One afternoon I visited an art museum while waiting for my husband to finish a business meeting. I was looking forward to a quiet view of the art works.

    A young couple viewing the paintings ahead of me chatted nonstop (不停) between themselves. I watched them a moment and found the wife was doing all the talk. I admired (赞赏) the husband for putting up with her continuous (持续的) talk. Distracted (分心) by their noise, I moved on.

    I met with them many times as I moved through the different rooms of art. Each time I heard her continuous talk, I moved away quickly.

    I was standing at the counter (柜台) of the museum gift shop when the couple came near to the exit. Before they left, the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a white thing. He extended (展开) it into a long stick and then tapped (敲打) his way into the coatroom to get his wife's jacket.

    “He's a brave man.” The salesman at the counter said, “Most of us would give up (放弃) if we were blind (瞎的) at such a young age. But he said his life wouldn't change during his recovery (恢复). So, as before, he and his wife come in when there's a new art show.”

    “But how does he enjoy the art?” I asked, “He can't see.”

    “Can't see? You're wrong. He sees a lot. More than you or I do.” The clerk said, “His wife describes each painting so he can see it in his head.”

    I learned something from the couple that day. I saw a young wife describing paintings to a person without sight (视力) and a husband who would not allow blindness to change his life. And I saw the love shared by two people as I watched this couple walk away hand in hand.

DISCUSSION

   It's a fine day. TheWhite family gets up at seven o'clock. They have breakfast at seven forty. Andthen they go to the park. They take a basket of food and a carpet (地毯).The park is not far from their home, so they ride bikes there. When they get tothe park, it's half past eight. Mr. and Mrs. White are talking with each other.Their son, Ted, is playing with a ball. Their daughter, Jenny, is takingphotos.

    After about an hour, Ted and Jenny sit down to relax. At that time, they see a squirrel eating a pine nut (松子)in a big tree. When they see the squirrel eating, they feel hungry. They go tohelp their parents take the food out of the basket. Ted has a hamburger.Hamburgers are his favorite food. Jenny has an apple. Mr. and Mrs. White havesome bread. They have a great time in the park.

One day, a crow (乌鸦) saw a swan (天鹅) on the beach. He laughed at him and said, "Can you fly as fast as I do? Do you have as many flying skills as I do? How stupid you are!"

Hearing this, the swan thought the crow needed to be taught a lesson. He had an idea.

He asked the crow, "Do you dare to compete with me? The competition will take place in two stages. In the first stage, you can show your flying skills, and I will do the same. In the second stage, you should copy what I will do."

The crow said proudly, "It's too easy!"

The competition started. At first, the crow showed different ways of flying. But the swan could do nothing. Next, the second stage began. The swan flew to the sea. The crow followed him. "Is this all you can do?" the crow asked. The swan just flew silently. He flew slowly, but didn't stop. After flying a long distance (距离), the crow was so tired that he could hardly fly and almost fell into the sea.

Seeing this, the swan said to the crow, "You have flying skills, while I have good endurance (耐力). Everyone has his own strong and weak points." Hearing the swan's words, the crow's face turned red and he hung his head. He regretted (后悔) laughing at the swan.

My father was busy fixing Belinda's spaceship all afternoon. In the evening, I went to the landing place. "Dear Father," I said politely. "Have you found Belinda's parents yet?"

"Not yet, my dear." He shook his head.

I felt relaxed. I didn't want to meet Belinda's parents—they might be ten times as loud and bossy as she was.

But Belinda had followed me.

"Not yet?" she shouted. "Why not? I'll send them a message! They'll listen to me!"

Belinda ran to the radio. She shouted into it so loudly that I had to cover all my four ears. "Mummy! Daddy! I'm on an awful spaceship full of purple people! Come and find me now!"

"Poor Belinda!" my sister came and said. "Her parents must be missing her."

"Huh!" I snorted (发出哼声). "Missing her? You're joking! Who would want such a bossy kid back? They probably lost her on purpose."

Belinda's face clouded. I thought she was going to shout again, but she didn't. Instead, something very strange happened — her eyes began to water!

"Oh, help!" said Roa. "Is she dying?"

I felt terrible. "Don't die, Belinda! I didn't mean it."

Then Belinda opened her mouth wide and shouted, "What if it's true? What if they've gone away and left me here forever?"

We were all so busy comforting Belinda that we didn't notice the soft knock of a ship landing outside. We didn't see two tall people come out of it until Belinda ran out in excitement.

"Mummy! Daddy!"

Belinda's parents were even uglier than she was, but they looked polite. "Hello, dear," the female said. "We're sorry we kept you waiting."

We smiled as the three of them boarded their spaceship. "Goodbye!" shouted Belinda. "Goodbye! Thanks for taking care of our baby girl!" said her father.

None of us answered. We waved (挥手) cheerfully as the ship took off and went far away into the stars.

Helen Keller was a writer, lecturer, and great educator. She was born in 1880. She lost her sight and hearing at the age of nineteen months because of an illness now believed to be scarlet fever (猩红热). Before her illness, Helen was a wise and happy girl. After she lost her ability of seeing and hearing, she became difficult and wild. She often shouted and cried. In 1887, a young teacher named Anne Sullivan began to help Helen.

Through Sullivan's careful instruction, the little girl learnt to understand and communicate with the world around her. She  ▲  Sullivan to read and write in braille (盲文). She could understand only by touch. As Helen grew older, she made good progress and learnt to read more. She also learnt to write and even speak. When Helen studied in the university, Anne sat beside her. She listened to the professors' words and spelt them on Helen's hands. 

 After Helen finished university, she visited a lot of countries. She spoke about her life. She was famous for her courage and hard work. She tried her best to help other people who were blind or deaf. Her first book The Story of My Lifewas printed in many languages. And her other four books were published later on.

We are healthy. We can know and think what's going on around us. While Helen was blind and deaf, she never let her blindness and deafness prevent (阻止) her from achieving success. And this gives me hope for life.