Hello, I am a box. I am big and I am green. I have many things. Look! This is a pencil box. It's white. It's Jack's. He likes white very much. What are in the pencil box? Three pens are in it. What is that? It's an orange. It's Linda's. Oranges are her favorite fruit. Some baseballs are in me, too. They are John's and Mary's. They lost them on the playground. Whose keys are these? They are Anna's. She lost them in the library. A boy found them. You can see an English book in me, too. Whose book is it? I don't know. Who am I? I am the Lost and Found box.

    Roald Dahl was one of the most successful writers of children's books. He sold millions of books all over the world. Many of his books have been made into films and videos. He is so famous that there is even a Roald Dahl Museum you can visit.

    Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales, Britain. His father was rich but he died when Roald was very young. Roald and his mother lived a hard life. He had to leave school and went to Africa where he worked for an oil company.

    In 1939 Roald became a pilot, but he had a bad accident. It made him limp(瘸的) for the rest of his life. After this, Roald went to America where he wrote a story about his experience as a pilot. It was so good that it was put in a magazine.

    Roald married an American film star. They bought a house in England and had five children. From 1960 to 1965, ____： Theo, one of his children, was hit by a taxi and was seriously hurt. Olivia, one of Roald's daughters, died of a strange illness. Soon after this, his wife also had a serious illness. It took her years to get completely better.

    Gradually Roald became more and more successful. He always did his writing in an old shed(棚) at the back of his house. He always sat in the same old armchair with a wooden board on his lap.

    “One of the nice things about being a writer,” he once said, “is that all you need is what you've got in your head and a pencil and a bit of paper.”

    In 1983 Roald won a big prize for his book The BFG. During his life, Roald wrote many famous books, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox.

    After he died in 1990, Roald left money to help people with serious illnesses and those with problems with reading and writing.

    Norman Bethune was a famous Canadian doctor. In 1938, he came to China. Here is a story about him in China. It was October 20, 1939. Dr Bethune was busy working in a hospital. A man came and told Dr Bethune that he needed a lot of doctors. Immediately, Dr Bethune started out with some doctors. Dr Bethune took the wounded(受伤的) men into a small place and began to work. He went on working all the night. He had no time to think about taking a rest. The next day, a young man ran in and said to the doctors, "A few hundred enemy soldiers (敌兵）are coming." But Dr Bethune still went on with his work. Twenty minutes later, when Bethune was working on the leg of the last soldier, the guns (枪）sounded closer. Again the young man rushed in and told Dr Bethune not to work anymore. Dr Bethune, you must go now !" he cried. "Please go, Dr Bethune," said the wounded soldier himself. "Never mind, my boy. It won't take long," said Dr Bethune. "If I spend a few more minutes on it now, I. can save your leg. But if I don't, you'll lose it." The guns sounded even closer now, but Dr Bethune worked on. After he finished his work, he and other doctors left. As Bethune and the other doctors were climbing the hills, they could see the enemies going into the village.

    Pablo Casals was a great cello（大提琴） player and music writer. He was born in Catalonia, Spain. He first heard the cello played when he was 11.Generally, he felling love with the instrument. So, he went to school at the Escuela Municipal de Musica. He focused on his studies and got high grades. When he finished school, he played the cello in the queen's palace. He became more and more famous. Soon, he began to play for audiences worldwide.

    After the events of the Spanish Civil War, Casals left Spain. He refused to go back. He went to live in Puerto Roco. He continued his work as a teacher. Healso recorded many albums（相册）. At the age of 80 he married his third and final wife, Marta Montanez.

    Casals died in 1973.The king of Spain had enjoyed Casals' music very much. He ordered a postage stamp to be made. It showed a picture of the cellist.

    I teach economics in a university three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. He had his wisdom teeth removed. Then he went on to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful.

    His question reminded me of something I'd read somewhere before: Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to live that day. I said, "I choose to be cheerful."

    "Let me give you an example," I continued. "Besides teaching here, I also teach at a college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day a few weeks ago I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died. I tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn't work. So I put my flashes on, took my books, and walked down the road to the college. When I got there, I called AAA(汽车协会) and asked for a tow truck to meet at my car after class. The secretary there asked me what had happened. "This is my lucky day," I replied, smiling.

    "Your car breaks down and toady is your lucky day? What do you mean?"

    "My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. I didn't," I replied. "Instead, it broken down at the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I'm still able to teach my class, and I've been able to ask for the tow truck to meet me after class! If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't have been arranged in a more convenient way."

    I ended my story. In spite of the early hour, no one in my class seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them.

    "Can I see my son?" the happy new mother asked. She couldn't wait to open the swaddling(襁褓) clothes. But when she saw his tiny face, she was shocked! The boy had been born without ears.

    Although the boy's hearing was perfect, he was often laughed at because of his strange appearance. It was only his appearance a little bit different. One day, he rushed home from school and threw himself into his mother's arms, burst into tears, "A big boy called me a monster!" Sad tears flowed down the boy's face, also into the mother's heart.

    The boy's father asked a famous doctor for help, "Could nothing be done to help my son?" "I believe I could put a pair of ears on him if they could be found," answered the doctor. Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, "You are going to the hospital, son. Someone will donate the ears you need. But it's a secret." After the successful operation, a new person appeared! The boy's life became beautiful since then. The boy often asked his father, "Who gave me the ears, dad? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him or her." "It's a secret," answered his father quietly. The years kept their secret, but the day did come. It was the darkest day for the son. He stood with his father over his mother's casket棺材). Slowly and gently, the father raised the mother's long thick hair to show that the mother had no ears! "Mother said she was happy that she never had her hair cut," he said, "And nobody had ever thought Mother less beautiful than before, had they?" After mother had died, the boy finally knew the truth.