When Regina Spektor moved to the Bronx from Russia as a young child of 9, she could speak no English and her family was so poor that they could afford nothing. Yet she carried with her a love of the piano and music.

     "For me, the thing that I loved the most was playing the piano, so when we left Russia I was so afraid I would forget how to play and I would just find a little table and play my pieces," she told "When you spend your life doing something like playing the piano and then you take that away, it's so surreal."(离奇的)

     Her father, Ilya Spektor, said that, little by little, the family saved enough money to afford their first apartment.

     "I was a photographer and, in six weeks, I found my first job in a big photo lab in Manhattan," he said. On the subway one day, Ilya Spektor spotted a man carrying a violin case. The man also seemed to have an Eastern European accent. A conversation led to a visit and, eventually, Regina Spektor was introduced to Sonia Vargas, a piano teacher. She was a well-known professor who taught piano, took Spektor under her wing and trained her for years, at no cost. "I remember talking to Sonia," Spektor said. "She said that when a student is ready, a teacher appears. So she said that I must have been ready to study piano, and so that's why she came into my life."

     "Immediately, how she played," Vargas said. "You can tell the sound. The sound tell you whether the person loves the instrument, loves the music."

     Much later, while playing her own music and selling a CD that she'd created, Regina Spektor caught the attention of a music producer. The rest is history, complete with concerts around the world and performance in front of the Obamas at the White House.

Regina Spektor greatly appreciated her parents, piano teachers and friends for helping her become the musician she is. “I love the idea that if you're walking toward the world, the world will take some steps towards you,” she said.

    How do the world's only flying mammals communicate? Researchers have observed young bats adopting new “dialects” simply by hearing them repeatedly, making them one of the few animals known to have a capacity for vocal (声音的) learning. “These bats may help us clarify the evolution of speech acquisition (习得) skills,” says Yosef Prat, a PhD at Tel Aviv University (TAU).

    For one year, researchers raised 14 Egyptian fruit bat pups with their mothers in controlled area, exposing each young bat to two different vocalizations: the natural call of its mother and a separate recording that varied in pitch (音高) or frequency. They found that the pups in each group developed a dialect like the recording. “The general assumption in this field is that most animals develop their born vocalizations regardless of what they hear, and that human vocal learning abilities have developed during evolution,” says Mr Prat. “The finding that bats learn the common dialect in their rest place was unusual.”

    Scientists know little about the origin of spoken language, which is believed to have appeared in humans within the past 500,000 years. Dozens of theories attempt to explain the complexity of this skill, but none have done so conclusively.

    “Studying vocal communication and vocal learning in animal models is a very useful way to approach the problem,” says Olga Feher, an assistant professor at the University of Warwick in England.

    But animal vocalizations and human speech are very different things, says Jamin Pelkey, a professor at Ryerson University. “All species communicate. Unlike other animals, though, human beings are able to use sound patterns for functions that are far stranger—functions that are imaginative, theoretical, and critical. When speech is involved in these stranger functions, that is what we mean by spoken ‘language'.”

    For centuries people have hunted animals for food and pleasure.The invention of the gun made it so easy for humans to hunt that some animals were lolled by the thousands and even became extinct（绝种的）.This brings up some serious problems since breaks in the food chain upset the balance of nature.

    Large animals like tigers are being killed by the hundreds every year in India.The Royal Bengal tiger is the only type that exists in India and their number is greatly reduced every year because of poaching（偷猎）.The present number is about 2,000, all of which live in tiger reserves.Two hundred years ago the population was 23,000 or more.

    During the British rule of India,many of the so-called English gentlemen killed tigers for pleasure and to show their bravery.This seems stupid because killing an innocent（无辜的）creature with a gun is not a brave deed.

    Today the tiger skin is very popular.Rich people and fashion designers have no idea what they are doing. Competition between the rich to show off makes them blind to the serious effects.People persuade villagers to kill tigers to get money,and they do it because they are poor and need to feed their families.We must educate them,and the government should give them proper jobs to help solve this problem.

    The people to blame are those who buy animal products like ivories,furs,tiger bones for medicine and handbags made of animal skins.They must be put behind bars to stop this kind of trade.The earth is home for everyone on it. The trees,animals,birds,and fish of all kinds belong here as much as we do.Only we have the power to change their fate.

