Tim Berners-Lee is not the most famous inventor in the world．However，his invention has changed our lives．

    He was born in London，England in 1955．When he was a small boy，Tim was interested in playing with electrical things．He studied science at Oxford University．He made his first computer from an old television at the age of 21．

    Tim started working on early computers．At that time，they were much bigger than now．He worked in England then Switzerland．Tim was really interested in two things，computers and how the brain works．How could the brain connect so many facts so quickly？He had to work with people all over the world．They shared information about computers．It was hard to manage all the information．He answered the same questions again and again．took a lot of time．It was even difficult for computers in the same office in Switzerland to share information．Tim also forgot things easily．Could a computer work like a brain？Could it"talk"to other computers？

    There was an Internet already but it was difficult to use．In 1989，Tim Berners﹣Lee invented the World Wide Web（WWW） all by himself．This had a special language that helped computers talk to each other on the Internet．When people wanted to share information with others，they used the World Wide Web．The Internet grew quickly after that．

    Tim Berners﹣Lee doesn't think he did anything special．He says that all of the ideas about the Internet were already there．All he did was to put them together．He says that many other people worked together to make the Internet what it is today．

    Most inventors want to become rich．But Tim gave away the World Wide Web for nothing．He now works in America．He helps people share technology and wants the Internet to be free for everyone to use．Maybe he is the most important but least famous inventor in the world today!

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    Long ago, three pigs grew up and left their parents' home. They said goodbye to each other and went their separate ways.

    Each little pig decided to build a house. The youngest pig was lazy and he thought, "I will build my house with grass. It is light and easy to build with." The middle pig thought, "Here are many small sticks. They are easy to work with. I will build my house out of sticks." The oldest pig worked hard and always thought before doing things. "There are many dangers（危险）in this world. I must build a strong house out of stones," he thought.

    And soon, the three pigs built their houses. One day, a big wolf（狼）came to the town. He was very hungry. He saw the first little pig in his grass house. He pushed down（推倒）the house and ate the little pig. Then the wolf came to the stick house and pushed it down, too. Then he ate the second pig. When the wolf came to the stone house. He pushed it again and again. But he couldn't push it down. In the end, the wolf gave up and went away. The oldest pig lived a long and happy life.

    A little girl thought she was not as beautiful as other girls, and nobody liked her. So she was 1 happy. She always stayed at home by herself and didn't talk to 2 .

    One day, her mother gave her a beautiful hair clip (发夹). When she 3 it, she looked much more beautiful than before. She decided to go to school in the beautiful hair clip.

    On her way to 4 , she found that everyone who saw her smiled (微笑) at her. Most of her schoolmates said hello to her, 5 this never happened before. She thought that the beautiful hair clip 6 them all to her. She was so happy 7 all of the wonderful things.

    Though all her classmates wanted to know 8 happened to her, she didn't want to tell 9 about her beautiful hair clip.

    When she went back home after school, her mother asked her, "Did you know you 10 your hair clip at home?" I found it by the door this morning.

    She was 11 to hear what her mother said. She understood that she didn't wear the hair clip to school 12 .

    It's not important what we wear or how we 13 . The most 14 thing is how we think about ourselves (我们自己). 15 we want to do a thing successfully, first try to be confident (自信). If we think we can, we can.

    In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what "keeping up with the Joneses" is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.The expressoion was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.

    Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it "Keeping up with the Joneses" because "Jones" is a very common name in the United States."Keeping up with the Joneses" came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand's series appeared in different newspapers throughout the country for over 28 years. People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are "Joneses" in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one  does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

    Homeless people face a lot of challenges, - such as not having enough to eat and no job opportunities. Some of the most basic challenges, - however, -are not having clean water and toiletries (卫生用品)-a big problem for homeless teens. That encouraged a young researcher to invent a multi-purpose product to help these teens.

    "I was born into a life of volunteering," said 13-year-old Leia Gluckman. And that's true. Her mom is a president of an organization providing help for homeless teens. Leia and her brother have volunteered there for years. When she was a young girl, Leia helped serve food where teens were eating. Now she's a teenager herself, and she's managing the toiletry and clothing work there.

    From her work at the center, Leia noticed that teens asked for some toiletries more than others. What they needed most often were toothpaste, body powder (粉)and shampoo(洗发水).Leia wondered whether she could create a product to serve all three purposes.

    It would need to take away dirt and oil from skin and hair. It would need to clean teeth. Also, it would need to kill bacteria (病菌)without being harmful to people. She wanted her ingredients (产品成分)to be natural, to be able to break down easily and to taste and smell pleasant. Moreover, this product had to be low﹣cost and have a long shelf life.

    Leia started by going to stores and looking at the ingredient lists for toiletries. Then she tried eight different ways. She tested each way to see how well it worked.

    Not all of them worked well. But she finally decided on three. Each includes salt and baking powder. Salt helps clean teeth and skin; baking powder helps take in bad smells. She also has some other recipes which include some special materials that give her products different tastes and smells, which would let teens choose a product based on personal preferences.

    It wasn't easy, but Leia came up with some model products. She presented them at the finals of Broadcom MASTERS science competition.

    Leia wants to develop her products further. "Could it possibly be used to drive away mosquitoes (蚊子)?" she wonders.

    "Science offers a way to go about solving problems and helping people," says Leia. And she thinks her products could benefit a great number of people, not just the homeless. Anyone in an area with little or no chance to get clean water could find her products useful, maybe refugees (难民) and soldiers who are sent to places without running water.