Wang Shu, a Chinese architect(建筑师), has been working hard at designing buildings with old materials. His buildings are like a history book. Visitors will feel like they are in old times. He was given the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize(普利兹克建筑奖). The award is regarded as the Nobel Prize in architecture. It is given to a living architect, who has made great achievement in this field. Mr. Wang is the first Chinese citizen to win the prize and the fourth-youngest.

    The prize was founded in 1979 by Jay A. Pritzker and his wife, Cindy. It includes a $100, 000 check and a medal. The prize was given to Mr. Wang at a ceremony in Beijing on May 25.

    Mr. Wang's major projects, all in China, include two in Ningbo, a city near the sea. One is the Ningbo Modern Art Museum. It was built up in 2005. The other one is the Ningbo Historic Museum, and it was finished in 2008.

The museums reused materials from the destroyed buildings. They are wonderful to be in photos. You will feel even more exciting if you travel in them. The Ningbo Historic Museum is a city symbol and is like a history book which tells you what life was in the past.   

  “Everywhere you can see, they don't care about the materials, ”  Mr. Wang said in an interview. “They just want new buildings. I think the material is not just about materials. They have people's experience, memory—many things inside. ”

A

    Nick, 13, is tall and strong. He is good at running. Two weeks ago a new student came. His name is David. He is thin and short. He plays soccer well, and he can run very fast. Larry told Nick about it. Of course, Nick did not believe it.

    “Why not have a race with him?” said Larry.

    “Good idea!” said Nick. “I'll have a race with him after school.”

    After school, Nick went to the playground. He did some warm-up exercises for half an hour, and got ready for the race. He was sure that he could win it. Larry had to take part in a club activity that afternoon, so he could not watch the race between Nick and David.

    That evening Larry went to see Nick. They began to talk about the afternoon race. Nick's grandmother heard them in the next room. She came in and asked, “Which place?”

    “The second place,” answered Nick.

    His grandmother was very happy to hear that, and asked, “Which place did David win, then?”

    “The last but one.”

    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?

    Old George bought the black gloves for just ＄35 ten years ago. They were made of leather skin, soft and warm and very strong. Until then, he had worn cheaper manmade material. Those gloves never lasted longer than three years. He first decided to buy the expensive gloves, because they would make him feel nice in front of others.

    George never let a drop of water or rain touch his expensive gloves, so they looked new. Losing this favorite thing was almost like losing a child to him. Bad luck! Geogorge lost his expensive gloves on New Year's Day.

    Back home, George was at a loss. In deep winter, he could not do without a pair of gloves. If he bought cheap ones again, he would have to replace(更换) them vey soon. If he bought a new leather pair, it would cost ＄50 now. He was upset that people no longer returned things they found on the road.

    After the holiday, poor George decided to buy another leather pair. Before boarding the subway, he went into Value Mart again to see if his gloves had been returned to the Lost and Found Office(失物招领处).

    "What color are they?" the woman in the office asked again.

    "Black," he gave the same answer. She looked onto her drawer and drew out a pair of men's leather gloves. "Are they?"