I'm Philip．Whenever I think about my past life,one unusual experience comes into my mind．It happened during my summer holidays last year．

    Last May,my father began to work in a new factory and we moved to a house near it．There were hundreds of fish and snakes in a river not far from the factory．Among them，the cobra(眼镜蛇)was the most dangerous one．My brother and I played a lot in the river during our summer holidays．In the afternoons,we liked to go out to catch fish from the river．Sometimes we also caught some water snakes，but they were not harmful．

    One afternoon,as I put my hand into the river,I touched something cool．Thinking it was a fish．I gripped(紧抓)it at once and tried to bring it out．But to my surprise, it was a cobra!I relaxed my grip at once and ran away．My brother,a few metres away,was too surprised to speak when he saw the cobra moving towards him with its mouth open．He started to run．I stopped to pick up a rock and threw it at the cobra．Surprisingly,the cobra now turned towards me and I had to run again．But I was very tired at that time，and couldn't run quickly．Luckily, my brother soon found a big rock．He threw it at the cobra and killed(杀死)it．

    After that,my mother didn't allow us to play in the river any more．We listened to her．After all,it was something we'd never want to experience again．

    When most 8-year-old children are in school or playing, little Anna Wang from China is looking after her grandmother and great-grandmother.

    The family lives in a poor house in the remote mountains(偏远山区) of Huling, Rui'an. Her mother and father leave her when she is only 3 months old. She has a grandmother and a 92-year-old great-grandmother. Her grandmother is ill(生病的), so she can't look after herself. Anna cooks for them, and helps them with housework every day. Every morning, she gets up early and cooks breakfast for her family. She often cleans the house, and helps them to the toilet(厕所). She has no other family to help her.

    A neighbor(邻居), Lin Feng, with a farm usually gives Anna vegetables, and he helps her carry them to her home. Sometimes he even buys clothes for her and her family. Also Lin Feng teaches her to read and write.

    Little Anna says she does the housework happily because she wants to. She always says "I should be ready to help my family and other people because we should love everyone all over the world."

Lei Jun was born on December 16^th, 1969 in Xiantao, Hubei. His parents are both villagers. Lei Jun got a very ordinary(普通的)start in his life and no one would think he would write his life into a great story of success(成功).

He was the best science student in Xiantao City. When he was18, he went into the computer science department in Wuhan University. Only after two years, he finished his study with good grades.

In 1992, Lei Jun joined Kingsoft and worked there for 16 years. Later, Lei Jun felt that he didn't do what he would like to do and made up his mind(下决心)to set up a great company. So in April, 2010, Xiaomi came out. However, Xiaomi is going on a very difficult road. Lei Jun went through so many different worlds and climbed up so many high mountains. Xiaomi SU7 was another high mountain he climbed up to.

The hard-working Lei Jun is the idol(偶像)of many people because he lets us see that study can really make our life different.From an ordinary family,he does something good and practical(实际的)for ordinary people. Lei Jun always remembers his words: "Science and technology should not be something high up in the air.They must serve(服务)everyone." We are looking forward to seeing him climbing over another higher mountain.

Taking Root.

How many kinds of plants are there in the world? Lucy Braun wondered that as a child. She showed great interest in plants at a young age. She often had energetic walks with her family through the nearby woods. Some plants and wildflowers seemed to shout at her with their wildcolours. Others hid behind rocks.

Lucy looked at the shapes of leaves as she walked in the woods. She kept a record of what she saw. She also learnt to draw what she saw. Then she could compare all kinds of plants. Later, Lucy grew more and more interested in botany, the study of plants.

Branching Out

At university, Lucy took classes in geology, or the study of rocks and minerals. Her work with geologists changed how she looked at the natural world. She continued her studies in botany as well. Lucy also took classes in ecology (生态学). Lucy believed that plant life in some areas was able to move to other places over time.

In Full Bloom

In 1917, Lucy began to teach botany at a university. She lived in a house near the woods. Lucy collected plants from all around the country. She took many photos of them, too. Colour photography was still new then. Because of that, people enjoyed her lessons and photos a lot.

The    ▲     of Labour (劳动)

Later in her life, Lucy wrote many field guides. In 1950, she published her most important guide. It describes the plants in the forests across the country. Ecologists still use it to study changes in the forests over time.

Today, Lucy has a few plants named after her. One of them is Lucy Braun's snakeroot, which is now in danger. Lucy's work in the protection of nature may help prevent its disappearance.

Lucy Braun lived to be 81. In her years as a botanist, Lucy collected nearly 12,000 plants!

Do you know what life is like as an unwanted child? Most children are {#blank#}1{#/blank#} ( 满足的) with their lives. But the childhood was quite different for Adeline Yen Mah, a Chinese-American writer and doctor. Adeline's book, Chinese Cinderella, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} ( 描述) the story of her family. She was born in a {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (普通的) family. After giving birth to her, her mother dies by {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (意外事件). So her family thinks that Adeline is bad luck. Soon, her father gets married again. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (然而), life does not get easier. Her stepmother takes care of her {#blank#}6{#/blank#} ( 粗心地). She often forgets her at school at night. But Adeline keeps writing and later joins in a writing competition. Finally，she {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (打败) the others and wins the match. This changes her life. She gets a chance to go to {#blank#}8{#/blank#} ( 大学) and become a doctor. Now she is {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (已经) a famous and successful doctor. Adeline had an unhappy childhood. But life is a long {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (旅程). You will win as long as you try your best. Her strong spirit teaches me a lot. Do what you want to do and never give up. 

The human brain is very small and light (only two percent of our total body weight), but it needs about 20% of the oxygen(氧气) that our body takes in. We can't think well if our brain isn't getting enough oxygen, so always make sure there is enough oxygen in the air when you need to learn or remember something!

No one can remember everything, but everyone can learn how to improve their memory. Here are some tips - none of them can make your memory 100% perfect, but all of them are useful:

●When you want to remember something, tell a friend about it. This way the new information becomes more memorable(可记住的). Later on, think about the conversation with your friend. It will remind you of the information you wanted to remember.

●Don't over-train your brain. When you' ve remembered a list of new vocabulary, stop studying . It's better to study a lot of material for a small amount of time than a small amount of material for a lot of time!

●Our memory works well when we are asleep. If you want to remember something, go to bed and go to sleep at once after learning it.

●If you have to remember something big, break it down into smaller pieces. It's easier to remember 198756430387 if you break it into four smaller bits:198-756-430-387.

●If you want to remember a piece of information, and you can't, don't get angry. Relax and tell yourself, "If it's important, I will remember it later."

●    ▲     Experts say that our brain works a lot in pictures. So sometimes, if we want to remember new information, it helps to make a picture story.

Let yourself be surprised by your memory!