As we walked down the shore, Ben Gunn told his story. “I was alone here for years,” he said. “One day, I found the skeleton(骷髅). I saw it was pointing to a tree. I dug around that tree and found the treasure. I was living in a cave, so I took the treasure to the cave. This morning, when Long John Silver and his men came to look for the treasure, I showed myself to one of them. He thought I was a ghost.” Ben laughed. “he ran off, and this gave me time to get back to the squire(乡绅) and the doctor. They were waiting at the cave.”

“Now I know,” I said to the doctor, “why you gave the map to Silver.”

“It was useless by then,” the doctor said. “There was no buried treasure. Ben Gunn had it. My plan was to get Long John Silver and his men away from the stockade(木寨). We could then get some stores from it.”

When we got back to the cave, the squire was waiting for us.

“Three of the mutineer(反叛者) got away,” the doctor told him. “But if we hurry, we can get to the boat before them. They ran back to the stockade on the other side of the island. We are nearer to the boat than they are.”

I went into the cave. The captain was lying inside it next to the treasure—a pile of gold coins.

“Hello, Jim,” he said. “I am pleased to see you. But I don’t think you or I will be going to see again.”

That night, the captain died. We carried the treasure down to the boat. We lit a fire on the shore and had a fine meal together. We were not afraid of the three mutineers. We had guns. They had none. There were more us than of them.

The next morning, we went in the boat towards the Hispaniola. We didn’t care about the three men. We left them on the island.

I will not tell you about the journey home. Nothing important happened. But as soon as we got to Bristol, Long John Silver ran away. He took some of the gold with him. None of us cared. We were pleased to see the back of him. We each shared the treasure and used it in a different way.

(Adapted from Treasure Island)

Portia gave the decision. “One pound of the merchant’s flesh is yours. It is what the contract says. You may take his flesh!”

Shylock held his knife and told Antonio to get ready. “Wait” exclaimed Portia. “You will not do anything that is not written in the contract. Is that right, Shylock?”

“Yes, that’s right,” said Shylock. He wondered what the wise young judge was going to say.

“Well” said the young judge, “I have read the contract carefully, and it does not say anything about taking his blood. It says ‘a pound of flesh’. You can take your pound of flesh, but you may not take one drop of his blood. If you take any of his blood, the duke will take everything you own!”

Now it was Graziano’s turn to bless the judge and call him wise.

“You wanted justice,” Portia told Shylock, “and you will have more justice than you wanted.”

Shylock didn’t want to give everything he owned to the duke. He decided not to take his pound of flesh. He said he would take the money.

“Give me ninety thousand dollars,” he said, “and I will have mercy on Antonio and let him go.”

Bassanio was happy to give him the money. He was very pleased that his friend Antonio would not die.

“Wait!” Portia said again. “He does not want the money. It is not written in the contract.”

But shylock said he just wanted to have his money back and wouldn’t even demand interest. Bassanio was ready to give it to him, but again Portia stopped him.

“He said he wanted only the penalty that is in the contract.”

Shylock understood that he would not get his pound of flesh. He understood that he would not get his money. He decided to go home.

“Wait!” said Portia, for the third time. The law of Venice, says that if you plan to kill a citizen of Venice, you will lose everything that you own. Half of what you have will belong to the person you tried to kill, and the other half will belong to the duke.

Taken from The Merchant of Venice

Cassy made a plan for her and Emmeline. No one wanted to go to the attic（阁楼）in Legree’s house because everyone thought it was full of ghosts and Legree was afraid of ghosts. Cassy’s room was under it. One day, Cassy moved all her furniture to a room very far from it. When Legree asked why, she replied, “I can’t sleep. There were noises in the attic, every night, from midnight until the morning.”

“Noises in the attic?” said Legree, worried, “Who is up there?”

“I don’t know,” said Cassy and she went to her room.

Then she put things in the attic that made strange noises when the wind blew. The slaves heard them and started talking about ghosts. Legree became scared of passing near the stairs to the attic.

Then one night Cassy and Emmeline ran away. They stayed near the house and waited. When Legree left to look for them with his slaves and dogs, Cassy and Emmeline went into the attic.

Legree was angry when he came back and he was sure that Tom knew something.

“Tom,” said Legree, “tell me where those two are, or I will kill you. Speak!”

“I have nothing to say,” said Tom.

“Are you telling me that you don’t know?”

“I know, Master, but I can’t tell you.”

Legree hit Tom and kicked him again and again, until he thought Tom was dead. Then he left. But Tom was not dead.

Cassy and Emmeline stayed in the attic for days, until Legree stopped looking for them. Then one night they escaped again and nobody followed them. They were free.

Two days later, a young man arrived. He was George Shelby. When he received the letter from Miss Ophelia, he went looking for Tom to buy him back, but it took a long time to find him.

Legree took George to see Tom. Tom was lying on the floor, waiting to die. When George saw him, he felt sick.

“Uncle Tom, my poor, poor friend!”

Tom opened his eyes. “Master George! You remembered me! It’s going well.” said Tom and then he closed his eyes forever.

When George turned, Legree was standing behind him. “Who cares about a dead slave!” said Legree. George hit Legree so hard that he fell to the ground. Then ________.