An elephant and a crocodile were once standing beside river. They were disputing which was the better animal。

    "Look at my strength," said the elephant. "I can pull up a tree, roots and all, with my trunk"

    "Ah! But your skin is not nearly so thick as mine," replied the crocodile." No knife or tooth can cut through it."

    Just as they were coming to blows, a lion happened to pass.

    "My dear friends!" said the King of all animals, going up to them. "Let me know the cause of your disagreement."

    "Will you kindly tell us which is the better animal?" cried both at once.

    Certainly, "said the lion, pointing across the river." Do you see the soldiers metal hat on that wall?"

    "Yes!" replied the beasts.

    "Well, then," continued the lion, "go and get it, and bring it to me, and I shall be able then to decide between you."

    Upon hearing this, off they started. The crocodile, being used to the water, reached the opposite side of the river first, and was soon standing beside the wall.

    Here he waited till the elephant came up. The elephant, seeing that the crocodile had no way of reaching their goal, raised his long trunk, and took down the hat quite easily.

    They then made their way together back again across the river. The elephant was trying to keep up with the fast-moving crocodile in the water and became careless. When he was forced to turn sharply to avoid a floating tree branch, the elephant dropped the hat and it fell to the river bottom. The crocodile noticed the accident, so down he dived, and brought it up in his huge mouth. They then returned, and the crocodile laid the metal hat at the lion's feet. The King took it up, and turning to the elephant, said:

    "You, because of your size and trunk, were able to reach the hat on the wall but, having lost it, you were unable to get it back. And you, said the lion to the crocodile, "although unable to reach the hat, were able to dive for it and save it. You are both wise and able in your own ways. One is no better than the other."

"Just because you can't see something, that doesn't mean it's not there." This old saying is quite meaningful for British artist Willard Green. The items he creates are so tiny that most of them fit on the head of a pin (针). You can see them clearly through a microscope (显微镜).

At every one of his art shows, people always ask the same question, "▲"

The answer is "Very, very carefully." So carefully, in fact, that he actually slows his breath down and works in between breaths. Willard usually works patiently under a microscope using special tools that he creates. To paint his works, he uses the hair from a fly(苍蝇) as a paintbrush.

Creating these detailed works is a very long and difficult process, and it isn't always enjoyable. "It is a terrible dream when I start but a nice dream when I finish," he says. A single item can take at least several weeks to complete.

People have asked Willard why he chose to do something that needed effort and took time. When he was young, Willard was not a strong student. He had difficulty in reading and spelling words. Some kids used to call him a loser. This made him feel small, so working on little things helped him to feel big. The smaller his work got, the bigger he felt. A newspaper reporter said, "Though his works of art are small, Willard is a great artist!"

William grew up in a poor family in Africa. His family lived in a village with no 1 . At night, they used oil lamps for light. However, oil was too expensive for his parents to afford. 

William wanted to 2 life there but he had no idea how to realize it. One day, he read a book on how to turn wind into electricity with a windmill. 

"That is 3 !" Though he didn't know what a windmill was, he decided to give it a try. 

First he had to 4 all the materials. He dug through the rubbish with his cousin in the villages nearby and 5 his goal until he got what he wanted. 

Then he started to make the windmill. The moment his farm work finished in the fields, he threw himself on studying the materials, staying 6 till midnight. Finally, he made it after many 7 . He fixed the windmill on the top of a wood tower to catch wind. The villagers came to look. A long wire was used to connect to a bulb to the windmill. The wind blew and the windmill 8 . To their amazement, the bulb lit up. The villagers cheered. William threw his hands in the air and jumped 9 . To produce more energy, he built another windmill for his village. 

Bored into poverty, William didn't give up in the face of difficulties. He kept reading, taught himself and lit up the whole 10 .

This morning, I went camping along a path in Green Natural Park with my friends. We were happy because it was a sunny day. We were expecting an enjoyable two- day holiday. On the way, we kept singing and making jokes. 

However, in the afternoon, when we finished our picnic at one o'clock, it was dark and windy.  Soon there was a shower. Unluckily, none of us brought an umbrella. We ran about but we could find no place to hide. 

Twenty minutes passed and it was still raining. There were hours to go before we could reach the campsite (野营地). It was even worse that our small compass showed that we went the wrong way. We lost our way!

We had to make a quick decision as it was raining heavily. Chris said we could set up a tent to hide in, so Mary and Tom helped to set up the tent. Chris and I tried to make a fire to keep us warm. But we were unable to light the fire,  ▲ . We dried ourselves, chatted and waited inside the tent. At about five o'clock, it stopped raining. We decided to give up the camping trip because all of us were very tired. 

This camping trip may not be very successful but we have got to know each other better. And the most important thing I've learned from this trip is the importance of teamwork.