Have you ever wanted to achieve something really amazing in life? Well, Greg Mortenson wanted to climb a mountain, but he ended up helping thousands of people to have a better life.
Greg's story began with failure. In 1993, he set out to climb K2, the world's second highest mountain. But Greg never made it to the top. After five days, he stumbled(踉跄)into the village of Korphe in northern Pakistan, injured(受伤)and hungry. The kind villagers there looked after him for several days.
Greg saw that the villagers were very poor and hungry, and some of them were ill. Also, the village school didn't have a roof(屋顶)and the children wrote on the ground with sticks. Greg knew he wanted to do something to help. " I'll build you a school,”he told the villagers. “ I promise.”
Greg went back home to the USA to raise money for the school. He even lived in the car to save money! Finally he went back to Korphe and built the school. But this was just the beginning of something bigger! Since then, Greg's organization has built around 80 schools and runs many others in Pakistan and other countries, too.
Greg hasn't finished yet. He does many other things to help people in poor countries. He has got many prizes, but it's the smiles of the children he has helped that makes him happy!
Greg has just written a best-selling book about his story called Three Cups of Tea. It's an interesting and exciting book which tells us what ordinary(普通的)people can do with courage and determination(决心)!

A young man woke up one morning under a bridge and checked his pocket. All he had left was less than ten dollars. He bought food and as he sat down to eat, an old man and two children came along. The old man asked him to help them with food as they had not eaten for almost a week.
The young man looked at the children—they were so weak that they could hardly stand. With the last bit of kindness he had he gave them all the food. The old man and children thanked the young man and then gave him a dirty old coin. The young man said, “You need this coin more than I do— just keep it.” The old man insisted(坚持) that the young man put it in his pocket—and finally he did.
The old man and children sat down to eat. And with no money, no job and no food, the young man went back under the bridge to lie down. As he was about to fall asleep he saw an old newspaper on the ground. He picked it up and saw an ad inviting people with old coins to come to a store. He decided to go there with the dirty old coin the man gave him.
When he arrived at the store, he gave the keeper the dirty old coin. The keeper cried loudly. It was part of a Spanish treasure ship that had never been found. This same old coin was worth 67,000 dollars. The young man was pleased. He immediately sold the coin for money and then looked for the old man and little children to thank them and share the money. By the time he got to where he left them eating, they had gone.
Tyler was a troublesome student. He sat in the back row. Every time I called him to answer questions, he'd reply with a flip(轻率的)answer. If he got it wrong, he would get very angry.
Usually kids could sit quietly in class. However, Tyler was just loud. One day, Tyler was talking while I was teaching. I said to him, “Tyler, why not join in our discussion instead of having one of your own?” He got up from his chair, pushed it over, and shouted something I can't remember. I sent him to the office and he received a week's out-of-school punishment.
The week was a wonderful time for me, but when it came to an end, I began to feel worried. So I came up with a plan. On the day of his return, I told him I wanted to start over with him. If he felt like he was going to lose control in class, he could step outside the door for a moment.
From then on, Tyler was a changed student in my classroom. In fact he was a smart child and he even stopped a fight between two students one day. And he never used the privilege(特权)to leave the class for a moment. I believe that just letting him decide for himself made all the difference.
When the year was over, he wrote me a thank-you note about how good the year had been for him. I still have it today and find it very moving to reread when I get stressed about teaching.
A
Annie is a neighbor's daughter. When her birthday month came around I found out she felt blue and lonely.
Her family is quite small and kind of poor so there wouldn't be any birthday visitors. I wanted to send her a card and maybe a small gift to make her happy.
I told some of my friends I would like to have a birthday party for the girl. I asked them for help. Then I bought some small presents, a cake and something else.
When the day came, my friends and I went to her house. When she got home after school, we gave the presents to her and wished her a happy birthday.
It was so easy to do something helpful. My friends helped take the party. They still laugh and talk about it. And Annie tells me she likes the birthday very much and she can still remember it!
