Elizabeth Blackwell was born in England in 1821, and moved to New York City when she was ten years old. One day she decided that she wanted to become a doctor. That was nearly impossible for a woman in the middle of the nineteenth century. After writing many letters asking for admission(录取)to medical schools, she was finally accepted by a doctor in Philadelphia. She was so determined that she taught school and gave music lessons to get money for the cost of schooling.

In 1849, after graduation from medical school, she decided to further her education in Paris. She wanted to be a surgeon(外科医师) , but a serious eye problem forced her to give up the idea.

Upon returning to the United States, she found it difficult to start her own practice because she was a woman. By 1857 Elizabeth and her sister, also a doctor, along with another woman doctor, managed to open a new hospital, the first for women and children. Besides being the first woman physician and founding her own hospital, she also set up the first medical school for women.

MORE than 50Marylandmiddle school students in theUStook part in an unusual activity for teenagers – they built a house during a summer camp in Annapolis.

“I came here doubtfully,” said JJ Jennings, 13, an eighth-grader at theKey Schoolin Annapolis. “Why am I paying to do labor?”

To be fair, building the house was a small project – 210 square feet (20 square meters) and sitting on a trailer (拖车) in the Key School parking lot.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not a big deal. Complete with solar panels (太阳能板) and a rainwater filtration system (过滤系统), the home is designed to be environmentally friendly.

Students worked in teams to finish the house quickly. They received help and instruction from a team of community volunteers.

Rogers Belch, lead carpenter (木工), has years of experience building homes. He said he was always “thinking of how to make the project meaningful for the kids,” often stopping to explain how to build a house and encouraging them to take leadership roles.

The camp was held by the school and SustainaFest, an Annapolis nonprofit (非盈利组织) that educates the public about sustainability (可持续发展能力). It aimed to educate students about the environment.

The house is sustainable in its materials and design. Aside from solar panels and a rainwater filtration system, the furniture can be rearranged (重新组合) to make the most of the small space. And the toilet feeds into a composting tank (堆肥池).

The students have a bright view of the future even though there have been so many warnings from scientists about climate change. A few of the campers said their families had organic (有机的) vegetable gardens, compost piles (堆) and rain barrels (桶).

“I think we’re doing a better job with the environment than we have in the past, especially with the new technology,” said Julia Branscombe, 14, at the Key School.

Her generation (一代人) might be naive (天真的), she said, but that could be a good thing.

“We might be able to do more than adults since we’re not saying: ‘The world is going to end.’”

   There is a very popular cat on the Internet. Its name is Gorge. This cat likes to stand up on its two back legs very much. Gorge does this when he meets someone new or can’t see the TV. His owner, Andrew Park, has put several hundred pictures on the Internet. And people all like the lovely cat. Now Gorge has more than a thousand fans.

      Andrew’s family moved to a new house six weeks ago. In their old house, Gorge never stood on his back legs before. But after about three weeks in their new house, he began doing this happily. But no one in the family knows how or why he wants to do this. The family also has two dogs, Apple and Banana. But Gorge quickly became the king in the house. Now the dogs like to follow him and play with him.

      “He has really short front legs. So maybe it is difficult for him to climb up onto things like other cats. And it is easier for him to stand up. If there’s a noise in the next room, he does it, too,” Andrew said.

      Why did Andrew put Gorge’s pictures on the Internet? Andrew answered: “He brings us so much joy and happiness. So we thought we should share it with others.”

      Although Gorge has an unhappy face, he is the friendliest cat the family has ever had. “We take him for a walk after dinner every day. And all our neighbors like him. He likes playing with others very much. He is also my alarm clock. He wakes me up every morning by climbing on my chest,” Andrew said.

The most important day Helen Keller remembered in all her life was the one on which her teacher, Anne Sullivan, came to her. It was three months before she was seven years old.

On the afternoon of that day, Helen knew that something was happening. She went outside and waited at the door of the house. She could feel the sun on her face and she could touch the leaves of the plants. Then she felt someone walking towards her. She thought it was her mother and she went to her and held her close. This was the teacher who had come to teach all things to her and, above all, to love her.

