Each of them was taking lessons: Joe with a famous art teacher, and Delia with a great pianist from Germany. Their teachers were the very best, so lessons were expensive, more than they could really afford, but…when you love your art, nothing is too much.

But soon the money began to run out, and they couldn't afford the lessons any more.

Then one day Delia came back home and told Joe that she had met a man whose daughter, Sally, wanted to learn the piano, and he was going to pay her $ 50 an hour.

“Delia,"Joe said, "I'll be much happier if you keep up your lessons," Delia said it didn't matter. “When I've had some money, I'll continue.” But Joe also decided to stop his lessons to draw pictures and sell them.

A few days later, Joe came home and proudly took $ 200 from his pocket. "I met a man from Vermont,”he said, "who bought one of my pictures. And he wants to buy more!”

_________________.They didn't have to worry any more about money.

Then, one day, Joe came home and saw that Delia's hand was wrapped in a bandage(绷带). He asked her what had happened. "Oh", said Delia. "My student, Sally, asked me to make some coffee for her. I dropped the coffee and burned my hand. Sally went straight to the drugstore and got this bandage for me. ”

“Delia, what have you been doing the last two weeks?Joe asked. She tried not to tell him, but the tears came. "Oh Joe, I couldn't get any students, so I worked as a waitress in a restaurant. Today, I burned my hand with hot water. So I can't work any more. But we'll still have money from the man in Vermont, won't we?”

Joe looked at her. "There's no man in Vermont, " he said. “I've been working in a drugstore, and today someone came in to buy bandages for a woman who's burned her hand. So when I saw you, well, I guessed.”

They both laughed.

Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales, Britain. His father was rich but he died when Roald was very young. Roald and his mother lived a hard life. He had to leave school and went to Africa where he worked for an oil company.

    In 1939 Roald became a pilot, but he had a bad accident. It made him limp(瘸的) for the rest of his life. After this, Roald went to America where he wrote a story about his experience as a pilot. It was so good that it was put in a magazine.

Roald married an American film star. They bought a house in England and had five children. From 1960 to 1965,    ▲   : Theo, one of his children, was hit by a taxi and was seriously hurt. Olivia, one of Roald's daughters, died of a strange illness. Soon after this, his wife also had a serious illness. It took her years to get completely better.

 Gradually Roald became more and more successful. He always did his writing in an old shed(棚) at the back of his house. He always sat in the same old armchair with a wooden board on his lap.

 “One of the nice things about being a writer,” he once said, “is that all you need is what you've got in your head and a pencil and a bit of paper.”

       In 1983 Roald wona big prize for his book The BFG. During his life, Roald wrote many famous books, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox

       After he died in 1990, Roald left money to help people with serious illnesses and those with problems with reading and writing.           

    "Three apples have changed the world. One is for Eve, one is for Newton. The third is in the hands of Steve Jobs." said someone.

    Steve Jobs was the former CEO of the Apple computer company in his parents' garage(车库) on April Fool's Day, 1976. Through many years' hard work, Jobs and his Apple products were a great success. People believe he has made the world a better place. Many young people also think of Apple products as a fashion icon.

    Because of his great achievements in this area, he was honored with a number of awards, including the National Medal of Technology in 1985, the Times cover character (封面人物) and the Most Successful Manager in 1997.

    Jobs' road to success wasn't an easy one. He experienced several ups and downs, but he was still standing. Just as Hemingway in The Old Man and the Sea said, "A man can be destroyed, but not be defeated(打败)." So he was considered as an American hero.

    What did Jobs' workers and family members think of him?

    On one hand, some workers described him as a strange, bad-tempered(坏脾气的) boss. They said he was impatient with those who disagreed with him or didn't understand his ideas. On the other hand, his family members thought of him as a home-loving dad with each of his four children. He worried about all the things of them, such as their boyfriends, travel, safety and even skirt length. Though he was quite busy, he still attended his daughter's graduation party.