C   

    Ricardo Semler became the boss of his father's company in Brazil at the age of 21. The name of the company is Semco. It sold parts for ships. Semler worked like a mad man, from 7:30 in the morning to midnight every day. One afternoon, while he was visiting a factory in New York, he fell down. The doctor said, “ There's nothing wrong with you. But if you continue like this, you'll find a new home in our hospital.” Semler got the message. He changed the way he worked. In fact, he changed the ways his workers worked, too.

    At the same time, Semler changed the office. Instead of walls, they have plants at Semco, so the boss can't shut himself away from everyone else. And the workers are free to decorate their workplace as they want. As for uniforms, some people wear suits and others wear T-shirts.

    Semco has flexible working hours: the workers can decide when they need to arrive at work. Also, Semco lets its workers use the company's machines for their own projects, and makes them take holidays for at least thirty days a year.

    It sounds perfect, but does it work? The answer is in the numbers: in the last six years, Semco's revenues (收益) have gone from $35 million to $212 million. The company has grown from 800 workers to 3,000. Why?

    Semler says it's because of “peer pressure” (同辈压力). Peer pressure makes workers work hard. It means if someone isn't doing his job well, the other workers will not allow the situation to continue. In other words, Semler treat his workers like adults rather than children, and expects them to act like responsible (负责任的) adults. And they do.

    Do you know any 9-year-olds who have started their own museums? When Theodore Roosevelt was only nine, he and two of his cousins opened the "Roosevelt Museum of Natural History". The museum was in Theodore's bedroom. It had a total of 12 specimens. On display were a few seashells, some dead insects, and some birds' nests. Young Roosevelt took great pride in his small museum.

    Born in New York in 1858, Theodore Roosevelt was not always healthy. "I was a sickly boy", he once wrote. Roosevelt had a health condition called asthma. He often found it hard to breathe. Instead of playing, he watched nature and then read and wrote about it.

    Roosevelt's interest in nature sometimes got him into trouble. Once, his mother found several dead mice in the icebox. She demanded that the mice be thrown out. This was indeed "a loss to science", Roosevelt said later.

    Because Roosevelt was often sickly as a boy, his body was small and weak. When he was about 12, his father asked him to improve his body. Roosevelt began working out in a gym. He didn't become strong quickly. But he did decide to face life's challenges with a strong will. That determination stayed with Roosevelt his whole life. And eventually his body did get strong. As an adult, he was an active and healthy person. He enjoyed adventures, and he loved the outdoors.

    A toy company named the teddy bear for Theodore "Teddy". After knowing that, Roosevelt refused to shoot a baby bear while hunting.

    In 1900, at the age of 41, Roosevelt was elected Vice President. A year later, President McKinley, was shot and killed. Roosevelt became our 26^th President. At 42, he was the youngest leader the country had ever had.

    This is' a story of a man who worked in a big factory. I got to know him many years ago, but I never paid any attention to him. He always wore an old red hat and carried a rubbish bag. He usually spent his break time and lunchtime walking around in that old big factory to collect the unused tins.

    Today, I was fixing one machine in the factory when this "tin man" came with his bag. As usual, he picked up the tins. My manager was standing there to watch me. He asked the "tin man" what he was going to do with those tins. I never thought about this question, because I always thought that he'd sell those tins for money.

    The "tin man" answered, "I will give these tins to my neighbour. He is ill and he cannot work." I was so surprised to hear that, so I asked him, "You collect all those tins just to help your neighbour? I know this does not help much," he said. "But I will try my best to help him."

    At that time, I found myself standing in front of a great man. This "tin man" only wore a T shirt and an old red hat and carried a rubbish bag, but he was a great man.

    We shouldn't judge a man by his appearance(外表). We should look at his heart.

    Mrs. Black is a music teacher in a school. She lives in an apartment building in Star Community. She is kind and her neighbors like her.

Larry lives next to Mrs. Black. He has a guitar. He always plays the guitar at night but he can't play it well. It's very noisy. All his neighbors can't sleep and they are angry about it.

    One Sunday, Larry comes to Mrs. Black's house and wants to learn playing the guitar from Mrs. Black. Mrs. Black says, "Young man, I would like to teach you to play the guitar, but not today. I must talk with you first. I'm happy that you also like music, but it's not good to play the guitar at night." From that day, Larry doesn't play the guitar at night and his neighbors begin to like him again.