C
O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. When some money went missing from the bank, O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison(监狱). During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales(故事)were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader's surprise.
a. Lived in New York b. Worked in a bank
c. Traveled to Texas d. Was put in prison
e. Had a newspaper job f. Learned to write stories
Things didn't go well for Henry, the village pancake maker. The Great Pancake Contest(比赛) was today. People from different places would try to win the contest .The villagers wanted Henry to win, but Henry had problems. There was not enough wood in the oven to make a pancake. Mice ate half the flour(面粉) during the night.
The villagers saw that Henry was having problems. The woodsman brought wood for the oven. The farmer gave Henry more flour. This was all very good but he was still missing one more important thing. There was hardly enough time for Henry to make his pancake and take it to the contest. But Henry decided to have a try.
As fast as he could, Henry put the wood in the oven. When he made the pancake, he thought, "When I had no wood, the woodsman brought me wood; when I had no flour, the farmer brought me flour. My good friends helped me."
After Henry finished making the pancake, he ran as fast as he could to the contest. "I'm sorry, Henry," one of the judges(评判员) said. "You are too late." Henry's friends were sad for him, but Henry just laughed. "I' m not sad! In fact,I'm happy!" he shouted. "I have good friends who helped me. Now, I have a wonderful pancake to share with them."
Toby, an 11-year old boy, is playing with a ball. The ball goes into the street and Toby runs for the ball.
A car hits(碰撞) Toby. An ambulance(救护车) takes Toby to the hospital in 30 minutes. The doctors at the hospital tell Toby's parents, "Toby is in a coma."
Every day, Toby's parents visit him at the hospital. They sit next to Toby's bed and talk to him. But Toby never talks to them. He just sleeps.
One day Toby's father says, "Wake up, Toby. Wake up, come home and play with Rusty." Rusty is Toby's dog.
When Toby's father says "Rusty", Toby moves his arm(胳膊). "Rusty!" Toby's father says again. Again, Toby moves his arm.
Toby's parents have an idea. They tell the nurse,
"We want to bring Toby's dog to the hospital." The nurse says "OK".
The next day, Toby's parents bring Rusty to the hospital. When they put the dog on Toby's bed, Toby opens his eyes and hugs the dog.
Toby's parents bring Rusty to the hospital every day. One day, Rusty jumps onto Toby's bed and scratches(抓) his arm. Toby says his first words, "Bad dog!"
After eight weeks, Toby is well. He leaves the hospital and goes home.
Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 and died on December 5, 1791. When he was three, he often had music lessons with his elder sister. His father took him through many different countries, where he played music for lots of people.
But some people didn't believe a little boy could write such beautiful music. They asked him to stay in a room all by himself for a week and somebody watched the room all the time. In a week, he finished a new piece of music. After that, people believed that he could write beautiful music.
Mozart died when he was still a young man. During his short life he studied music, taught music, played music and wrote music. Even by working so hard, he couldn't make much money. Often he had to borrow(借入) money from his friends. But his music made him happy and for more than two hundred years his music has made other people happy, too.
Recently a young woman's post(博文) on Weibo caught many people's eye. In the post she said that she wanted books for her students in Xinjiang.
After finishing her study in college,the young woman chose to become a teacher in Xinjiang. When people asked why she went to teach in the faraway area,she just said,"Because I love my country. "
The young teacher found that some books in her school library were not good enough for the children. So she went to Weibo for help. Many Kind-hearted people saw her post and offered to send her books. Someone placed an order for 30 books on Taobao. When the seller 1earned about who the books were for. He sent 44 books to the school. Many organizations also sent books. So far, she has received (收到)over 2,000 books. Some are storybooks,some are books on natural science,and some are books about history and so on. Now, some people are still asking for the address (地址) of the school. They want to give more books to the school.
The teacher said her students were very happy to receive so many new books. For those books,she plans to set up a rotation system(轮转系统)in her class so that no children will miss their favorite ones. Now, the teacher calls herself "the happiest woman in the world".
Clara Daly was sitting on an Alaska Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles when she heard a worried voice over the loudspeaker: "Does anyone on board know American Sign Language?"
Clara, 15 at the time, pressed the call button. An air hostess came by and explained the situation. "We have a passenger on the plane who's blind and deaf," she said. The passenger seemed to want something, but he was traveling alone and the air hostesses couldn't understand what he needed.
