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    Many years ago, a French naturalist, Comte de Buffon, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics（批评家）did not like them.

    Thomas Jefferson did not like what Comte de Buffon had said about the natural wonders（奇观）of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that Comte de Buffon had spoken of natural wonders in America as if（好像）they were unimportant.

    This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He was also a naturalist, as well as a farmer, an inventor, a historian, a writer and a politician（政治家）. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.

    In 1788, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Comte de Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word—belittle. He said, “Comte de Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic（大西洋）.”

    Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in the English language dictionary in 1806, “Belittle—to make small, unimportant.”

    Americans had already accepted Jefferson's word and started to use it. In 1797, the Independent Chronicle（独立纪事报）used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. “It is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they please.”

    In 1872, a famous American word expert decided that the time had come to kill this word. He said, “Belittle shouldn't become English. And more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it.”

    This expert failed to kill the word. Today, belittle is used where the English language is spoken.

    Once upon a time, there was a lion and a mouse.

    One day, when the lion was sleeping, the mouse ran onto his face. The lion woke up. He was very angry and caught the mouse. “I will eat you!” the lion said angrily.

    The mouse cried out,“If you do not kill me, I would be happy to give you a reward(回报).”The lion laughed at the idea. He did not think a little mouse could help such a big strong animal like himself. But he still let the mouse go.

    After a few days, it happened. The lion was caught by hunters' net. He tried his best to leave, after half a day, but he still couldn't get out of the net. He was very sad, he thought he was dying. At that time the lion felt something nibbling(啃，咬) on the ropes. It was the mouse. Just before dark, the work was done. There was a hole in the net. The lion got free through the hole. He was very happy and thanked the mouse, “My friend, you have saved me. I will never doubt the power of small animals like you.”

    From then on, the lion and the mouse became friends.

    Birds live in trees. Squirrels(松鼠) live in trees. But do you know that some frogs（青蛙） live in trees, too?

    The tree frogs are hard to find. They can change color. On green leaves, they stay green. On a branch, they keep brown. Some tree frogs can change from green to gold or blue.

    Tree frogs have legs and wide feet. They have sticky pads (肉趾) at the end of their toes（脚趾）. These sticky toe pads keep the tree frogs from falling off.

    Tree frogs have different colors and markings on their skins(皮肤). Their eyes are different, too. Some have green eyes, some gray. Some frogs' eyes are gold, and some are bright red.

    The sounds they made in spring and summer are different, too. One frog makes a sound like a dog barking(狗叫). Another frog makes a loud noise like a snore（打呼噜）. There is even a frog that whistles（吹口哨）!

    Thanks to the hybrid rice that was discovered by Yuan Longping, the hunger problem of thousands of Chinese people was mostly fixed in the 1980s.

    On Sept 8^th, Yuan, together with two other scientists, won China's 2018 Future Science Prize, for his continuous research on rice. Even on his 88th birthday on Sept 7^th, he took part in the International Development Forum of Rice Production in Hunan province. Although he was recovering from an illness at the time, he was happy to talk to reporters about his latest work on seawater rice.

    Yuan has been researching on rice since he was at college. In 1964, he discovered a natural hybrid rice plant in Hainan. Since then, he has focused on developing high﹣yield, hybrid rice varieties(多样性). In 1973. he became the first to successfully cultivate(培育) a type of hybrid rice species in the world. With the hard work of Yuan's group for about ten years, the production of the rice was increased.(From 150 kg per mu (亩) to 500 kg per mu and more. )These varieties now take up about two thirds of China's rice crop, according to China News. So, it's no wonder that he's known as the "Father of Hybrid Rice".

    And because of China's Belt and Road (一带一路)initiative. Yuan's hybrid rice is helping to solve food problems around the world. Indeed, according to Xinhua News Agency, hybrid rice plants in Kenya produce four to five times more rice than the country's usual nice plants.

    With a rising fame all over the world, Yuan gave a speech in English at the 9th Shandong High﹣Level Talents Forum in Qingdao last year. His speech made him an internet sensation. Beginning with" I speak broken English", his 20﹣minute speech turned out to be a huge success, with barely any pauses or mistakes. The humble Yuan was simply being modest during his speech. According to an article in 1999 by CNN, the scientist speaks both English and Russian fluently. "I never need an interpreter when I go overseas," he told the US news network.

    But in spite of his great knowledge, Yuan understands that even the wisest people should still be open to learn new things. "The farmers of our country possess rich experience in planting rice," he told Xinhua." We should learn from them."

A boy helped save the life of his friend from choking(窒息) in the dining hall at school while having their lunch there. Many people watched the video of the accident on the Internet. 

In the video, the new student Jackson just got a seat and ate his chicken sandwich. Suddenly the food stuck(卡住) in his throat and his face turned red. Hunter Olsen sat across from Jackson. He thought that Jackson was just joking and laughed at it along with his friends. But soon it became clear that Jackson was really choking and tried to cough the food out. He pointed to his throat to tell Hunter that he was not playing. Hunter realised that he had to do something and used the Heimlich manoeuvre(海姆利克急救法). Finally, Jackson coughed the food out and could breathe again. 

Ms Howa, who taught them the Heimlich manoeuvre during her health class, said she couldn't believe her ears when she heard what happened. But she was over the moon to know that her student put what she taught into practice.She was so proud of Hunter. 

Hunter said he wasn't interested in Ms Howa' class because he thought he would never use it in his life, but her great teaching helped him know what to do when in trouble. Then he said, "I just thought that doing something was better than doing nothing. "