Orville Wright was born on August 19, 1871 in Dayton, Ohio, USA and died on January 30, 1948. Together with his brother, Wilbur, he was the first airplane builder. The brothers created the first controlled, powered and heavier-than-air human flight.

    His parents were Milton Wright and Susan Catherine Koerner and besides the two famous brothers they had five children. One day after a trip his father brought as a gift a small helicopter. The kids loved it and as they played daily with it after a while it broke. The brothers managed to create a new one. Wright even let go his plans of attending Yale. He spent his time helping his ill mother and reading in his father's library.

    In 1884 the family decided to move to Dayton and they remained there until the 1870's. A printing press was built by the two and Wilbur was an editor. In 1892 they started being fascinated by the aeronautical （航空的） events of that time. Then they started to create an airplane and Wilbur was considered the head of the team. They were the inventors of “three axis-control”, which permitted the pilot to steer the aircraft's balance.

    In 1900 they had their first attempts to make a functional glider（滑翔机）— of course it didn't have a pilot. After three years they thought of introducing an engine to the glider. At first, their patent(专利) application was refused in 1903, but after one year it was accepted.

    Orville's first flight lasted 12 seconds and had 36.5 meters. He was responsible with the public shows near Washington in the United States. On September 9, 1908 his flight was 62 minutes and 15 seconds long and the success was huge.

    As the saying goes, “Without music, life would be a mistake.” Music is very important in our lives and here are four of the greatest musicians in history.

    Ludwig van Beethoven(1770-1827)

    Born in Bonn, Germany, Beethoven never held an official position in Vienna. He supported himself by giving concerts, teaching piano, and the sale of his compositions(作曲). The last 30 years of Beethoven's life were filled with a lot of hard times, the first of which was his deafness. Beethoven's music greatly influenced the next generation of musicians.

    Johann Sebastian Bach(1685-1750)

    Bach, “the father of modern music”, was born in Eisenach, Germany. His parents died when he was nine years old, and in 1695 he went to live with his brother Johann Christoph, who was an organist(风琴手) in Ohrdruf. He stayed there until 1700. Seven years later, he moved back to Weimar, where he served as court(宫廷) organist for nine years. His music greatly influenced classical music.

    Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

    Chopin was born in Zelazowa Wola, Poland. He showed a talent for the piano at a very young age. Chopin began composing when he was still a child, but some of his early works have been lost. He gave his first public concert in 1818. Chopin was considered as the leading musician of his time.

    Franz Schubert(1797-1828)

    Schubert was born and died in Vienna. Unlike most of his predecessors(前辈),Schubert was not a great performer. He never had much money but he was very productive. He wrote his first masterpiece when he was only sixteen. However, he died young, before his talents had even been known.

    Exploit your parking space

    An unused parking space or garage can make money. If you live near a city center or an airport, you could make anything up to £200 or £300 a week. Put an advertisement for free on Letpark or Atmyhousepark.

    Rent a room

    Spare room? Not only will a lodger（房客）earn you an income, but also, thanks to the government-backed “rent a room” program, you won't have to pay any tax on the first £4500 you make per year. Try advertising your room on Roomspare or Roommateeasy.

    Make money during special events. Don't want a full-time lodger? Then rent on a short-term basis. If you live in the capital, renting a room out during the Olympics or other big events could bring in money. Grashpadder can advertise your space.

    Live on set

    Renting your home out as a “film set” could earn you hundreds of pounds a day, depending on the film production company and how long your home is needed. A quick search on the Internet will bring up dozens of online companies that allow you to register your home for free—but you will be charged if your home gets picked.

    Use your roof

    You need the right kind of roof, but some energy companies pay the cost of fixing solar equipment(around￡14,000), and let you use the energy produced for nothing. In return, they get paid for unused energy fed back into the National Grid. However, you have to sign a 25-year agreement with the supplier, which could prevent you from changing the roof.

    Being a volunteer brings me happiness. I work with Volunteers for Wildlife, a rescue and education organization at Bailey Arboretum in Locust Valley. Trying to help injured, displaced or sick animals can be heartbreaking; survival is never certain. However, when it works, it is simply beautiful.

    I got a rescue call from a woman in Muttontown. She had found a young owl(猫头鹰) on the ground. When I arrived, I saw a 2­ to 3­week­old owl. It had already been placed in a carrier for safety.

    I examined the chick(雏鸟) and it seemed fine. If I could find the nest, I might have been able to put it back, but no luck. My next work was to build a nest and settle it in a tree.

    The homeowner was very helpful. A wire basket was found. I put some pine（松树） branches into the basket to make this nest safe and comfortable. I placed the chick in the nest, and it quickly calmed down.

    Now all that was needed were the parents, but they were absent. I gave the homeowner a recording of the hunger screams of owl chicks. These advertise the presence of chicks to adults; they might also encourage our chick to start calling as well. I gave the owner as much information as possible and headed home to see what news the night might bring.

    A nervous night to be sure, but sometimes the spirits of nature smile on us all! The homeowner called to say that the parents had answered to the recordings. I drove over and saw the chick in the nest looking healthy and active. And it was accompanied in the nest by the greatest sight of all—LUNCH！ The parents had done their duty and would probably continue to do so.

    How do young children learn to have good values? How can parents teach their children about the importance of kindness and patience? At a time more and more parents worry about the violent images (暴力形象) their children see on TV and on the Internet. So many parents are turning to fairy tales. They want to teach their children how to behave in society by this way.

    It is believed that fairy tales have a great influence on children because they describe the two sides of good and evil (邪恶) very clearly. When children hear the tales, they learn to care about others' feelings. In each tale, they can see that there are many different kinds of people in the world and that we all have a choice about what kind of person we want to be. We can choose to do good actions, rather than bad ones, in our lives.

    What kind of values can children learn from fairy tales? In The Princess and the Pea, a poorly dressed girl says she is a princess. Few people believe her, so she is given a difficult test. When she passes the test, we learn that her dream comes true because she stays true to herself. In the Little Mermaid (《小美人鱼》), the mermaid, who lives under the sea, wishes to be with the humans on land. Through her experiences, we learn about the importance of living with and accepting other cultures.

    Teaching values is probably the main reason for encouraging children to read fairy tales. These tales can teach children lessons about human relationships that have been accepted around the world for many centuries. This might be the reason why they have been around for so long and will not disappear any time soon.