A man sat at an underground station in Washington, D.C., and started to play the violin. It was a cold day in January. He played six Bach（巴赫）pieces for about 45 minutes. It was rush hour and thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

    Three minutes went by and the first person, a middle-aged man, noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed down and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

    After a minute, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a young woman threw the money in the box and continued to walk. Then another few minutes went by and someone stood against the wall to listen to him, but the young man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

    During the musician's performance, only six people stopped and stayed for a while, twenty gave him money but continued to walk. When he finished playing, no one applauded（鼓掌）. No one knew the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world.

    This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing in the underground station was organized by The Washington Post（《华盛顿邮报》）as part of a social experiment. One of the conclusions from this experiment could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music, how many other things are we missing?

    There is a saying in China that goes, "Women hold up half the sky." Now, let's look at some famous women who have a big influence in China.

    Dick was born in a poor family. His father had a small boat and went fishing in the morning and sold the fish in the market in the afternoon. Then he bought some food for his family. When winter came, they were often hungry. One morning the hungry man fell into the river and wasn't found. Dick's mother left her three-year-old son without saying goodbye. His aunt had to look after him. Twenty years passed, Dick became a tall, strong man. He found a job on a farm. He worked hard and wanted to get more money. He often went to see his aunt with some nice presents. The woman was very happy but one day she died in a traffic accident. The young man was very sad. After he buried her, he decided to buy a beautiful tombstone(墓碑)for her. He went to the town and came into a shop, but all the tombstones were too expensive. He asked, "Do you sell an old tombstone, sir?" "Yes, we do, sir," answered the shopkeeper. "Is it as expensive as the new one?" "No, it's much cheaper," said the man. "But another name was engraved(刻)in it." "It doesn't matter," said Dick. "My aunt couldn't read."

    Long ago, a young man often said that he was very poor and had nothing. One day, an old man walked past. He heard the young man's words and said, "Hello, young man! What are you talking about? You have nothing? That's not true! You have the most expensive things in the world, so you are a rich person." The young man was very surprised and asked, "Why do you say that? You can see I have nothing. What are these expensive things?" Then the old man said, "If you sell your eyes to a rich blind(盲的) man, you'll make a lot of money and can get everything you want. Would you like to sell them?" The young man didn't want to be blind, so he said, "No." The old man asked again, "Then what about selling your hands for some gold(金子)?" The your and shook his head for the second time. At last, the old man said, "Now you understand, you have the most expensive things in the world." So the old man taught both the young man and us a lesson—health is the most important for us.

Sara comes from a big family and they live in a small flat. Sara's dad {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (work)hard, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} he doesn't make enough money to buy a house.

Sara has {#blank#}3{#/blank#} dream. She dreams that her family will have {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (they) own house. It seems difficult {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (make) her dream come true, but Sara's friend Jenny wants to help.

One day, Jenny reads about a program called"Houses for People". She tells Sara about it. Many people get together and help to build a house {#blank#}6{#/blank#} a family in need.They work for free. Local businesses(当地企业) buy things to build the house. Anyone can help. You don't have to be good at {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (build) houses because there is always something to do. Sara's family are {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (interest) in the program and wrote down the family name.

{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (Lucky), they get the result(结果) they want.

After a long winter of waiting, Sara's family are happy to know the work will begin on March 7th. It is a nice Saturday morning, and more than thirty people come to help.Over the next three {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (week), the new house is well under way.

The big day comes on March 30th. A new white house sits where once only a dream stands.