At the age of 16，Julia left school and worked at a restaurant. For many years, she was only interested in making money. Then one day she had a serious car accident which changed her life.“I had a terrible car accident in August 1996.It took me 10 months to recover （康复) from the accident. During that time，I realized I wanted to find a more meaningful reason for being here in this world，”said Julia.

    As soon as she recovered，Julia gave up working at the restaurant and traveled to California. One day she found a big company wanted to cut down part of a forest. In the forest there were lots of redwood trees. One of the trees was more than 1,000 years old.

Then Julia learned a group called Our Earth was trying to save the redwood forest from the company. They decided to find someone to live in a redwood tree and hoped this would stop the company from cutting the trees down. Julia volunteered.

    Julia lived in the tree for over two years without ever going down. It was cold and wet in a redwood tree. There were even very serious winter storms while Julia was in the tree.

Finally the company decided to protect the tree Julia lived in. They agreed never to cut down the big redwood tree or the trees around it. When Julia put her feet on the earth，she began to cry. But she continued to do other things to protect the environment.

    Every year on my birthday since I was 11，a white gardenia （栀子花） was sent to my house．No card ever came with it．Calls to the flower shop were not helpful at all．After some time I stopped trying to find out the sender's name and was just pleased with the beautiful flower，in soft pink paper．

    I couldn't stop imagining who the giver might be．Some of my happiest moments were spent daydreaming（幻想 ）about the sender．My mother encouraged these daydreams．She'd ask me if I had been especially kind to someone．Perhaps it was one of my classmates Perhaps it was the old man who I once helped．As a girl，I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy that I had met．

    A month before my high school graduation（毕业），my father died．I was so sad that I became completely uninterested in my coming graduation dance，and I didn't care whether I had a new dress or not．My mother，in her own sadness，would not let me miss （过） any of those things．She wanted her children to feel loved．In fact，my mother wanted her children to see themselves much like the gardenia：lovely，strong and perfect．

    My mother died ten years after I was married．That was the year the gardenia stopped coming．

    You may know the song Happy Birthday very well. But do you know about its writer? It was written by an American girl. And she became very rich after that.

    When she was a child, she was poor. Once, her friend invited her to her birthday party. She was pleased but sad because she didn't have enough money to buy a gift for her.

    "The party is coming soon, but now I have little money." Tears ran down her face.

    Later that night she was in bed, thinking about the gift when the door opened and her grandma came in." What happened? " her grandma asked. Hearing the girl's story, she said, "Don't worry. I think I can help you. How about singing a song together? Happy birthday to …"What a beautiful song! They sang and sang. Suddenly she woke up. It was a dream! She decided to write it down at once and sing it to her friends at the party.

    When she sang the song at the party the next day, her friends were very happy. "How wonderfully you sing! We haven't heard such a beautiful song before. Thank you for giving me the special gift." said her friend. And they learnt to sing it together. Later the girl became well-known in America.

    Walt Disney was born in 1901. The Mickey Mouse created in 1927 made him very famous. He died in 1966.but his work and his dreams did not die. Now people all over the world enjoy his Mickey Mouse and other cartoons.

    Wait Disney was a man who did not give up easily. One summer, Walt wanted a job in a post office, but they told him that he was too young. He went home, drew some lines on his face, and put on his father's suit and hat. Then he went back to the same office and told them he was 18. He got the job finally.

    Later in his lire, Disney had a dream, that is, to build a new kind of amusement park. It would be clean and beautiful. There would be rides for children and nice hotels for adults. It would be fun for people of all ages. Disney drew a plan for this park. It was called Disneyland. Engineers told him it was an impossible dream His family and friends thought he was mad, but Disney did not give up his idea. In 1955, Disneyland opened to the public and it became the most successful amusement park in the USA. Walt Disney's dream came true.

    Molly had a math exam that day. Math was her worst subject. Her friend Ted promised to help her prepare for the exam, but then he ignored(不理会) all her calls.

    When the exam began, Molly saw Ted holding his phone under the table. He was reading something on the phone! Molly was surprised. Was that how Ted always got good grades? She felt really angry. It wasn't fair! Then Molly put up her hand. Ted was looking at his phone and didn't hear Mr. Reed as he walked up to his table. Mr. Reed picked up Ted's exam paper and told him to go outside. Ted started crying as he went to the door. Molly felt really sorry.

    After school, Molly heard footsteps (脚步声)behind her when she was leaving school. It was Ted "Molly, wait!" he called. "I want to talk to you." Molly could see Ted's eyes were red." Listen! I'm really sorry I didn't answer your calls. My dad had heart trouble. He had an operation (手术) today. I was very worried, so I was reading messages from my mom to see how it was going. But Mr. Reed thought I was cheating. Luckily he believes me now. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Will you forgive(原谅)me?”

    There are 100 chicks sitting quietly in a circle. Suddenly, each chick freely pecks(啄) the chick to its left or right. What is the expected number of unpecked chicks? Can you solve it?

Leo (the 13-year-old boy) gave the right answer, 25, in just 0.9 of a second. He got this question in the final round of the Raytheon Maths counts competition. Thanks to that correct answer, he won it this year. Last year, he was second.

    "I was surprised that I won," he said. "I was kind of worried that was the wrong answer."

    This year, more than 100,000 students took part in the competitions. And 224 students entered the final round. Leo will receive a ﹩20,000 college scholarship and free trip to US Space Camp.

    Leo is talented at Maths. And unlike other students, he studies at home. His mother Mary quit her job as a writing teacher to home—school her son. She thought traditional school couldn't meet his needs. He often asks his mother to write difficult Maths problems so that he can solve them.

    When Leo was 8, he started taking college classes. Even on vacation, he still tries to learn Maths. He once asked his parents to take him to a Maths library at the University of Texas. People around him regard him as a Maths genius.