I'm Philip．Whenever I think about my past life,one unusual experience comes into my mind．It happened during my summer holidays last year．

    Last May,my father began to work in a new factory and we moved to a house near it．There were hundreds of fish and snakes in a river not far from the factory．Among them，the cobra(眼镜蛇)was the most dangerous one．My brother and I played a lot in the river during our summer holidays．In the afternoons,we liked to go out to catch fish from the river．Sometimes we also caught some water snakes，but they were not harmful．

    One afternoon,as I put my hand into the river,I touched something cool．Thinking it was a fish．I gripped(紧抓)it at once and tried to bring it out．But to my surprise, it was a cobra!I relaxed my grip at once and ran away．My brother,a few metres away,was too surprised to speak when he saw the cobra moving towards him with its mouth open．He started to run．I stopped to pick up a rock and threw it at the cobra．Surprisingly,the cobra now turned towards me and I had to run again．But I was very tired at that time，and couldn't run quickly．Luckily, my brother soon found a big rock．He threw it at the cobra and killed(杀死)it．

    After that,my mother didn't allow us to play in the river any more．We listened to her．After all,it was something we'd never want to experience again．

    Teenager Jake Denham was skiing with his family in the USA when he fell over and lost one of his skis(滑雪板). His family didn't know that he had a problem. They kept on skiing. When they got to the foot of the mountain, there was no sign of Jake.

    Jake couldn't find his ski anywhere. In the end, he decided to take off his other ski and walk down the mountain. But he couldn't work out the right way to go.

    It was now getting dark and he was a long way from any place of safety. He knew that he might die that night in the cold temperatures. But Jake kept calm. At home, Jake watched a lot of TV programmes about living in difficult situations. He remembered the advice from these programmes and knew that he should build a hole in the snow. He made a hole and pointed it up the hill so the wind couldn't blow into it. Outside his hole the temperature fell to a dangerous —15℃ that night, but inside it Jake was safe from the cold.

    But he had to get down the mountain. The TV programmes always said, ^”If you are lost, you should find someone else's tracks (轨迹) through the snow and follow them.” “I wanted to live my life”, remembers Jake.

    So I got up and I found some ski tracks and I followed those. He walked and walked and finally he saw lights.

    Nine hours after he lost his ski, he found a team of workers who came to save him. He was safe!

    His mum was very happy when she heard the news. Amazingly, Jake didn't even have to go to hospital. He got through the terrible experience without any injuries.

    So, the next time someone says that watching TV is a waste of time, think of Jake. Sometimes TV can save your life!

    Once Effendi had a joke with the Prime Minister（宰相）. He said that the Minister would die the next day. The next day，the Minister fell on to the ground from a horse and really died. When the king learned this，he got angry and sent his men to catch Effendi at once.

    When Effendi was brought to him，the king shouted angrily," Effendi, since you knew when my Minister would die, you must know the date of your own death.

    Say it out, or you'll die today. "Effendi looked at the king for a while.  Then he answered, "But how can I know? I'll die two days earlier than you. "The king was afraid that if he killed Effendi, he himself would die after that. He thought he must keep Effendi alive as long as possible, so he let Effendi go.

    George works in a small hotel. One day, it was raining heavily, an old couple (老夫妇) came to the hotel and asked for a room. George said to the old man, "I am sorry, sir, now all the rooms in the hotel are full, but I have another room left." Then George went to do some cleaning in the room and showed it to the old couple.

    The next day, the old couple wanted to pay for the room. George said, "It is free because it is my own room. I think there may be no rooms in all the hotels in the city. But it was not good to let you out in a heavy rain." The old man said, "You are so kind, and you are the best worker of the hotel." The old couple thanked George and left.

    A few months later, George got a letter with an air ticket to New York and a job offer (工作聘书). When George got to New York, he saw the old man. The old man showed him a large and beautiful hotel and said to George, "This is my hotel. I hope you would take charge of it for me." Then George became the manager (经理) of the big hotel in New York.

    In fact, the old man was quite rich. He had the big hotel and believed George could do the job well.

    There was once a rich man who loved his little boy very much. He wanted to try his best to please him. So, he gave him a horse to ride, beautiful rooms to live in, pictures, books, toys and everything that money could buy. But for all days, the little boy was still unhappy. He wore a frown(皱眉) wherever he went. He always wished for something he did not have. The man didn't know how to make his son happy.

    One day, a magician came to the man and said to him, "I can make your son happy and turn his frowns into smiles, but you must pay me a great price for telling him the secret.

    "All right," said the man. "No matter what you ask for, I'll give you." The magician took the boy into a secret room. He wrote something on a piece of paper, and then gave it to the boy. There on the paper came the words: Do one kind thing for someone every day. The boy followed the advice and became one of the happiest boys.

    Only those who stop thinking about their own happiness can be truly happy.

    There is an old man in a house. In the house there are many mice. The old man has a cat. Every day the cat catches the mice and eats them. One day, the old mouse says "All mice must come to my room this evening. We must find a way to deal with the cat." All the mice come. Many mice speak but they don't know what to do. At last a young mouse stands up and says "We must put a bell on the cat. When the cat comes near we can hear the bell and run away. So the cat can't catch us." "Who can put the bell on the cat" asks the old mouse. But no one answers.