Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin (小木屋) in Hardin County, Kentucky, on February 12th, 1809: When Abraham was young, his family was very poor. His mother, Nancy, died of "milk sickness" when Abraham was nine, and the family moved to Indiana. One year later, his father Thomas Lincoln married Sarah Bush Johnston, and she was good to him. Though Lincoln had little formal (正规的) schooling, he could read and write.

    In 1830, his family moved again, this time to Illinois, and Abraham decided to go his own way. Abraham joined the Illinois militia (民兵组织) during the Black Hawk War. In 1834 he was elected as a Whig and served for four terms(任期). After receiving his law license(执照) in 1836, Lincoln married Mary Todd on November 4th, 1842.

    In 1847, Lincoln was elected to and served one term in the US House of Representatives. In 1856, Lincoln changed his political alliance (联盟) to the Republican Party(共和党), but lost a Senate election to Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas. By 1860, Lincoln was a well-known presidential candidate (总统候选人). He was elected as the sixteenth President of the United States in November of 1860.

    One evening last autumn, while Marcos Ugarte, 15, did his homework and his father, Eduardo, 47, prepared lesson plans, they heard screaming outside. It was from one of their neighbors, the Ma family. Then Marcos' eye was caught by a glow(火光) from there.

    "The house's on fire!" Marcos cried. Wearing only in shorts, the barefoot(光脚的) teen ran out with his dad. When they got there, Grandmother Yim Ma, mother Suzanne Ma, and son Nathan Ma were crying for help. Through the open front door, father Alex Ma was staggering(磕磕绊绊) down the stairs, coughing heavily.

    "Anyone else in it?" Eduardo asked.

    "My son!" Alex pointed to the second floor.

    Eduardo started up the stairs, but smoke and heat forced him to his knees. He crawled (爬) upstairs and down the hall where Alex said he would find Cody, 8, who had locked himself in a bedroom. Eduardo tried hard to open the door. But Cody made no reply, and Eduardo had to make his way back downstairs.  At the same time, Marcos saw Yim and Suzanne pulling a ladder, shouting: "Cody is at the window!"

    Marcos then placed the ladder near the window and climbed up. When Marcos reached the window, he pushed the screen into the room and managed to coax(哄) Cody out. Holding Cody with one arm, Marcos slowly climbed down the ladder. Cody was quickly sent to a nearby hospital, where he's treated for smoke inhalation(吸入).

    "You just don't see a teenager have that kind of braveness," said people around.

    Ron, a teacher at the skydiving school, was surprised when he saw the grey haired man drive up to the airfield. He was more surprised when the man said that his name was Walter and asked if he could take skydiving lessons. Ron asked Walter how old he was and Walter replied that he was 60. Ron explained to Walter that anyone over 50 had to be checked by a doctor before he could learn to jump from a plane.

    "I'm afraid you should have thought about that before coming here." Ron said, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you start learning without a letter from your doctor.

    Walter smiled, "Here's a letter from my doctor. He asked me to take lots of tests and he said that I was fine. "

    So Walter was able to join the skydiving school. He came to all the lessons and worked very hard, although the other students were much younger than him, mostly about 30. Soon it was time for him to make his first jump. Ron asked him if he was feeling OK. Walter replied that he had never felt better. However, he added that there was something he should have told Ron earlier. Ron asked what it was and Walter smiled. Then, just before he jumped, he told Ron that he wasn't 60. Ron asked how old Walter really was and Walter told him he was 75!

    Walter's first jump from a plane was six years ago and yesterday he made his eighteenth jump. "I should have started skydiving a long time ago!" he said.

    Walter has lots of other hobbies. He enjoys riding fast motorbikes and climbing mountains. Last year he was saved by a police helicopter in Wales.

    Walter's daughter Betty worries about him, "I think he should stop all these activities. But my mother says that as long as he's happy, it's OK."

My Mummy and me

More tigers are moving from Russia into northeastern China. This is because the environment is better for them to live in.

As human activities become less and the number of the wild animals is rising, tigers come to China for food.

Also, there is a cross-border corridor (跨境走廊) between China and Russia. It helps the tigers travel around freely. Data (数据) from a research team show that between 2013 and 2016, nearly 80 percent of the tigers moved across the corridor.

Besides, China started a number of projects to protect the tigers. As we all know, tigers need large areas to move around, so it's important to build national parks. In 2021, the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park was set up in Heilongjiang Province and Jilin Province. It covers around 14,100 square kilometers. The national park creates a shared home for the animals. As a result, the number of the tigers has grown.

One more reason is that experts from China and Russia work together to research on tiger protection. Many volunteers go to protect tigers around the forests every year. It's believed that there will be more tigers in the near future.