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）!

Gemma Burford

    Gemma was born in' 1978 in a quiet (安静的) village in England. Her mother worked in a library and her father worked in a hospital. When she was a student at Oxford University, she travelled to Tanzania and met her husband, Lesikar for the first time. They got married in 2003 and had their daughter, Lucia, two years later. Now Lucia studies in a small primary school, and Gemma and Lesikar also teach her at home.

"Judy Boehmer

    Adam is Judy's first child. She now has four sons, seven daughters and a pet (宠物) dog, Bosco. Judy and her husband, Larry, live in Atlanta, Georgia, but they also have a motorhome (野营车). The Boehmers are a circus (马戏团) family and all the children are performers (演员) at the circus. The- children don't go to school, but study at home. The family travels more than 40.000 kilometres a year for their work The first show of the Boehmers was at a park in Lowa in 1989, and they now perform all over America.

    An Englishman was showing a foreign visitor around London. "What's that strange building?" asked the visitor. "That's the Tower of London." "I see. How long did it take to build it?" "About 500 years." "In my country we can build it in five months." Shortly after that they came to St. Paul's Cathedral（大教堂）. "Very interesting!" said the visitor. "How long did it take to build it?" "Nearly forty years." said the Englishman. "In my country we can finish it in forty days at most," said the visitor. This went on all day.

    They visited most of the best known buildings in the city. Every time they saw a new one, the visitor asked what it was and how long it took to build it. Then he said that they could do the same thing much faster in his country.

    At last the Englishman got angry with the visitor though he tried not to show it. Several days later they came to the House of Parliament（议会）and the visitor asked his usual question, "What is that? . "The Englishman answered, "I have no idea. It wasn't there last night."

    Mr. Liu is an English teacher in Nanjing. This year, he visits France(法国) for his summer holiday.

    He watches many beautiful buildings and enjoys wonderful song and dance shows there. He also loves French(法国的；法语的) bread, cakes and soup. He has a good time there. But he doesn't feel happy all the time. He wants to visit an art museum. He doesn't know the way.

    So he uses English to ask some French people how to get there. He feels very sad after he finds no one can tell him. At last, a kind lady tells him the way, and says to him, "you are here in France, and people usually speak French only. They can't speak English, so a lot of people don't understand what you say. But even if they understand English, they only talk with you in French, no English."

    When he goes into the museum, he sees so many beautiful pictures and other works(作品) of art. He feels excited and wants to take pictures of what he sees in the museum. At that time, a worker stops him, and asks him not to take any photos. He asks the worker why he can't take any photos in English. The worker doesn't answer, but he points at (指向) a sign on the wall with French words " II est interdit de photographier dans la sallle."