I'm Leo. There is an artist in my family. She is Lisa. Lisa likes drawing a lot. Here are her three drawings (图画).

    There is an animal in the first drawing. It has two big eyes, a big mouth and two small ears. It has long arms and long legs. It is black and white. There are some apples in its hands. It looks very happy. What is it? I don't know, but Lisa says it is a panda.

    There is a woman in the second drawing. She is thin. She has straight blonde hair, a small mouth, a big nose and two big eyes. She looks angry (生气的). Who is she? Lisa says she is our mom. But Mom has curly blonde hair, small eyes and a small nose.

    There is an animal in the third drawing, too. Its head is an apple. Its hair and tail (尾巴) are leaves (树叶). It has a long mouth, and it is a banana. Its four legs are carrots. What is it? Lisa says it i s a horse (马), but it doesn't look like a horse.

    Lisa is really a great artist, isn't she?

Are you shy? If you are, you are not alone. In fact, close to 50 percent of people are shy. Almost 80 percent of people feel shy at some point in their lives. These days, shyness is becoming more and more common. Now, scientists are trying to understand shyness. They have some interesting ideas about why people are shy.

Is it possible to be born shy? Many scientists say yes. They say 15 to 20 percent of babies behave shyly. These babies are a little quieter and more watchful than other babies. Interestingly, these shy babies usually have shy parents. As a result, scientists think that some shyness is genetic.

Family size might cause people to be shy as well. Scientists at Harvard University studied shy children. They found that 66 percent of them had older brothers and sisters. As a result, they became shy. At the same time, children with no brothers and sisters may be shy as well. Growing up alone, they often play by themselves. They are not able to learn the same social skills as children from big families.

You may also be shy because of where you were born. When scientists studied shyness in different countries, they found surprising differences. In Japan, most people said they were shy. But in Israel, only one of three people said so. What explains the difference? One scientist says the Japanese and Israelis have different opinions of failure. In Japan, when people do not succeed, they feel bad about themselves. They blame（责备）themselves for their failure. In Israel, the opposite is true. Israelis often blame failure on outside reasons, such as family, teachers, friends, or bad luck. In Israel, freedom of opinion and risk taking are strongly supported. This may be why Israelis worry less about failure and are less shy.

For shy people, it can be difficult to make friends, speak in class, and even get a good job. But scientists say you can get over your shyness. They suggest trying new things and practicing conversation. And don't forget—if you are shy, you are not the only one.

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    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 run 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 make him happy!

    Greg has just written a best­selling book about his story called ThreeCupsofTea. It's an interesting and exciting book which tells us what ordinary (普通的) people can do with courage and determination (决心)!

    One day, Mr. Smith went to a dinner party. He was wearing very old clothes. He came into the room. But people in the room didn't look at him. They didn't ask him to sit at the table. He wasn't happy. But he said nothing.

    Mr. Smith went home quickly and put on （穿上） his best clothes. He went back to the party. Everyone in the room stood up and looked at him. They gave him good food to eat. Mr. Smith took off his coat, and put it on the food and said, “Eat, coat!” The other people were surprised and asked, “What are you doing? Why do you do that?”  Mr. Smith answered, “I am asking my coat to eat food. When I wore old clothes, you didn't look at me. You didn't ask me to sit down.

    Now I am wearing these nice clothes. And you give me good food. Now I see, you give the food to my coat, not to me.”