Maria Mitchell was born in 1818 during a time when many people thought that woman did not need to learn . But , Mitchell's father thought that both boys and girls should go to school .1 he tutored her at home as well as sent to her to school .

    Mitchell's father , recognizing her interest in astronomy (天文学) at early age , encouraged her interest and taught her how to use a telescope . As an 2 she worked as the first librarian at the Nantucket Atheneum library from 1836to 1856 , all the while still looking at the sky at night , studying the stars and the planets.

    In October 1847, Mitchel saw a bright star through the telescope . She was sure that she had 3seen that star before. Excited , she ran to tell her father . She carefully wrote notes about the star. The next night , it looked as if the” star” had 4It also seemed to have a tail (尾巴)！Now , Mitchell was sure that she had found a comet , not a star.

    At eh time , the king of Denmark was offering a prize to the first person to find a comet that could only be seen through a telescope . Mitchell won the prize! It was a gold medal . But , she won something else too . She won people's respect when they saw that she was 5her work . Later , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences voted her in as its first female member .

    In 1856, a new college just for women opened . It was called Vassar College , and Mitchell became a professor there . She was the first female professor to teach astronomy , or the science of stars and planets . Because of her , female students learned that they could be scientists too . Women could make valuable 6to help understand our world .

    Years ago, I celebrated my 40^th birthday with friends in a 1 restaurant. Many arrived earlier and waited outside the restaurant, as I was on the roadside, a homeless man came near to me and 2money. I let him know I didn't have any cash (现金)with me. With a quiet smile on his face, he moved on.

    Just then a friend arrived and called out, "Happy Birthday!" Hearing this, the man turned and asked, "Hey, man, it's your birthday？""Yes, "I said. He walked 3, smiled and said, "Happy Birthday!" I was not 4 ready for what happened next. He took out a dollar from his dirty bag, and gave it to me, saying, "Here man, take this. Happy Birthday! "That's 5. I expected he was making a joke!

    Although I 6 deeply by his generosity (慷慨), accepting money from a homeless man was embarrassing for me. I felt very uncomfortable. 7I replied, "Thanks, but…"Looking directly into my eyes, he said, "God, so good to me Every night, I always end up with a place to sleep and enough food to eat. Please take this. "I held out my hand-8 thinking twice, saying," thank you"

    This was one of my9 life lessons— however poor we may feel, we always have something valuable to share with others. From then on I often helped people in need and treated everyone with kindness and 10, spreading love and joy everywhere I went.

    A college student stayed up all night studying for his zoology(动物学) test the next day. The following morning, 1 he entered the classroom, he saw ten birds on the desks. Each bird was 2 with a sack(麻布袋) and only the legs were outside.

    The teacher told the students that the test would be to watch each pair of bird legs and write down the name and the living habits of each bird.

    The student looked at each pair of bird legs. 3 of them looked the same to him. He began to get upset. He stayed up all night studying, but now he had to name birds by their legs. The more he 4 about it, the sadder he got.

    He 5 not think of any answers after a long time. He went to the teacher's desk and said, "What a strange test! 6 could anyone tell differences among birds by their legs? I'm afraid I have to take the exam later. "7 these words, the student put his test paper on the desk and walked to the door.

    The teacher was 8.The class was so big that he didn't know every student's 9, so when the student reached the door, the teacher 10 out, "One moment, boy, what's your name?"

    The student pulled up his trouser legs and said, "My dear teacher, can you guess my name by my legs?"

    I'd like to tell you something about my trip. First, we landed in Cape Town and took a taxi to our new friend Richard's house. We 1 there for a few nights. We did some cool things. We visited a bird and monkey park and saw many kinds of African 2 there.

    After 3 some time with Richard and his daughter, we left them to go to a place called Grootbos. 4 we were there, we saw my dad's friend Michael and we had supper together. We had fun5 Michael and staying at Grootbos. The food there was great. We really enjoyed 6. The next morning, we went to see whales and we got really 7 because we saw twelve of them. One pair came right up to the boat and rolled over on top of each other.

    From Grootbos we 8 to Cape Town to meet our friends who came to visit us on their vacation. We were both so 9 to have friends from home coming to 10 us in Africa. We spent a few days with them. It was very cool visiting Grootbos with them.

    Now we are going Oil Safari. I'll tell you about that later.