In Rome there was once a poor slave whose name was Androclus. His master was a cruel man, and so unkind to him that Androclus ran away. He hid himself in a wild wood for many days; but there was no food to be found, and he grew so weak and sick that he thought he would die. So one day he climbed into a cave and lay down to wait for death, and soon he was fast asleep.

After a while, a great noise woke him up. A lion had come into the cave, and was roaring loudly. Androclus was very afraid, for he felt sure that the beast would kill him. Soon, however, he saw the lion was not angry, but that his foot were hurt.

Then Androclus grew so courageous that he started to examine the lion’s paw to see what was the matter. The lion stood quite still, and rubbed his head against the man’s shoulder. He seemed to say, “I know that you will help me.”

Androclus lifted the paw from the ground, and saw that it was a long, sharp thorn that hurt the lion so much. He took the end of the thorn between his fingers; then he gave a strong, quick pull, and out it came. The lion was full of joy. He jumped about like a dog, and licked the hands and feet of his new friend.

The two became such good friends that Androclus found his new life a very happy one. One day some soldiers found Androclus in the cave and took him back to Rome. It was the law at that time that every slave who ran away from his master should fight a hungry lion. For each of these occasions, a fierce lion was locked up for a while without food, and a time was set for the fight.

When the day came, thousands of people crowded in to see the fight.

The people, who had expected to see the man killed by the lion, were filled with wonder.

Brian sat on his front doorstep. He really wanted a new bike. Joe had just gotten one for his birthday, and Tyler’s was only about a year old. Brian had had his for five years. The seat was up as high as it could go, and his legs were still too long for his bike. Brian wanted a bike just like Joe’s and Tyler’s. Their bikes were perfect for popping wheels and cruising over bumps. If only he had 110 dollars. All he could come up with was 33.67 dollars. Where could he get the rest of the money he needed?

Brian thought and thought. His birthday was still five months away, and he was too young to mow lawns. What could he do to get the money? Maybe his dad would advance his allowance for the next few months. He got three dollars every Friday if he did all of his chores. His dad had agreed to do this once before, when Brian needed an extra six dollars. Maybe his sister would loan him the money. She had a lot of money saved up from baby-sitting. Baby-sitting! That was it! Brian could baby-sit. Oops! Wait a minute. No one would hi re Brian to baby-sit. He still was not allowed to stay home by himself yet. What could he do to get the money? Brian sat and thought.

Just then, the phone rang.

After chasing Fifi through three different yards, Brian finally got Mrs. Timmons’ dog.

Denia Escutia, born in Pajaro, dreamed of moving to Southern California to learn how to care for sick kids in University of California at Los Angeles(UCLA). But when a river swallowed her town and destroyed her home, she delayed those dreams to take care of her family instead.

Escutia, who is 18, is a recent high school graduate. In the predawn hours of March 11, Escutia woke up to find flood water in her room, which was ankle-deep in just a few minutes.

Ecutia’s family, scared and panicked, unplugged appliances and threw anything they could onto tables, counters and beds. But Escutia’s family didn’t feel like they needed to leave.

Her mom was shocked by electrical currents in the water. That’s when her family decided to flee, escaping in waist-deep water to an apartment building across the street. A few hours later, they caught a ride out of the town in military rescue vehicles. On the way to her grandmother’s, Escutia wondered if she would ever call Pajaro home again.

When she returned to Pajaro in late March, she found her house was filled with mud. A photo of her in a blue and black dress still hung on the living room wall. But the house was not fit to live in.

Leaving the house she grew up in, Escutia locked the door. Officials hung a yellow and black sign from the house that read: “Lawful only to enter for permitted cleanup purposes. ”

Escutia had just been admitted to UCLA. She had not yet shared the good news with her family. After the flood, her happy secret quickly transformed into a burden. She couldn’t decide between pursuing her dream in Southern California and staying to help her family.

“I haven’t told my parents yet, but I was planning on telling them,” she said to her teacher. “All I can think about is how I’ m going to be able to help my parents through this, especially financially.”

Escutia’s mother searched all over the area to find a new home to rent but she didn’t find any in her price range. The family were in a seemingly endless search for affordable housing.

At last, one of Escutia’s teachers invited her family to live in her house.

Escutia finally told her parents that she had been admitted to UCLA.

Finding happiness in life

When John walked into the dining room in the morning, his wife Jenny and his two children, Kevin and Sophie, were sitting at the table. The atmosphere was frosty as John sat down. Sophie, who was only five years old, gave her father a weak smile. Kevin, his teenage son, didn’t look up from his food. Jenny looked at him silently with her arms folded across her chest.

“OK,” John began, “I’m sorry. I know I let everyone down yesterday.”

Kevin looked accusingly at his father. “You missed my music performance at school again! You’ve never come to see me do anything,” he said angrily.

Jenny placed a hand on John’s shoulder. “That’s true! John, you always miss family activities. The last time we had a family outing was five months ago! And I’m exhausted from all the housework.”

As he drank his coffee, John reflected on his life. He had so much to be thankful for: a successful business, a harmonious family and a lovely home. In fact, he had everything he had ever wanted, but he knew something was wrong. He had always believed that with hard work, he could make his family happy. But he realized he was failing. He was spending more time at work and less time at home. He was working in the office until late in the evening and even during weekends. When at home, he was talking on the phone with his clients or sitting in front of the computer reading or writing emails. He was neglecting his family. He hadn’t taken his wife to a nice restaurant for months. Kevin was passionate about music, but John couldn’t remember the last time he saw Kevin perform at a school concert. Sophie was growing up so fast and John had even missed her last birthday party. John realized he had become an absent husband and an absent father.

