Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s. The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach (菠菜) to make him strong. People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach. Popeye helped sell 33 per cent more spinach than before! Spinach became a necessary part of many people's diets. Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable.

    Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not-true. Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetables.

    People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake. In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables. This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did. The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it.

    Today, we know that the little iron there is in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is. However, spinach does have something else which the body needs—folic acid.

    It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong. Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along.

    Humoody was born in Iraq. When he was two years old, his face was badly hurt and he couldn't see any more. He came to the United States to get medical care and now lives with an American family in Washington State.

    Humoody quickly learned to use a cane(手杖) to get around. He also started clicking(使发出咔哒声),sensing objects by listening for echoes (回声). To help Humoody develop this skill, his family found him an

echolocation(回声定位_) teacher, Juan Ruiz. Ruiz is also blind and he has been echolocating for many years." Even someone who's not blind can try it," he says. Stand facing a wall a couple of feet away. Make some noise by clicking or talking out loud. Listen carefully. Now walk a little closer to the wall and keep making your noise. Can you hear how it changes as the wall gets nearer?

    Experiment with how your voice or clicks sound in different parts of your home. "Every room has a different sound to it," Ruiz says.

    How does the sound of a kitchen or bathroom compare to the sound of a carpeted(铺有地毯的) room? What about a long hallway? The differences you hear are the same kinds of clues(线索) that blind people listen to. With lots of practice, their brains have learned to get information from these clues.

    Humoody has never let being blind slow him down. Learning how to echolocate is helping him get around more easily and safely, especially in places where he can't take his cane, like the football field.

    My pen pal John is a school boy. He is from the USA and he is 13 years old. This is his room. Let's have a look. His computer is on the desk. And a telephone is on it, too. His books are everywhere. Some are on the shelf（书架）and some are on the ground. Look, what's that under the bed? Oh, it's one of his socks. Where's his schoolbag? It's near the bed. You can find a dictionary, a pencil box and a set of keys in it. Where is his hat? Can you find it?

    My name is Philippe and my wife's name is Sophie. We're from1. Recently we were faced with a 2situation while traveling by car in the mountains with our hired driver. Just as we began to doze(打盹), the car made a strange, loud noise and then3working.

    We tried communicating with the driver but with little4because he couldn't speak French. He tried to tell us with body language that he was going to get help and then he left.

    We were in a poor area, with 5houses in sight. We started to bear the cries of wild animals Sophie was very afraid. We didn't have much food and it was getting 6and darker I began to lose7. Should we leave the car? Would our driver ever8? Was he a trustworthy man? We were very worried.

A couple of hours passed. 9, the headlights from another car appeared in the dark. A man got out of the car. Finding us cold and hungry, he kindly asked us to10his car.

11we left, he put a note on the windshield of the car with his phone number on it. Then he drove us to a nearby village, and we met his family. His cousin spoke French and he 12us tea and local foods. 13asked us questions and they were excited to have unexpected guests.

    Later that evening, the phone rang. It was our14. He had kept his word and fixed the car.

    I will15forget the warmth we received on that day because we depended on a complete stranger for help.