Tina is an English girl. She is twelve. She is in Class 8, Grade 7. She and I are in the same class. Her telephone number is（010）8256-4325. We are good friends. Her English is good, and she can help me.

    Life is full of surprises and you never know how things will turn out.

Sir John Gurdon is a good example of this. As a boy, he was told he was hopeless at science and finished bottom of his class. Now, aged 79, the very same Gurdon shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Japanese stem cell(干细胞) researcher Shinya Yamanaka.

Like so many scientists, Gurdon shows us where the power of curiosity and perseverance(坚持不懈) can lead.

At the age of 15 in 1948, Gurdon ranked last out of the 250 boys at his high school in biology and every other science subject. Gurdon's high school science teacher even said that his dream of becoming a scientist was "quite ridiculous".

In spite of his teacher's criticisms, Gurdon followed his curiosity and kept working hard. He went to the lab early and left later than anyone else. He experienced thousands of failures.

    "My own belief is that we will, in the end, understand everything about how cells actually work." Gurdon said.

    In 1962, Gurdon took a cell from an adult frog and moved its genetic(基因的) information into an egg cell. The egg cell then grew into a clone(克隆) of the adult frog. This technique later helped to create Dolly the sheep in 1996, the first cloned mammal(哺乳动物) in the world.

    In 2006, Gurdon's work was developed by Yamanaka to show that a sample(样本) of a person's skin can be used to create stem cells. Using this technique, doctors can repair a patient's heart after a heart attack.

    "Luck favors the prepared mind, "Gurdon told the Nobel Prize Organization." Ninety percent of the time things don't work, but when they do, you have to seize(抓住) the chance. "

    Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy movie made by DreamWorks. It was directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne. It tells the story about a big fat panda named Po who is a kung fu fan. The movie came out in 2008 and stars Jack Black as Po. It received critical acclaim and became a box office success. A successful sequel(续集), Kung Fu Panda 2 was released (发行) in 2011.

    A big, fat panda named Po the panda dreams of becoming a kung fu master, but he doesn't know kung fu. One day, kung fu teacher Master Shifu holds a competition to see who will become the Dragon Warrior(龙斗士), the most powerful kung fu master in the land. Everyone thinks one of Shifu's students, the Furious Five(盖世五侠) will become the Dragon Warrior, but Po is chosen instead and begins learning kung fu. Shifu and the Furious Five don't like Po the panda and try to make him quit, but he becomes friends with them. When Master Shifu learns that the evil Tai Lung the snow leopard(雪豹) is coming to the land, he quickly teaches Po kung fu so he can be given the Dragon Scroll that will help him beat Tai Lung. Nothing is written on the scroll, but Po finds out that he doesn't need the scroll to be the Dragon Warrior and beats Tai Lung without it. Po becomes a kung fu master and Dragon Warrior loved by everyone and peace returns to the land.

    Anna is a 17-year-old exchange student(交换生) from Russia({俄罗斯). She is now studying art in a university(大学) in France. She's going to stay in France for a year and then she will go back to Russia. Anna comes to France because she thinks Paris is the best place for her to study art. She is now staying with the Black family. She helps Mrs Black do some housework every evening and goes to French classes every Wednesday and Friday afternoon.

    Everything in Paris is new to her. She finds things are quite different from those in Moscow. There are many big shopping malls here, but many things are really expensive. It's also expensive to have a meal in a restaurant or go to the cinema. Now Anna has got used to(习惯于) many things, but she cannot get used to the breakfast in France. "They eat so much in the morning," she often says. "How can you face all that food so early in the day?"

    Mr. Knott [not] is a teacher. He teaches in a big school in London. Because he lives a long way from the school, he is usually quite tired（疲惫的） when he get home. At nine o'clock one evening when he is in bed, the telephone rings（铃响）, so he answers the phone, " Hello! Who's that?"

    "Watt [what]." a man says.

    "What's your name, please?" says Mr. Knott.

    "Watt's my name," the man answers.

    "Yes, I asked you that what is your name." Mr. Knott asks.

    "I told you. Watt's my name." says the man. "Are you Jack Smith?"

    "No, I'm Knott," says Mr. Knott.

    "But what's your name?" the man says.

    Mr. Knott and Mr. Watt put their telephone down and think, "What a foolish（愚蠢的）man!"

    Students who get tired of looking at the four walls of a classroom might like to take the nature course being offered by Carvel College again this summer. Groups of about a dozen students each, led by an experienced guide, will go on ten-day camping trips to the mountains to study the plants and animals that grow and live there.（51题依据）

    Students carry their own things, which includes sleeping bags, warm clothing, food and water, and other useful tools. And what do the students do all day? Well, as soon as the sun comes up, they eat breakfast and start climbing up the mountain trail to the next campground（54题依据）, which is five to ten miles away. As the students take notes, the guide points out different plants and animals alongside the trail. The climb is usually over by early afternoon, so the group spends the rest of the day resting or swimming in a mountain lake. Before dinner each night, they all come together and discuss the day's activities.

    At the end of the course, the students write reports using the information they have collected. But they don't mind at all. What they do mind is leaving the beauty of the wilderness and the good friends they've made to return to their normal lives in the city.