I can count a dozen friends, all in the 1950s, who adopted a puppy. Actually, I did, too. Last year, I was suddenly consumed by the urgent desire to acquire a seven-week-old Australian shepherd. For one thing, this breed is one of the most energetic on the planet, whereas I am bookish, lazy, and middle-aged.

My trouble with dogs is that I never have the remotest clue what they want, and they never seem to have the slightest idea of what I’m saying to them. He was highly alert, yet unable to grasp a single thing. Kevin’s entire communicative gestures — whether he wanted food, exercise, permission to jump on the sofa, a toy, or, who knows, a conversation about the electric bill — consisted of walking up to me and staring. He did this about 50 times a day, just staring brightly without moving a muscle, and after years of living together, I still didn’t know what he wanted. We coexisted in a state of profound mutual (相互的) incomprehension.

“Sometimes I think,” I wrote in my journal, “it doesn’t matter that I don’t know what he wants, because we have nothing in common. Whatever he wants will be something I don’t want. He probably wants me to go outside and chase squirrels. I don’t want to.”

But one afternoon, there was only Kevin and I at home. My husband was on business abroad for several days and my son was also abroad attending college. I enjoyed my favorite book leisurely while Kevin had a rest or stared at me as usual. It suddenly began to thunder aloud and soon rained cats and dogs. I dashed out of the front-door to fetch the vegetables in my parking lot. The wind was so strong that the front-door just slammed loudly, closed, after I made my way out. Worse still, when I came back with the rescued vegetables, I found the keys were not with me. There was also no backup (备份) of the keys outside my house.

Sometimes, making a decision is hard for adults while easy for kids. The Jackson family had been meaning to buy some new furniture (家具) for ages, but somehow they never got round to it. There were always so many other things to do. Then one day there was a big shout from the room of Jason, 12. The rest of the family ran to see what happened.

Jason’s desk had broken. There were bits of wood and pens and papers all over the floor. And in the middle was Jason! “I was just doing my homework.” he said, “and then -bang! The desk broke. Everything fell over. I was so surprised that I fell over too!” Laughed Jane, 5. “That decides it.” said Mum. “We need to buy some new furniture before anything else breaks. Jane needs a new bed. And Jason needs a desk, so that he can do his homework. ”

So that weekend, the family got up early, and set off for the big furniture store outside town. It was huge. There was so much furniture, some of it was arranged like in a real house.

“Look, I’m playing houses (过家家),” said Jane, crawling ( 爬 ) under a table. Jane loved playing houses. “That’s enough,” Mum said, taking tight hold of Jane’s hand. Jane didn’t like it, but she had to stay close. The family chose a new bed for Jane, who was bored now, and tired. She didn’t say much, while the rest of the family discussed which desk to get. Jason had found one he liked but Mum and Dad couldn’t agree.

“It’s too big.” said Mum. “There’s not enough space in his room.”

“It’s too small,” said Dad. “There’s not enough space for his homework. ”

“I think it’s just right!” said Jason.

“Let’s get a cup of tea while we try and decide,” said Mum.“There’s a cafe in the store.” Dad thought this was a good idea. He needed a sit down, he said, and Jason really wanted a milkshake (奶昔). “What do you think, Jane?” asked Mum. Then she looked round. “Where is she? I think she’s jumping on the sofa!”

But there was no sign of Jane on the sofa. Then Jason wondered if she could be lying on her new bed!

But there was no Jane on the bed. Mum and Dad were really worried now.          

When Jason pushed Jane softly, she woke up and came crawling out. “What were you doing?” Jason asked.

After his wife died, Ramu was left alone in this world. He was sixty-five years old. With time going by, Ramu’s sadness increased. The more he thought, the stronger his belief became that it was useless to live in this world anymore.

One morning, he went out for a walk and didn’t return to his home. His steps took him out of city and there he saw a bus. He took that bus. After a few hours, the bus was passing through a thick forest and stopped there for a break.

Ramu stepped out' of the bus and headed in a direction. After a while, he heard a voice from the bus calling for passengers to return but he decided not to return. He wanted to get lost in the thick forest.

In the thick forest, even during the day there was slight darkness. Ramu was walking as if he was not conscious (有知觉的). While walking, he went towards the side of a mountain. His steps suddenly stopped at a place where the mountain opened towards a valley below. There he saw the path was blocked by two sticks and a sign written in big letters—DANGER.

He couldn’t understand who would write this in such a thick forest. While looking around, Ramu walked a little further towards the valley, seeing a deep ditch (壕沟) ahead. At that moment, his heart trembled (颤抖).He sat aside, thinking how a moment ago he wanted to die but now he was scared.

With a calmed mind, he started wandering, looking for the person who did this. While wandering, he saw many signs. He saw DANGER/ BEWARE sign at many dangerous places and POISONOUS FRUITS sign was written on many trees.

He realized that if those signs were not put up, anyone could have fallen into one of those deep ditches and lost his life. Seeing all this, Ramu called out loudly, “Brother, who saved my life? ! I want to see you.”

Just then, from behind the leaves, an old man appeared laughing and said, “I have been watching you for a long time. Tell me how did you come here?”

After telling the old man his story, Ramu asked, “What are you doing here?”

It got late, so the old man invited Ramu to his place so that he could return home the next day.