Clara had been studying ASL for the past year to help blind and deaf people and she knew she'd be able to finger spell into the man's palm. So she rose from her seat, walked toward the front of the plane, and knelt by the seat of Tim Cook, then 64. Gently taking his hand, she signed, "How are you? Are you OK?" Cook asked for some water.
When it arrived, Clara returned to her seat. She came by again a bit later because he wanted to know the time. On her third visit, she stopped and stayed for a while.
"He didn't need anything. He was lonely and wanted to talk," Clara said.
So for the next hour, she talked about her family and her plans for the future. Cook told Clara how he had become blind over time and shared stories of his days as a traveling salesman. Even though he couldn't see her, she "looked attentively at his face with such kindness," a passenger reported.
"Clara was amazing," an air hostess told Alaska Airlines in an interview. "You could tell Cook was very excited to have someone he could speak to, and she was such an angel."
Cook's reply: "Best trip I've ever had."
B .
C .
D .
In ancient times, there was a king who loved flowers, His palace was always decorated with beautiful orchids (兰花) and other flowers. As the king grew older, he knew that one day he would have to give up his throne (王位). So he had to find someone to rule the country.
The other day, the king had an idea. He asked his servants to travel to every part of the country and give every citizen a single orchid seed (种子), He then announced that the person who grew the most beautiful orchid would take his throne.
Everyone in the country then got their own seed. One young man named David was especially excited about the news, because he had experience in growing flowers himself.
David planted his seed in a pot and put it in a place where it would get lots of sunlight. He watched it carefully every day. But as hard as he tried, his flower simply would not grow.
Finally, it was time for everyone to give their flowers to the king. David took his empty pot to the palace. "Your Majesty (尊敬的陛下), I am sorry to say that I could not grow an orchid, But I hope you can see that I tried my best," he said.
The king was moved by David's honesty. Although he did not choose David as the new king, he gave David a job as a royal court judge (法官).He believed that David's honesty would make him the right person to make sure the justice (公正) in the country.
Sometimes your biggest weakness can become your biggest strength. A 10-year-old boy decided to study judo (柔道) though he had lost his left arm in a serious car accident. The boy began his lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training, the master had taught him only one move.
"Sensei (老师)," "he boy finally said, "shouldn't I be learning more moves?"
“This is the only move you know, and this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the sensei replied.
Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first competition. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match seemed to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent (对手) became impatient. The boy skillfully used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals.
This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced(有经验的). For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Thinking that the boy might get hurt, the referee (裁判) called a timeout. He wantedt to stop the match when the sensei said to him, "No, let him continue."
Soon after the match restarted, his opponent made a big mistake. The boy won! He was the winner. On the way home the boy tried to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how could I win the competition with only one move?"
"You won for two reasons," the sensei answered." First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. Second, the only known defense (防御) for that move is for your opponent to catch your left arm."
The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.
They say that "travel is the best teacher" and there is no better example of this idea than the Ming dynasty travel writer and geographer Xu Xiake (1587—1641). His book The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake, not only encour-aged a love of travelling among Chinese people but provided important scientific information about the country's land and geography.
Born into a wealthy Jiangyin family, Xu became interested in books about different places at an early age and wanted to travel. When he was 18, however, Xu's father died and so, it seemed, did his travelling dreams. He now was responsible for the family farm and taking care of his 60-year-old mother as tradition required.
But his mother had different ideas. Understanding her son's love of travel and valuing the knowledge he could get from such experiences, this modern-thinking woman refused to keep her son at home. She agreed that Xu could travel for three months every year, when there was less farm work.
So at the age of twenty and with his mother's support, Xu set off for the first time, leaving behind not only his mother but his new wife as well. He would repeat this goodbye each year for most of the next 30 years. During this time, he travelled throughout the Ming kingdom, carefully studying the lands he passed through and recording his experiences and many discoveries in a diary. This diary, which once had over 500,000 words, would eventually become The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake.
Although rich, Xu avoided comfortable travel, preferring to go almost everywhere on foot. This way he could research the environment in detail and get a true picture of the natural world. Many of his trips were to hard-to-reach mountain areas, and through wild forests where few people lived. His willingness to face hardships came at a cost however. Progress was slow and tiring and he was frequently sick, robbed and beaten during his journeys.
