Have you heard about "Survival(生存) Holidays"? "Survival Holidays" is for children to go into the lonely place for exciting activities. Now about 1,100 companies are allowed to take children into the great outdoors without their parents.

    The reason why people like "Survival Holidays" is that they think being close to nature is good for children. Many children in big cities spend all time watching TV and playing computer games. "Survival Holidays" gives them an important change.

    Is "Survival Holidays" a wonderful idea? Maybe it is. Children need more free time to play. They need to be left on their own, without adults disturbing(打扰) them. Parents care too much about their children. They like to see the children being busy with activities that are controlled by adults, but children don't know what to do when they are in danger. Even something like crossing a small river seems to be a hard challenge. Children are not comfortable with danger. Even small danger like getting their feet wet or falling down seems very terrible to them.

    Many people think the survival activities are good for children. Even years later, they will still remember what they have learned. Some have learned to stay calm in different times. Some have learned how to keep safe. Others have learned how to work in a team. All these skills will help them a lot in their lives.

    Michael Jackson was one of the world's best singers. He was born in the middle west of the city of Gary， Indiana， in 1958. He began singing with his four brothers. They called the group， “The Jackson Five”. The group became very popular after appearing on a television program. In 1970 the group made their  first record with the name of I Want You Back. It was very popular. One of their hit records was Never Say Goodbye.

    Michael was good at dancing as well as singing， for example， his dance moves and moon walking. He was asked to act in a film in 1978 for the first time， and in the same year he made a record on his own， which was sold eight million copies all over the world.

    Michael nearly didn't go out because he was too famous. Once his fans went off in a faint(晕倒）when they saw him at the concert. No one can do it by now. He lived in a large house and kept lots of animals. He never ate meat. He often raised money for charity. This made him win the Guinness world Records（吉尼斯世界纪录）in 2006. He died on June 25th， 2009， but he would live in our hearts forever.

    Rachel Carson(1907-1964) was a pioneer of the world's environmental movement through her writing about the protection of the natural world. Her 1962 book Silent Spring made her well known by many people. It describes the harmful changes in the environment of using toxic chemicals (有毒化学物质) on farmland.

    Carson first worked as a biologist in the US Bureau of Fisheries. In 1951, her first book The Sea Around Us came out. It became a bestseller. It made her rich enough to leave her job and spend all her life in writing. She was a talented writer. Her next two books were also about the oceans and both on the top of the book sales lists.

    Carson's book Silent Spring completely changed the way Americans thought about nature. It painted a bleak(荒凉的) future for the whole natural world. It led to a nationwide ban(禁止) on the use of a deadly chemical called DDT, and other toxic pesticides(农药) that farmers used for their crops. Many people say the book led to the creation of America's Environmental Protection Agency.

    Since her death, Carson's name has continued to be connected with protecting the environment. There is now a yearly Rachel Carson Book Prize. Norway gives the Rachel Carson Prize to women who have done a lot on environmental protection. In 1980, 16 years after her death, she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in America.

    "Let's go wrestling, Dad!"《摔跤吧，爸爸!》) is one of the Top 10 movies recently. It tells a true story about an Indian man and his two daughters. His name's Mahavir. In real life, he is called "the father of India women wrestling" because thousands of girls across India have been supported to take up wrestling with his efforts.

    A very famous Indian actor, Aamir Khan, played the role of Mahavir in the movie. It was an unusual experience for him to play this role. Aamir Khan was very serious about his character and he tried to make this character close to the true story. In order to act well, he needed to put on weight to be very fat and then do sports to be very strong in a short time.

    Aamir Khan started to eat a lot every day before making the movie. He ate at least 5 meals a day including much junk food. He became too fat to run quickly.

    It is simple to be fat but difficult to be strong. Aamir Khan invited many coaches to train him to lose weight and took him a few months to be strong. He must eat less and drink more. Strength training is also important. This kind of physical training is very boring. He had to lift different weights and do it over and over again. Aamir Khan set a goal to himself day by day and the minute he made it, he fell down on the ground and could hardly stand up. In the end, he became the exact person the movie needs.

    The role he played was very moving and he succeeded at last. As he says, the most important thing in life is not whether you can reach your goal but whether you have made the greatest efforts.

    Many years ago, there lived an old man with his three sons, Dharma, Harrison and Keith, in a village. The man worked hard when he was young, so he had the largest farmyard and the most beautiful house in the village. However, his sons were all born to be lazy, which made him disappointed. He was worried that his sons would use up his money and starve to death.

    One day, the old man came up with a plan. He called his sons and said to them, "Look, my dear sons. There is lots of hidden gold in the land at the farmyard. If you work together, you may find it."

    In a wish to find out the gold, his sons worked hard from the morning to the evening digging and digging all through the land. Three days had passed, but they didn't find what they were looking for. They got frustrated and angry. They decided to give up and returned to ask their father.

    "There is no gold in the land. We are cheated."

    "Since the land has been dug soft, why don't you plant some crops there?" was the reply of the father to the sons.

    Off went the sons. Soon the whole once useless land was rich crops.

    "This is the real gold, my sons," said the proud father.