学进去

Many people like collecting (收集) things. For example, they like collecting stamps, books, pictures... But my friend Mr. King likes collecting clocks. He has five hundred clocks now.

There are clocks everywhere in his house. You can see shelves standing in every room. All the shelves are full of clocks. Though Mr. King is glad to do this, his wife doesn’t enjoy it at all. She has a lot of work to do every day. It’s not easy for her to clean hundreds of clocks. She is also angry at the noise. Each clock keeps its own (自己的) time, so she can hear clock strike (敲) almost any time during the day and night. “There’s something even worse. I’m never able to know what time it is with so many clocks around!”

The Spring Festival is coming. People buy new clothes and a lot of nice food. Everyone is happy. Zhang Ming’s family is different. His father is ill. He often goes to hospital. And he always takes medicine. They don’t have so much money. They can’t buy new clothes or nice food. Zhang Ming is a good boy. He has a plan (计划) for the Spring Festival. First, he wants to sweep the floor and clean the rooms. Next, he wants to draw some pictures with his little brother and put them on the wall (墙). Their house will be nice! Then, he wants to cook meals for the family. He can’t cook meat or fish well, but he is good at cooking eggs with tomatoes. It’s yummy. He also wants to sing and dance with his brother. He thinks his father and mother will be happy.

Helen has a happy family. She lives in Suzhou with her parents. Helen is a student. She gets up at 6:30 every morning and goes to school on foot. Her father is a policeman. He goes to work by bus. And her mother is a doctor. She goes work by bike. What do they usually do on Sundays? Helen usually goes shopping with her mother. But her father doesn’t like going shopping. He usually reads books at home.

My parents (父母) work in a shoe factory. They get up at five thirty. They first get breakfast ready. Then they go to work by bus. They work from eight to five. They come home at about six and prepare (准备) supper for us. Mother washes clothes in the evening. Father often makes toys(玩具) for us. They are busy all day.

Mr. Smith goes to a dinner party. He is wearing old clothes. He comes into the room, but people in the room don’t look at him. Mr. Smith goes home and puts on his good clothes. He goes back to the party. Everyone in the room stands up and smiles at him. They give him very good food to eat. He said, “You give me very good food. Now I see that you give the food for my clothes, not for me.”

In the Spring and Autumn period, a man from State Chu once got an unusual pearl from a big river. He decided to sell it.

The man thought, "I will sell the pearl for more money if it has a good-looking box. So he made a wooden box at home and decorated it with precious stones and beautiful feathers. Then he put the pearl into the box and went to the market.

The beautiful box attracted a man from State Zheng. He liked the box and decided to buy it. He took out the pearl and gave it back to the man from State Chu.

“I will take the box only. The pearl is useless to me. You can keep it for yourself, “ the man from State Zheng said. He paid for the box and went away happily.

The man from State Chu could not understand this. He wondered, the man paid so much only for the box. Why didn't he take the pearl?

Some people may choose in a wrong way because they can’t make a good judgement (判断).

   Green is an important colour. But “green” is more than just a colour. It is the colour of grass and leaves. It is also the colour of most growing plants (植物).

Sometimes, the word “green” means young and growing. It is something that is not ripe (成熟). If a cow has no horn (触角), it is green. If you come to a new job, you are a green hand, too.

Sometimes, the word “green” means good. If you can grow plants well, we say you are a green thumb (拇指). It means you may have a magic way to make plants grow quickly and well.

Green is also the word to say about one feeling (感情), jealousy. You are good at English, but your friend Jack is not. If Jack is always not happy with you, just because he can't be as good as you (和你一样好), then Jack may be green.

Green has another wonderful meaning. If you often take a bus to go out, but not take a car, we say you are going green. Because you love the world in a better way.