People often said Thomas Edison was the greatest genius(天才) of his age. There are only a few men in all of history, who have changed the lives of other men as much as the inventor of the first useful electric light. But Edison could never be pleased only because someone said he was a genius. “There is no such a thing as genius,” Edison said. He thought what people called genius was mostly hard work.

     But Edison was a thinker as well as a worker. From his earliest days as a child he wondered about the secrets of nature. He tried to understand them, and then he tried to learn what he could usefully do with them.

     Edison enjoyed thinking. He knew that most people would do almost anything instead of the difficult work of thinking, especially if they do not think very often. But he knew, too, that thinking could give men enjoyment and pleasure.

     Edison could not understand why anyone could not be interested in life. As he loved to think, he also loved to work. On the day he became 75 years old, someone asked him what idea he had about life. “Work,” he answered, “Discovering the secrets of nature and using them to make men happier.” He said he had enough inventions in his mind to give him another 100 years of work.

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    He Jiang, a postgraduate（研究生）in biology. will become the first Chinese student to give a speech in the commencement(毕业典礼)at Harvard University on May 26, 2016.

    Given the highest honor by the university, He Jiang, who was born in a small village in Hunan province, said, "People in China often believe that it's useless to study and children from the countryside cannot be successful in the future. However, I cannot agree with them. Education can change a person's life. I hope my experience can encourage the students from the countryside to spare no effort in study and make their dreams come true."

    Different from many other families in the village, his parents never thought about finding a job in big cities and leaving their two sons at home without their care. His father was strict about their studies. He and his younger brother studied at home while the other kids in the village played in the fields. Unlike his strict father, his mother took her sons' side when her husband scolded the boys. She preferred to sit with her sons when they studied rather than chat with other women in the village.

    Getting the chance to speak at the commencement is no accident. During his first days in Harvard, it was quite difficult for him to follow the professors in class and he was speechless in campus because of his poor English. Instead of giving up, He Jiang spent all his free time on English. He also made friends with natives to improve his speaking English. One year later, he had little difficulty in class and soon became one of the top students in his class. With the encouragement from Professor Diana Eck. He Jiang decided to apply(申请）for the chance to speak at the commencement.“Few Chinese students had applied before, but I wanted to have a try. I just want to realize my idea of letting more people hear the voice from China and telling them that China is not what it used to be." said He Jiang. After beating three students from Harvard Kennedy School in the third and final round, He Jiang made it to get the chance to speak at the commencement.

    He Jiang will go to Massachusetts Institute of Technology after graduating from Harvard.

    Gregg's dream was to travel around the Americas(美洲). He got the idea after he finished a long bike ride. Gregg's friend, Brooks, also liked riding a bike. The two friends talked and made a plan，they would travel from Alaska to Argentina by bike.

    To pay for the trip, Gregg and Brooks worked to save money for a long time. When they were on the road, they often camped outdoors and ate cheaply. In many places, local people opened their doors to the two friends and gave them food.

    On their way, there were deserts, rainforests and mountains. They visited modern cities and ancient ruins. And they made many friends from all over the world.

    Two years later, Gregg finally reached Ushuaia, Argentina in May 2007. (Near Guatemala, Brooks had to go back and Gregg continued without him.)

They both learned a lot about traveling. Here are some of Gregg's suggestions.

Travel light. You shouldn't carry many things with you.

    Be flexible(灵活的)• Don't plan everything. Then you'll be more relaxed and pleased. Be polite. One traveler told Gregg, "Nobody wants to cheat a nice man." It's true.

    In 2011, when British photographer David J. Slater was visiting a park in Indonesia, his camera was taken away by a group of black monkeys. The result was hundreds of monkey selfies(自拍照). The best ones show a female monkey smiling toothily for the camera. Slater then sold the photos and they became popular on the Internet.

    Nobody knew they would create a copyright battle some years later.

Last month, Wikimedia Commons put the monkey selfies online under a collection of free photos without Slater's permission. Slater asked the website to take them down since he owns the copyright.

    However, Wikimedia Foundation-the organization behind Wikimedia Commons-refused Slater's request. They said that according to US copyright law, whoever pushes the button on the camera owns the copyright to the photo. It was the monkeys but not Slater that pushed the button. What's more, monkeys don't own copyright. "US copyright law says that works that come from a non-human source(血统)can't ask for copyright, " said Katherine Maher, Chief Communications Officer of Wikimedia.

    Slater argues that the pictures belong to him as they were taken from his camera. He said he bought the cameras, he spent a lot of money to travel to Indonesia, and it was his carelessness that allowed the monkeys to take his cameras away. All these have made him the author of the picture, no matter who pushed the button. In a sense(在某种意义上), the monkeys could be regarded as his assistant, Slater said.

    As of now(到目前为止), there has been no result in the Monkey Selfie case. Who do you think will win this interesting battle?

    In 1254, Marco Polo was born in Italy, in the city of Venice. At that time Europeans knew almost nothing about other continents(大洲),except some areas of Asia and Africa(非洲)touching the Mediterranean Sea(地中海).

    In 1271. Marco Polo. His uncle. And his father started a journey to China. For four years they travelled on foot and on camels, across the deserts and through the mountains of Central Asia. Finally they arrived at the city of Kublai Khan(可汗),the Mongol(蒙古)ruler of China at that time.

    In China, Marco Polo found people with a very different culture from his own. He saw a new world with lots of wonders. After leaving China, Marco Polo traveled to Japan, Southeastern Asia, India, and Eastern Africa.

    In 1292-two hundred years before Columbus—Marco travelled back home. The stories of China he brought back quickly spread all over Europe.

    In ancient China, people's names had three parts: their family name, given name and courtesy name (字).

    Take Li Bai, a famous Tang Dynasty poet as an example. His family name was Li, his given name was Bai, and his courtesy name was Taibai.

    People used their given name when they were among family members. But in social (社交的) life, they called each other by their courtesy names to show respect(尊重).

    Men would get their courtesy name when they turned 20. It was a symbol of adulthood (成年). Women would get their courtesy name after getting married (结婚).

    One's courtesy name often had something to do with one's given name. For example, Mencius' name was Meng Ke (孟轲). His courtesy name was Ziyu (子舆). Both Ke and Ziyu mean "carriage (马车)". Zhuge Liang's given name was Liang (亮), which means "bright". His courtesy name was Kongming (孔明), and it means "very bright".