A well-known old man was being interviewed and was asked if it was correct that he had just celebrated his ninety-ninth birthday.

     “That's right.” said the old man. “Ninety-nine years old, and I haven't an enemy in the world. They're all dead.”

  “Well, sir,” said the interviewer, “I hope very much to have the honour of interviewing you on your hundredth birthday.”

     The old man looked at the young man closely, and said, “I can't see why you shouldn't look fit and healthy to me!”

    Einstein was born in 1879 in Germany. As a child he was slow to talk. But when he was 14 years old, he became clever. He taught himself maths from text books. He studied hard because he wanted to be a physicist (物理学家).

    In 1901, Einstein began teaching. In 1902, he went on with his study at the University of Zurich. Several years later, he put forward (提出)his Theory of Relativity(相对论).

    To most people the Theory of Relativity is hard to explain. But once Einstein explained it very well to a group of young students. He said:" When you sit with a good girl for two hours, you think it is only a minute, But when you sit on a hot fire for a minute, you think it's two hours. That's relativity".

    Later Einstein went to America and never left there. His life ended at the age of 76.

    Laurence Kim Peek was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on November 11, 1951. It was clear from an early age that he was not like other children. A medical scan(扫描) showed that the two halves of his brain were not connected in the usual way. As a result, Laurence developed an amazing memory. He started to read when he was two. He used to read books and put them back on the shelf upside down to show that he had finished them. He remembered everything he had read.

    He memorized quite a lot of information subjects such as History, Geography, Sports, Music and Literature. He also had an unbelievable ability with numbers and dates.

    To read more quickly, he read the left page with his left eye and the right page with his right eye. By reading the two pages at the same time, it took him less than an hour to read a whole book. By the age of 30, he had memorized around 12,000 books.

    However, he did not develop so well in other areas. He could not walk until he was four, and he had problems putting on his clothes and shoes His social skills were poor, and he was extremely sensitive(敏感的) about meeting new people. In 1984, Peek and his father met Hollywood film writer Barry Morrow. Morrow was fascinated by Peek and began to write a new play about Peek's experiences. The result was Rain Man in 1988, a film that won an Oscar for Best Picture. This changed Peek's life. He got used to being the centre of attention. He self-confident (自信的). He appeared on TV and travelled around the country with his father to develop awareness(意识) of his condition. Sadly, Peek died of a heart attack in 2009.

    Long ago, there was a queen who lived in a palace. She felt bored and said to her advisor (顾问):

    "All the things around me are too boring. I need a different kind of beauty. Let everyone know that I will hold a competition for the most beautiful thing in the world. And the prize will be this crown(王冠)."

    Several days later, lots of people came to the competition and showed their things. The queen was not satisfied with what she saw. The advisor suggested, "What you are looking for cannot be brought to you. You must look for it by yourself. What about a journey?"

    The queen was interested in the idea, so she started immediately. As she was on top of the hill near her palace, she looked down and suddenly something cried in her heart, "Why have I never found my palace so beautiful?"

    The queen spent one year travelling. She saw beauty on the farm, in the forest and even in the stars twinkling (闪烁)at night on her journey. But what was the most beautiful thing? She thought it over. Suddenly, she under- stood beauty was everywhere. She should learn to enjoy the world. She left the pieces of her crown at different places that she had seen. As time went by, the queen's crown got smaller and smaller until nothing was left.

    She found the most beautiful thing at last. It was the world!