Darek Fidyka, a 38-year-old Bulgarian, had been paralyzed (瘫痪的) from the chest down for four years after a knife attack. Scientists from Britain and Poland took cells from his nose, transplanted (移植) them into his back and re-grew his spinal cord (脊髓). Now he can walk and even drive a car. The doctors were delighted but said it was the first step in a long journey.

    The breakthrough came after 40 years of research by Professor Geoff Raisman, who found that cells had the possibility to repair damage to nasal (鼻腔的) nerves, the only part of the nervous system that constantly re-grows. “The idea was to take something from an area where the nervous system can repair itself and put it into an area that doesn't repair itself,” Professor Raisman said.

    Polish doctors injected (注射) the nasal cells into Mr Fidyka's spinal cord above the injury and used some nerves from his ankle to form a bridge across the damaged tissue. The nasal cells appear to have caused the spinal nerves to repair themselves.

    Professor Raisman achieved this with rats in the late 1990's, but this is his greatest success. “I think the moment of discovery for me was Christmas in 1997 when I first saw a rat, which couldn't control its hand, put its hand out to me. That was an exciting moment, because I realized then that my belief that the nervous system could be repaired was true.”

    Doctors chose the easiest case for their first attempt—it might not work for others. But there is a real sense of hope that an idea once thought impossible has been realized.

    David Nicholls, who helped provide money for the breakthrough, said information about the breakthrough would be made available to researchers across the globe.

    “What you've got to understand is that for three million paralyzed people in the world today, the world looks a totally brighter place than it did yesterday,” he said.

    Every country has its heroes .They may be soldiers or sports people, doctors or film stars. We admire（钦佩） them for their courage, their strength, their devotion（忠诚） to duty or their talent. Their example inspires us to live better, to work harder.

    Terry Fox was a young student who loved life and who loved sports. When he was just 18 years old a terrible tragedy happened: his right leg had to be cut off because of cancer. Such an experience would have destroyed a weaker person — but Terry Fox was a fighter. He refused to give up. Instead, while he was recovering from the operation, an idea slowly formed in his mind. He decided he would run across Canada, in order to raise money for cancer research.

    Slowly and carefully, he began to train. Every step was extremely painful, but he insisted, increasing the distance covered day by day. Sixteen months later, in the spring of 1980, he was ready for the long journey across Canada — his Marathon of Hope .It was a time of inspiration and heart breaking emotion. Through television, every home saw his particular way of running, a kind of half- hop and half- run. Thousands of people lined the route to encourage him and to wish him well. They also gave money to fight cancer. Then, on 1st September 1980, after 143 days and more than 5000 kilometers completed, everything came tragically to an end Terry had to stop. He lived on for another nine months and died on June 18th 1981. He was almost 23.

    It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, career, and life itself got in the way. In fact, Jack moved clear across the country in pursuit of his dreams. There, in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son. He was working on his future, and nothing could stop him.

    Over the phone, his mother told him, "Mr. Belser died last night. The funeral is Wednesday." Memories flashed through his mind like an old newsreel as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days.

    "Jack, did you hear me?"

    "Oh, sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It's been so long since I thought of him. I'm sorry, but I honestly thought he died years ago." Jack said.

    "Well, he didn't forget you. Every time I saw him he'd ask how you were doing. He'd reminisce (回忆) about the many days you spent over 'his side of the fence' as he put it." Mom told him.

    "I loved that old house he lived in." Jack said.

    "You know, Jack, after your father died, Mr. Belser stepped in to make sure you had a man's influence in your life." she said.

    "He's the one who taught me carpentry. I wouldn't be in this business if it weren't for him. He spent a lot of time teaching me things he thought were important… Mom, I'll be there for the funeral." Jack said.

    Busy as he was, he kept his word. Jack caught the next flight to his hometown. Mr. Belser's funeral was small and uneventful. He had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.

    The night before he had to return home, Jack and his Mom stopped by to see the old house next door one more time, which was exactly as he remembered. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture… Jack stopped suddenly.

    "What's wrong, Jack?" his Mom asked.

    "The box is gone." he said.

    "What box?" Mom asked.

    "There was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he'd ever tell me was 'the thing I value most'." Jack said.

It was gone. Everything about the house was exactly how Jack remembered it, except for the box. He figured someone from the Belser family had taken it.

    "Now, I'll never know what was so valuable to him," Jack said sadly.

    Returning to his office the next day, he found a package on his desk. The return address caught his attention.

