“Where there is a will, there is a way.” Perhaps not many students can understand this better than 22-year-old Michael Ha. Because of his story of success, he has become an example to many young people.

Michael Ha was born in a very poor family. His parents worked in Vietnam before they moved to Britain in 1980. They couldn't find work in Britain because they spoke little English. The whole family had to live on benefits (救济金) and they lived in a small house in Hackney, a poor area in East London. Growing up was not easy for Michael, but he never gave up.

     At the age of 10, he set his heart on going to Cambridge University. It was not easy, either. Michael studied at a school, which used to be called “the worst school in Britain”. However, young Michael made up his mind to try his best, no matter what kind of school he was studying at. The smart boy studied very hard and did well in every subject at school. Once he made a bet (打赌) with his friend to learn further math. As a result, after spending just four months teaching himself from a textbook, he got an A in AS-level further math.

Now Michael is the star medical student at St. John's College, Cambridge and has just won an award (奖) for his excellent grades. He hopes he will be an inspiration for other young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

A

    This is a photo of my classmates. This is Tom. He can play the piano. He wants to join the music club. He thinks music is interesting. Who is the beautiful girl? Oh, she is Lisa. She can speak English very well. And her favorite subject is English. She wants to join the English club. Bob is a cute boy. He likes chess. He wants to join the chess club. I am good at swimming. I think it can make me relaxed. So I want to join the swimming club.

    Yuri Gagarin was a famous Soviet astronaut. He was born in a town in the west of Moscow on 9 March, 1934. He showed great interest in flight and universe when he was a school boy. His Maths teacher was a pilot during the Second World War. Yruri Gagarin learnt a lot from him.

    Later, Yuri Gagarin went to a technical school and learnt to fly a small plane. In 1955, after graduating from the technical school, he entered a flight training school.

    In 1960, Gagarin was selected as one of the 20 astronauts for the space programme of his country. Along with the others, he had a lot of tests of his physical and mental abilities. He was the best.

    On 12 April, 1961, he made history. He orbited(绕……轨道而行) the Earth for 108 minutes. After returning safely, Gagarin became a hero in his country, and people in other countries were also very interested in his flight.

    Gagarin never went into space again, but he trained other astronauts, including the first woman in space.

    On 27 March, 1968, the first spaceman died in a plane crash because of bad weather.

    In Los Angeles, a waiter served a group of teens. The waiter remembered his experience as a young high school student. So he made sure the teens had a pleasant experience at the restaurant. The waiter made sure of it.

    After serving all the teens doing a great job, he was left a tip, only $3.28. That was hardly enough to buy a drink at Starbucks.

    The waiter went home. And he felt hatred for the students who did not know the value of hard work. They looked down on people like him. Or so he thought.

    After several days, the waiter forgot about it. His life went on as usual. But ten days later, he received a letter from the teens.

    "About a week and a half ago, on October 7, my three friends and I came to eat at this restaurant as our own homecoming celebration. It was an exciting experience for us to be here alone, and it was all new to us. And you were the best waiter we could ask for. You were kind, helpful, and didn't treat us like babies! So I want to say thank you for making our 'grown-up' experience so amazing and fun.

    "I would also like to say sorry on behalf of my group. Since we were new to all of this, our 13-year-old minds didn't exactly know how to deal with the bill. The bill was reasonable, but we had completely forgotten (and didn't know, to be honest) what a tip even was, let alone how much to give. So we emptied our pockets, and all our money added up to $3.28.

    "Having no idea of how small this really was, we left. Later, we realized our mistake and felt terrible. We knew we had to make it right.

    "So together with this letter, you will find the correct 18% tip + extra for simply being amazing. Thank you for your help and patience and also thank you for making our night fun. Thank you!"

    It seems very natural that if you have two dollars and add two dollars to them, you have four dollars. But do you know it too men millions of years to be able to think so? In fact, one of the most difficult things to teach children is the idea of numbers.

    In ancient times, when a man wanted to tell how many animals he owned. he had no system(系统) of numbers to use. He put a stone into a bag for each animal. The more animals, the more stones he had. It may explain why the word "calculate" comes from the Latin word "calculus", "calculus" means "stone."

    Then, man used lines to count. People would just draw a line for each thing they wanted to count, but they had no word to tell the number.

    Later on, people used fingers. Again we have word that goes back to this. The word "digit" comes from the Latin word "digitus". It means "finger"! And the fact that we have 10 fingers led to the use of 10 in the system of numbers.

    The number system we use today was invented by the Hindus in India thousands of years ago and was brought to Europe during 8^th to 11^th by Arab traders(商人). In this system, people count things with ten numbers. 1. 2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.and 0. It is decimal system(十进制), that is, it is built on the base of 10.

    A little boy almost thought of himself as the unluckiest child in the world because he was born with a lame (瘸的) leg. He seldom played with his classmates and always lowered his head without a word.

    One spring, the boy's father gave each child a small tree to plant." Whoever grows the best tree will get a favorite gift," he said to them. Seeing his brothers and sisters watering the trees happily in the garden, he had a terrible idea: he hoped the tree he planted would die soon. So he never cared about it.

    A few days later, he was surprised to find it not only didn't die, but also grew some fresh leaves, and it looked greener and healthier than the others. He got a favorite gift and was told by his father: from the tree he planted, he would become a great botanist (植物学家). One night, looking at the bright moonlight outside the window, he suddenly remembered what his teacher once said: most plants grew at night. Why not go to see the lovely tree? When he came to the garden, he found his father was watering his tree carefully. At that time, he understood: his father had secretly taken good care of his shall tree! He returned to his room with tears (泪水) running out.

    Many years passed. The little boy didn't become a botanist, but he was known as a great president of the United States. His name was Franklin Roosevelt.