C

    Many years ago, a French naturalist, Comte de Buffon, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics（批评家）did not like them.

    Thomas Jefferson did not like what Comte de Buffon had said about the natural wonders（奇观）of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that Comte de Buffon had spoken of natural wonders in America as if（好像）they were unimportant.

    This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He was also a naturalist, as well as a farmer, an inventor, a historian, a writer and a politician（政治家）. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.

    In 1788, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Comte de Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word—belittle. He said, “Comte de Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic（大西洋）.”

    Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in the English language dictionary in 1806, “Belittle—to make small, unimportant.”

    Americans had already accepted Jefferson's word and started to use it. In 1797, the Independent Chronicle（独立纪事报）used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. “It is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they please.”

    In 1872, a famous American word expert decided that the time had come to kill this word. He said, “Belittle shouldn't become English. And more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it.”

    This expert failed to kill the word. Today, belittle is used where the English language is spoken.

    Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Many heroes are not even human, such as dogs, horses and cats. They are so brave and helpful that human beings are proud of them, too. Lucca, a 12-year-old dog, is a great animal hero. She is a retired US Marine Corps dog. On April 5, 2016 she received the Dickin Medal from PDSA in London, England. And PDSA will provide free medical care for the sick and wounded animals in need. The Dickin Medal was founded in 1943 by Maria Dickin.

    The Medal is the highest prize for animals working in wars in the world.

    Lucca is the first U.S. Marine Corps dog to receive the medal. As a search dog, Lucca's work was dangerous. She was trained to find hidden weapons and explosive devices. According to the US Marine Corps, Lucca protected the lives of thousands of soldiers, and no soldiers were killed while she was going around. She completed over 400 dangerous pieces of work during six years in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2012, she lost her front left leg in an explosion while working in Afghanistan.

    Lucca is the 66th animal to receive the Dickin Medal. 30 dogs (including Lucca) have got the Medal as well as 32 World War II messenger pigeons, three horses and one cat.

    Jack thought himself a basketball fan. He watched quite a lot of American NBA basketball games. Not only did he watch them, he spent much of his free time playing on the court too. Then came the final year of his middle school. All of his regular teammates stopped showing up on the court because they were simply too busy preparing for the high school entrance exam to play. He was, of course, under much stress himself, like everyone else. A good exam result meant a good high school; a mediocre(平庸的) score meant a mediocre school. Much was at stake. However, he loved basketball so much that he still found time to play, this time with a group of guys who were said to have skipped classes(逃课) before.

    Some of his teachers started worrying about him. They asked his mother to go to school to let her know that Jack was hanging out with problem kids. When his mother returned home that day, she wanted to talk to Jack. Knowing the purpose of her visit to the school, Jack thought his mother would punish him for befriending those bad guys. To his surprise, his mother was not angry with him at all. She wanted to hear her son's side of the story. So Jack told his mother about what he knew of Simon and Peter. Simon's parents were badly ill; Peter's father had lost his job. They both seemed to Jack to be normal kids. Jack's mother thought for a moment, then went on to say that she was OK with her son playing with them and that she and her son should think of ways to help these kids. Soon Jack's mum introduced some part-time jobs to Simon and Peter, which they accepted. She believed in her son and cared about those who were less lucky.

    Jack's basketball friends and he have left for different places, but they still keep in touch. He knows Peter is now a manager of a local bank.  Simon is currently a freshman at a university. Sadly, it is impossible to get together to play basketball again, but whenever they get on the phone, they talk about it all the time.