Christopher Columbus is famous because he found something he wasn't looking for.

    In 1492, Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in order to reach India. What he found was something far different. He found the New World. How did this come about? It all started in Italy.

    Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451. His family didn't have a lot of money, and Christopher wasn't an only child. He didn't have much of an education until he was much older. Instead, he went to sea. He sailed around the Mediterranean(地中海) and as far north as England and Ireland.

    During his travels, Columbus heard the reports of land to the west of the Madeira and Azores Islands. They were in the Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal. He wanted to know more and got maps and books on geography.

    Marco Polo said that Japan was only 1,500 miles east of China. As a result, Columbus thought that Japan was only 3,000 miles west of Portugal. And 3,000 miles was a distance that ships could travel in those days.

So, Columbus decided that he wanted to get to the East by going west. He thought that if he sailed far enough west, he would sail around the world enough to reach the East. Based on his calculations(计算), Japan was only 3,000 miles away, after all.

    A mother planted many kinds of vegetables in her garden. One morning she said to her daughter. "Betty, come here. Look at all these little yellow marks on the leaves of the cabbages. They are eggs of a kind of insects. They are very beautiful but very bad for cabbages. This afternoon you must find all the eggs on the leaves and kill them. In this way, you will help us have better greener and bigger cabbages.

    Betty didn't think she should do it at once and in the end she forgot all about it. Her mother was ill for a few days and couldn't work in her garden. When she was well, she took Betty to the garden to see the cabbages. To their surprise. the insects had eaten up every leaf. When Betty saw this, she was upset and began to cry. Then her mother said to her, "We should never put off what we have to do today till tomorrow. And you must learn to deal with the things while they are small. or it will turn into a big problem."

    Today is the first day of the week. It is in the afternoon. Mr. Read is driving his car to his sister's school. Now he is very near the school. But he doesn't know the way to it. At this time, he sees a young woman. Mr. Read comes out of his car and goes to her. "Excuse me! Where's the school, please?" he asks. The young woman says, "It's very near here. I want to go with you."

    Now the young woman is sitting in the car. Soon they come to a small house and she says, "Stop, please!" Mr. Read stops the car and says, "But this is not a school." "No," says the young woman, "this is my house. I want to get home early before dinner time. Thanks for driving me home. The school is behind the factory. So go back to the factory and then turn right, you can find the school."

Experiencing China