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　　Most Americans remember Mark Twain as the writer of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn．Indeed, this nation’s best-loved author was every bit as adventurous, patriotic(爱国的), romantic, and humorous as anyone has ever imagined．

　　The man who because Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens and he moved across the nation for more than a third of his life, gathering the new American experience before he shared it with the world as writer and lecturer．He adopted his pen name from the cry heard in his steamboat day, meaning two fathoms(12 feet)of water．

　　Young Mark Twain entered the huge world in 1875 as a pilot on a steamboat．Then from the discouragement of his mining failures, Mark Twain began digging his way to fame as a newspaper reporter and humorist．For making money, his pen would prove mightier(更强大)．At the age of 36, Twain settled in Hartford, Connecticut．His best books were published while he lived there．

　　After publication in 1876, Tom Sawyer quickly became a classic tale of American boyhood．Nine years after Tom Sawyer swept the nation, Huckleberry Finn was given a life of his own, in a book often considered the best ever written about Americans．

　　However, personal tragedy haunted Twain’s entire life, in the deaths of loved ones．His son died at 19 months; his eldest daughter died of a disease; his wife passed away because of a heart attack; and his youngest daughter drowned in a bathtub．

　　Bitterness fed on the man who had made the world laugh．

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　　Once upon a time in a land far away, there was a wonderful old man who loved everything：animals, spiders, insects…

　　One day while walking through the woods, the nice old man found a cocoon(茧)of a butterfly．He took it home．A few days later, a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole．Then it seemed to stop making any progress．It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther．Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and cut off the remaining bit of the cocoon．

　　The butterfly then appeared easily．

　　But it had a swollen body and small, fragile wings．The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would be smaller in time．Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling(慢慢爬行)around with a swollen body and fragile wings．

　　It never was able to fly．

　　What the man in his kindness and hurry did not understand was that the limited cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were Nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon．

　　Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life．If we were allowed to go through our life without any obstacles and difficulties, it would disable us．We would not be as strong as what we could have been．And we could never fly．

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　　Last week, I bought an alarm system(报警系统)for about ＄ 450．It consisted of a control unit with three other small units．I put the control unit in the sitting room and fastened the other units by the front door, back door and living-room windows．The instructions told us to choose three numbers, so we chose 491, the last three numbers of our telephone number．

　　Now I must explain how the alarm works：

　　1．There is a power siren(警报器)in the control unit．It makes a very loud noise．

　　2．Each of the small units sends out rays in different directions．If anything moves, it breaks a beam．This sends a signal to the control unit．The siren makes a noise that you can hear 50 meters away．

　　3．When we go to bed, I press the three buttons numbered 4, 9 and 1．Then we have 30 seconds to get out of the room before the alarm starts to work．

　　That might I slept soundly because I was sure that no burglar(夜贼)could get into our house．However, at about 2：10a．m．, I woke up and heard the siren(警报)．

　　“There must be a burglar in the house,” Mary said．“What shall we do?”

　　“I’ll go and see who’s there,” I said．“Stay here．Don’t make a noise．”

　　I went downstairs quietly．When I reached the living room, I switched on my torch and looked round the room．Then I turned the light on．I switched the siren off and searched the rooms downstairs．There was nothing wrong except that the back door was unlocked．I locked it, re-set the alarm and went back to bed．

　　About an hour later, the alarm started again．I jumped out of bed, fell over a chair in the dark and bumped into the bedroom door．Mary woke up and started hitting me with a torch．“Hey! Wait a minute!” I whispered．“It’s only me．I’ m going downstairs to see what’s wrong．”

　　I went down into the living room and listened for a moment．The only sound I could hear was the siren．I turned on the light and then switched the siren off．As I did so, I glanced across at the curtains in front of the windows．I saw a house lizard(蜥蜴)disappear behind the curtains．

　　“Oh!” I said to myself．“That’s our burglar．”

　　When the lizard moved, it started the siren．I guessed that the alarm had been made in Europe, where there are no house lizards．

　　Well, I won’t finish this story but if you want an alarm system free of charge, let me know．I’ll send you ours．We bought a dog this morning．It knows the difference between a lizard and a burglar．

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　　Captain James Cook was a great explorer．Before he started exploring, maps of the Pacific Ocean were almost empty．He visited hundreds of islands across the Pacific Ocean and put them in the correct places on the map．He made maps of the coastlines of Australia and New Zealand．James Cook was born in England in 1728．His parents were poor farm workers．When James was 18, he found a job on a coastal ship．He worked on the ship until he was 27 years old, and then he joined the navy．He fought in Canada in a war against France, and she mapped some of the eastern coasts of Canada．In 1768 King George made him Captain of a ship and sent him to the Pacific．He was gone for nearly three years．When he returned, he was regarded as a national hero．

　　He started his third voyage in 1776．On this trip he visited Hawaii．He was the first European to set foot on this beautiful island．Then he mapped the western coast of North America．After that he returned to Hawaii．Unfortunately there was some trouble between the Hawaiians and the white men and they started fighting．In the end Captain was killed in a clash with the local．

