A man in Pakistan is now working to help children get an education. When he was a child, he did not go to school because he was too poor.

    It is reported that Pakistan has 25 million children who do not go to school. That is the second­highest number in the world. Only Nigeria has more. Many Pakistani children must work to support their families.

    Mohammad Ayub was once one of those children. He is now a firefighter. He also manages a small school. VOA recently visited the school in the capital Islamabad.

    Ayub started with just one student in 1982. He saw a boy cleaning cars for days. He asked him, "Why don't you go to school?" The boy answered that his parents were dead and he had to work to help support his five brothers and three sisters.

    Ayub was also an orphan and he, too, had to work to help support his five brothers and three sisters. He said, "When my father died, everyone who came to the funeral said they were sorry, but no one helped." He sold newspapers and did other work to earn enough money to pay school fees for his brothers and sisters.

    Ayub wanted to help the young boy who washed cars, but he did not have enough money to pay the boy's school fees.

    Today, Ayub teaches many children at his school in a public park. Some of the children attend other schools in the morning, but come to Ayub in the afternoon to get help with their homework.

    Ayub has helped a large number of poor children since he began teaching. Many of them come from very poor areas near the park.

    Ayub said," I used to argue with kids who worked ' Why are you washing someone's dishes or their clothes? Why don't you study? ' "

    One of the children he advised to attend classes was Farhat Abbas. Ayub found him working with his friends about 12 years ago. "He followed us back home. He told our parents he wanted to teach us and asked them to send us to his school, "Abbas said.

    Today, Abbas is taking classes at a college and is helping Ayub.

    Many children are out of school, and those who do attend classes often get a poor education. Information gathered by an organization shows half of all Pakistani children in the 5th grade do not understand basic mathematics and cannot read a story in their language.

    A group in Islamabad reports Pakistan spends less on education than any other country in South Asia.

    Tony Wheeler was born to travel. His father worked for an airline. For the first 16 years of his life,Wheeler and his family lived in many different countries.

    In the early 1970s,Tony met a young woman named Maureen. They soon married. Before getting jobs, Tony and Maureen wanted to travel. They took a year long trip from England, through Asia, to Australia. On the trip,they visited places like Iran(伊朗),India,and so on.

    When Tony and Maureen arrived in Australia, people asked many questions about their trip. To answer these questions, Wheeler wrote a book called Across Asia on the Cheap. The book told people about different countries' weather, customs (风俗), and places to see. But unlike other travel books then,Tony Wheeler's book also talked about places most tourists did not go. He also wrote about unusual things to see and do. The book was very popular.

     Tony and Maureen started a company called Lonely Planet. They continued travelling. They wrote books for each place they visited. Today,800 people work {or Lonely Planet. The company has over 650 books. Tony Wheeler,the great traveller, still writes about travels to many places and will bring us more surprises.

    Last summer Jenny and her friends had a bus trip to New York. She felt very relaxing on the way. They visited a museum. But it's really crowded there and the display(展览) were not interesting at all. They went to different restaurants to have dinner. Some food was quite delicious, but Jenny thought the fast food was terrible. When the weather was fine, they went to the beach to swim. The sea was beautiful and they had a good time.

    As my husband, Doug, stood on the busy New York city street trying to stop a taxi, I tried to protect my daughter from the cold December wind and rain. I put my head down to kiss her tiny face.

    Frustrated and1, my husband gave up his try to flag down a taxi. I knew the feeling. Just after her first birthday, we2that our daughter Katie had a rare(罕见的) brain illness. Since that moment, Doug and I felt like runners in a marathon race where the finish line kept disappearing. We knew Katie was running out of3. It had taken months before we finally 4 a name for the illness, but only a few doctors in the world knew 5 to treat it. Now, as we finally found a brilliant doctor to save our girl, we were in a strange6in the cold rain.

    Just at the moment, a middle-aged woman pulled over and said, "Pardon me? May I offer you a ride?"

    7we could say anything, she continued, "It's really no trouble for8. Just get in."

    It was then that I noticed her thick Irish accent(口音), which9 me up like hot soup. We 10said, "Thanks! Roosevelt Hospital, please, "as we got in her car for the ride.

    "Are you going11the baby?" she asked us.

    I nodded my head, holding back my tears.

    At the hospital, we12 her a dozen times for the ride, as the woman hugged me. I noticed her face was wet with tears. She promised to pray for（为……祈祷）us before she left.

    After three more visits to New York and two more13operations，Katie is cured. But the14of the Irish Angel still rang as a reminder of a tiny ray of light that appeared in our15days. We would pray for her just as she did for us.

    My name is Lily White. I don't have a brother, but I have a sister. Her name is Lucy.

    Green is Lucy's favorite color. Her bed and sofas are green. Lucy isn't a tidy girl. This is her room. Her radio and schoolbag are on the bed. She has three baseballs. Two baseballs are on the floor(地板) . Can you find the third(第三) one? Her pencil box and clock are on the table. And her model plane is on the sofa. Where is her ruler? Oh, it's under the table.