Clara Barton, born on Christmas in 1821, is widely known as one of the most honored women in American history. She began teaching school when most teachers were men at that time. Later, she became one of the first women ever to be employed by the government.

Her career in helping the sick began when her brother David became her first patient. He fell down from the roof of a house when Clara was just 11 years old. She stayed by his side and looked after him for three years, learning how to give him all his medicines.

When the Civil War began in 1861, she immediately recognized that the poorly equipped soldiers needed help. Instead of waiting for others to step in, Clara collected necessary things on her own, asked the public for donations and learned how to store and distribute them to soldiers. She also read to the soldiers and wrote letters for them.

    After the Battle of Cedar Mountain in northern Virginia in 1862, Clara arrived at a field hospital at midnight with a vehicle full of supplies. A doctor named Paul Smith at that hospital would later write, “I thought heaven had sent out an angel that night — her assistance arrived at exactly the right time.”

    In 1869, Clara went to Europe and learned about the International Committee of the Red Cross. Upon her return to the United States, she successfully founded the American Red Cross. She led the organization for the next 23 years. Her last field mission (使命) as president of the American Red Cross was to help the victims of the 1900 Galveston hurricane. She did not retire (退休) from the American Red Cross until she was 83. True to her nature, Clara always went to where the need was the greatest.

Today, the American Red Cross continues the mission Clara started more than 100 years ago. With the help of thousand s of volunteers, the American Red Cross provides relief to victims of disasters, as well as helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to all sorts of emergencies.

     Once a boy came to ask a fisherman how to become cleverer, because his mother always called him “foolish boy”.

    “That's easy,” answered the fisherman. “I know one way to make you become cleverer.”

    “Really?”

    “Of course. It is said a fish head is good for brain. If you eat one, you'll become cleverer indeed. Pay only three pounds for one fish head.” The boy paid him three pounds and the fisherman cut off a fish head and handed it to him.

    A raw fish head is not good—not even for a hungry boy to eat but the boy ate it up in  two gulps.

    “Do you feel anything?” asked the fisherman.

    “Not in my head,” said the boy.

    The boy lay on the ground and thought. “One whole fish costs only two pounds. I have paid him three pounds for the fish head. Why couldn't I have the whole fish for soup, a head for brain and one pound left over?” He jumped up and shouted at the fisherman. “You thief! You are fooling me!” The fisherman laughed, saying, “The fish head works now, you see.”

    On a cold winter day, many years ago, a French art teacher named Pierre Chevalier got on a train in Lyon to go to Paris. When he started his journey, he didn't know that it was the beginning of almost 40 years of accidents and near death experiences.

    During the journey, the train fell into an icy river, killing 12 passengers. Chevalier managed to swim back to the river bank. He only had a broken leg.

    Two years later, Chevalier was on a plane from Paris to Moscow when a door suddenly opened and he fell out. A few minutes later, the plane crashed(坠毁); 27 people were killed. Chevalier was so lucky that he landed in a haystack(干草堆).

    A few years later, he was hit by a bus, but again had no serious injuries. Then a year after that, he was driving on a mountain road when he saw a truck coming straight at him. He drove the car off the road, jumped out, landed in a tree—and watched his car fall 100 metres down the mountain.

    “There are two ways you can look at it,” Chevalier said. “I'm either the world's unluckiest man, or the world's luckiest.” When a reporter asked Chevalier what he thought, he chose the “luckiest” one.

    Two years ago, aged 71, Chevalier bought his first lottery ticket(彩票) in 50 years and won more than 2 million.

    After this, a TV company in America said they wanted him to make an advertisement. At first he accepted, but then he changed his mind. Chevalier said he wouldn't fly to Los Angeles for the filming, because he didn't want to push his luck. Who knows? If he had accepted the invitation, maybe he would have had another accident. But Mr Chevalier is a lucky man. If he'd had another accident, he probably would have survived that too!

    Charlie studied in a famous college for four years. He studied hard and did well in all his subjects. He hoped to become a good teacher. This year he left the college and began to work in a middle school. He likes his students and is strict with them. He does his best to make his classes lively and interesting.

    One day he carefully explained a chemical reaction to the students of Grade 2 in the chemistry lab.

    “Be careful, everyone,” he said loudly. “Before I make the experiment, there're twenty five atoms of carbon (碳原子), but after I finish it, there're twenty four atoms of carbon left!”

He stopped to watch the classroom and hoped his students would go on explaining it. But the young men looked at each other and nobody answered him. He had to ask,

    “What happens? What makes the atom lost?”

    The classroom was very quiet and none of the students looked at their teacher.

    “Who can tell us where it has gone?”

    Suddenly a soft voice came from the back row, “We did not see anybody leave the lab!”

    When Cherry Watson travelled on a recent flight from New York to Washington and noticed an 'awful tension' in the cabin, she first thought it was caused by typical bad-tempered passengers. But as the flight neared its end, it became obvious that something was very wrong.

    A teenage boy with Down Syndrome (唐氏综合症) who was traveling with his family had become upset and would not return to his seat, regardless of the cabin crew's warnings over the loudspeaker that it was almost time to land. The pilot was forced to circle above the airport, delaying the landing and angering people on the already tense flight.

    'If it was a cartoon,' remembered Watson, 'there would have been smoke coming out of people's ears.'

    The boy's elderly parents and adult brothers and sisters tried to persuade him to get off the floor and back into his seat, but in vain. Watson, who used to be a teacher, stood up and quickly headed to the back of the plane.

    She found the boy in the passage between rows of seats, lying on his belly, and lay down on her stomach to face him. She began chatting calmly with him, asking his name, his favorite book, and his favorite characters. He told her he felt sick and she tried to comfort him.

    Minutes later, he allowed her to hold his hand, and then together they got properly back into airplane seats. Watson asked for sick bags, and held them as the boy threw up several times, including on her. As she helped him clean up, she repeatedly told him everything would be okay and that they'd get through it together.

    After the plane was finally able to land, no one was impatient to step off the flight as one might expect. Instead, calmed passengers—obviously following Watson's amazing example—allowed the boy and his family to depart first, smiling at them as they passed. His parents tearfully thanked Watson for what she had done, and a doctor sitting nearby also let her know he had even taken notes on her expert way of handling the situation.

    My first visit to London was one and a half years ago. It was a wonderful trip. I stayed in the city for three weeks, and I had many impressions. I visited all the famous places. I'd like to tell you about some of the places I visited in this beautiful city.

    First, I went to the Tower of London, and I want to say that it is a very interesting historical place. I found out that a long time ago, it was a prison. Later it became a castle for the royal(皇家的) family. Or maybe it is the reverse; I'm not sure, but later they left this place and lived in Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace.

    I also enjoyed visiting the House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, two very popular places for tourists. They are very old and beautiful. The Abbey is built in a kind of Gothic style; it is fantastic.

    In London, you can also enjoy nature. There are many parks such as Hyde Park, Green Park, and Holland Park. These parks are wonderful green, quiet places where you can relax and escape the noise of the city.

    Trafalgar Square is a popular place for students and other young people. You will find lots of pigeons(鸽子) there. If you have time, you can feed them and they will be very happy. You can buy special food for them, but be careful! Tons of birds are going to surround you if you feed them.

    Another special place in London that I like is St. Paul's Cathedral which was designed by Sir Christopher Wren. I also was impressed with the museums in London. They're very popular. I found them interesting because you can learn about the history of England.

    I had a wonderful time in London. I really liked it because it is a city that is rich in history.