【推荐1】Mr. Harris used to work in Dover, but then he changed his work, and he and his wife moved to another town. They did not have many friends there, but they soon met a lot of interesting people, and after a few weeks, they often went to dinner or to parties at other people’s houses.

Then Mrs. Harris said to her husband, “We’ve been to a lot of other people’s houses, and now we must invite them to our house, mustn’t we?”

“Yes, certainly,” answered her husband, “A big party will be the easiest thing, won’t it? Then we can start to invite people to dinner in small numbers next month.”

So Mrs. Harris said, “Yes, I’ll invite all our friends here to a big party on 5th December.”

“How many will that be?” Mr. Harris asked. “Don’t invite too many.”

Mrs. Harris was beginning to write the invitations when her husband saw that she was writing, “Party: 6:30 p.m.to 8:30 p.m.”

“That isn’t very nice, is it?” he said. “You’re telling our guests that they must go at 8:30.” So Mrs. Harris just wrote “Party: 6:30 p.m.”

A lot of guests came, and they all had a good time, so they did not go home at 8:30. In fact they were still there at midnight when the door bell rang and a policeman arrived. He said, “You must stop making a noise, because someone has complained.”

Mr. Harris said he did not want to quarrel with the policeman, so everyone went home. They were sorry to have to go.

When Mr. and Mrs. Harris were alone again, she said to him. “That was a surprise, wasn’t it? Who complained about the noise?” “I did,” Mr. Harris answered in a tired voice.

【推荐2】Mr. Read was born in a small village with high mountains all around it. He has few fields and he can’t get enough food for his family. He’s often worried about it. So he works harder and harder and tries his best to get more money.

One afternoon, Mr. Read went out to look for some grass for his cows. It was very hot and he had to have a swim. Suddenly he saw a big tortoise in the water. He swam there and caught it. The next morning he went to the town to sell it in the markets. When he was walking in the street, a car hit him down and he was hurt. He was sent to hospital at once. The doctors looked him over and had an operation on him. Two weeks later he felt much better. The doctors were satisfied with the operation and said, “You’ll be fully recovered in a week. We’re sure you can write when you leave hospital.”

“It’s really a miracle (奇迹)!” shouted Mr. Read,“I could neither read nor write before!”

It is natural that children are curious about the world around them. For example, they want to know how their hearts beat. They want to know why the ocean water tastes salty.

As children grow up, they become curious about different kinds of things. When they are babies, they are interested in the parts of their bodies and in the smiles of their mothers. They become interested in the physical world around them: the plants, the animals, the sky. Later, they become interested in the things that people have made: wheels, bicycles, cars. And when they are adults, their curiosity continues. Sometimes this curiosity leads to a career (生涯、职业) in science.

Scientists spend their lives trying to find out about the world．Those who work with the earth sciences study the earth, the oceans, and the skies. Other scientists who study living things work with the biological sciences. A third group of scientists study the physical sciences, e. g. physics, chemistry .

These scientists have already discovered a lot about our world．For example, they tell us why your heart beats fast when you run. They say that when you are quiet, your heart normally beats sixty-five or seventy-five times a minute. Your heart is a pump (泵) that pumps blood to all parts of the body. The blood carries oxygen and nutrition. When you run, your muscles work very hard and use the nutrition that the blood carries to them. The muscles need oxygen, too . So your brain sends a signal to the heart. The signal means that the muscles need more nutrition and oxygen. Then the heart beats fast and sends blood quickly to the muscles. It may beat 90 to 140 times a minute.

Of course, scientists cannot answer all of our questions. If we ask, “Why does the ocean water taste salty” scientists will say that the salt comes from rocks. When a rock gets very hot or very cold, it cracks. Rain falls into cracks. The rain then carries the salt into the earth and into the rivers. The rivers carry the salt into the ocean. But then we ask , “What happens to the salt in the ocean? The ocean does not get saltier every year.” Scientists are not sure about the answer to this question.

We know a lot about our world, but there are still many answers that we do not have, and we are curious.

【推荐2】It had long been troubling a little boy that his desk mate could rank 1st in the class every time while he failed to: he only ranked 21st.

At home, he asked his Mom, “Mom, am I more stupid than others? I feel I am as hardworking as him, but how come I always fall behind?”     1    

In another test, the son ranked 15th, and his desk mate remained 1st. Back home, he raised the same question.     2     However, was this answer in her son’s best interest? Thank goodness she did not open her mouth.

There were times she wanted to tell him, “Your father and I used to be outstanding. Why aren’t you just as clever?” But she stopped because she felt it was cruel to blame him and that she needed a better answer.

    3     To reduce the burden on her son who was suffering from the pains of unsatisfied grades and rankings, Mom decided to take him to the sea. During the trip, she managed to give out an answer.

Now, the son no longer worries about his rankings, because, with the 1st ranking, he is admitted to a top university.     4     In the lecture, he mentioned a valuable experience, “…When my mother and I was lying on the beach, she pointed to the front and said, ‘Do you see the seabirds over there? When the waves come near, little birds can rise quickly while it would take longer for clumsy sea-gulls to complete the process. However, have you noticed birds that finally fly across the endless ocean are none other than clumsy sea-gulls?’     5    ” The moving speech affected many mothers present into tears, including his mother.

【推荐3】Albert was an ordinary worker in an oil company in America. His workmates gave a nickname (绰号) “Four dollars a bucket (桶)” to him, for he was always used to leaving an advertisement of his company “Four dollars a bucket of oil” below his name whenever and wherever he wrote down his name.

As time went by, people forgot his real name. Later, when Rockefeller, the board chairman of the oil company, heard of it, he was very surprised, so he invited Albert to come to his office.

“Some people give you a nickname for ‘Four dollars a bucket’. Why aren’t you angry?” asked Rockefeller with some puzzlement in his eyes.

“Oh! Mr. Rockefeller! I like this nickname very much, because ‘Four dollars a bucket’ is our company’s advertisement. As long as someone calls me ‘Four dollars a bucket’ once, I think it’s a free advertisement for our company. I have no reason to get angry. Don’t you think so, Mr. Rockefeller?”

“Oh! What a fantastic man!” Rockefeller said excitedly when hearing Albert’s words. “Young man, work harder! You must succeed in the future! I believe in you!”

Five years later, Albert became the second board chairman after Rockefeller.

Later Albert said in one of his reports, “I don’t think we should feel frustrated when we have no way to do the world-shaking things. We should treat every thing actively because maybe our future success will begin from a small thing!”