Once there was a man and a woman. They had been married for more than 60 years. They kept no secrets from each other except that the old woman had a shoe box under her bed. She told her husband never to open or ask about it.

For all these years， he had never thought about the box. But one day the old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would never get better.

The woman said it was time that he should know what was in the box. The old man took the shoe box to his wife's bedside.

When he opened it， he found two beautiful doilies(装饰小垫) and some money. The money was $25,000.

“When we got married，”she said,“my grandmother told me that the secret of a happy family was never to fight. She told me if every time I got angry with you， I should just keep quiet and crochet(编织) one doily.”

The old man was so moved because only two doilies were in the box. He thought she had only been angry with him twice in all those years.

“My dear，”he said， but what about all the money？ Where did it all come from？”

“Oh，”she said，“that's the money I made from selling the doilies. So far， I have sold 2,500 doilies.”

    In 1883, an engineer named John Roebling got an idea to build a bridge between New York and Long Island. However, bridge-building experts around the world thought that it was impossible. It had never been done before.

    After much discussion, he made his son Washington, a great engineer, believe that the bridge could be built.

    The project started well, but a few months later, an accident took the life of John Roebling. Washington was badly hurt and he was not able to walk or talk. However, Washington never lost his heart. He still wanted to complete the bridge. But all he could do was to move one finger. So he decided to make the best use of it. By moving his finger, he slowly developed a way of communicating with his wife.

    He touched his wife's arm with his finger, “telling” her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same way to tell the engineers what to do. The project carried on again.

    For 13 years, Washington tapped out (敲出) his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the Brooklyn Bridge stands as a monument(纪念碑) to one man's unbeatable spirit.

    It is also a monument to engineers and their teamwork, and to their faith in a man who was considered crazy by half the world.

    Welcome to My Q-zone!

    Hello, I'm Wan Fang. I am a 14-year-old Chinese girl. My home is in Shanghai. I want to have friends from other countries. I like singing, dancing and playing the violin. I also like swimming, but I can't swim well. I like watching TV, but my parents only let me watch TV on weekends. I don't like playing computer games. I think they are boring.

    Do you like me? If you want to be my friend, please write to me. My e-mail address is lvyhappy@yahoo.com.

Do you know this girl?

    I went to the park with my older sister, Cathy, on Friday. My sister left her jacket on a bench (长椅) when we played games. When we went back to the bench, a little girl in a red T-shirt was sitting there. She looked like she was 8 or 9 and had long blonde hair. She had some money in her hand. When she saw us, she got up and walked away.

    I asked my sister, "Did you have any money in your jacket?"

    "Yes, Anna, I did."

    I said, "Have a quick look in your jacket."

    Cathy looked in her jacket, but her money was not there.

    "That girl stole (偷) it!" I said, and we ran after her. We caught (抓住) her soon.

    My sister was very angry and she said, "Give me the money!" The girl gave the money to Cathy and ran away. Then we went home. But before we could tell our parents, my mother said to Cathy, "You left your money at home. It's on the table in the kitchen." So the girl in the red T-shirt was not a thief (小偷)! Maybe she thought we were bad girls.

We felt      

    Please call us if you know this girl. We would like to say sorry to her and give the money back to her. Our number is 512667. Thank you very much.

                                                               Anna and Cathy