Teenager Jake Denham was skiing (滑雪) with his family in the USA when he felt over and lost one oi his skis. His family didn't know that he had a problem. They kept on skiing. When they got to the foot of mountain, there was no sign of Jake.

Jake couldn't find his ski anywhere. In the end, he decided to take off his other ski and walk down the mountain. But he couldn't work out the right way to go.

    It was now getting dark and he was a long way from any place of safety. He knew that he might die that night in the cold temperatures. But Jake kept calm. At home, lake watched a lot of TV programmes about living in difficult situations. He remembered the advice from these programmes and knew that he should build a hole in the snow. He made a hole and pointed it up the hill so the wind couldn't blow into it. Outside the temperature fell to a dangerous -15℃ that night, but inside it Jake was safe from the cold.

    But he had to get down the mountain. The TV programmes always said. "If you are lost, you should find someone else's tracks (轨迹) through the snow and follow them." "I wanted to live my life." remembers Jake. "So I got up and I found some ski tracks and I followed those." He walked and walked and finally he saw lights. Nine hours after he lost his ski, he found a team of worker who came to save him. He was safe!

    His mum was very happy when she heard the news. Amazingly, Jake didn't even have to go to hospital. He got through the terrible experience without any injuries.

    So, the next time someone says that watching TV is a waste of time, think of Jake. Sometimes TV can save your life.

B

    One morning a boy went home with his father. They noticed a pair of old shoes by the roadside. They thought the shoes might be a poor man's. In fact, the owner of the shoes was working in the field nearby, and he had nearly finished his work.

    The boy said to his father, "Let's play a trick on the man—we hide his shoes, and wait to see what he will do when he can't find them."

    "My boy, we should never have fun by tricking other people like that," answered his father. "Instead, let's put a coin in each of the shoes, and watch he will do."

    The boy did so, and then they hid nearby.

    The man soon back to get h is shoes, but when he put his foot into one of his shoes, he felt something in it. He bent（弯曲）down and found the coin.

    Surprise appeared on his face. He looked at the coin for a minute, and then looked around, but nobody could be seen. He then went on to put on the other shoe, but he was even more surprised to find the second coin.

    He then went down on his knees, looked up to the sky and said thanks aloud. He said his wife was ill and his children were hungry. He wanted to buy some bread for them.

    The boy was deeply moved.

    "Now," said his father, "you must be much more pleased than if you had played your trick."

    The boy replied, "You have taught me a lesson which I'll never forget. Now I understand these words, which I didn't understand before: It is more blessed（神圣的）to give than to receive."

    Andi Davise, 49, regularly crossed the trail through the Phoenix Mountains Preserve with a few other hikers before sunrise. This morning, however, she met nobody and heard only the sounds of animals.

    Some time later, Andi got to the steep slope(陡坡), she climbed up to the top by using her hands. When she finally reached the top, she noticed a dark shape several inches from her left foot. She was frightened and then looked carefully. "It's a dog and it's dead." she said to herself. It took her a few seconds to realize that the dog's eyes were open. A thin, dirty bull dog was looking at her.

    She greeted in a low and soft voice to show she was friendly. The bull dog shook when he heard her voice.

    Andi inched closer and dropped some water into the dog's mouth. He tried to stand up but failed. Something was wrong with his left front leg. Andi pulled out her phone to contact her husband, Jason, but he didn't respond. She knew that if she didn't carry the dog down the mountain, he would die.

She carefully put her arms under the dog's body. He was so weak that he fell into her chest.

    Andi had great trouble going down the steep, rocky mountainside with the 50-pound animal in her arms. Even her arms and back started aching, she didn't give up. The trip up had taken 30 minutes while going back down took twice that.

    Andi's husband received her messages at last. He and their son, Justin, jumped into the car and drove to pick up Andi.

Later that morning, an X-ray showed that the bull dog was badly hurt, he was likely to lose his left leg.

    A few days later, the Davises returned to the animal hospital. "The first thing he did was to give me a kiss, then he went right to my son." Andi said. They named the dog Elijah and brought him home that day.

Ray Charles，a black singer and pianist of the USA．He had won 12Grammy Awards （格莱美奖） and performed at 10，000concerts around the world．Many musicians called him simply"the Genius"．

    Ray Charles was born into a poor family，without a father．When he was 5years old，his younger brother died，and around the same time，Charles started to lose his sight．By the age of 7，he was completely blind．He had already been learning the piano for a year，and when he went blind，his mother knew this would be the only way he would make any money in the future．All his life，Charles remembered her saying："Do it right，or don't do it at all．"

    Later he went to a school for blind and deaf children．There the teachers also encouraged him to study music．Sadly，while he was still at school，his mother died．He left school and in the early 1950s Charles organized a group of players．He sang，played the piano and wrote music．He made many classical CDs with famous artists such as Elton John and the Beatles．

In 2003a film of his life Ray was made．The part of Charles was played by a younger actor and musician called Jamie Foxx．The film director brought Foxx to meet Charles．After they had been playing together for two hours，Charles，then aged 73，jumped up and said："He's the one…he can do it．"A year later Charles died，aged 74．The film of his life has been as popular as his songs and means that the memory of Charles'music will live on．

    When I was 13 years old, the doctor said that I had a kind of attention disorder. So when everyone else in the class was focusing on tasks, I couldn't.

    In my first class, Mrs Green asked us to read a story and then write on it within 45 minutes. I raised my hand right away and said, "Mrs Green, you see, I have attention problems. I might not be able to do that."

    She looked at me and said, "You are no different from your classmates, young man." I tried, but I didn't finish the reading. So I took it home.

    In my bedroom, it was so quiet and the story suddenly became clear to me. It was about a blind person, Louis Braille. He lived in a time when the blind couldn't get much education. But Louis didn't give up. Instead, he invented a reading system which opened up a new world to the blind. Wasn't I the "blind" in my class, being made to learn like the "sighted (有视力的)" students? My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to dance. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was no different from others. If Louis could find his way out of his problems, why should I ever give up? I didn't expect anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs Green, so when it came back to me the next day with an "A" on it, I couldn't believe my eyes. At the bottom of the paper were these words, "See what you can do when you keep trying."

    Hello, everyone! I'm your new Chinese teacher. I am twenty three years old. My given name is Li and my family name is Lin. I have a cat. Its name is Mimi. It's black and white. White is my favourite colour. I go to work from Monday to Friday. I am free on Saturday and Sunday. I like playing table tennis. Would you like to play table tennis with me after class?

    I'm from Beijing. Do you know Beijing? It's the capital of China. It's a very big city. It's cold in winter and hot in summer. But it's good to go to Beijing in spring or in autumn. Welcome to Beijing.