John was a very strong man. Once he got a job of cutting wood in a forest. His boss gave him an axe(斧子) and showed him the area where he should work.

    The first day, John cut down 18 trees. "Good," the boss said, "keep it up!" John was encouraged by the words of the boss and tried harder the next day, but he could only cut down 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he could only cut down 10 trees. Day after day he was cutting down fewer and fewer trees.

    "I must be losing my strength," John thought. He went to the boss and said that he could not understand what was going on. "When was the last time you had sharpened(使锋利) your axe?" the boss asked. "Sharpened? I had no time to do it. I have been very busy trying to cut more trees." said John.

    The moral of this story: While John was working hard, he didn't think about how to do his job better.

    Characters—Editor, Doctor, Scientist, Journalist, Traveller Scene 9    The men sit down with drinks ,and the time traveller tells his amazing story，Traveller: The time machine took me 150 years into the future.

    The word was… is … a very different place. There was two races（种类）of creatures: the Eloi and Morlocks. The Eloi are small, gentle creatures—people who lead peaceful lives. They do not work but play games, eat food, and sleep. They are afraid of dark. Scientist: And the Morlocks? Traveller: These are ape—like（似猿的）creatures who live underground. They are afraid of the light. They have machines. They provide the Eloi with everything they need. Doctor: So the Morlocks are the Eloi's slaves（奴隶）? Traveller: Sadly, that is not so. The Eloi are the Morlock's cattle（牲畜）.

    The Morlocks feed them and raise took them for food. Editor: That is awful. How did the Eloi allow this to happen. Traveller: They became lazy. At first, they allowed the Morlocks to provide them with everything they needed.

    Journalist: Then, they slowly lost all their skills. Traveller: Exactly. As the years passed, they became more and more dependent（依赖的） on the Morlocks. Finally, they could not take care of themselves. Then ,the Morlocks took control them.

    Editor: There is a lesson for us in this.

    Scientist: Only if his strange story is true.

    Last summer, I went to Yunnan on vacation with my family. We1four days there.

    Our first stop was Lugu Lake. I wondered why there was so beautiful a lake in the world. I enjoyed 2 there. We went boating and took quite a few photos. Then we went up to a hill. On the top of the 3 we got to see something beautiful. I felt like I was in a painting. I thought I would 4 forget the beautiful scenery (风景) there.

    The next morning we went to Lijiang by bus. It was a long 5 from Lugu Lake to Lijiang. In the afternoon we 6 After a short break (休息), we went to walk around the town and bought Some gifts. Then we decided to try the famous (著名的) Guoqiao Rice Noodles for dinner. They were very 7 and delicious. After dinner we took a walk and enjoyed the old streets and buildings 8 the moon. The summer evening was cool.

    Our 9 stop was the "spring city" Kunming. We visited Dianchi, watched the birds and went to the flower market. We had a really wonderful day.

    The four-day trip came to a(n) 10 soon. We had to go home. Everything in Yunnan was great. It is a very beautiful and interesting place. I'm sure you'll never regret (懊悔) going on a trip there.

    Alan Smith is blind. He teaches blind children in his country. To show the world that the blind can also do something amazing, he walked across the world's largest salt desert, Salar de Uyuni, only with the help of a GPS.

    Walking across the desert is not easy for an able-bodied person, let alone (更不用说) a blind man. Before setting off, Alan spent three years training for the journey. He studied everything he could find about the place and asked for advice from other travelers. During his journey, he only took water, food and sleeping bags. He walked about 20 kilometers a day. He showed great perseverance (毅力) and finished the 140-kilometer journey in just seven days.

    The brave teacher thought his week-long journey was wonderful. He said, "The journey was quite good. There were snow storms and winds, but luckily I made it."