Roger, a young man from China, has taught Chinese in a primary school in England for 3 years. A lot of children like his class and he enjoys teaching them very much. All the pupils are quite interested in what Roger teaches them. They learn quickly and do everything carefully.

    One day he said to the children, “People in a lot of Asian countries wear white clothes at funerals(葬礼), but people in America and in Europe wear white in the weddings because white means purity and happiness. What color does an English woman wear when she gets married?”

    Mary said, “White, sir, because she is happy.” “That is good, Mary,” Roger said. “You are quite right. She wears white because she is happy.”

    But then one boy in the class put up his hand. “Yes, Dick?” Roger said, “Do you have a question?” “Yes,” Dick said. “Why do men wear black in our country when they get married, sir?”

    In the 1920s, the airlines were just beginning. It was unusual for people to travel by air because it was expensive and dangerous. In those days, there were no flight attendants (服务生) to look after the passengers. Young men, or “stewards” helped the passengers onto the airplane and carried the passengers' bags but they did not provide food and drinks. But then in 1930, a woman called Ellen Church invented the “stewardess”.

    Ellen Church was born in 1904 on a farm in Iowa. She was a different child. She didn't want to work on a farm or marry a farmer. She wanted a more adventurous (冒险的) life. Ellen studied to be a nurse at the University of Minnesota and then got a job in a hospital. For the next few years she stayed at the hospital and at the same time took flying lessons and got her pilot's license.

    Ellen was 25 years old when she first got in touch with BAT (Boeing Air Transport). She loved flying but she understood that airlines were a man's world. Though women like Emelia Earheart were becoming famous, she realized it was impossible for a woman to have a career as a pilot. But she had another idea. Most people were afraid of flying because flying was still not a very safe way to travel. There were often delays (延误), many crashes and the bad weather made many passengers sick. Ellen thought nurses could take care of passengers during flights and BAT agreed.

    The young woman from Iowa and seven other nurses became the first air stewardesses.

    At first pilots were unhappy because they did not want stewardesses on airplanes, but passengers loved the stewardesses. In 1940 there were around 1000 of them working for different airlines. The early “stewardesses” had to be under twenty-five-year-old, single and slim. When a woman joined an airline, she had to promise not to get married or have children. It was a hard job and not well paid. They worked long hours and was paid $1 an hour.

    In the 1970s, stewardesses were unhappy in their job and airlines had to make some changes. Since the 1970s, “stewardesses” have been called flight attendants. They are well paid and work fewer hours than in the past.

    Today is Saturday, but Julie gets up very early. She wants to go to the library. The library is far from her home. Julie has a good breakfast. She has some bread, two eggs and a cup of milk. Then she leaves home and gets to the bus stop.

    Julie gets on the bus at eight. After one and a half hours, she gets to the library. The library is big and clean. There are lots of interesting books in it. Julie reads a storybook there. It's very funny. When it's time for lunch, Julie leaves the library and goes back home. She borrows three books from the library: one English book, one science book and one history book. She wants to read them at home.

    I am Turere. I come from Kitengela, a farming community on the edge(边缘) of Nairobi National Park of Kenya(肯尼亚). Since the age of nine. I have helped to look after my family's cows. As a child, in my free time. I enjoyed playing with electronics. I made my own inventions, such as electronic toys from car parts and other things. I also built other electronic devices(仪器) for my neighbors.

    At the age of 13, I invented something that changed my life. It also changed the lives of many people in my community. One night, a lion from the park came into my family's farm and killed one of our cows. I was angry. However, killing the lion, I thought, was not the best way to solve the problem. Instead, I decided to invent a solution

    The first idea I got was to use fire, because I thought lions were scared of fire. But I came to realize that didn't really help, because it was even helping the lions to see through the cowshed (牛棚). So I didn't give up. I continued.

    And a second idea I got was to use a scarecrow(稻草人). I was trying to trick the lions into thinking) that I was standing near the cowshed. But lions are very clever. They will come the first day and they see the scarecrow, and they go back. But the second day, they'll come and they say, this thing is not moving here, it is always here! So he jumps in and kills the animals.

    So one night, I was walking around the cowshed with a torch(手电筒), and that day the lions didn't come. And I discovered that lions were afraid of a moving light. So I had an idea.