阅读理解

    Yesterday my son, daughter and I went to the grocery store. In front of us in line was a little girl with her mother. The little girl was asking her mother for a box of Smarties. The polite way she was asking almost broke the mother's heart, “I'm sorry, Honey, but we have no money to buy it.”

    My son was watching that dialogue. By the way, he had been raking(用耙子耙)leaves our garden to raise himself some money to buy a bike. As he watched the mother and daughter leave the store, he ran to the candy counter(柜台)and bought a box of Smarties with the money .

    He turned to look at me and I just nodded. He ran out after the little girl and her mother and he gave them the box. He came back and told me what he told them. “Every kid should have a pack of Smarties because they can make you smart.”

    I was so excited that I bought a pack of Smarties for my son. I told him that I was proud of him, and that was for his act of generosity because he gave his own Smarties to others. Quickly, he replied, “But you do nice things for people and you never get anything for it .”I explained, “when you do something nice for someone, you shouldn't expect to get anything. When you get something you should be very thankful.”

    Tomas Edison was born in 1847. Edison was in school for only three months, but he asked a lot of strange questions. His teacher did not understand him and said that he was not bright and was not worth teaching. His mother took him out of school and taught him herself. The boy was soon reading books for grow-ups. He showed special interest in science.

    Once his mother was ill. The doctor said she needed an operation at once. But it was night and the oil lamp in the room gave poor light. Edison thought hard and had an idea. He put all the oil lamps he could find on a long table. Then he placed a big mirror behind them. The room became quite bright. So the doctor could operate and his mother was saved.

    At the age of twelve, Edison began selling candy, sandwiches and newspapers on a train. In his spare time, he printed a newspaper on the train and sold copies to the railway workers.

    One day in August, 1862, Edison saw a boy playing on the tracks at a station. A train was coming near quickly, and the boy was too frightened to move. Edison rushed out and carried the boy to safety. The boy's father was the station master. He was so thankful that he taught Edison telegraphy(电报学). Edison soon became very good at it and later he left home to work in different cities. This gave him a start in his life. He was then just a boy of sixteen.

    I had great experiences in Wuzhen. It left me a great impression (印象) during my recent four-day stay there.

    Free Wi-Fi in public areas is now available (可得到的) there. Such service (服务) is common in cities, but I didn't imagine there was such service in a small town like Wuzhen, When I arrived at Wuzhen that evening, I was very surprised! I couldn't to do two things: connect to Wi-Fi and go around the town. Where there's the Internet, there is a way.

    I found a bicycle station along the street. A notice guided me on how to get a bike using my smart phone. It offered me a two-hour free ride and I enjoyed it a lot. The locals have enjoyed the free bike service since last year.

    Later, locals told me hundreds of such bicycles became available at the beginning of last year. Hundreds of new-energy vehicles (交通工具) can fee used if you pay a little money. Again, you need a smart phone to make use of the service.

    I rode across streets and roads, past many places. I found the Internet was used everywhere in the town.

    I've interviewed many officials in other areas of China. And I often wanted to remain connected with them through WeChat. However, many of them would just excuse themselves, saying they don't use the social media as they have too many things to do every day. But most of the Wuzhen's officials said, "Nowadays, many things are completed with the Internet, and we're sure that Internet will become more and more important. We can reach further by using it."