Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Italy. He is best known as an artist today. One of his famous paintings is called Mona Lisa. However, Leonardo had many other natural abilities. He was also a great inventor. Many of his inventions have become important in modern day life.

Although Leonardo hated war, he invented many different machines used for war. His most special invention was the machine gun, which was produced and used in war many years later.

      By watching the way birds fly, Leonardo tried to find out the secret of flying. Among his sketches(素描)we can see several objects. We consider them as modern flying machines.

      Leonardo spent many hours thinking about how to make good use of time. He developed ideas for labor-saving machines like cutting machines.

Leonardo was a strange man. He didn't eat any meat, which was very unusual in those times. He never published (发表) his ideas and scientific discoveries. He usually used mirror writing, which looks like writing in a mirror, starting from the right side of the page and moving to the left.

      We have very little of his work today. Leonardo finished only a few of his paintings. He left many unfinished because he thought they were not perfect. No one in his life time knew how great Leonardo was. We now believe, however, that he was one of the cleverest men the world has ever known.

    Bill Adams retired (退休). His daughter, a nurse, asked if he wanted to volunteer at her hospital. Bill didn't think he wanted to be aroufid 1 people, but his daughter said. "Just try it for a week and see how you feel."

    Thirteen years later, Bill is 2 volunteering at the hospital two days a week. He says, "Volunteering is a good thing to do, and helping others makes me 3. "Over the years, Bill has worked in many departments (科). Now he 4 in the waiting area outside the X-ray room.

    Once, a woman found out that she needed immediate surgery (立即手术), but her 5 were not with her. Bill helped call her family and took them to 6 so they could be together. Later, he 7 the woman again. It was great to see the woman get better. Bill got a lot of 8 from her family.

    Bill loves volunteering at the hospital, and he also likes 9 others to join the volunteer work. "All of the volunteers are like family. We're good friends. We love helping others when they are in need." he says. At the age of 81, Bill has no plan to 10 his volunteer work. He has decided to stay busy as long as possible.

    At the age of 16, Einstein failed in several exams because he often played with some bad kids. One weekend morning, Einstein carried a fishing net and prepared to go fishing with those 1, his father stopped him and said to him calmly," Einstein, you were spending too much time 2 , so you failed in the exams. I'm 3 about your future with your mother."

    "What are you worrying about? Jack and Robert also 4, but they went fishing as usual."

    "My boy, you can't think so," Looking at Einstein, his father said lovingly, "There is a 5 in our hometown. I hope you can listen to it carefully."

    "There were two cats playing on the roof. 6, they fell into the chimney（烟囱）.When they climbed out of the chimney, one cat's face was dirty 7 the other's face was clean. Seeing the dirty—faced cat, the clean—faced one thought its own face was also dirty, so it quickly ran to the riverside and washed its 8. The dirty—faced cat saw the clean—faced one, thinking its own face was clean as well, so it walked happily in the street."

    "Einstein, 9 can be your mirror(镜子). Only you are your own mirror. Some of the kids are not strict with themselves. If you take them to be your mirror, even a 10 person may become stupid." Hearing this, Einstein was ashamed and lay down his fishing rod and returned to his small room. Since then, Einstein's face turned red. He put down his fishing net and returned to his small room.

    After that, Einstein often took himself as a mirror to be 11 with himself and kept telling himself." I am special, so I needn't be as common as others." This was why Einstein 12 in his career.

    1,000 people have 1,000 kinds of wishes in life. Different wishes will produce different 13 about life. You can learn from other people, but you can 14 follow others completely.

    You must see yourself clearly, and know what you want to get. Your future doesn't 15 how others act, but on what you are going to act.

    The teacher sent me home with a note for my mother that said I needed to visit the eye doctor because I failed the vision test. The trip home that day was very slow.

    My mother said it would all be just fine. "It wouldn't hurt a bit," she said. But I wasn't worried about pain-I was worried about looking 1.

    The next day, my mother pulled me to the eye doctor's office. I 2 a set of frames (镜框) and tried to believe my mother when she said they looked really 3 on me. The doctor said the glasses would be ready soon. But I wasn't ready at all, and I didn't think I ever would be.

    When the glasses arrived, the eye doctor put them on my face and walked me out onto the sidewalk in front of his office. When I looked 4 from my shoes, I found myself in a whole new world – a world filled with 5 pictures, bright colours, and fine detail everywhere I looked. Suddenly I 6 the beautiful outline of red leaves on trees. I could see the details of people's faces long before they were standing in front of me. I could see my mother 7 as she watched me see the world in a whole new way.

    "Glasses aren't so bad, are they?" Mom asked.

    "Not at all," I thought to myself. On that first day, they were a 8.

    The Monday morning came, and I had to 9 the kids in my classroom. And it happened, just like I feared it would be. A mean kid pointed at me in the middle of the maths class and shouted, "Four 10!" But at the same moment, looking through my new glasses, I could see all the way across the room that the kid who had said it had an awfully big nose.