The next morning, the teacher took her into her room and gave her a doll. When Helen was playing with it, Miss Sullivan slowly spelled the word “d-o-l-l” onto her hand. Helen learnt a lot of words like this. After the teacher had been with her for several weeks, Helen understood that everything had a name.

One day Helen didn’t understand the difference between “mug” and “water”. She became angry and threw the doll on the floor. In her quiet, dark world she didn’t feel sorry for doing it. Then her teacher took her out into the warm sunshine. They walked down to the well where someone was drawing water. Her teacher put her hand under the water and spelled the word “w-a-t-e-r” at the same time in her other hand. Suddenly, Helen felt an understanding. She knew then that “w-a-t-e-r” was the wonderful cool something flowing over her hand. That living word awakened her spirit, gave it light, hope, fun and set it free!

Imagine you are in a jumping contest. Animals and insects can also enter this contest. But they might just leave humans in the dust!

The first event is the long jump. The human athlete is Mike Powell. In 1991, he jumped nearly 30 feet, which is the world record for the long jump. That is about five times his own height.

His competitor in the long-jump contest is a frog named “Rosie the Ribbiter.” Rosie set the world record for frogs in 1986 by jumping more than 21 feet. Her record has never been broken by any other frog. Compared to Mike Powell, Rosie’s jump is not that amazing. But wait! Rosie is only about 10 inches long when her legs are stretched to their full length. She can jump more than 25 times her size. Rosie, the frog, wins the long-jump event.

The next event is the high jump. Javier Sotomayor, the world record holder, can jump a bar (横杆) 8 feet high. That is about as high as the ceiling in most homes.

Looking around for someone to challenge his record, Javier might need a magnifying glass (放大镜). The next contestant is a tiny insect called the spittlebug (吹沫虫).

The spittlebug can jump 28 inches into the air. It is only a quarter-inch long, less than the width of a pencil. If the spittlebug were the same size as Javier, it would be able to jump 600 feet into the air. That is like a human jumping over a building 55 stories high!

Though the humans lose the “jumping contest,” their competitors would probably agree that Mike and Javier are still pretty excellent athletes. If only Rosie and the spittlebug could speak!

Lee Hadwin is a talented artist. He has drawn sketches (素描) of horses, famous stars, and beautiful landscapes (风景). He only draws in black and white. Oh, and there is one other thing. Hadwin only draws in his sleep.

Ever since he was about four years old, he has been waking up to discover detailed drawings beside his bed. But he doesn’t remember ever having done the drawings. When he is awake, Hadwin says he can’t draw at all. In fact, he has no interest in art. During the day, he works as a nurse.

When he was young, Hadwin, who now lives in London, England, used to cover his walls and tables with his sketches. In his teens, the drawings became more detailed.

He started leaving paper and colored pencils out for himself. While he is asleep, he gets up out of bed and sketches, without ever waking up. Even though there are paints and colored pencils for him to use, he never works in colour — only black and white.

Sometimes he draws twice a week; other times he will go three or four months without drawing. Hadwin, 33, says if he has had some wine to drink the night before, he is more likely to draw in his sleep.

Once, Hadwin woke up in the morning to find that he had cut up a pair of his favorite jeans in the night and changed it into a piece of artwork.

Researchers at the Edinburgh Sleep Centre are going to be doing some research on Hadwin to understand how and why he can sleep-draw. Other people have been known to sleepwalk, to eat in their sleep or even drive a car in their sleep. The sleep researchers say Hadwin’s sleep-drawing condition is unique. One researcher guesses that it could be a rare form of epilepsy (癫痫).

Hadwin is planning to exhibit some of his artwork (which has raised thousands of pounds for charity) at galleries in London and in Paris. He says his biggest fear is that he will suddenly stop drawing in his sleep. He says that every time he wakes up and sees some new art by his bedside he breathes a sigh of relief (安慰).

