It was a sunny winter day. I had gone down the tower when a blind man came toward me. He kept close to the wall, touching it lightly with his arm. I stood still and looked at him walking toward the tower.

    "What does a blind man want to climb up the tower for?" I wondered (疑惑). "Not the view(景色) certainly, perhaps he wants to jump. "Thinking of some terrible reasons, I thought I should 1 him.

    He went up slowly and 2 from time to time. I followed him a few steps behind. When he got to the first corner of the bell tower, I came close to him. "Excuse me, "I said as politely as I could, "but I wonder 3 you came up."

    He smiled, "Perhaps climbing up the tower. You have noticed — and yet, not being blind, perhaps you won't — how the sun shines into the tower 4 the windows here and there, so that one can 5the cool steps suddenly become quite warm, even in winter. But behind the wall there is shade(阴影). There is no place so good as this for feeling the difference between light and darkness. Though I'm blind, I also want to feel the 6 brought by the sunlight. In fact, it isn't my first time to be here." He said and seemed as    7 as a child.

    I had never thought that even a blind man could have his way to 8 the beautiful life. But we often paid no attention to its value because we never 9 it.

    We went down the 10 together and I left him. From then on, I began to treasure what life has given me.

    Isaac Newton, the great British scientist, is often so deep in his thoughts that he will forget to eat his dinner.

    One day his friend came to have dinner with him. Dinner was put on the table but Newton didn't come out of his study（书房）. His friend sat down and waited for him. After waiting for quite a long time, he decided that Newton must be so deep in some new theory that he forgot all about the dinner. So he began to eat the chicken without Newton.

    When he finished, he thought he would play a joke on his friend. He put all the chicken bones（骨头）back on the dish and covered them with the dish over. Then he left Newton's house. He was quite certain that his joke would work.

    Several hours later, Newton came out of his study, feeling very hungry. He saw the table was ready for dinner and so he sat down. When he lifted the cover and saw the bones of the chicken, he was greatly surprised. He turned, looked at the clock, and saw that it was long past his usual time for dinner.

    "Well, well," he said to himself, "I thought I ate nothing, but I am wrong." He got up from table and went back to his study and began to work again.

    People say that one person can't really make a difference, but I don't believe that. If all of us just do "one" thing like the following three heroes, we will make a difference.

Super Girl

    When she was 7, Brooklyn Wright wrote The Adventures of the Earth Saver Girl. In the book, a girl learns she has the power to make the Earth free from rubbish. She calls her Super Girl and tries her best to save the Earth. Brooklyn Wright has visited more than100 schools to teach students about pollution. Last year, she received a Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes for her work.

A Voice for Elephants

    Many elephants are being killed for their ivory. After learning the facts, China's Celia Ho, 14, decided to take action. By making posters and writing letters to newspapers, she hopes more people will learn about the problem.

Turning Cooking Oil into Fuel

    Jane Lin didn't start out "to be green" .At first, she was worried about her neighbor who couldn't afford heat in winter. At a science expo, she saw someone turning old cooking oil into fuel. Suddenly, she came up with a plan to collect old cooking oil for the poor family. So far she has collected about 21, 000 gallons of fuel for 210 families. At the same time, she helps reduce the emission（排放） of CO₂  and other greenhouse gases.

    I used to think courtesy (礼貌) was a thing of the past. However, I changed my mind when I met a courteous man.

    Last Saturday, I went to a cafe with my daughters. It was crowded with the usual loud crowd and we had to climb up the stairs to find an empty table. After enjoying coffee and snacks, we were ready to come down the stairs, where the narrow space made climbing down only possible in a single line, with hardly any space for another person to either climb up or come down.

    Just as I was in the middle of my descent (下去), a man got to the main entrance (入口) of the cafe which was right in front of the staircase. I was sure I would be pushed by the man who would want to go up in a hurry. Anyway, I kept coming down as fast as I could. My daughters were already down, looking up at me worriedly, hoping I would get down before the stranger went up the stairs.

    Nearly getting down, I noticed the man still standing near the door. Later, I passed him at the entrance door which he kept holding open. I looked back thinking he was still at the door, deciding whether to go in or find another less crowded place. However, I saw him going up the stairs, two at a time.

    I told my daughters about it and all of us felt bad for we did not even thank the courteous gentleman.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is written by Mark Twain. The story happens in a town of the US in the nineteenth century. It tells about a boy who has many unusual experiences.

Tom, the hero(主人公) of the book, is a lively and clever boy. He doesn't like people telling him what to do, so he always gets into trouble. He and his best friend, Huck Finn, run to an island in Mississippi River. Tom has more trouble because a bad man is looking for him. Later, he runs away from a cave (山洞) with a girl called Becky. He also finds a box of treasure and takes it away. All his family and neighbors think he has died.

The book is full of wonderful dialogues. It is more than a story. It tells how young people grow, how people love each other and how bad people pay for their actions.

Today the book is still read and loved by people in the world, and it is thought to be one of the greatest stories in literature. It is truly a great book!

Two Canadian teenagers, Faiz and Leo, have been taking on a series of wonderful challenges. Their most recent achievement was following the Lake Ontario coastline for 73 kilometers, walking from Toronto to Hamilton, Canada, in about 18 hours.

"We enjoy trying new things that are good for our bodies and minds. We like to overcome challenges like these. And we feel going on a long walk seems to be the purest form of challenge that you can have," Leo said.

With very little preparation, the two 16-year-olds began their journey at 6 am, starting in darkness and finishing before midnight. They took several breaks, stopping at benches with nice views along the way.

On their walk, one of the interesting things they came across was a cargo ship (货船) which was no longer used. "You' d be surprised by the things that you don't see when you' re driving and that you will see when you' re taking your time walking," said Leo.

However, the journey was not only a trial (考验) for bodies but also an important test of minds. There were moments of loneliness for the pair, requiring them to support each other along the way.

Around 70 km into the walk, they ran into a person on a bridge who appeared to be experiencing something painful.

"I wasn't sure what was going to happen me and Leo, we tried to talk him out of it and ended up calling the police, and the situation was eased and everyone was OK," Faiz said.

The walk is now long over but Faiz and Leo are not done challenging themselves, with plans to start a two-day 100 km walk in the near future.