One day, a little boy comes into a shop and says to the shop worker, “I want to buy twelve exercise books of 6 cents each and nine pencils of 10 cents each. How much is that altogether(总共)?”

    The shop worker writes these numbers down on a piece of paper and thinks for a minute. Then she says, “1 dollars 62 cents.” “If I give you ten dollars, how much money will I get back?” “You will get 8 dollars 38 cents for change. Here you are. These are the things you want.”

    “No, thank you. I don't want to buy anything.” The boy looks at the piece of paper and says politely, “This is my math homework. Thank you. Can I take it away?”

A

    Several months after I was badly hurt in a car accident, my father sent me to a blind school.

    That morning was the new beginning. I went to this school and I heard lots of children. My new teacher took me to the class where we were taught to write and type in Braille(盲文 ). I found it quite difficult.

    "Hi, sweetheart, how is school going?" asked my father.

    "Daddy, I can't do this. I try and try but I just don't get it. I don't know if I am ever going to learn to read Braille. It's too difficult," I cried.

    Daddy just held me in his arm and said, "Do you remember that we went to the temple which is on the top of a mountain? When we were climbing the mountain, my legs started aching. I sat down and said, 'I can't see the temple. You can't see it because it is covered with fog. Although you can't see it, I know it is here. I will make sure you will climb up to it.'"

    "That day you showed me that just you can't see something does not mean it is not there. So although climbing the mountain was difficult, I knew I would get to the top."

    I was clear what my dad wanted me to understand.

    I went back to school and started with new energy. Very soon I could read.

One of my classmates said, "You are lucky, you know, you have at least seen the world. I have just heard it. I have been told there are many colors in this world but I don't understand what color means."

    After listening to her for the first time in two years, I felt lucky. And on that day I learnt that although the light in my eyes is gone. I must see the world with the light in my heart.

    Mr Black was a businessman （商人） and he was very rich （有钱的）.One day he went on a trip to the countryside with his 5-year-old son Henry. He wanted to show his son how poor people lived, so they spent a day and a night on the farm of a very poor family.

    When they got back from their trip, Mr Black asked Henry, “My dear son, how was your trip?”“Very good, dad!”“Did you see how poor people lived?”the father asked. “Yes!” “And what did you learn?”Henry answered, “We have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that is in the middle of the garden and they have a river that has no end. We have expensive lamps (灯) in the garden and they have stars.”

    When little Henry finished, Mr Black was speechless(无话可说的).

    The famous scientist and thinker, Charles Darwin, was born on February 12, 1809. His family lived not far from the River Severn, England. As a boy, Charles liked to go for walks in the fields and forests. He enjoyed watching nature, and comparing what he saw with everything he had read in science books. He also liked collecting very much. He collected many things, birds, eggs, stones and leaves.

    At sixteen Darwin was sent to Edinburgh University to become a doctor. But he was interested in the history of nature.

    Then he was sent to study in Cambridge University. There he studied until 1831.

    Some time later he heard that the ship Beagle was going on a trip to South America and wanted a scientist. His teacher advised him to go. So when the Beagle left England in December, 1831, Darwin was on it. The trip lasted almost five years. Darwin saw many new plants and animals. He collected all kinds of plants.

    In 1842 Darwin went to live in Kent, and there he continued his studies of change in nature. Darwin understood that plants and animals are not always the same, and that they really change. By 1859 Darwin had finished his famous book The Origin of Species.

    In 1871 Darwin wrote another important book, the Theory of Evolution.

    Darwin continued his studies in science until he died in 1882.