Zheng He was an amazing man. He was born in 1371. Eleven years later, he was caught by the army of a rich young man called Zhu Di and made to work for him. Over time the rich man saw that Zheng He was very clever and strong and they became close friends. In 1403 Zhu Di was made the King of China and he asked Zheng He to join his government.

The King wanted to learn more about the world and show other countries his power. He ordered many new ships to be built and made Zheng He their leader. between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led seven sea trips to different parts of the world. He certainly travelled to India, Africa and the Middle East. A few people think his ships have even reached South America and Australia.

Each trip lasted between two and four years and it is believed he sailed more than 50,000 kms during the years of his travels.Zheng He led a fleet with 28,000 men and over 300 ships, such as boats for food, water and even soldiers' horses.

On these trips he brought with him many Chinese goods like silk and medicine to give to foreign kings or to sell for local goods. He returned from each trip with boats filled with expensive things such as gold and treasures, foreign guests and strange animals like a giraffe.

It is a pity that we may never learn everything about Zheng He' s travels. The Columbus of the east, Zheng He, died in 1433. After that, the new king, had these trips stopped and he burned almost all the books about Zheng He's travels, because he believed the trips were unlucky and too expensive. It is only in the last 50 years that historians have begun to carefully study the adventures of great Zheng He.

    More than anything else in the world, Lion liked being King of the jungle. He walked around, showing off his power and pride.

Each day Lion took a long lazy sleep under the shade of his favorite tree. He always dreamed of weaker animals bowing(鞠躬) before him.

    One day Mouse ran through the jungle and tripped over（被……绊倒） Lion's huge paws. Lion woke up with a start. ＂How dare you wake me up!＂ he shouted angrily. Lion grabbed(抓住) Mouse with one paw. ＂On the second thought, I'm in the mood for the snack, and you'll make a delicious meal.＂ he said.

    Mouse cried out, ＂King Lion, please spare（饶恕）me! If you let me live, I'll always remember your kindness. And, some day, I might be able to help you.＂

＂How could such a powerless little mouse ever help me?＂ That thought made Lion laugh so much that he decided to let Mouse go. A week later, Lion was walking through the jungle on the way to his favorite tree when he stepped onto a hunter's net. The net scooped him up. No matter how he twisted(扭动) and turned, he couldn't escape.

    When Mouse heard Lion's frightened shouts, he raced to help. Mouse quickly chewed（咬）through the ropes to make a hole in the net. Soon, Lion moved out and was free. Lion looked down at the little mouse. ＂Thank you for saving my life,＂ said Lion, smiling his widest smile. ＂I was mistaken. You are not a powerless little mouse. You are a great friend!＂

    A little boy was playing in his sandbox on a Saturday morning．While he was building roads and houses in the soft sand, he discovered a large stone in the middle of the sandbox．

    The little boy pushed and pulled, but every time he thought he had made some progress, the stone tipped (倾斜) and then fell back into the sandbox．The little boy tried his best, but his only reward was to have the stone roll back．

    Finally the boy cried．All that time the boy's father watched him from his living room window．At the moment tears fell, his father came to the boy and the sandbox．Gently but surely he said, "Son, why didn't you use all the strength that you had?" The boy said sadly, "But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had! No, son," corrected the father．"You didn't ask me．"With that, the father reached down, picked up the stone and removed it from the sandbox．

    Do you have "stones" in your life that need to be removed? Are you discovering that you are too weak to lift them? There is ONE who is always ready to give us the strength we need．Isn't it funny how we try so hard to do things on our own?

    Mr. Green lives in a village. He has a few farms and is the richest there. And he has pigs, chickens, cows and sheep. He works in the fields with some workers, and his wife had to do all the housework at home. So she is very busy and asks her husband to employ( 雇) a girl to help her, but he doesn't agree.

    "There are so many chickens, dear," said the woman one day. "I can't look after them at all."

    "That's easy," said Mr. green." There's Mr. Black's farm outside our enclosing walls (围墙).We'd better make a few holes in the walls and the chickens will go to his farm through them and eat his vegetables."

    And soon Mr. Black found it. He told Mr. Green and his wife about it. They promised they would stop their chickens doing it but they didn't keep their promise at all. Mr. Black thought for a while and found a way. He put nearly 20 eggs near the holes one afternoon. And that evening, when Mrs. Black was counting her chickens, she called out on her farm, "Oh, I'm lucky today! I've found twenty eggs on my farms."

    Of course, Mrs. Green saw it herself. And the next morning Mr. Black found all the holes had been stopped up(堵死).

    A blind high school student in Shanghai became famous after getting 623 points at this year's Gaokao. The student, Wang Yun, got 127 points for Chinese, 145 for math and 144 for English. His grade was only 3 points lower than the first one in his city. And the only difference between Wang' s test and other common students' was that his was in Braille (盲文).

    After knowing the result, Wang was just as calm as before. He wasn't so excited like other common students. After Gaokao, Wang still went on learning English and history by himself. And he also went on to play the piano that he stopped for some time because of Gaokao.

    Wang became blind at an early age. But it did not stop him from living a wonderful life.

    Wang's parents, both teachers at Donghua University, sent him to a school for blind children. There he did excellent work in his study as well as sports. What was more, he was very popular in class. Because of his good grades, many other students liked to ask him questions and looked on him as their little teacher.