Pisces is the twelfth star sign. There is a legend about its name. 

      Long, long ago, there was a war between gods and a bad monster (怪物). It lasted ten years. One day, the gods were surprised to find that the monster was coming towards them. The goat god Pan shouted a warning and tried to change himself into a fish. One god, Aphrodite, took her little boy Eros and tried to hide among the bushes near Euphrates River. She was the god of love and her son was the god of war. It is said that two fish swam to carry Aphrodite and her child to safety. Some people also believe that Aphrodite and Eros changed into fish themselves and swam away to safety. Later the fish represent Aphrodite and her son Eros.

As they appeared in the sky, the two fish were tied together by a rope (绳子). Some said that Aphrodite tied the little boy to her body so that he would not get lost as they swam away to safety. That's the story about Pisces.

In Western countries, some people believe people will share similar characteristics if they have the same star sign. So if you're born between February 19^th and March 20^th, your star sign is Pisces. It means that you are generous, easy-going and creative.

      Thomas Alva Edison is one of the greatest inventors of all times. One of his most famous achievements is the electric light. He tried thousands of times to make a long lasting light bulb. Although the light bulb is not his invention, he is the only one to have made such a successful light bulb. Many people remember him for the invention of the electric light. He held a lot of patents (专利权) worldwide. Many of them were approved(批准) in America.

    We can find his inventions in many fields. In fact, many of the advanced inventions were based on his ideas. He invented a phonograph (留声机),a film picture camera, a ticket recorder and so on.  

    Edison was not a good student at school. But he loved to do new experiments. When he was still a child, he built his first lab to perform his experiments.

      An amazing story of Edison's childhood is that he almost made his servant die. Edison used to think that birds ate insects and these insects might make them fly. So he collected these insects and blended (混合) them to make juice. He then let his servant drink the juice. After drinking the juice, the girl lost her sense. But luckily, she was saved.

    It was a cold night in Washington, D.C., and I was heading back to the hotel when a man came to me. He asked if I would give him some money so he could get something to eat. I'd read the signs: “Don't give money to panhandlers (乞丐）.” So I shook my head and kept walking.

    I wasn't prepared for a reply, but he said, “I really am homeless and I really am hungry! You can come with me and watch me eat!” But I kept on walking.

    I couldn't forget what happened to me that day for the rest of the week. I had money in my pocket and it wouldn't have killed me to hand over a dollar or two even if he had been lying. On a very cold night, no less, I thought the worst of a fellow human being. Flying back to Anchorage, I still couldn't help thinking of him.

    I was the writer of a weekly garden column (专栏）at The Anchorage Daily News. One day, out of the blue, I came up with an idea. Bean's Cafe, the soup kitchen in Anchorage, feeds hundreds of hungry people every day. Why not try to get all my readers to plant one row in their gardens for Bean's? Plant a row and take it down to Bean's. Clean and simple.

    We didn't keep records back then, but the idea began to take off. People would call me when they took something in. Those who only grew flowers gave them away. Food for the spirit.

    In 1995 , the Garden Writers Association of America ( GWAA) held their meeting in Anchorage and alter learning of Anchorage's program, Plant a Row for Bean's became Plant a Row for the Hungry. The idea was to have every member of the Garden Writers Association of America write or talk about planting a row for the hungry.

    As more and more people started working with the program, many companies gave free seed to customers and had the logo (商标）seen in public.

    Garden editor Joan Jackson raised more than 30,000 pounds of  fruits and vegetables her first year, and showed the public how the program could really work. Texas fruit farms gave away food to their local food bank alter hearing about Plant a Row. Today the program continues to grow.

    I am shocked that millions of Americans are threatened by hunger. If every gardener in

    America - and we're seventy million strong - plants one row for the hungry, we can make a difference in the number of neighbors who don't have enough to eat. Maybe then I will stop feeling guilty (愧 疚) about walking past a hungry man I could have helped.

    On 15 January, 2018, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal (顾拜旦奖章) to Lv Junjie, a Chinese master of Zisha, in Lausanne. Lv became the first Zisha artist to take the award. The medal was introduced in 1964 and named in honour of Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the IOC.

    Zisha is a type of clay. It has been used in Chinese pottery (陶器) since the Ming dynasty. The finished stoneware (粗陶器) is used for teaware (茶具) and other small items, and is not usually having a shiny coat. It is red or brown in colour. Lv got the prize from the IOC because of his work using Zisha to spread me Olympic spirit.

    "It's my first time stepping into the IOC headquarters," Lv said. "It has nothing to do with me. It is this traditional art of Zisha that receives such recognition from the IOC. It is because of the uniqueness (独特性) and lasting spirit of Chinese culture," he added.

    In 1966, Lv Junjie was born in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, China. His father Lv Yaochen is a famous artist in Chinese Zisha industry. Lv Junjie was influenced by his father from an early age. However, his family didn't support him to work for it at first. His mother worked as a worker in the Zisha factory all her life and knew it was hard work. At the age of 16, Lv Junjie decided to be an artist like his father. He told his father that he loved Zisha. Later he studied at a university in Singapore. After he finished school he made Zisha his career.

Once or twice, there was crying and sighing (叹息) from a little leaf, as leaves often do when the wind is blowing. The tree said, "What's the matter, little leaf ?"

"The wind, " said the leaf, "just told me that one day it would pull me off and throw me on the ground. "

" Don't be afraid, " the tree said. "Hold on , and you shall not go off until you are ready. "

So the leaf stopped sighing and went on singing. It grew all summer long until October. When the bright days of autumn came, the leaf saw all the leaves around growing very beautiful. Some were yellow, some were brown, and many were colorful. Then the leaf asked the tree what this meant (意味着).

The tree said, " All these leaves are getting ready to fly away, and they have put on these colors because of their joy (快乐). "

The little leaf started to want to go and grew colorful thinking of it. Then it saw that the branches (树枝) of the tree had no bright colors on them and asked why.

"We must keep on our working clothes because we don't finish our work, " said the tree, "but your clothes are for holidays because your work is now over. "

Just then, the wind came, and the leaf let go (放手) without thinking. The wind took it up and turned it over and over. Then it fell slowly down on the ground, among hundreds of leaves.