Here is my family photo. The girl is me. My name is Jane. This is my grandmother. Look! The man next to (紧挨着) her is my grandfather. They are very nice to me. These are my parents. My father is Harry Smith. My mother is Kate Smith. These are my three sisters and my brother. My brother is the only (唯一的) boy in my family. He likes playing basketball (篮球). He has a black and brown basketball. My grandmother and my parents love him. My sisters and I love him, too. He is a good boy.

Years ago, a farmer owned land along the seacoast (海岸). He asked people to work for him, but most people didn’t want to work on farms along the seacoast. They feared the terrible storms across from the Atlantic Ocean.

Finaly, a short, thin man, about forty, got to the farm. “Are you a good farmhand (农场工人)?” the farmer asked him. “well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man. Although surprised at this answer and not sure if this little man could do a good job, the farmer still had no other choice but to take the man. The next week, the farmhand worked hard and well around the farm, busy from morning to night, and the farmer felt satisfied with his work.

Then one night the wind began to blow and soon cried loudly outside. Jumping out of bed, the farmer took a lamp, rushed next door to the farmland’s sleeping room. He shook the little man and shouted, “Get up! A storm is coming! Get everything ready before they are blown away!”

The little man lay in bed and said quietly. “Oh, sir. I told you I can sleep when the wind blows,” Annoyed (恼怒的) at the answer, the farmer decided to let him go away. He hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his surprise, he found that all of the things had been covered with tarpaulins (防水油布). The cows were in their houses and the chickens were in their houses, too. Everything was ready for the wind. Nothing could be blown away.

The farmer was then convinced (确信) he found the best farmhand ever, so he also returned to his bed to sleep again, well and soundly.

Who invented films? It's difficult to say. Lots of people played a part in the development of the cinema. A man named Muybridge made the first moving picture in 1878. It was a film of a horse running and it was only a few seconds long. By 1895, other people had invented various machines for showing moving pictures, but many of these could only be watched by one person at a time. Thomas Edison was one of the first to show very short films to audiences of 20 or more people. His films showed acrobats（杂技演员）and dancers performing, or everyday events like a man sneezing!

At first, films were only a few minutes long. They were black and white and silent. They were usually documentaries about different places or news events, or comedies showing people falling over and making funny faces. Later they became longer stories, but there was still no sound. Instead，there might be a musician playing the piano in the hall while the film was shown.

Musicals were probably the most popular kind of film throughout the 1930s and 1940s. A very famous actress and singer at that time was Shirley Temple-she was only a five-year-old girl but everyone loved watching her sing and dance.

The very first film to be in colour and to have sound was shown in 1927. It was called The Jazz Singer. From then on, more and more films were produced in colour, and almost all films had sound.