【推荐3】Long ago, there was a magical place with great wonders and treasure. One day, two friends, Ali and Tom, went there to seek their fortune (寻找发财的机会). Everyone who went there had to face their own test alone, and Ali was the first to try his luck. He soon found himself in a beautiful garden. It had hundreds of statues (雕像) that looked very real. Ali kept going and arrived at the entrance to a large forest. The entrance was guarded by two stone statues: one had an angry expression, and the other looked very happy. Next to the entrance was a sign, “Tell the statues about the goodness of your character.”

Ali said loudly, “I’m Ali, a good person. I’ve never done anyone any harm.” After a long silence, the statue with the happy expression came to life and kindly said, “Excellent! You are perfect for this place, as this place is full of statues like you. They do no harm to anyone, either!” Soon Ali felt his whole body became completely paralyzed.

Soon after, it was Tom’s turn. But unlike his friend, the sight of those statues and their sad eyes moved him so much that he went to each one and touched them, secretly hoping that they were alive. And then he saw Ali.

Tom did his best to free his friend and many others, but without success. Finally, he turned to the statues guarding the entrance for help. The statue with the angry expression came to life and said, “What bad luck! Here we have one who isn’t a statue. Well, we’ll just have to let you go! And you can take away one of our statues! So, which one do you want?”

Tom looked at his friend, and Ali could move again. Meanwhile, the trees of the forest opened a way. When Tom was just about to go, Ali stopped him. Looking back at all the statues, Ali said, “Wait, Tom. I will not behave like a statue anymore. Let’s do something for these people.”

Then the two friends freed all the statues in the garden. And these hundreds of people were full of joy and they were thankful to have a second chance to show that they would never live like statues again. From that day on, they would live to do a lot of good to the world.

【推荐1】Monday mornings were a terrible thing for Tom. They always meant one thing: a new week of school and Tom hated school. This morning, he thought about how he might get out of going to class. Then an idea came to him.

“Oh! Sid!” he cried, “Oh, it hurts! I think I’m dying, Sid!” Sid, who was already up and dressing for school, stopped what he was doing, and ran over to Tom’s bed.

“What is it, Tom? What is it?”       

“Don’t come closer, Sid! You might get sick too! And Sid, I want you to know that I don’t care about the bad things you’ve done to me all these years. So, when I die, you don’t have to feel bad. Oh! The pain! Ohhhh.”

Sid quickly ran downstairs.

“Polly! Aunt Polly! Tom’s dying! Quick! Help him! Do something!”

Aunt Polly dropped everything and ran up to Tom’s room as fast as she could.

“What is it, Tom? What’s wrong?” she asked with a shaking voice.

“Oh, Aunt Polly, it’s...”, he had to think for a moment, “It’s my toe (脚趾)! It hurts!”

Aunt Polly fell into a chair next to the bed and started to laugh, then to cry, and then both at the same time.

“Tom!” she said. “You’re not going to die from a sore toe! Get up and get ready for school!”

“But what about my tooth? I think it’s loose (松动的)!” said Tom.

“That won’t kill you either! But let me take a look. Open your mouth. Well, Mary! Bring me some string (线) and a piece of burning wood from the kitchen!”

While Mary was running upstairs, Tom said, “Aunt Polly! I’m feeling much better now. See?”

—Adapted from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer