In ancient China, a woman told the best stories. She married to the emperor (皇帝). Sadly, one day, this woman became ill and died. Everyone thought the emperor would soon find another favorite among his wives, but the emperor was very sad. He spent more and more time in his garden, and less and less time caring for the needs of his people. Everyone in the kingdom was worried.

One day, a priest (牧师) passed when some children were playing with their dolls. The dolls made dancing shadows on the wall. This gave the priest an idea. He knew the stories the emperor's wife used to tell. What if he could bring those stories to life?

    The priest made a puppet (木偶) out of bits of clay (黏土). He painted the puppet to look somewhat like the emperor's wife. When the puppet was finished, the priest silently walked into the emperor's garden, carrying his puppet, a candle and a curtain. He placed the curtain near the emperor's chair. He placed his candle, his puppet and himself behind the curtain. He waited for the emperor to appear.

The emperor did not even notice the curtain at first. The dancing shadow drew his eyes. As the priest moved the puppet behind the curtain, he told wonderful stories as the emperor's wife. It seemed as if his wife was spending time with him. The emperor was no longer sad. At the end of each busy day, the emperor went into his garden to visit his shadow wife and hear her stories once again. That is how shadow puppets first began.

    Once there was a boy and his little sister living in a small village. The boy was good—looking but his sister was not. One day they found a mirror(镜子)and they saw what they looked like for the first time. The boy was very pleased and he said to his sister, "How handsome I am! I look nicer than you!" The girl didn't like what her brother said and gave him a hard push. "Go away!" she said angrily.

    Their father saw what was happening, He went up to them and said to the boy, "You must always be good as well as look good." Then the father said to the girl, "My dear, if you help everyone and do your best to please(使愉快)them, everyone will love you. It doesn't matter that you are not as good— looking as your brother. "

    There was once an ugly fairy living in a fairy country. She was the kindest and cleverest of all fairies. However, no one liked her, because they strongly believed that the most important thing about a fairy was her beauty. Every time she was ready to help a child or anyone else in trouble, before she could say a word they were already shouting at her, "Ugly! Get out of here!"

    Although she was little, she had great magic power. More than once she thought about using it to make herself beautiful. But she remembered what her mother had always told her, "My dear, you are what you are."

    One day, the witches (女巫) came and caught the fairies, putting them in prison. The ugly fairy, just before being caught, put a spell (咒语) on her pretty dress. Helped by her ugly face, she succeeded in making herself look like a witch. That way she was able to follow the witches back to their country.

    The fairy used her magic power to prepare a big party for everyone there. While they were enjoying themselves, she left quietly and let free other fairies. When all of them got out of the prison, they worked together on one big spell and succeeded in putting the witches inside the mountain for the next hundred years.

    From that day on everyone remembered the brave and clever fairy. And for the next hundred years, and more, when someone ugly was born in that country, everyone was filled with joy.

    Kian Hamer has become one of the youngest members of Mensa. Mensa is an international organization(组织) for IQ(智商). His IQ is 162 and it's two points higher than Albert Einstein's and Professor Stephen Hawking's. Mensa has 110,000 members all over the world, including 20 , 000 in the British Isles(不列颠群岛). Only eight percent of members are under 16.

    Mensa sent a letter to Kian's home. The letter wrote, "Kian is one of the cleverest people in the world. "Kian feels proud to have got such a good score and he's really excited to join Mensa. He always works hard on everything he does and he's always ready for自challenge. Although people call him a genius(天才), he still wants to be a professional footballer when he grows up. He loves playing football very much.

    His dad Rich Hamer, who works as a firefighter, said, "Kian is clever but I'm not allying him a genius like others. I want him to keep his feet on the ground. He needs to study hard forever. Never be proud. A lot of people have joked that he's too clever to be a footballer. I don't think Kian realized what a good score it was at first. He's always done really well at school. He works really hard and always tries his best."

Hello! My name is Zhao Junhui. I'm 14 years old. I live in Xiaogan, China. Xiaogan is1 beautiful city and I love it. I study in a middle school. I2 four friends, Lily, Allen, Jack and Alice. They are all very3 to me. So I often play games with4 after school. We are all happy. 

I like the food here. In the morning, I have5 at home. I usually have some noodles (面条) and eggs. And I also have a cup of milk. I like milk very much. But my father6 like it. I have lunch at school with my friends7 12 o'clock. There are many kinds (种) of food. We can eat rice, noodles, jiaozi, vegetables and fruit. In the8 , I have dinner with my parents at home. I can make (制作) tomato and egg rice for my family. I think it's9 for me. 

Do you10 I can be your friend? Please e-mail me @gfimail.com. 

Little George lived in a poor village. One summer afternoon, George's mother sent him to the field to pick up some dried wood for the fire.

By the time the sun was high, George was very 1 and wished for a cool place to rest and have some food. As he walked on, he found some shade (阴凉处), and by it were some fine, wild 2 .

"How good these will be with my bread and butter," thought George. He 3 all of the strawberries and couldn't wait to lift one of them to his mouth. Suddenly he remembered his sick 4 , alone in her dark, cold room in the village.

With this in mind, he put the strawberry back again. "Shall I save them for her?" he asked himself. He thought how refreshing (提神的) they would be for her, 5 was still looking at them with a longing (渴望的) eye. "I will eat half, and take 6 half to her," he said. He divided them into two parts, but each part looked so small. He put them together again.

"I will only eat one," he thought.

But, as he again lifted it to his mouth, he saw that he had taken the 7 , and he put it back.

When the sun was beginning to sink, George left for home. How 8 he felt, then, that he had all his strawberries for his sick mother.

He heard his mother's faint (虚弱的) voice calling him. "Is that you, George? I'm glad you've 9 . I'm thirsty, and am longing for some tea."

George ran to her and joyfully offered the strawberries.

"And you saved them for your sick mother, didn't you?" she said, laying her hand 10 on his head, with tears in her eyes.