Many years ago， there lived a very rich man who wanted to do something good for the people of his town. But first he wanted to find out if they deserved(值得)his help. So he put a very large stone in the middle of the main road into the town. Then he stood behind a tree waiting and watching.

Soon an old man came along with his cow. “Who put this stone in the center of the road?” said the old man， but he didn't try to move the stone away. He passed around the stone with some difficulties and continued on his way. Another man came along and did the same thing；then another came and another. All of them complained about the stone in the center of the road but nobody tried to move it.

Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone and said, “It will be dark at night. Some people will come along later in the dark and will fall over the stone and get hurt.” The young man then began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled and tried everything he could to move it out of the road. But to his surprise， under the stone he found a bag full of money and this message, “This money is for the person who moves this stone from the road. The person deserves help.”

    Have you heard about "Survival(生存) Holidays"? "Survival Holidays" is for children to go into the lonely place for exciting activities. Now about 1,100 companies are allowed to take children into the great outdoors without their parents.

    The reason why people like "Survival Holidays" is that they think being close to nature is good for children. Many children in big cities spend all time watching TV and playing computer games. "Survival Holidays" gives them an important change.

    Is "Survival Holidays" a wonderful idea? Maybe it is. Children need more free time to play. They need to be left on their own, without adults disturbing(打扰) them. Parents care too much about their children. They like to see the children being busy with activities that are controlled by adults, but children don't know what to do when they are in danger. Even something like crossing a small river seems to be a hard challenge. Children are not comfortable with danger. Even small danger like getting their feet wet or falling down seems very terrible to them.

    Many people think the survival activities are good for children. Even years later, they will still remember what they have learned. Some have learned to stay calm in different times. Some have learned how to keep safe. Others have learned how to work in a team. All these skills will help them a lot in their lives.

        In a nice house there lived an old man. Behind the house there was a big garden. He planted many plants there. He took care of his flowers all the time, watering and fertilizing (施肥) them.

       One day a young man went by the garden. He looked at the beautiful flowers, imagining how happy he could be if he lived in such a beautiful place. Then, suddenly he found the old gardener was blind. He was very _________ about this and asked, “You can't see these flowers. Why are you busy taking care of them every day?”

       The old man smiled and said, “I can tell you some reasons  . First, I was a gardener when I was young, and I really like this job. Second, although I can't see these flowers, I can touch them. Third, I can smell the sweetness of them. As to the last one, that's you.”       

       “Me? But you don't know me,” said the young man.

       “Yeah, it's true that I don't know you. But I know that flowers are angels that everybody knows. We enjoy the happiness these flowers have brought us.”

       The blind man's work opened our eyes and pleased our heart, which also made his life happier. It was just like Beethoven, who became deaf in his later life and wrote many great musical words. Beethoven himself couldn't hear  his wonderful music, but his music has encouraged millions of people to face their difficulties bravely. Isn't it one kind of happiness?

Florida teen band The Garbage-Men is performing on the stage. The band has five members. They are Jack Berry, Ollie Gray, Harrison Paparatto, Austin Siegel and Evan Tucker. The five teens are making music from waste. The Garbage-Men band's instruments are made from recycled things. The guitars are boxes. A horn(号) is made from pipes. The keyboard is formed from old bottles.

    The band started about two years ago. Jack Berry who was in eighth grade at the time decided to make a playable, home-made guitar. After some trial-and-error(反复试验),                he ended up building it from a cereal box,  a yardstick and toothpicks. After Jack showed his creation to his friend Ollie Gray, Ollie had the idea to form a band using other home-made instruments as a way to improve recycling. “We want to show people there is more to recycling than throwing things away in the bin.” Jack, 16, told TFK. “You can actually reuse materials.”

Last year, the Garbage-Men played at local events, including festivals, farmer's markets. Typically， the teens set up on the street and performed popular songs from the 1960s， including classic Beatles and crowd favorite “Wipe Out”. They talked about recycling and offered tips for how to improve the environment. While they were performing, Jack's little brother Trent, 11, gave out leaflets about recycling and helped sell the band's CDs and other musical products.

The band donated the money from sales to charity. They have raised more than $2,500 for Heifer International. The organization gives farm animals, seeds and agricultural training to people in poor countries to help end poverty and hunger. “It's a good, sustainable-development (持续发展的)charity,” Jack says, “By donating one animal, you help the whole community.”

The band, all tenth graders, tries to play a show every week. They've also played on a Florida radio station. The teens hope to take their shows on the road by touring in other states. “Music is a really good way to get a good message across to people because it's really close.” Jack says. Their instruments may be rubbish, but their message isn't.

    If you were to walk up Arthur Bonner and say, "Hey, Butterfly Man." his face would break into a smile. The title suits him and he loves it.

Arthur Bonner works with the Palos Verdes blues butterfly, once thought to have died out. Today the butterfly is coming back—thanks to him. However, years ago if you'd told him this was what he'd he doing someday, he would have laughed, "You're crazy." As a boy, he used to be "a little tough buy on the streets". At the age of thirteen, he was caught by police for stealing. At eighteen, he landed in prison for shooting a man.

    "I knew it had hurt my mom," Bonner said after he got out of prison. "So I told myself I would not put my mom through that pain again."

    One day he met Professor Mattoni, who was working to rebuild the habitat for an endangered butterfly called EI Segundo blue. He saw the sign "Butterfly Habitat" and asked, "How can you have a habitat when the butterflies can just fly away?" Dr. Mattoni laughed and landed him a magnifying glass, "Look at the leaves. I could see all these caterpillars on the plant." Dr. Mattoni explained, " Without the plant, there are no butterflies."

    Weeks later, Bonner received a call from Dr. Mattoni, who told him there was a butterfly that needed help. That was how he met the Palos Verdes blue. Since then he's been working for four years to help bring the butterfly back. He grows astragalus, the only plant the butterfly eats. He collects butterflies and bring them into a lab to lay eggs. Then he puts new butterflies into the habitat.

    The butterfly's population, once almost zero, is now up to 900. For their work, Bonner and Dr. Mattoni received lots of awards. But for Bonner, he earned something more: he turned his life around.

    For six years now Bonner has kept his promise to stay out of prison. While he's bringing back the Palos Verdes blue, the butterfly has helped bring him back, too.

    Have you ever been to America? I was only an 11-year-old girl when my parents 1 me that we would soon move to America. We were on the bus then. I cried. I remember that I could not bear the thought of never 2 the radio programme for school children again which I listened to every morning.

    In fact, I think I cried very little when I was saying 3 to my friends and relatives. When we were leaving, I even felt a little 4 because I thought about all the places I was going to see—the strange and magical places I had known only from books and pictures.

    The first four years in America taught me the 5 of optimism (乐观), but the idea did not come to me at once. For the first two years in New York I was really lost. I had to study in three schools and spent most of my time learning the English language. I hardly had any time for 6. Sometimes I did not quite know what l was or what I should be. My mother 7 and things became even harder for me. It took me some time to get used to staying with my stepfather (继父). I was often 8, and saw no end to "the hard times". I had to do many things for the family since I knew English better than everyone else at home.

    9, things got better and better later and almost all common troubles 10 at last. From those experiences I have learnt one important rule: Something good is certain to happen in the end when you do not give up, and just wait a little.