Life is full of surprises and you never know how things will turn out.

Sir John Gurdon is a good example of this. As a boy, he was told he was hopeless at science and finished bottom of his class. Now, aged 79, the very same Gurdon shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Japanese stem cell(干细胞) researcher Shinya Yamanaka.

Like so many scientists, Gurdon shows us where the power of curiosity and perseverance(坚持不懈) can lead.

At the age of 15 in 1948, Gurdon ranked last out of the 250 boys at his high school in biology and every other science subject. Gurdon's high school science teacher even said that his dream of becoming a scientist was "quite ridiculous".

In spite of his teacher's criticisms, Gurdon followed his curiosity and kept working hard. He went to the lab early and left later than anyone else. He experienced thousands of failures.

    "My own belief is that we will, in the end, understand everything about how cells actually work." Gurdon said.

    In 1962, Gurdon took a cell from an adult frog and moved its genetic(基因的) information into an egg cell. The egg cell then grew into a clone(克隆) of the adult frog. This technique later helped to create Dolly the sheep in 1996, the first cloned mammal(哺乳动物) in the world.

    In 2006, Gurdon's work was developed by Yamanaka to show that a sample(样本) of a person's skin can be used to create stem cells. Using this technique, doctors can repair a patient's heart after a heart attack.

    "Luck favors the prepared mind, "Gurdon told the Nobel Prize Organization." Ninety percent of the time things don't work, but when they do, you have to seize(抓住) the chance. "

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    Yao Beina was not only a popular singer but also an energetic and warm-hearted angel. She donated her corneas(眼角膜) to two men after her death.

    Yao was born in a music family in September 1981 in Wuhan. She started to learn music at the age of 4, and she sang her first song on the stage when she was 9. Yao did quite well in singing, so she took part in the 13th Youth Singing Competition and won the first prize.

    She became well-known to the public after making some songs for the hit TV drama The Legend of Zhenhuan(《甄嬛传》), and the mandarin version(中文版本) of Let It Gofrom Disney's Frozen(《冰雪奇缘》). In July 2013, she competed in The Voice of China II and finally got the second place in Na Ying's team. She had won many music prizes.

Yao Beina was unlucky to be diagnosed(诊断) with breast cancer(乳腺癌). She had a successful operation(手术) in 2011. She has fought against the illness for about four years while keeping singing, but sadly she failed. Although she's gone, her fans will remember her beautiful voice and kindness forever.

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    Huw Thomas fell in love with Megan. But then an accident changed his life, and he had to move to Canada. Megan promised to write to him. But Huw never heard from her … until one day a letter arrived.

    He saw the letter came from where he and his father had lived in their early years. Who was writing to him? He turned the envelope over in his hands several times. Then he took out the letter and read:

Dear Huw,

    I don't know if this letter will reach you, and I don't really know why I'm writing to you after all these years, but …

    Huw turned to the end of the letter and saw:

Best wishes

Megan

    He couldn't believe it. He turned back to the first words of the letter and read:… after all these years, but I've just found your letters to me from Canada. Believe me, this was the first time I'd read them and they made me cry, even after 50 years. I found them in a box of my father's papers. They were never opened.

    Huw, I never knew that you'd written to me. I thought your new life in Canada had made you forget me. Now I realize that my father kept your letters. I can still remember asking him if there was any letter for me, and he always said▲, my girl. I told you he was no good. Finally, after about a year, I believed him.

    But why did he keep the letters? Do you think he wanted me to find them when it was too late? Anyway, he's dead now, so I can't ask him. All I can say is I'm sorry. Sorry for what my father did, sorry that you never heard from me and sorry for… everything.

    I hope that at least this letter reaches you. Of course, I'll understand if you don't want to write back to me, but if you do, I am still Megan Jenkins, and I still live at the same address.

Best wishes,

Megan

    Huw read the letter again. Everything with Megan came back to him. He had never forgotten her. He couldn't. Every day he looked at her face on the wall. He had a drawing of her. It had traveled everywhere with him. But to hear from her again …

    "Are you all right, Dad?" asked Mike, coming into the room.

    Sarah stood in front of the mirror(镜子). "It looks like a raincoat on me," she said.

    "Perhaps the blue," said Mama, gently.

