“I honestly have no idea how that cat got up there. It's a hundred—foot—metal pole. There's no way he climbed that thing,”Jim said to the worried woman. It wasn't even her cat, but she was passing by and saw it. immediately calling the fire—station to come to save it. Jim saw a lotof strange things as a fireman, often sad or upsetting things, but this was new.

  “I suppose we could get the blanket and see if we can convince the poor cat to jump down. But he doesn't really look too scared…”Jim said to the woman.

  “Dave, get overhere!” Jim called over his shoulder to the fire truck driver. Dave walked over and looked where Jim was pointing.

  “How'd he get up there?”

    Jim shrugged, similarly puzzled.“Do you suppose we could get the blanket and convince him tojump?”

    Dave shrugged in response.“I don't seewhy not.”

    Jim looked up at the black mass on the top of the flagpole, the Americannag waving proudly beneath him. It was definitely a cat, and heregarded the people gathered below as if they were his subjects(臣民) and he their king, his yellow eyes scanning his surroundings with apparentd is interest.

    When the blanket was spread out below the cat, Jim and Davebegan striking the flagpole. The cat lookeddown, and then gazed into the sky as if it were looking for something. Jim and Davefollowed his gaze. Suddenly, out of theclear sky, appeared adark figure. The figures wooped(俯冲) low toward the flag pole. It was aneagle! As it got closer, the cat leaped down the pole swiftly onto the ground, and then got lost in the bushes.

    Jim, Dave, and the oldwoman were left with their mouths open. They all agreedit was the best way to get it down.

    My high school life has been filled with many ups and downs, whether it was social or academic. Even though my current high school was not my first choice, I never regretted attending Southside High School. “Since you have chosen it, then it is the best for you,” said my parents.

    Up until the junior year I did not realize my capabilities (能力) as a student. Being in the IB Program, I was told that my junior year would be the toughest in all the years of high school. With this “little” piece of information, I walked into my junior year, scared of my grades. As weeks went by, I started to believe that the junior year was not as hard as everyone had said, but I was wrong. My grades were rapidly declining(下降) and by the end of the first term I had five Cs in seven of my classes! I could not believe it — I did not want to believe it. I tried my best to get my grades up myself without any help from anyone, but my pride just made my grades worse. And I had to miss out on one of the most important speech and debate competitions all year: States. I was heartbroken. I realized that I could not survive my junior year on my own, so I had to get help fast.

    Once I got a tutor, my grades went from Cs, Ds, and even some Fs, to nothing but As and Bs. I slowly started to gain my confidence back in all of my classes and even myself. By the time the third and fourth quarter came around, I had been on the honor roll twice, and I was receiving awards from speeches and debates, tennis and school.

    Southside has taught me to always keep my head up and never give up on myself no matter what life throws at me. I am proud to be a Southside Tiger.

    Hetty Robinson learnt all about money when very young. As a child, she read the financial pages of the newspaper to her rich father. Her father died when Hetty was 30, and she inherited $1 million. When she herself died in 1916, she left almost $100 million to her two children.

    Hetty made her money on the New York stock(股票) exchange. She was a financial genius. She made money so easily that people called her the Witch of Wall Street. But although she was one of the richest women in the world, she counted every cent and spent as little as possible. She didn't own a house, because she didn't want to pay taxes. So she and her children lived in cheap hotels. She spent almost nothing on clothes, and always wore the same long black dress. She washed it herself, but to save soap she only washed the bottom of the dress, where it touched the ground. Other people had their own offices, but Hetty used a desk in the bank where she kept her money, because it didn't cost anything. She sat in the bank and ate her sandwiches while she bought and sold stocks and shares. If the bank complained, she just moved all her money to another bank.

    Hetty's family paid the price for her meanness. When she was 33 she married a millionaire, Edward Green, and they had two children. But Green lost all his money, so she left him. When her son, Ned, injured his knee, Hetty didn't want to pay for a doctor, so she took him to a free hospital for poor people. Unfortunately the doctor knew Hetty was rich and he asked for money. Hetty refused and took the boy away. His leg got worse and two years later doctors removed it.

    But eventually Ned got his revenge(报复). At the age of 81, Hetty had an argument with a shop assistant about the price of a bottle of milk. She became so angry that she had a heart attack and died. So Hetty's meanness finally killed her. Ned inherited half his mother's fortune, and he spent it all on parties, holidays and expensive jewellery.

    Fourth-grade teacher Tori Nelson allowed one of her students to shave her head in the schoolyard, after bullies（仗势欺人者） teased him about his own buzz cut. Ms. Nelson got the idea after noticing that Matthew Finney, a shy boy from her homeroom at Winlock Miller Elementary School in Washington State, was standing outside his classroom crying and wearing a winter hat.

    Ms. Nelson could see the back of his neck had been shaved, and since Matthew usually had very thick curly brown hair, she realized that he'd had a haircut over the weekend. She asked him what was wrong， and he said he'd gotten a buzz cut for the summer. But this morning, a fifth grader on the bus made fun of him, and he didn't want to come to class and get laughed at by other kids. Ms. Nelson tried to convince Matthew to come inside, but since school rules banned kids from wearing hats indoors he refused—explaining that he was afraid of showing his haircut to the other children in case they also made fun of him.

    "Finally I said, 'If you take your hat off and come to class, I'll let you give me a buzz cut too,' Ms. Nelson told Yahoo Parenting." I figured it's just hair, and mine is already short anyway. I might as well get it shorter in time for the warm weather.

    Matthew excitedly took her up on the offer, and Ms Nelson and another teacher gathered all the fourth graders together during break time. A school employee brought in scissors, which Matthew used to the cheers of his classmates, excitedly watching as their teacher's hair fell away onto the ground in the schoolyard.

    "It was a lot of fun for the kids, and it helped Matthew feel better about himself." said Ms Nelson." You have to do what it takes to reach children. Teaching isn't just about reading and writing: it's about self-worth and accepting differences.

Big Stuff

Do you know what is the tallest building in the world and where the tallest Ferris wheel is? Have you heard of the world's steepest roller coaster? Have you seen the biggest monster truck? Here are some of the most huge things on Earth.

A Towering Achievement

Burj Khalifa, a tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the world's tallest structure. The 162-story building, which opened in 2010, stands over 2,717 feet tall. Seen from above, the tower has a Y-shaped design. Its three tall, narrow wings are joined in the middle. Like the legs of a tripod （三脚架）, each wing is supported by the other two.

A Wheel Winner

About 15 miles from the world's tallest building stands the world's tallest Ferris wheel, Ain Dubai. Also called an observation wheel, Ain Dubai stands 820 feet tall. Each of the 48 cabins can carry 40 people for spectacular views of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Before construction, support columns had to be driven 115 feet down through the earth to reach bedrock.

Extreme Ups and Downs

The world's tallest roller coaster is Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure. At 456 feet, the peak of the ride towers over nearby Jackson, New Jersey. A 500-foot-tall crane was needed to place the final section at the top. Like many weight-bearing structures, the tower makes use of the most stable geometric （几何的） shape, the triangle.

A Monster of a Truck

Designed and built by business owner Bob Chandler, Bigfoot 5 has held the record for the world's biggest monster truck since 

1986. Other trucks, including Bigfoot models, have been designed to perform better in competitions. But Bigfoot 5 still stands above the crowd, thanks to its 10-foot-tall tires. The tires were originally designed for equipment that drives on Alaska's snowy tundra.