A king(国王) was old and he knew it was time to choose(挑选) a new king. He told all the young people in the country, “I’ll give _______ of you a seed(种子). Plant it and bring it back one year later. Show me the plant that you grow, _______ I’ll choose a new king from you.”

A boy _______ Ling got a seed, too. He planted it _______. But the seed didn’t grow at all. A year later, Ling had to take his _______ box to the palace. Others all brought beautiful plants there and Ling felt_______.

The king _______ the palace and looked around. When he found there was nothing in Ling’s box, the king smiled and said to the others, “One year ago, I gave everyone a seed that _______ grow. But all of you, _______ Ling, have bought me plants and flowers. Ling was the ________ one with the honesty(诚实) and courage(勇气) to bring such a box. So he will be the new king!”

Mr. King goes home and puts on his good clothes. He goes back to the party. Everyone in the room stands up and smiles (微笑) at him. They give him the very good food to eat.

Mr. King takes off his coat, and puts it in the food and says, “Eat, coat!” The other people ask, “What are you doing?” He answers, “I’m asking my coat to eat the food. I am wearing my old clothes. You do not look at me. You do not ask me to sit down. Now, I am in these clothes. And you give me very good food. Now I see, you give the food for my clothes not for me!”

Jack is a twenty-year-old young man. Two years ago, when he finished middle school, he found work in a shop. Usually he works until ten o’clock in the evening. He is very tired when he gets home. After a quick supper he goes to bed and soon falls asleep. His grandma who lives downstairs is pleased with him.

One day, on his way home, he met his friend Mary. They were both happy. He asked the girl to his house, and she agreed happily. He bought some fruit and drinks for her. And they talked about their school, teachers, classmates and their future. They talked for a long time.

“Have a look at your watch, please,” said the girl. “What time is it now?”

“Sorry, something is wrong with my watch,” said Jack. “Where’s yours?”

“I left it at home.”

Jack thought for a moment and found a way. He began to stamp his foot on the floor, “Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The sound woke his grandma up. The old woman shouted downstairs, “It’s twelve o’clock in the night, Jack. Why are you still jumping upstairs?”

Now let’s think about television and our life at home. Today almost all the homes have television sets. There are many interesting TV programs that we can enjoy with our family.

Well, how many hours do you watch television a day? You spend a lot of time watching TV, don’t you?

TV can open our eyes and minds. It also gives us a lot of useful information that we can not learn at school. For example, we don’t go out but we can know the things all over the world every day.

On the other hand, it takes away much good time to think carefully, for talking with our family and for reading books. We sometimes find that we sit in front of a TV set without thinking of anything.

It is very important for us to select good TV programs. We must try to make good use of it to plan our lives better.