    Anaya Elick was born without hands – she has stubs（残端）where most people's wrists begin.

    To hold a pencil, she must balance it between her wrists, then use her arms to push it along the page. But that didn't stop her from winning a national handwriting contest when she was in first grade.

    In the two years since, she has taken on greater challenges. Last week, she won another national handwriting contest, this one for cursive（草书）. And by all accounts from her teachers at Greenbrier Christian Academy, she has become an accomplished artist.

    Anaya isn't one to boast about her successes. She unwillingly says they make her proud but adds that they come from “lots of practice.”

    Her friends at school said, “She inspires everybody by what she does and how she does it” child to fail, and raising one who was born with a disability can heighten that protective instinct.

    Before Anaya was born, doctors knew about her condition, although not its cause. Other than having no hands, she is a regular 9-year-old girl.

    Anaya succeeds because she is not afraid to fail, Middleton said. The two began practicing cursive last year, when Anaya was in second grade. She struggled sometimes, because unlike traditional penmanship, which allows for breaks after each letter, cursive words are written straight through – and added effort for someone who must balance rather than hold the pencil.

    Middleton could see her daughter thinking through the challenge, figuring out how she could do better. She'd get frustrated at times, but she never hesitated to do things as often as it took to get them right.

    “I don't think I've ever heard Anaya say I can't do something,” Middleton said.

    That attitude carries over to her other interests.

    Recently, Anaya and her classmates sat in Cheryl Leader's art room, working on an exercise. The goal was to get them thinking about different concepts, like color combinations and how an image can be formed by fully coloring inside straight and diagonal lines.

    Agatha Christie used to go out at night. She will never forget the night when she met a robber(盗贼) many years ago.

    That evening, she was invited to a birthday party which lasted till 2 o'clock in the morning. Without company, Agatha walked home along the quiet street. Suddenly from the shadow of a dark building, a tall man with a sharp knife in his right hand ran out at her. "Good morning, lady," the man said in a low voice, "I don't think you wish to die here!" "What do you want?" Agatha asked.

    "Your earrings (耳环). Take them off!" Agatha suddenly had a bright idea. She tried to cover her necklace with the collar (衣领) of her overcoat while she used the other hand to take off both of her earrings, and then she quickly threw them on the ground.

    "Take them and let me go." she said. The robber was uncertain. He saw that the girl didn't care for the earrings at all, only trying to protect the necklace. He realized the necklace would cost more, so he said, "Give me your necklace."

    "Oh, sir. It's not worth much. Please let me keep it."

    "Stop talking rubbish. Quick!"

    With shaky hands, Agatha took off her necklace. As soon as the robber disappeared, she picked up her earrings and ran as fast as she could to her home.

    The earrings cost 480 pounds and the necklace the robber had taken away cost only six pounds ten shillings (先令).

    Plan your dream vacation to one of these excellent destinations.

    St. Lucia

    Abundant rainforests and splendid mountains are all reasons to visit this Caribbean island. St. Lucia offers the perfect mix of relaxation and adventure. To take in the breathtaking scenery, plan to hike the Piton Mountains or dive in the waters of Anse Chastanet.

    Banff. Alberta

    This Canadian destination will bring out the explorer in anyone who visits. From hiking and whitewater rafting to skiing and snowboarding, Banff offers travelers an abundance of year-round outdoor activities. The Lake Louise Ski Resort is one of the largest in North America and the striking photo opportunities of the Canadian Rockies from Moraine Lake can't be underestimated (低估).

    Machu Picchu

    According to travelers, a visit to this Peruvian UNESCO World Heritage (遗产) site is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Located in the Andes Mountains, it is the most familiar icon (象征物) of Inca civilization. Spend a few days accustoming yourself to the altitude in the neighboring city of Cusco, where you can experience a mix of Incan and Spanish cultures.

    Great Barrier Reef

    It's easy to see why the Great Barrier Reef is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World – it stretches nearly 1,500 miles along the eastern coastline of Australia and features about 3,000 reefs, 900 islands and more than 1,500 species of fish. Travelers can see these amazing natural structures from the air or underwater. However, large amounts of coral bleaching (褪色) caused by rising ocean temperatures put this place's continued existence at risk, so plan your visit soon to see this awesome sight up close.