It was only with her death that Nurse Edith Cavell became known, but her story became one of the great epics (ASF) of the First World War. Edith Cavell, born on December 4, 1865 at Northfolk, England, studied nursing, and became First Matron(护士长) at a hospital in Brussels, Belgium. During the war she became an important link in a chain of people helping the wounded and stray Allied soldiers (离散的盟军士兵) back to their own lines. The Germans caught her and she was sentenced to be shot. This brave woman, who had helped over two hundred soldiers to safety, acted with great pride during the short trial(审判). She said at the end her only regret was that she could not have done more than she did.

    Edith Cavell was killed by several German soldiers on October 12, 1915 after an American's request to spare her life had been rejected. There is a statue(雕塑) of her in London, arid Mount Edith Cavell in Canada is named for this heroic nurse.

While watching the Olympics the other night, I came across an unbelievable sight. It was not a gold medal, nor a world record broken, but a show of someone's strong determination to win.

The event was a swimming and started with only three men on the blocks. For one reason or another, two of them made mistake when they started, so they were kicked out. That would have been difficult enough, not having anyone to race against, even though the time on the clock is what's important.

I watch the man jump into the water and knew right away that something was wrong. Now I'm not an expert swimmer but I do know a good jump from a poor one, and this was not exactly medal quality. When he was swimming, the crowd started to laugh. Clearly this man was not a medal competitor.

      I listened to the crowd begin to laugh at this poor man that was clearly having a hard time. Finally he made his turn to start back. He tried his best, but clearly he was exhausted.

       But when they saw the man keeping on trying , they stopped laughing and beginning to cheer. Some even to stand and say: “Come , you can do it!” and “ Go for it！”

       A few minutes later ,this young man finally finished his race. The crowd went wild. You would have thought that he had won the gold, and he should have. Even though he recorded one of the slowest times in Olympic history, this man gave more heart than any of the other competitors.

       Just a short year ago, he had never swam, let alone raced. His country had been asked to Sydney as manners.

       In a competition where players remove their silver medals feeling they have somehow been cheated out of gold, or when they act so proudly in front of their competitors, it is nice to watch this game.

       A man that gave his all-knowing that he had no chance, but competed because of the spirit of the games.

    Do you know Yao Beina?

    Not only a popular singer was Yao Beina, but also she was an energetic and warm-hearted angel. She had her corneas (眼角膜) donated to two men who needed them, which helped them see the world clearly again.

    Yao was born in a music family on Sept. 26, 1981 in Wuhan. Her father, Yao Feng, was the former chairman of the Shenzhen Association of Musicians and now serves as the vice chairman of Guangdong Association of Musicians. Under the influence of her family, she had taken up piano since the age of 4, and she sang her first song on the stage when she was 9 years old. Yao did quite well in singing, so she took part in the thirteenth Youth Singing Competition and won the first prize.

    She became well-known to the public after making a series of songs for the hit TV drama “The Legend of Zhenhuan” in 2012, and the mandarin version (中文版本) of “Let It Go” from Disney's “Frozen”. In July 2013, she competed in The Voice of China II and finally got the second place in Na Ying's team. She had won a lot of music awards before she was famous.

    Yao Beina was unfortunate to be diagnosed (诊断) with breast cancer (乳腺癌) and had a successful operation in 2011. Since then, she has fought against the disease for about four years while keeping singing, but sadly she failed. She originally thought of donating all of her organs (器官) to save others' lives, but failed to do it because of her serious illness.

    She's gone, even though she had never stopped struggling with cancer. Heaven just got another beautiful angel, with her beautiful voice and kindness.

    When an big earthquake hit Wenchuan on May 12，many houses fell down. After the earthquake，all the newspapers reported many stories about some of the families who were in trouble. 

    One Sunday，when I was reading a newspaper，a special picture touched（触动）me. It gave the clothing sizes of each family member. I thought that this would be a good chance to teach my children to help those who were less lucky than themselves. I said to my seven-year-old twins，Brad and Brett，and three-year-old Meghan. "We have so much，and these poor people now have nothing. We'll share what we have with them.

    I filled a box with foods and clothes. While I was doing this，I encouraged(鼓励) the boys to choose their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys took out his old toys and games and put them together. Then she walked away. A few minutes later she came back with Lucy，her much-loved doll. She put the doll on top of the other toys. "Oh，dear，I said, ―You don't have to give Lucy. You love her so much.Meghan said，―Lucy makes me happy，Mommy. Maybe she'll make another little girl happy，too.

    I looked at Meghan for a long moment. She taught me a lesson. It's easy to give something that we don't want any more，but harder to give what we cherish（珍爱），isn't it?

    My friend Mary came to school wearing a brand-new pair of Zee jeans. “Your new Zee jeans are so cute!” I said.

    “My grandma took me clothes shopping last weekend,” Mary said. “The Zee jeans were on sale. They have cool pockets and are unbelievably comfortable. When you're at my house after school, try them on and see for yourself.”

    “Hmm.” I didn't think so. But when I tried them on, I couldn't help agreeing. “I'm totally taking these!” I said. As soon as I got home, I told my mom that I had to get some Zee jeans.

    Mom said, “You already have three pairs of perfectly good jeans. There is no way Dad and I are paying that much for a pair of pants. If you want to buy them with your own money, I would be happy to make a long list of extra chores you can do.”

    “I'll start this minute,” I said.

It took me three weeks to save enough money. I changed kitty litter, watched my little brother and sister, and cleaned refrigerator. The refrigerator cleaning was the worst because one of the shelves fell while I was taking everything out. Food and milk splashed all over the floor. It took me one and a half hour to clean it up!

    Anyway, I finally bought my Zee jeans, and I loved them even more than I thought I would. I loved them half because they had cool pockets and super comfortable, and half because I had worked so hard to earn the money to buy them myself.