Stephen Hawking was one of the most famous scientists in this century. He was born in 1942. He's a world well-known on space and time. Stephen is researching some very big questions, such as: How did the universe begin? How will it end?

Stephen was a student at Oxford University. He studied math and science. Then, at the age of twenty, he became sick. He was so young, but the doctors said to his family, “He has only two more years to live.” As a matter of fact, the doctors were wrong—- he didn't die. He can't walk now but he uses a wheelchair(轮椅). He can't feed himself and get in or out of bed himself. But he refused to give in to the condition. He talks with the help of a computer. After Oxford, Stephen went to Cambridge University. Three years later, in 1965, he became a doctor of philosophy(哲学).

    Because of his serious health problems, it was difficult for him to draw diagrams(图表)or to write. So he started to think in pictures. With this new way of thinking, he became one of the most famous scientists in the world. In 1991, he met the Pope(教皇) in Rome. They talked about his ideas. Then in 1998, he wrote his first important book, A Brief History of Time. It sold more than 5.5 million copies in 33 different languages. He was once invited to China, he impressed us with his self-confidence, humorous and witty(风趣的) conversation.

    On a cold winter day, a fox told Mother Bear that he would teach her how to fish Mother Bear wanted to learn, so the fox took her to a hole in the ice and told her to put her tail(尾巴)down into the water.

    He told her to keep the tail there for a long time. Then when she pulled the tail out of the water, she would find fish around the tail.

    The bear was foolish enough to believe what the fox said. She sat for a long time with her tail in the water. She was waiting for the fish. But when she tried to pull her tail out of the water, she found that it was frozen(冻结)in the ice.

    She asked the fox to pull her out, but the fox laughed at her and ran away. So she called Father Bear to help her.

    Father Bear came. He pulled her hard and at last got her out. But a part of her tail was in the ice. That is why people find the bear's tail so short.