Sadly Xu became seriously ill during his last and longest journey, a 4-year trip through the southwest of China. He died in 1641, soon after returning to his hometown for the last time. When his diary was finally printed years after his death, much of it had been destroyed or lost. Although incomplete, it still made Xu a travelling legend around the world.
a. He went on his first journey.
b. His book was finally printed.
c. He returned to his hometown for the last time.
d. He developed an interest in books about other places.
e. He started managing the family farm after his father died.
Long long ago, there lived a man and a woman who had seven sons. The couple wanted a daughter very much, and finally, they had a girl She was very pretty and her parents loved her very much. One day the father needed water for the child, so he sent the seven brothers to a well (井) in the forest to get it. Once there, though, the boys began to fight and the water jug (壶) fell into the well. The boys looked into the well and thought of their father. They were afraid to go home.
Hours passed. "Where are those boys?" shouted the angry father. "They are probably playing a game and have forgotten about the water. I wish they were all turned into ravens (乌鸦) !"And when he looked up, he saw seven black birds flying away. The father was shocked. "What have I done? he thought. But it was too late. He could not take back his words.
Later, the girl grew up and discovered she had brothers. The story of their bad luck influenced her deeply, and she decided to find them. For years, she searched and did not stop. She made up her mind to find them. Finally, she found their home. To enter, she needed a special key made from a chicken bone, which she did not have. The girl thought for a moment, and then took a knife and cut off one of her fingers. With it, she opened the front door and went inside. On a table, there were seven plates and seven cups. She ate and drank a little from each of them. In the last cup, she accidently dropped a ring that her parents had given her.
Later hat day, the ravens returned for their meal. The girl hid behind the door and watched. When the seventh raven drank from his cup, something hit his mouth. The raven recognized it at once-it was his parents' ring. "I wish our sister were here, "he said, "and then we could be free." At that moment, their sister ran o them, and suddenly the ravens were human again. The brothers kissed their sister and all eight of them went home together happily.
Why do you remember Hello Kitty, Snoopy and all the other playful animals? What makes you love them? Well, maybe because they're like the people around you. Think about it! You may just find a friend or classmate who is like them. Is he or she:
As sweet as Hello Kitty: She likes to eat cakes. She loves to make new friends. She asks friends to her tea parties. She is warm and sunny and will always help you.
As clever as Snoopy: He went to school when he was nine. He learned to use a typewriter in two years! He thinks a lot. He is so clever that you like to be with him.
As sarcastic (讽刺的) as Garfield: He sits happily in the seat and says sharp words to you. Sometimes he is not nice. He doesn't really like you? He thinks you're a fool? No, in his heart, he loves you. He is a friend with hard words but a warm heart.
As naughty as Mashimaro: He doesn't look like a good boy. He has sleepy eyes and looks naughty. He always plays tricks on people. So you get angry with him and don't like him very much. His mind is active and full of ideas. He tries to be big and catch your eye. But, he's still a child.
Hundreds of years ago, a Roman army came north from England to make war on Scotland. The Scots, a brave people, loved their country very much. They fought hard to drive the enemy out of Scotland, but there were too Romans. It looked as if the Romans would win.
One night, the leader of Scots marched his soldiers to the top of a hill. "We will rest here tonight, my men," he said "Tomorrow we will fight one more battle. We must win or we will die.
They were all very tired, so they ate their supper quickly and fell asleep. There were four guards on duty, but they, too, were very tired, and one by one, also fell asleep.
The Romans were not asleep. Quickly they gathered at the foot of the hill. Slowly they climbed up the hillside, taking care not to make a sound. Closer and closer they came to the sleeping Scots. They were almost at the top. A few minutes more, the war would be over. Suddenly, one of them put his foot on a thistle(蓟). He cried out and his sudden cry woke the Scots. In a moment, they were on their feet and ready for battle. The fighting was hard but it did not last long. The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved their country.
The thistle is not a beautiful plant. It has sharp needles all over it. Few people like it. But the people of Scotland liked it so much that they made it their national flower.