    "Sure," the shopkeeper said. But when she took the blue coat, there on the shelf behind all of the dark coats, hidden like a spring flower in winter darkness, there, as if by magic, was a pink coat.

    "A pink coat!" Sarah cried. "I want the pink coat."

    "That coat is smaller than the other ones," Papa said.

    Sarah spoke up. "I'm small, too. Papa, please let me try it on, Mama? Please?"

    "It wouldn't hurt to let her try it on," Mama said.

    Without a word, the shopkeeper took the coat from the shelf and held it for Sarah.

    "Ohhh!" Sarah said. The coat was smooth and shiny inside like her sister Sylvia's blouses. "Ahhh!"

    Sarah stood very straight and looked in the mirror. She looked for a very long time. In the pink coat she looked like a spring flower.

    "Sarah!" Mama said.

    Sarah looked up. Mama was standing behind her. She was holding the brown coat.

    "I'm afraid the pink coat will only fit one year," Mama said, taking a step closer.

    "And there's no one to pass it on to," said Papa.

    And the shopkeeper said, "It's wise to save money."

    Sarah backed away. No one was going to put her into a raincoat again. She wanted to be a flower.

    "Sarah!" It was Papa. He came over to her. "You're old enough to know that you can't always have your own way," he said seriously.

    "Wise and true," said the shopkeeper.

    Sarah took off the pink coat, slowly.

    "It is her colour, though," Mama said.

    "Ahh," said the shopkeeper. "Anyone can see how the pink of the coat brings out the roses in her face."

    Papa looked thoughtful for a moment.

    "We are lucky." continued Mama, "that it is only one little coat for Sarah and not also new coats for Sylvia and Susan and Sally."

    Papa looked from the brown coat to the pink coat. "The cows will give milk soon enough," he said "And how can we let Sarah wear a brown coat when she looks like a flower in this one?"

    "Papa!" Sarah cried, putting on the pink coat back, quickly. She threw her arms around Papa's neck. "        " she whispered.

    "Like a rose in spring," Papa said.

    Last year I was very lucky to have a week's holiday. So I wanted to spend 1 in the best hotel I could find. That was 2 I chose The Haven in a country park. I thought I would be able to escape problems and pressures of daily life. But, just 24 hours after arriving there, my wife and I 3 problems with the restaurant and security.

    We were ready to return to our room when we saw two policemen 4  closely at the building outside. One of them showed us how 5 in through the windows into our room. It seems that the hotel has no locks on the windows. 6 we were a little worried, our concerns were forgotten 7 when we saw a good-sized bed, a flat-screen TV, a spa bath which more suggested a comfortable stay.

    Things started to go from bad to worse the following morning when I found the restaurant only served low-fat meals: six days of rabbit food and only 8 meat and fruit. What had I let myself in for? Nobody had told us what the food 9 like before we booked. I ordered my breakfast 10 my will anyway, but I had waited forty-five minutes for it to arrive. This was not the service 11 I had expected.

    That afternoon, when we returned from a tour around 12 university nearby, we found that nearly £200 13 from our room. The Haven refused to pay back the money. They claimed that they 14 not be responsible for any loss if our window was not locked.

    My holiday was then a total failure. I thought a "haven" was sure to be a quiet and peaceful place. But in fact, I have experienced 15 stress and worry in that one day than I usually do working in the office for a week.

Richard is a trader and he is very mean (吝啬) with his money. One day, Richard went to a noodle house for lunch. He asked, "How much is a bowl of beef noodles?" The boss answered, "8 dollars." Richard asked again, "What about the beef soup?" "For free." said the boss. Richard said at once, "OK! Give me a bowl of soup, please." After drinking, Richard wiped (擦) his mouth and left. 

Richard came to drink the free soup in the following three days. That made the boss a little angry. On the fifth day, when Richard came for the free soup again. The boss said angrily, "Today the prices are not the same as before. 8 dollars for noodles and 16 dollars for the soup!" Richard thought for a while and said, "OK! I need a bowl of beef noodles and an empty bowl."

The boss gave Richard what he ordered. To his surprise, Richard poured the soup into the empty bowl and only ate the noodles. Then he said to the boss, "I had a bowl of noodles for 8 dollars, but I didn't drink the soup. Now you have to give me 8 dollars back."