Albinas do not use birth control because it is against their religion (宗教）.They could let other people take care of their children, but Mrs. Albina will not allow it. "When my two brothers and I were babies," she says，"our mother left us at an orphanage（孤儿院）and never returned. We lived there together until we were five. Then a couple adopted my brothers, and I was left behind. I was heartbroken. I promised myself that when I became a mother, I would never give my children away. Even if I didn't have much money, I would always take care of my children myself." Mrs Albina has kept her promise.

    There was once a boy called Jim in a village. Whenever Jim asked people to do things, no one would listen to him. He was sad. So Jim asked a wizard to solve the problem by using magic. The old wizard tried a lot of spells, but didn't work.

    A young man heard about the problem .He went to Jim and said that he knew the solution. He gave Jim two small pieces of paper. “These are two spells, my boy. Use the first before you ask others to do something, and use the second when they have done it. A smile is also necessary, "the young man said. Jim was happy and tried to use the spells. When he asked people to do something. He said “Please "before his words and "Thank you "after they had done it. People were very surprised that Jim could be polite. Soon, they became happy to do what Jim asked them to do. The wizard was surprised, and asked the young man about the spells. ”It's not magic. When I was a child, my teacher told me that with good manners you could get anything you want. And he was right. Jim only needed good manners to get what he wanted.”

    The lion says that he is________So he asks all the animals to come and listen to his last wishes.

    The cat comes to the lion's cave(洞穴). He stands there and goes in. Then a sheep goes in. Before she comes out, a rabbit goes in to hear the last wishes of the king of animals.

    But soon the lion looks well again, and goes out of his cave. He sees a fox(狐狸) waiting outside. “Why don't you come in?” asks the lion to the fox.

    “I beg your pardon,” says the fox, “I see many animals go into your cave, but nobody comes out. Before they come out again, I will wait outside.”

    Tom was a fat boy when he was ten. He liked watching TV very much. He watched TV at least 5 hours every day. Wherever(无论哪里) he went, he would be late.

    One day, he found a pair of special glasses in his post-box(邮箱). He also found a message saying, “With these you can see time.”

    The boy decided to have a try. He put the glasses on, looked at his brother, a tall and thin boy, and saw a big box of flowers on top of his head. And it wasn't just his brother. When he looked at his parents, he also saw the flowers. The three boxes were very large and the flowers were very beautiful. Then, he looked at himself from the mirror. He saw the flowers, too. But his flowers went to the mouth of the television. Its mouth was big. His flowers became fewer and fewer.

    At last, he learned that watching TV was a waste of time. He could learn nothing from it. He decided he would never again let the television eat his time.

Stand Straight and Stand Tall!

    High school was wonderful, but I had always felt uncomfortable as one of the taller members of my class, standing a head above the other girls and bowing at the back of the line to avoid sticking out.

    I especially hated being around large groups of people, like during the social hour after the church services.

    My grandfather watched me grow increasingly uncomfortable, but he didn't laugh at me or try to comfort me. Instead, he would warn me. "Stand straight and stand tall, " he would say, as I tried to shrink（退缩）.

    And each time, I would obey him. Even at age 15, I understood that his advice was about more than just feet and inches. My grandfather grew up in war-torn（饱受战争摧残的） Europe. When German soldiers took his hometown, the beautiful and exciting city of Tarnow, Poland, he joined the Soviet army for his country's freedom. "Stand straight, stand tall" meant something else since then. I trusted my grandfather more than anyone else in my childhood. And whenever I was afraid of something, he would tell me stories of his life.

    After the war, he took a boat for America on January 27, 1947. All alone in a new country, he was frightened about his future. Soon he met other European immigrants（移民）, each of whom tried to find his or her own way.

    If they could do it, why couldn't he? "Stand straight, stand tall," he would tell himself. At first my grandfather refused to enter an American church. He was angry with God for the loss of his whole family in Europe. But soon he felt his self-confidence returning. When he walked into the church the first time, he walked in proudly.

    One day, I was cooking with my friend Sandy in the kitchen. Suddenly, Sandy cut her finger. I went to her quickly. But to my surprise, I saw computer chips in her finger.

    "Now you know my secret, you have to die!" Sandy said and picked up the knife. "No, please, Sandy. Aren't we good friends?" I shouted. But before Sandy could say anything, she fainted.

    "Oh, Sandy!" I took her to hospital in a hurry. After a doctor checked her, he said, "I'm afraid we can't help her. Why don't you take her to a robot centre?"

    I hurried to a robot centre. A few days later, Sandy was well. She asked, "Mary, why did you save me even after I tried to kill you? "

    "Because I'm sure you are my friend. Can you tell me where you are from?" "I'm from another planet. It's far from here. Thank you, my friend Now I see how friendly people are on the earth." Two days later, a UFO came and picked her up. Since then I've never seen her.