Each of them was taking lessons: Joe with a famous art teacher, and Delia with a great pianist from Germany. Their teachers were the very best, so lessons were expensive, more than they could really afford, but…when you love your art, nothing is too much.

But soon the money began to run out, and they couldn't afford the lessons any more.

Then one day Delia came back home and told Joe that she had met a man whose daughter, Sally, wanted to learn the piano, and he was going to pay her $ 50 an hour.

“Delia,"Joe said, "I'll be much happier if you keep up your lessons," Delia said it didn't matter. “When I've had some money, I'll continue.” But Joe also decided to stop his lessons to draw pictures and sell them.

A few days later, Joe came home and proudly took $ 200 from his pocket. "I met a man from Vermont,”he said, "who bought one of my pictures. And he wants to buy more!”

_________________.They didn't have to worry any more about money.

Then, one day, Joe came home and saw that Delia's hand was wrapped in a bandage(绷带). He asked her what had happened. "Oh", said Delia. "My student, Sally, asked me to make some coffee for her. I dropped the coffee and burned my hand. Sally went straight to the drugstore and got this bandage for me. ”

“Delia, what have you been doing the last two weeks?Joe asked. She tried not to tell him, but the tears came. "Oh Joe, I couldn't get any students, so I worked as a waitress in a restaurant. Today, I burned my hand with hot water. So I can't work any more. But we'll still have money from the man in Vermont, won't we?”

Joe looked at her. "There's no man in Vermont, " he said. “I've been working in a drugstore, and today someone came in to buy bandages for a woman who's burned her hand. So when I saw you, well, I guessed.”

They both laughed.

    The snow lasted until last Friday. I opened the window this morning and saw the sun but I felt much colder.

    “You'd better go to work on foot, dear,” said my husband, “It is dangerous for you to drive.”

    I thought him right and agreed. It would take me about forty minutes to get to my hospital. There was about an hour left, so I started, with a bag of sandwich for breakfast. In the streets there was thick snow and ice and the traffic was less than before and people walked carefully. Suddenly I saw a car going fast. The driver tried to pass the crossing before the lights turned red. Maybe he didn't see two boys in the middle of the street. His car knocked down one boy and stopped just in front of the police box.

    People crowded around the boy at once. I rushed out of the gathering crowd(聚集的人群) and was going to look him over. But a man pushed me aside and said, “Step back, please. I^'ve had a course in first aid.”

    I had to stand and watch his ministrations(救助) for a few minutes. Then I said to him, “When you need a doctor, sir, I'm already here.”

    April 13^th, 1539

    Outside Mexico City

Dear Mariana,

    Today we arrived safe. It was a long and dangerous trip over the ocean. The winter storms were strong. We were always a little sick from high waves.

    The journey from the shore to Mexico City is also long and dangerous. There are robbers in the countryside. We will travel together with the other ship passengers, thinking we will be safer as a group. Tomorrow we will travel into the city to find our uncle.

    Father says it will take a year for this letter to reach you. The trip from New Spain to Spain is very long.

Your loving brother,

Tomas

    April 20^th, 1539

    Mexico City

Dear Mariana,

    Father and I finally arrived at Mexico City. Here, old buildings are being pulled down; new ones are being built. Just around the corner from Uncle's city house, Aztec workers are pulling down a small, beautiful pyramid. Father says it is one of the last Aztec temples.

    In the center of the city, I met an Aztec boy named Carlos. He speaks a little Spanish. Carlos learns Spanish at his new school. He told me that the Spanish set up new schools for the Aztecs. There he got his new name, Carlos. He says he likes his new school but misses his old city. I wonder what this city used to be like before Cortes came.

    Tomorrow we will go to Uncle's farmland. He and father are talking about the Aztec workers that father will oversee.

Your brother,

Tomas

found v. 建立        battle n. 战役        conquer v. 征服

    "Some gifts are tiny. Some gifts are needed. And some gifts... some gifts are priceless, "says 26-year-old Sarah Bricker of Minneapolis, USA. She had suffered from（受…之苦） hearing loss until she received the gift two years ago for Christmas --her first hearing aids（助听器）. They were from her parents. Here's what else she says:

    "I remember the moment they were fit to my ears. And I remember every first that came after--The first time I heard my mother's voice. The first time I heard my father cry as he realized 1 could hear my mother. The first time I listened to Winter Wonderland on the radio and heard every word clearly. The first time I heard my best friend's voice, calling from England to wish me a Merry Christmas.

    "My hearing aids are probably the best Christmas gift my parents have ever given to me. It might sound strange to say that, but until you lose your hearing, you never fully understand how unbelievablly valuable it is. How you miss the moment your partner says 'I love you. How you miss the jokes that everyone laughs at. How you miss- life. But now I don't miss life anymore."

    However, he hearing aids were more than Just about hearing. They gave Sarah self-confidence（自信）,more chances to make new friends, the courage to take on new challenges. "Every day, they return to me a moment, a sound, a voice. They return to me the kaleidoscope（万花筒） of a life I'd once thought forever dark."

    When I was 13 years old, the doctor said that I had a kind of attention disorder. So when everyone else in the class was focusing on tasks, I couldn't.

    In my first class, Mrs Green asked us to read a story and then write on it within 45 minutes. I raised my hand right away and said, "Mrs Green, you see, I have attention problems. I might not be able to do that."

    She looked at me and said, "You are no different from your classmates, young man." I tried, but I didn't finish the reading. So I took it home.

    In my bedroom, it was so quiet and the story suddenly became clear to me. It was about a blind person, Louis Braille. He lived in a time when the blind couldn't get much education. But Louis didn't give up. Instead, he invented a reading system which opened up a new world to the blind. Wasn't I the "blind" in my class, being made to learn like the "sighted (有视力的)" students? My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to dance. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was no different from others. If Louis could find his way out of his problems, why should I ever give up? I didn't expect anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs Green, so when it came back to me the next day with an "A" on it, I couldn't believe my eyes. At the bottom of the paper were these words, "See what you can do when you keep trying."