    "Mr. Harold Belser" it read.

    Jack tore open the package. There inside was the gold box and an envelope. Jack's hands shook as he read the note inside.

    "Upon my death, please forward this box and its contents to Jack Bennett. It's the thing I valued most in my life." A small key was taped to the letter. His heart racing, and tears filling his eyes, Jack carefully unlocked the box. There inside he found a beautiful gold pocket watch. Running his fingers slowly over the fine cover, he opened it.

    Inside he found these words carved: "Jack, Thanks for your time! Harold Belser."

    "Oh, My God! This is the thing he valued most…" Jack held the watch for a few minutes, then called his assistant and cleared his appointments for the next two days.

    "Why?" his assistant asked.

    "I need some time to spend with my son." he said.

    Since the first Earth Day in 1970, Americans have gotten a lot “greener” toward the environment. “We didn't know at that time there even was an environment, let alone that there was a problem with it,” says Bruce Anderson, president of Earth Day USA.

    But what began as nothing important in public affairs has grown into a social movement .Business people, political leaders, university professors, and especially millions of grass-roots Americans are taking part in the movement. “The understanding has increased many, many times,” says Gaylord Nelson, the former governor from Wisconsin, who thought up the first. According to US government reports, emissions (排放)from cars and trucks have dropped from 10.3 million tons a year to 5.5 tons .The number of cities producing CO beyond the standard has been reduced from 40 to 9. Although serious problems still remain and need to be dealt with, the world is a safer and healthier place. A kind of “Green thinking” has become part of practices.

    Great improvement has been achieved. In 1988 there were only 600 recycling programs; today in 1995 there are about 6,600. Advanced lights, motors, and building designs have helped save a lot of energy and therefore prevented pollution.

    Twenty –five years ago, there were hardly any education programs for environment. Today, it's hard to find a public school, university, or law school that does not have such a kind of program. “Until we do that, nothing else will change!” say Bruce Anderson.

    When many people are worried that there are no more heroes in modern times, two university students who lost their lives to rescue drowning children have shown that heroes still exist (存在).

    According to the Inner Mongolia Morning Post, the accident occurred on the afternoon of December 14, 2002 when three school students skating on a frozen lake in Qingcheng Park in Hohhot fell through the ice into the freezing water.

    More than 20 university students who happened to be near the spot immediately went to the rescue of the children.

    Two children were quickly rescued, but the third died. The child's body was not found for three hours. Two of the rescuers, Liu Ye and Hao Longbiao, also died of cold and exhaustion (筋疲力尽).

    The body of Hao who took the lead in jumping into the lake was not found until the next day.

    A student who was unwilling to tell his name said he and his classmates from the local college were taking photos at the lake. When they heard the children's cries for help, they went to the ice hole hand in hand to rescue the children. But the ice kept breaking, causing most of them to fall into the icy water.

    Local residents held mourning ceremonies (祭奠仪式) at the lake.

    Eight of the students were seriously affected by the freezing water and were being kept in hospital for further observation, but their lives were no longer in danger.

    Although the idea of "zero emission net carbon-positive, sustainable (可持续)" development was promoted worldwide, most cities are at a loss what to do or even some have objected to it. But in Liuzhou, a city in southern China, attitudes could not be more different.

    The Liuzhou Municipality Urban Planning Bureau has signed up Italian architect Stefano Boeri, the father of the forest city movement, to build a self-contained community for up to 30, 000 people. He is the go-to man for such projects thanks to the success of his "vertical forests", two residential (住宅的) towers. Completed in 2014, they remove up to 17.5 tons of soot (煤烟) from the air each year, and a year later one of them was named Best Tall Building Worldwide.

    The Liuzhou project is a much more ambitious undertaking, however. Its homes, hospitals, hotels, schools and offices will be built on a 340-acre site in what Boeri calls the first attempt to create an "urban environment that is really trying to find a balance with nature". Its 100 species of plant life are expected to absorb almost 10, 000 tons of carbon dioxide and 57 tons of pollutants per year, while at the same time producing 900 tons of life-giving oxygen.

    Although the architects haven't published the cost of the forest city, the Milan towers cost only five percent more than traditional skyscrapers.

    The construction of his forest city at Liuzhou is set to begin in 2020, and there is still a great deal of planning and research required before a projected completion date can be set. However, Boeri remains optimistic about the project and has confidence in the soundness of his vision: "I really think that bringing forests into the city is a way to deal with global warming."