On a rainy day, about 150 volunteers worked for eight hours to clean up Carson Creek that is near a river. About nine tons of trash (垃圾) was taken out from there.

         "We did a good job," said Alan Specter, the organizer of the event. "We've planned to come back here one more time, three years from now. Of course, we hope that there won't be so much trash next time."

         The trash came in all shapes, sizes and colors: bottles, bicycles, batteries, furniture, clothing, plastic bags, dolls and even a golf bag with a full set of golf clubs (高尔夫球杆).  

         The dirty and tiring work was done by two volunteering groups - Save the Bay and Watch the Whales. Most of the volunteers came from a local police station and a fire station. And some of them were old people who had already got retired.

         That day, it rained a little. All of them wore boots and raincoats. The work took place along a two-mile river with over 500 big yellow trash bags everywhere.

         No one found anything that cost much. A five-year-old boy found an earring which he thought might be worth a million dollars. He said he'd sell it. Then he'd donate half of the money to Watch the Whales, and use the other half to buy his favourite ice cream every day.

         Many people laughed at the boy's story. However, it was easily found that the environment there did become better.

    Gladys Holm was a secretary(秘书). She worked in an office all his life. Gladys made about $15,000 a year. She died when she was 86 years old. And she left a big surprise—$18 million! She gave the money to a children's hospital.

    Gladys Holm never got married or had any children. But she always liked children, and she wanted to help them. When her friend's daughter was ill in hospital, Gladys brought her a toy bear. After that, she visited the hospital many times. Every time she visited, she brought toy bears for those children. After that, people started to call Gladys the "Toy bear Lady."

    Gladys always gave toys and presents to her friends and family but no one knew she had a lot of money. She lived in a small house outside Chicago. Everyone was very surprised when they learned she was a millionaire. A family friend said, "She always gave us nice presents and things, but we didn't know she was rich."

    How did Gladys get so much money? She asked her boss how to make more money, and she listened to what he said. She bought the stocks(股票) that he told her to buy, and she got very rich. Before she died, she talked to her friends about "giving something to the children's hospital." No one knew that the "something" was $18 million!

    Tim Berners-Lee is not the most famous inventor in the world．However，his invention has changed our lives．

    He was born in London，England in 1955．When he was a small boy，Tim was interested in playing with electrical things．He studied science at Oxford University．He made his first computer from an old television at the age of 21．

    Tim started working on early computers．At that time，they were much bigger than now．He worked in England then Switzerland．Tim was really interested in two things，computers and how the brain works．How could the brain connect so many facts so quickly？He had to work with people all over the world．They shared information about computers．It was hard to manage all the information．He answered the same questions again and again．took a lot of time．It was even difficult for computers in the same office in Switzerland to share information．Tim also forgot things easily．Could a computer work like a brain？Could it"talk"to other computers？

    There was an Internet already but it was difficult to use．In 1989，Tim Berners﹣Lee invented the World Wide Web（WWW） all by himself．This had a special language that helped computers talk to each other on the Internet．When people wanted to share information with others，they used the World Wide Web．The Internet grew quickly after that．

    Tim Berners﹣Lee doesn't think he did anything special．He says that all of the ideas about the Internet were already there．All he did was to put them together．He says that many other people worked together to make the Internet what it is today．

    Most inventors want to become rich．But Tim gave away the World Wide Web for nothing．He now works in America．He helps people share technology and wants the Internet to be free for everyone to use．Maybe he is the most important but least famous inventor in the world today!