—             ！

    He was an old man who fished alone in a small boat on the sea and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish, the boy's parents had told him that the old man was now salao, which was the worst form of unluck, and the boy had gone with another boat which caught three good fish the first week. It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his boat empty. The sail looked like the flag of failure forever.

    The old man was thin with deep wrinkles(皱纹)in the back of his neck. His face was terribly brown because of the strong sunlight on the sea every day and his hands had the deep scars(伤疤)from dealing with heavy fish on the lines. But none of these were fresh. Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same colour as the sea and were cheerful.

    "Santiago," the boy said to him as they climbed the bank from the sea. "I could go with you again. We've made some money."

    The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him.

    "No, "the old man said." You're with a lucky boat. Stay with them."

    "But remember how you went eighty-seven days without fish and then we caught big ones every day for three weeks."

    "I remember," the old man said.

    "It was papa who made me leave. I am a boy and I must follow him."

    "I know," the old man said. "It is quite normal."

    "He hasn't much faith(信心)."

    "No," the old man said." But we have. Haven't we?"

    "Yes," the boy said. "Can I offer you a beer on the Terrace?"

    "Why not?" the old man said. "Between fishermen."

    Roald Dahl was one of the most successful writers of children's books. He sold millions of books all over the world. Many of his books have been made into films and videos. He is so famous that there is even a Roald Dahl Museum you can visit.

    Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales, Britain. His father was rich but he died when Roald was very young. Roald and his mother lived a hard life. He had to leave school and went to Africa where he worked for an oil company.

    In 1939, Roald became a pilot, but he had a bad accident. It made him limp(瘸的)for the rest of his life. After this, Roald went to America where he wrote a story about his experience as a pilot. It was so good that it was put in a magazine.

    Roald married an American film star. They bought a house in England and had five children. From 1960 to 1965, ：Theo, one of his children, was hit by a taxi and was seriously hurt. Oliva, one of Roald's daughters, died of a strange illness. Soon after this, his wife also had a serious illness. It took her years to get completely better.

    Gradually Roald became more and more successful. He always did his writing in an old shed(棚)at the back of his house. He always sat in the same old armchair with a wooden board on his lap.

    "One of the nice things about being a writer," he once said, "is that all you need is what you've got in your head and a pencil and a bit of paper."

    In 1983 Roald won a big prize for his book The BFG. During his life, Roald wrote many famous books, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Fantastic Mr Fox.

    After he died in 1990, Roald left money to help people with serious illness and those with problems with reading and writing.

Black is at City Art Center

    A Trip into a Young Farmer's Mind

    Chickens that can talk? Cows that can dance? They are all in Louis Black's comic books(漫画书).

    Louis Black was born on a farm. The quiet young man spent most of his life helping his parents on the farm. When he was nine, he started to draw the animals on the farm. Later, he put them into his comic books in his own funny way. They were enjoyed by his family but never shown to people outside the farm.

    The shy farmer's comic books became famous only after he died. He passed on in a fire three years ago, when he was only 35.In order to remember him, his family showed his comic books in the town museum, and people liked them very much. Now the original(原始的)pictures of Louis Black's farm animals can be seen at the City Art Centre for one month.

    Come and visit the beautiful world of Louis Black！

    Almost every Chinese can recite the famous poem, "Every grain on the plate comes from hard work(谁知盘中餐, 粒粒皆辛苦)."But sadly, many of us don't actually get the real meaning of these lines：Don't waste food.

    A CCTV programme, News One Plus One, reported that the food Chinese people throw away every year is enough to feed 200 million people for a year.

    Do we have too much food? No, according to the UN World Food Programme, there were 925 million hungry people around the world in 2010, especially in developing countries.6 million children die of hunger every year.

    Chinese people are well-known for being generous. Many even feel that they will lose face if their guests have eaten all the food on the table.

    Luckily, a number of people have realized the importance of saving food. In November, 2011, Li Hong, a waitress in a restaurant in Nanjing, became famous because she took some leftover(剩余的)food home for her son. Many people stood by her side and agreed that it was not right to waste food.

    What should we do in our daily lives to save food? Here are some tips：

    Do not order too much in a restaurant. Only order what you want to eat. If you cannot eat all the food you ordered, take the rest of it home.

    Don't be too picky(挑剔的)about food. Some food may not taste great, but your body needs it.

    Keep an eye on what food you have at home. Don't buy too much, especially vegetables and fruit.