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　　The first newspapers were written by hand and put up on walls in public place．The earliest daily newspaper was started in Rome in 59 BC．In the 700’s the world’s first printed newspaper was published．Europe didn’t have a regularly published newspaper until 1609, when one was started in Germany．

　　The first regularly published newspaper in the English language was printed in Amsterdam in 1620．In 1621, an English newspaper was started in London and was published once a week．The first daily English newspaper was the Daily Courant．It came out in March 1702．

　　In 1690, Benjamin Harris printed the first American newspaper in Boston．But not long after it was first published, the government stopped the paper．In 1704, John Campbell started The Boston Newsletter, the first newspaper published in the American colonies．By 1760, the colonies had more than thirty daily newspapers．There are now about 1,800 daily papers in the United States．

　　Today, as a group, English language newspapers have the largest circulation(发行量)in the world．But the largest circulation for a newspaper is that of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Dhimbun(朝日新闻)．It sells more than 11 million copies every day．

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　　Going home for Christmas is a tradition of the holiday season．No matter where you may be the rest of the year, being at “home” with your family and friends for Christmas is a “must”．The Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are the busiest times of the year at airports, train stations and bus stations．It seems that all America is on the move and Americans are on their way to spend the holidays with their loved ones．

　　This means that the house will be full of cousins, aunts and uncles that might not see each other during the year．Everyone joins in to help in the preparation of the festival．Some family members get to choose a Christmas tree to buy and bring home．Others decorate the house or wrap presents．And of course, each household needs to make lots of food!

　　At Christmas Eve gatherings adults have eggnog, which is made of cream, milk, sugar beaten eggs and brandy．Plenty of eggnog or hot cocoa is on hand in colder climates for carolers, or people who go from house to house sing Christmas carols to their neighbors．

　　Long ago, each child hung a stocking, or sock, over the fireplace．Santa entered down the chimney and left candy and presents inside the socks for the children．Today the tradition is carried on, but the socks are now large red sock-shaped fabric bags still called stockings．Each child can’t wait to open his or her eyes to see what Santa has left in the stocking．

　　Giving gifts is a Christmas tradition．However, in recent years, more and more people have complained that Christmas is too commercialized(商业化)especially in large cities．Store owners begin advertising and decorating very early in hopes of selling more goods．Some people believe that the origin of Christmas has been lost．

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　　A dog can’t speak words, but it can “talk”．It has feelings just as you do．At times it may feel angry or afraid．Watch a dog closely．You can find out what it feels．You can see what it is trying to tell you．When you are afraid, you may look down shyly．A fearful dog looks away from you．It may run away too when you are angry with people, you look at them unhappily．An angry dog also does this, and sometimes the hair along its back stands up．

　　Do you feel guilty when you have done something you shouldn’t? Dogs can feel guilty too．At times when I come home, my dog gives me a guilty look．Then I know he’s done something wrong．

　　Dogs need love and attention．Some dogs are very unhappy when they are left alone for a long time．Some dogs even snap if they don’t get enough attention．

　　You may have a dog or you may know a dog．Treat it well if you want to have fun with it．Play with it．Take it on walks．Don’t order it round too much．Avoid punishing it one time and not the next for doing the same thing．Always remember, a dog has needs and feelings just as you do．Talk to a dog, and it’ll talk to you, too．

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　　Once upon a time there was a wise man that used to go to the sea to do his writing．He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work．One day he was walking along the shore．As he looked down at the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer．He smiled to himself at the thought that someone would dance on the beach．So he began to walk faster to catch up．As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn’t dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean．As he got closer he called out, “Good morning! What are you doing?’’

　　The young man paused, looked up and replied,“Throwing starfishes(海星)in the ocean．”

　　“I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfishes in the ocean?”

　　“The sun is up and the tide is going out．And if I don’t throw them in they’ll die．”

　　“But, young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfishes all along it．You can’t possibly make a difference!”

　　The young man listened politely．Then he bent down, picked another starfish and threw it into the sea, and said, “ It made a difference for that one．” There is something very special in each and every one of us．We have all been gifted with the ability to make a difference．And if we can know that gift, we will gain through the strength of our vision the power to shape the future．

　　We must each find our starfish．And if we throw our starfish wisely and well, the world will be better．

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A nobleman and a merchant once met in an inn．For their lunch they both ordered soup．When it was brought, the nobleman took a spoonful, but the soup was so hot that he burned his mouth and tears came to his eyes, The merchant asked him why he was weeping(哭泣)．The nobleman was ashamed to admit that he had burned his mouth and answered, “Sir, I once had a brother who committed a great crime(犯罪), for which he was hanged．I was thinking of his death, and that made me weep．” The merchant believed this story and began to eat his soup．He too burned his mouth, so that he had tears in his eyes．The nobleman noticed it and asked the merchant, “Sir, why do you weep?” The merchant, who now saw that the nobleman had deceived(欺骗)him, answered, “My lord, I am weeping because you were not hanged together with your brother．”

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