A man in Pakistan is now working to help children get an education. When he was a child, he did not go to school because he was too poor.

    It is reported that Pakistan has 25 million children who do not go to school. That is the second­highest number in the world. Only Nigeria has more. Many Pakistani children must work to support their families.

    Mohammad Ayub was once one of those children. He is now a firefighter. He also manages a small school. VOA recently visited the school in the capital Islamabad.

    Ayub started with just one student in 1982. He saw a boy cleaning cars for days. He asked him, "Why don't you go to school?" The boy answered that his parents were dead and he had to work to help support his five brothers and three sisters.

    Ayub was also an orphan and he, too, had to work to help support his five brothers and three sisters. He said, "When my father died, everyone who came to the funeral said they were sorry, but no one helped." He sold newspapers and did other work to earn enough money to pay school fees for his brothers and sisters.

    Ayub wanted to help the young boy who washed cars, but he did not have enough money to pay the boy's school fees.

    Today, Ayub teaches many children at his school in a public park. Some of the children attend other schools in the morning, but come to Ayub in the afternoon to get help with their homework.

    Ayub has helped a large number of poor children since he began teaching. Many of them come from very poor areas near the park.

    Ayub said," I used to argue with kids who worked ' Why are you washing someone's dishes or their clothes? Why don't you study? ' "

    One of the children he advised to attend classes was Farhat Abbas. Ayub found him working with his friends about 12 years ago. "He followed us back home. He told our parents he wanted to teach us and asked them to send us to his school, "Abbas said.

    Today, Abbas is taking classes at a college and is helping Ayub.

    Many children are out of school, and those who do attend classes often get a poor education. Information gathered by an organization shows half of all Pakistani children in the 5th grade do not understand basic mathematics and cannot read a story in their language.

    A group in Islamabad reports Pakistan spends less on education than any other country in South Asia.

    Baseball is my favourite sport. It is fun to play, and it is fun to watch.

    I went to my first baseball game with my grandparents when I was 6. It was really wonderful.

    We had a good time. I was happy to be with my grandparents. My grandfather made me love the game.

    My dad knew I loved baseball, so he gave me a baseball on my ninth birthday.

    When I was 12, my friend came to me and asked me to join his team and play baseball. From then on(从那时起), I got to learn more about baseball. I practised a lot and learned how to play better.

    My favourite player is Derrek Lee. Derrek Lee joined the Chicago Cubs in 2004. That year was a good year for him, but 2005 was his best year. One of my favourite things about Derrek Lee is that he is a very nice person. He never shouts at others. He always has a big smile on his face. He seems happy all the time.

    After some time, another official climbed up to the platform and spoke to me. From his signs I understood that they were going to move me. The King of this country（which was called Lilliput）had ordered his people to carry me to the capital city, about a kilometre away. I made signs to ask whether(是否) I could be untied, but the official politely said "No". While I was eating bread, a platform had been prepared to carry me. The people of Lilliput, known as the Lilliputians, are very clever with their hands. For me, five hundred men built a special wooden platform with twenty－two wheels. Nine hundred of the strongest men worked for about three hours to lift me on to the platform, and one thousand five hundred of the King's largest horses（each eleven and a half centimetres high）pulled me to the capital. I did not know about any of this, because they had put a sleeping powder in my wine, and I was in a deep sleep. (An Extract from A voyage to Lilliput )

    One morning, I was driving my father-in-law to the airport when a plane flew silently over the road like a big bird, about to touch down at the airport.

    "It's magic," my father-in-law said. I looked at him, without knowing what was happening.

    He was a doctor who gave speeches at colleges and had visited more than 100 countries. He understood better than I why a plane can fly in the sky. It, really, wasn't magic. But now, I realize he was at least right in some way.

    Though flying might not be magic, it's certainly magical. What it brings to our real lives is something found in our dreams.

    But too often, we, especially I forget. I read a sentence a few months ago. It said, "You know you're growing-up when you no longer want a window seat."

    Too often in recent years, I've asked for a seat near the exit row, forgetting the wonders of traveling fast. But sometimes, when the Wi-Fi's not working or my computer has no power, I remember to look.

    I think of one time when I was leaving on a family vacation. Moments after take-off, I started working. But a passenger behind me wouldn't stop talking. "The clouds!" he kept saying, "Look at the clouds!"

I turned around, and saw two men, one who appeared to be in his seventies and the other much younger. The chat continued for 20 minutes until, not patiently, I raised my eyes from my computer screen and looked out of the window.

    The clouds!

    He was right. We were floating through big soft balls of cotton, each in different shapes. They seemed easy enough to touch. The afternoon sun provided all kinds of colors, all against a blue sky. I put away my computer and appreciated(欣赏)them for the rest of the flight.

    I don't remember the work I felt like I had to complete that afternoon. I've never forgotten those clouds.

    On most weekends, you can find Zoe Stone. 8. in front of a computer. But she isn't playing games or watching videos. She's learning how to write code.

    Code is a set of instructions (指令). It tells a computer what to do. Coders are the people who write the instructions for a computer. Coders make websites or apps. Apps can be used for everything from playing games to checking the weather. Coders solve problems and work together. They know how to think big and small.

    Zoe began to learn coding when she was 4 years old. She uses coding to create art, solve problems and make games. Zoe likes coding because it's creative. "Coding is really fun," she said. "You can show what you think in what you make."

    How does Zoe learn coding? She takes classes at Code. org. The website offers hundreds of free code lessons for kids. In fact, more than 29 million students in 180 countries use it. It hopes to bring coding to even more kids.

    "We believe that every child should have the chance to learn about computers and coding," said Alice Steinglass, the president (负责人) of Code. org. "Computers are part of our world," she said. "It's important for kids to understand how they work."