The  cat’s  lot  was  about  to  improve. That year, one of Benjamin’s cousins, Mr.Pennington, came to visit. He was impressed with Benjamin’s drawings. When he went home, he sent Benjamin a box of paint and some brushes. He also sent six engravings(版画) by an artist. These were the first pictures and first real paint and brushes Benjamin had ever seen.

In 1747，when Benjamin was nine years old，Mr.Pennington returned for another visit. He was amazed at what Benjamin had done with his gift.He asked Benjamin’s parents if he might take the boy back to Philadelphia for a visit.

    Leslie Morissette's son, Graham, was 6 years old when he was diagnosed with leukemia (白血病). Throughout Graham's ___(1)___ in the hospital, Graham connected with everyone he met, from ___(2)___ patients to younger children. "He would ___(3)___ other sick children his toys or act silly to make them laugh." Morissette said. "Graham's special spirit is what kept me going. He gave me the energy and the ___(4)___to fight with him." In 1997, when he was 8 years old, Graham passed away.

    ___(5)___ by how Graham lived his life caring about others, Morissette ___(6)___ the nonprofit Grahamtastic Connection  in his honor. The organization provides free technology-including computers, iPads, and robots-to children ___(7)___ cancer and other serious illnesses.

    One of the major goal of Morissette's work is to ___(8)___kids to their classrooms, which really helps them continue their ___(9)___despite hospitalizations and days ___(10)___ from school.

    The robots "transport" children right into the classroom in real time. They can ___(11)___the robots right from their ___(12)___bed or home. If a child is unable to attend school, they can ___(13)___ log on to their tablet or laptop and call in to the robot. They can ___(14)___up and down the school paths. They can go to lunch with their___(15)___. The real magic happens between classes, when they're walking down the hallway with their friends, by robot, ___(16)___ their weekend and their favorite foods and other things. It's great technology that really gives children the feeling of control, when their world is maybe ___(17)___control.

    "Every time I can help a child in need, I feel ___(18)___ Graham is smiling down." Morissette said, "1 believe that Graham's___(19)___ lives on in the work that I do. And I'm___(20)___and privileged to be able to do it in his honor."

This is a true story of a mother’s sacrifice (牺牲) in an earthquake.

When the rescuers reached the ruins of a young woman’s house, they saw her dead body through the cracks. Her pose was somehow strange---she knelt (跪) on the ground like a person who was worshiping (祷告)；her body was leaning forward, and her two hands were supported by an object. However, the cold and stiff body told them that she had passed away for sure.

The rescuers left this house and were going to search the next collapsed (倒塌的) building. For some reason, the team leader was driven by a strange force to go back to the ruined house. Again, he knelt down to search the little space under the dead body. Suddenly, he screamed with excitement, “ A child! There is a child!”

The whole team worked together; carefully they removed the piles of ruined objects around the dead woman. There was a 3-month-old little boy wrapped in a blanket under his mother’s dead body. Obviously, the woman had made great sacrifice in order to save her son. When her house was falling, she used her body to make a cover to protect her son. The little boy was still sleeping peacefully when the team leader picked him up.

A doctor came quickly to examine the little boy. After he opened the blanket, he saw a cellphone inside the blanket. There was a text message on the screen. It said, “ If you can survive, you must remember that I love you.” Everybody that read the message cried.

Robert Ballard was born in 1942. From an early age, he loved the sea. Ballard grew up in Southern California. He spent his free time at the beach near his home. He enjoyed fishing and swimming. He even learned to dive.

When Ballard wasn’t at the ocean, he loved reading about it. At the age of 10, he read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, a book which describes the undersea adventures of Captain Nemo. Ballard decided he wanted to be like Captain Nemo when he grew up. His parents helped him follow his dream.

Ballard was a hardworking student. He spent many years learning all he could about the ocean. By the age of 28, he was an expert. In 1970, he took a job as a scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. There he studied underwater mountains of the Atlantic Ocean. He came up with ways to predict volcanoes under the oceans. Working with other scientists, Ballard also found previously unknown sea animals. These animals lived far below the ocean’s surface, where scientists had believed no animals could live.

By the 1980s, Ballard’s interests changed. He developed unmanned vehicles to explore the ocean bottom. His first find, the well-known ship Titanic, made Ballard famous. He was not happy with just one big find, however. He looked for and found other well-known ships. One was the German battleship Bismarck. Another was the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier (航空母舰) that sank during World War II.

Today Robert Ballard is still an underwater explorer. He also heads an organization that encourages students to learn about science. Ballard hopes that some of the students will follow his footsteps. After all, the world’s huge oceans are mostly unknown. Who knows what remains to be discovered under the sea?

Mr Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr Johnson took the only escape route—through the boot(行李箱)．

Mr Johnsonˈs car had finished up in a ditch(沟渠) at Romney Marsh, Kent, after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly，” Mr Johnson said. “I couldnˈt force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in.”

Mr Johnson, a sweet salesman of House Sitting, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.

Later he said, “It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came.”

It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. “It was the only chance I had. Finally__it__gave,__but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up.”

His hands and arms cut and bruised，Mr Johnson got to Becketts Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmerˈs wife, Mrs Lucy Bates. Trembling in a blanket, he said, “That thirty minutes seemed like hours.” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, the police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch.

Next morning, there was no wind and we were half a mile from the eastern coast of the island．Although the sun shone bright and hot, I hated the thought of Treasure Island, afraid of what would happen there．

Guns were given to all the honest men．Hunter, Joyce, and Redruth were told what was happening, and were less sur-prised than we expected them to be．Then the captain went on deck to talk to the crew．

They all became happier at once．I think they thought they would find the treasure lying around on the beach! After some talk, six men stayed on board, and the others, with Silver, got into the small boats．

I then had the first of the mad ideas that helped to save our lives．If six men were left, we could not take control of the ship; and because only six were left, the captain’s men did not need my help．So I quickly went over the ship’s side and into the nearest boat．

No one took much notice of me, only one man saying, “Is that you, Jim?” But Silver called from the other boat, wanting to know if it was me．Then I began to worry if I had done the right thing．

The crews rowed to the beach and our boat arrived first．I ran towards the trees．Silver and the rest were a hundred me-tres behind, and I heard him shouting, “Jim, Jim!” But I took no notice, pushing through trees and bushes, and ran until I could run no longer．

I was pleased to lose Long John and began to enjoy looking around this strange island．I crossed wet ground and came to a long, open piece of sand, then went on to a place where the trees had branches that were thick and close to the sand．

Just then I heard distant voices, Silver’s among them, and hid behind a tree．Through the leaves, I saw Long John Silver and another of the crew talking together．

“I’m warning you because I’ m your friend, Tom,” Silver was saying．

“Silver,” said Tom．“You’re old and you’re honest, or so men say; and you’ve money, too, which lots of poor seamen haven’t．And you’re brave．Why let yourself be led away with that kind of scoundrel? I’d rather die than—”

Suddenly, there was a noise of distant shouting, then a long horrible scream．I had found one honest man here, and that ter-rible, distant scream told me of another．

“John!” said Tom．“What was that?”

“That?” replied Silver．His eyes shone like pieces of broken glass in the sun．“That’ll be Alan．”

“Alan!” cried poor Tom．“An honest and true seaman! John Silver, you’ve been a friend of mine, but for no longer．You’ve killed Alan, have you? Then kill me, too，if you can!”

The brave man turned his back on Silver and began to walk back to the beach．With a shout, Silver threw his crutch through the air．It hit poor Tom between the shoulders, and he fell to the ground with a cry．