Gordon Hewitt, a mean (吝啬的) person who used to read his paper in his car to save electricity, died last week. He has left behind ￡250, 000 in the bank after a lifetime of saving.

    When you first saw Mr. Hewitt, you might think that he was poor: he wore his old coat, his trousers didn't fit well and his shoes were worn out. He sold newspapers on the streets.

In fact, he had a quarter-of-a-million pounds in at least 20 savings. He married twice and lived in the same house all his life. His money was left to six different people.

   60-year-old neighbor Jean Buckley remembers Mr. Hewitt's mean ways of life, “He used to sit in his Robin reading a newspaper with the light on so that he didn't have to turn the light on in his house. He would walk miles to find somewhere warm, even through the rain. ”

    68-year-old neighbor David Cheeseman said, “I have known him for over 50 years and he was always strange and funny in his manner. I told him many times to look after himself and have heat in his house. He just laughed. He wouldn't spend a penny unless he had to. He went to every church to sit in the warm, have a cup of tea or meal. He had a dryer(烘干机)in his house but never used it. He washed clothes and put them on even they were wet. He said it cost money to use the dryer. ”

    In life, everyone once struggles for a dream, whether it's successful or not. I still clearly remember one day when I was in high school. I saw on a website that China's. Got Talent's mass-election（海选）for the best singers was going on. I was very excited and decided to go and try out. But it wasn't as easy as I had thought. When I got there, I saw at least 100 people already waiting in line. My hands started to sweat and shake as my turn got close. I got up and started singing, but I sang so badly that I stopped before I even finished the song. Afterwards I quickly said goodbye to my friends and walked home crying. I thought that I would never be able to show my face in public again.
    However, after about a year, that terrible experience became a funny memory. I realized that I didn't need to care about losing that dream, because I made a new and more realistic one. I'm good at English, as well as other subjects. I made it my goal to get accepted into Columbia University. Columbia is hard to get into, and about 1,300 students from all over the world are accepted every year. Though it is hard to get into, I think my dream will come true someday by working hard.

    Bob is a middle school student. He is 13years old. He lives in Shanghai with his parents and his twin brother, Jack. They are in the same( 相同的) school, but in different classes. Bob is good at Maths, but not good at English. He thinks it's a little difficult for him. But he plans to spend more time on it.

    Every morning, Bob gets up early. He usually reads English for half an hour. And then he has breakfast with his family. He usually has two eggs and a glass of milk. After breakfast, he walks to school with his brother. It takes them about twenty minutes to get to school. They get to school at about 7: 40.

    Bob begins his classes at 8: 00. After four lessons in the morning, he has a hamburger, some fish and vegetables for lunch at school. Then he has three classes in the afternoon. His last class is over at 4: 50 p.m. After school, he usually plays football or basketball from 5: 00 p. m. to 6: 00 p.m. He says it is good for his health to play sports every day.

    He gets home at 6: 20 p.m. He usually eats some rice and vegetables for dinner. Sometimes, he eats some noodles. After dinner, he does his homework from 7: 30 to 9: 30. Then he listens to music or reads books for a while( 一会儿). He doesn't watch TV or play computer games on weekdays. He goes to bed at 10: 30 p.m.

    His friends say his lifestyle is very healthy. Do you think so?

    An Englishman was showing a foreign visitor around London" What's that strange building?" asked the visitor. " That's the Tower(塔)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. "said the visitor. A short time 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." 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. A few days later they came to the House of Parliament(议会大厦)and the visitor asked his usual question. "What's that?" The Englishman answered, "I've no idea. It wasn't there last night. "

    Alan Smith is blind. He teaches blind children in his country. To show the world that the blind can also do something amazing, he walked across the world's largest salt desert, Salar de Uyuni, only with the help of a GPS.

    Walking across the desert is not easy for an able-bodied person, let alone (更不用说) a blind man. Before setting off, Alan spent three years training for the journey. He studied everything he could find about the place and asked for advice from other travelers. During his journey, he only took water, food and sleeping bags. He walked about 20 kilometers a day. He showed great perseverance (毅力) and finished the 140-kilometer journey in just seven days.

    The brave teacher thought his week-long journey was wonderful. He said, "The journey was quite good. There were snow storms and winds, but luckily I made it."