Everybody has his own hero in mind and is always trying to copy his behaviors in life. As for me, my 1 is just that man. My grandfather had a small farm. He also worked in a 2.

    One autumn, most of the farmers in the village were all 3, so he promised to help his neighbor harvest the corn as he often did. 4, after harvesting his own corn, Grandpa's little corn machine broke. What was 5, the factory where Grandpa worked made the workers have extra work. He had to 6 the farm early and didn't get back until very late. It now seemed 7 to help out his neighbor because he really had no free time.

    One night, Grandpa 8 that he wouldn't let his neighbor's harvest rot (腐烂) in the field. Without a 9 , he'd harvest it by hand.

    “I don't think you'd have time to do it,” said my grandma. “10, it'd be too dark to do anything at night.”

    “I know of one night that I could do it!” he 11 . “There's still one more full moon in October. If the 12 is clear, I think I can do it.”

    A few days later, after a long shift (轮班) at the factory, my grandpa went to the 13. The weather was cold but clear. He cut all the corn through the night to 14 his word.

    Sometimes, when I want to put off responsibilities, I'd see my grandfather 15 corn in the light of the harvest moon. Behind him, row after row of corn stocks (玉米秸秆) stand at attention in respect for a man who keeps his word.

Mother Tongue (语言)

    My name is Jiniku but everyone calls me Joey, including my parents. My father is American but my mother is not. My mother grew up in a country whose name I cannot pronounce correctly. She was educated in French and Latin, Spanish and German.

    My mother wrote all day, but never showed anyone what she wrote. She had notebooks she would write in, and a typewriter to straighten out (整理) the final copy.

    When she had typed (打字) pages, she put them in a box. This box was deep under the bed that she and my father shared.

    There were only two words that she ever said in the real voice, with her real accent (口音), real tongue. I heard her say them only three times in her life. She taught them to me one night as I lay on her legs, sweating (出汗) with fever.

    "Jiniku," she said in a low voice. "Jiniku." I focused (集 中) on her voice through my fever, realizing that something had changed. She was speaking from a part of her that she had not opened for a long time. She took my hand, and placed my palm (掌心) over her heart. "Juriszu." She stared out the window. There was a long silence. I could feel her heartbeat, which was calmer and slower than my own. "My name," she said at last, speaking once more in English, "means „dark ocean (海洋).‟ And you, Jiniku, my baby, yours means „life.‟" She looked out the window again. "„Ji‟ is the word for a happy birth. One where everyone lives and there is little pain. „Ni‟ is a tree that had its roots (根) spread far and whose branches (树枝) shelter (庇护) all. „Ku‟ is spirit. You have this all-encompassing (包罗万象的) life." She placed her hand on my heart. "The first and last letters of our names are the same," she said. "Don‟t forget that, Jiniku."

    Karan Singh is just like any other five-year-old- except for the fact that he is 5 feet 7 inches tall! When he was born, he was 15 pounds- the usual1of a newborn baby is about half of this, and he was four inches taller than the usual baby.2his height and weight at birth, his father Sanjay thought there might be something wrong with him, but doctors found he was3and really fine.

    Before he could walk or talk, Karan was made into The Guinness Book of World Records in 2008 as the tallest and heaviest newborn baby. Karan clearly4his mother, Shweatlana, who is 7 feet 3 inches tall and one of the5women in South Asia! Sanjay is also quite tall at 6 feet 7 inches.

    Being so tall isn't always a great thing for Karan and his6. Karan used to get bullied about his height, but he doesn't anymore. "But they all say that I am cheating when we7 basketball," Karan said.

    Shweatlana also had trouble finding diapers that fit him when he was8and still has trouble finding children's clothes for him sometimes. "Now I just buy him adult size9. They fit him perfectly well," she said.

    She is also10about her health and that her son might have the same condition she has. "I used to get about 1.5 inches of height every year because of too much growth hormone. I sometimes feel afraid that my son has the same disease as I have. But I know he is doing well and he will grow up to be a nice and healthy person."

Why do you open a school? If you ask Nadia Lopez this question, she would simply answer: to close a prison. Lopez is the founder of Mott Hall Bridges Academy, a public school in Brooklyn. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

To set up the school, Lopez faced many challenges. The greatest challenge was to get in touch with children without hope. At first, Lopez only had 45 kids. She once asked some girls, "{#blank#}2{#/blank#}" The answer was, "I don't know if I'm going to live that long." or "I have a lifelong goal of working in a fast-food restaurant nearby." These students had no idea that there were great chances outsider their neighborhood.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} And they have tried their best to keep their students active an hopeful. "We call our students students 'scholars（学者）' because they are lifelong learners. I chose the colors purple and black to remind students that they are excellent. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} They can be future engineers, scientists and even leaders who can and will take over this world," Lopez said.

A popular New York blogger heard about the school and wrote a post about it, telling people how the children struggled（挣扎）, and why people must make education the most important thing. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} About 1.4 million dollars were raised for the school and its students got to take field trips to colleges and universities.

"Up to now, we have had three graduating classes（毕业班）. They have nearly 200 children," said Lopez.
 

Do you know suona? It's a kind of Chinese1 . Zhou Haiyan is from Anhui and her2 started playing the suona over 100 years ago. Zhou's father taught her suona when she was only six. At the age of9, she could3 it very well. 

Later, Zhou4 that there were few chances(机会)to play the suona. Many people were not rich, so they left home to5 other work. Zhou wanted to make money like them, but she couldn't give up(放弃)playing the suona. It is the most6 part of her life. 

Now Zhou Haiyan is 56 years old. Last year, she started to hold livestream(直播)suona shows for three7 a day. Zhou plays the suona8 in the shows. And they get popular (受欢迎的)with a lot of Chinese music9 . Zhou does farm work during the day and plays the suona at night. "It feels10 to do my favourite thing. "she says happily.