The leaders （领导人） of 13 countries had a big meeting in St Petersburg, Russia from November 21 to 24, 2010.The meeting was about tigers. They talked about the ways to protect the animals in their countries. They agreed to spend more money protecting tigers and they wanted to double the number of tigers in the world before 2022.

    Tiger is one of the world's most endangered animals. The World Wildlife Fund （WWF） says, there are only about 100,000 wild tigers now. And the number is becoming smaller and smaller. 'If nothing happens, tigers will face disasters,' said WWF spokeswoman Marie von Zeipel.

Nine types of tigers lived 100 years ago, but now at least three of them have died out. ‘If people leave tigers alone and don't kill them, then the number of tigers will double in 10 years,' said Jean-Christoph Vie, a French tiger expert (专家).

    China is one of the 13 countries where tigers live. There are about 50 wild tigers in China now. They are the Bengal tigers in Tibet, Indochinese tigers in China's southwest, and Siberian tigers in the northeast. The South China tigers lived in southeast China many years ago but disappeared in the 1970s. Many experts think they have already died out.

    Have you ever seen a horse with toes? Millions of years ago, horses had many toes. They had four toes on each front foot. They had three toes on each back foot. The horses were no bigger than cats.

    These small horses lived in the forest. Their many toes helped the horses run over the soft, wet ground.

    It was very hot in the forest. But the weather changed. It became cold. Many trees could not live in cold weather. The trees died and fell. Open fields took the place of forests. The sun made ground dry and hard.

    Horses began to change, too. They began to get bigger. This took a long time. On the dry, hard land, horses needed only their middle toes for running. Their middle toes became hard. After a long while, horses had only one hard toe on each foot. We call this hard toe a hoof.

    It was a sunny morning. A poor(贫穷的) young man with1 right hand came to Mrs. Brown's door. He asked her for some2.

Mrs. Brown3, "You see, young man. There are some bricks(砖头) behind my house. If you help me4 them to the front, I'll pay you twenty dollars."

    "Can't you see that I lost my right hand?5 can I do it?" The old lady smiled, put one of her hands behind her body6 then picked up one brick with7. Seeing this, the young man didn't say a word and started to work right away.

    After he did the work, the young man8 with the money from Mrs. Brown and he looked a little different.

    Two years later, the young man came again with some gifts. "Thank you for9 that day. I know you didn't need me to do the work. You just wanted to make me feel better. I learnt that I could make money by working hard, too. And now I have a pancake store and a beautiful wife."

    Think10 and you will make your life better.

    Emilyand Alex were happy when their family moved to a house with a very big garden. Theycould climb up trees, grow flowers and even play badminton. They liked to watchthe birds flying among the trees in the garden. They even started to put food outto attract（吸引）more birds.

    Everythingwas fine for a few days until one afternoon there was a strange bumping noise ona window. Emily went outside and found a small bird dead on the grass. Its neckseemed to be broken.

    "Itmust have flown into the window," Alex said when his sister Emily called himto have a look. "Ah, yes, look here. You can see the mark where it hit thewindow. There are a couple of tiny feathers stuck(粘贴) on the window."

    "Poorthing!" Emily said.

    Duringthe next month, another five birds died in the same way. "Why would they flyto the windows?" they wondered. Finally they found out the truth. When thebirds were flying, they couldn't see into the rooms. All they saw was the reflection(反射) of the garden. They thought that they were flying into trees becausethey saw trees reflected by the window.

    "Somethinghas to be done to save the birds." the parents decided.

    At first,he family tried keeping curtains（窗帘）across the windows, but thismade the room dark. Then they bought some strong black paper and cut out the shapeof ahawk. They made six hawks—one for each window. They stuck the hawks to the windows. They lookedpretty and did not keep out much light. When the birds saw the hawks, they wouldfly away.

    Afterthat, there were no more dead birds. The family were much happier.

Do you know Borrowing Arrows （箭） with Straw（稻草） Boats？This is a famous{#blank#}1{#/blank#} about two smart men﹣﹣Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu. 

One day，Zhou Yu gave Zhuge Liang an impossible task. He asked him to make 100，000 arrows in ten days. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}，Zhuge Liang accepted it at once. "No problem，" Zhuge Liang said. "I'll bring you 100，000 arrows in three days. "

Zhuge Liang asked his soldiers to fill 20 large boats{#blank#}3{#/blank#} many straw men. On the early morning of the third day，Zhuge Liang's soldiers sailed the boats towards the camps of Cao Cao's army on the other side of the river. The soldier shouted and beat their drums{#blank#}4{#/blank#} . 

While Cao Cao's soldiers{#blank#}5{#/blank#} sailing on the river，they heard the sounds. At that time，they{#blank#}6{#/blank#} they were in danger. But they could not see through the{#blank#}7{#/blank#} fog （雾） on the river. Cao Cao asked his soldiers to shoot arrows towards the sounds of the{#blank#}8{#/blank#} and the shouting. Zhuge Liang's boats were soon full of arrows. 

Zhuge Liang's soldiers then turned the boats around and shouted， "Thank you for{#blank#}9{#/blank#} arrows，Cao Cao. " Zhuge Liang took all these arrows to Zhou Yu. There were{#blank#}10{#/blank#} than 100，000 of them. Zhuge Liang made the impossible task possible. That's why the story is so famous. 

We may have many difficulties in life, and sometimes it's even unfair for someone, but it depends on how you face them. Sally is a student from a university, she made a 1 last August. She decided to take her grandmother 2 their hometown and live with her in a rented room（出租房）near her school. Sally's family have met a lot in the past few years. Her grandmother 3 her legs and she could walk only with a stick. Her father died because of illness. Sally's mother was plagued （受折磨）by these events, she lost the4 to take care of others, "This was the only choice. No one else could 5  my grandma, " Sally explained. Her grandmother has also had a6  life. The old woman's three sons have all died, and Sally couldn't leave her alone where7  could look after her. A room with two beds, a desk and a table is their new home. The room8 her several hundred yuan every month. In order to make money, Sally works in a supermarket after class and spends the money9  the family. "I was brought up by my grandma, and now it's my10  to take care of her, " said Sally. When she was young, her grandmother "magically" prepared every meal on time for her every day, 11  she could not read a clock. In the eyes of Sally's teacher, the girl is a (n)12 student. " Though taking care of her grandmother takes her lots of13 , Sally has tried to stay on top of all her courses. She is 14  preparing for an English singing contest, " her teacher said. Sally even 15 help from others. "It's kind of like only getting without giving, " she explained. At present, the girl is able to support(支持，支撑) the home with her weak shoulder.