 One night， a little before nine o’clock， Dr Johnson was answering a telephone call. He was asked to go and give an operation to a very sick boy at once. The boy was in a small hospital in Glens Falls， sixty miles away from Dr Johnson’s city– Albany. The boy had hurt himself in a traffic accident. His wife was in danger， but his family was so poor that they could not pay the doctor anything. After he heard all this， Dr Johnson was driving carefully. He thought that he could get to the hospital before 12 o’clock. A few minutes later， the doctor’s car had to stop for a red light at a crossing. Suddenly a man in an old black coat opened the door of the car and got in. 　　“Drive on”， he said.“I’ve got a gun (枪).” 　　“I’m a doctor，” said Johnson，“I’m on my way to a hospital to operate on a very sick…” 　　“Don’t talk，”said the man in the old black coat，“Just drive.” 　　A mile out of the town he ordered the doctor to stop the car and get out. Then the man drove on down the road. The doctor stood for a moment in the snow. After half an hour， Dr Johnson found a telephone and called a taxi. At the railway station he learned that the next train to Glens Falls would not leave until 12 o’clock. 　　It was after two o’clock in the morning when the doctor arrived at the hospital in Glens Falls. Miss Clarke， a nurse， was waiting for him. 　　“I did my best，” said Dr Johnson. Miss Clarke said，“The boy died an hour ago.” 　　They walked into the waiting room. There sat the man in the old black coat， with his head in his hands. 　　“Mr. Shute,” said Miss Clarke to the man，“this is Dr Johnson. He had come all the way from Albany to try to save your boy.” 　

It was Mother’s Day. A man stopped his car at a flower shop to order some flowers. He wanted the shopkeeper to send the flowers to his mother, who lived two hundred miles away.

 As he got out of his car, he found a young girl sitting on the road crying. He asked her what was wrong and she replied, “I want to buy a red rose for my mother, but I only have seventy-five cents. A rose costs two dollars.” The man smiled and said, “Come into the shop with me, and I will buy you a rose.”

 He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother’s flowers. As they were leaving, he offered to drive the girl home. She said, “Yes, please! You can take me to my mother.” She brought him to a cemetery (墓地), where she placed the rose on the grave.

 The man was moved. He returned to the flower shop, picked up the flowers he had ordered, and drove two hundred miles to his mother’s house.

On Christmas Eve ─ the night before Christmas Day, children all over Britain put a stocking at the end of their beds before they go to sleep. Their parents usually tell them that Father Christmas will come during the night.

　　Father Christmas is very kind and hearted. He gets to the top of each house and climbs down the chimney into the fireplace. He fills each of the stockings with Christmas presents.

　　Of course, Father Christmas isn't real. In Jim and Kate's house, "Father Christmas" is really Mr. Green. Mr. Green doesn't climb down the chimney. He waits until the children are asleep. Then he quietly goes into their bedrooms and fills their stockings with small presents. When they were very young, Mr. Green sometimes wore a red coat. But he doesn't do that now. The children are no longer young, and they know who "Father Christmas" really is. But they still put their stockings at the end of their beds.

Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and Iron Man …There is no shortage of superheroes. You find them in comic books, on the TV and the big screen.

In a survey of fans by the sci-fi and fantasy website, SFX.co.uk, Batman, 70 years old this year, was voted Britain’s favorite superhero.

Unlike many crime-fighting superheroes, Batman has no special powers. He can't fly like Superman or shoot a sticky web like Spider-Man.

Bruce Wayne is born to a wealthy Gotham City business family. However, when his parents are murdered his life changes completely.

Wayne feels angry at their deaths and guilty that he did not prevent them. He travels around the world learning how to fight. Upon returning to Gotham, he creates a disguise（伪装） to enable him to fight crime without being recognized.

A childhood fear of bats leads him to choose to dress as one. His idea is that through the bat persona, he can prove to himself that he has overcome his childhood fears.

Wayne is the CEO of the company he inherits(继承) from his father. He seems to live the lifestyle of a millionaire playboy. But this is a ruse（计策）. He works hard at the image to allow himself the freedom he needs to do his work as a crime fighter. “Bruce Wayne, playboy” is the disguise; Batman is the real person.

“ Wayne is not a born superhero. Instead, he is a real, complex person, “said Dace Golder, editor of the website. "He is the most realistic of all the superheroes. I am particularly interested in the emotional process by which a boy becomes a hero. His superhero qualities come from within.”