Violent winds swept the ocean, and waves thundered to shore, shaking the lookout tower at Pea Island Rescue Station. Surf man Theodore Meekins was on watch that evening of 11 October 1896. A hurricane had struck the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and the tide was so strong that beach patrols(巡逻) had been canceled(取消). Still, Meekins paid close attention to the horizon. This was the type of weather that could blow ships hundreds of miles off course.

Offshore, the ship E. S. Newman was caught in the storm. The captain, whose wife and child were on the ship, feared the Newman would soon break up. He made the decision to beach his ship, then fired a signal, praying that someone onshore would see it.

Meekins, whose eyes were trained to cut through rain and surf mists, thought he saw the signal, but so much spray(水雾) covered the lookout windows that he could hardly make out the building of the station, much less the horizon offshore. Still, he took no chances. After summoning(召集) the station keeper, Captain Richard Etheridge, Meekins set off a coston signal, a signal made by using lamps of different colors. Together, the two men searched the darkness for a reply. A few moments later they saw a flash of light to the south and knew a ship was in distress. Even before the return signal burned out, Etheridge had summoned his men and begun rescue operations.

For the lifesavers, the rescue of the Newman was nothing unusual. Over the years, so many ships had foundered off the Outer Banks that sailors called the region the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Noting the dangerous surf and wind conditions, Captain quickly decided the surf boats would be impossible to control. Instead, he decided to use another way to help the survivors.

The crew set off on the long journey down the beach to the scene of the wreck(海滩). Captain Etheridge hoped to fire a line from a gun to the ship’s mast(船桅). After the ship’s crew dragged the line onboard, the surf men would fire a second line and carried survivors safely to shore.

The surf men crossed three miles of sand to reach the ship Newman. The water was freezing, and the men often sank up to their knees in sand. Captain Etheridge noted in his diary that “ the voice of gladdened hearts greeted the arrival of the station crew,” but that “it seemed impossible for them to do anything under such circumstances. The work was often stopped by the sweeping current.”

Even when the rescue equipment proved useless, Etheridge refused to give up. Choosing two of his strongest surf men, he tied rope lines around their waists and sent them into the water. The two men, holding a line from shore, walked with an effort as far as they could before diving through the waves. Nearly worn out while swimming against the tide, they finally made it to the ship.

The first to be rescued were the captain’s wife and child. With the two passengers tied to their backs, the surf men fought their way back to shore. Taking turns, Etheridge and his crew made ten trips to the Newman, saving every person onboard. It was 1:00 a. m. when the crew and survivors finally made it back to the station.

That night, as the exhausted survivors lay sleeping and his lifesaving crew rested, Captain Etheridge picked up his pen, and in the light of an oil lantern, wrote with satisfaction that all the people onboard had been saved and were “sheltered in this station” ---- words he would write for many years to come.

Five years ago, when I taught art at a school in Seattle, I used Tinkertoys as a test at the beginning of a term to find out something about my students. I put a small set of Tinkertoys in front of each student, and said: “Make something out of the Tinkertoys. You have 45 minutes today—and 45minutes each day for the rest of the week.”

  A few students hesitated to start. They waited to see what the rest of the class would do. Several others checked the instructions and made something according to one of the model plans provided. Another group built something out of their own imaginations.

  Once I had a boy who worked experimentally with Tinkertoys in his free time. His constructions filled a shelf in the art classroom and a good part of his bedroom at home. I was delighted at the presence of such a student. Here was an exceptionally creative mind at work. His presence meant that I had an unexpected teaching assistant in class whose creativity would infect(感染) other students.

   Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside. I ran the risk of losing those students who had a different style of thinking. Without fail one would declare, “But I’m just not creative.”

 “Do you dream at night when you’re asleep?”

 “Oh, sure.”

 “So tell me one of your most interesting dreams.” The student would tell something wildly imaginative. Flying in the sky or in a time machine or growing three heads. “That’s pretty creative. Who does that for you?”

 “Nobody. I do it.”

 “Really—at night, when you’re asleep?”

 “Sure.”

 “Try doing it in the daytime, in class, okay?”

Hereˈs an unusual story：a diamond ring was recently found in an egg. The magician，Liu Qian，discovered it，in front of an audience of millions at CCTVˈs Spring Festival Gala. Liuˈs magic tricks have made the centuries-old art of magic fashionable once again，and made him the hottest magician in China.

As a seasoned young magician from Taiwan，Liu is popular worldwide for his magic shows. Countries he has performed in include the United States，Japan，South Korea and the UK.Witnessing something impossible happen right before your eyes is the root of peopleˈs love for magic.

Liu is known for his interaction (互动) with his audiences. He has a unique understanding of showmanship (演出技巧)．

“Itˈs actually thinking rather than oneˈs manipulation (操作) skills that is more important to achieving a successful magic show. We think carefully about how to design the shows creatively，to make them appear more interesting.”Liu said.

Liu Qianˈs success dated back to his childhood. Born in 1976 in Taiwan，he found himself attracted to a magic toy in a shop when he was seven years old. At the age of 12，he won Taiwanˈs Youth Magic Contest，which was judged by the great American magician，David Copperfield.

Yet，Liu never planned on becoming a professional magician. He studied Japanese literature at university and only hoped to be an amateur (业余的) magician in his spare time. However，his failure to find a proper job after graduation pushed him towards magic as a career.To refine his performing skills，he has performed on streets，roads and fields for passers-by，policemen and farmers.“Street shows are the biggest challenge for us magicians. We have to deal with unexpected situations and tough crowds，”Liu said.

  Are you going into skiing? Is winter your favorite time of year? If you like snow and ice, maybe you should stay at Ice Hotel in Quebec, Canada. But, you can only check in at this hotel during the winter. Why ? Because this hotel is built every December. It has 32 rooms and 80 people can stay there each night. The hotel even has a movie theatre, art gallery, and church. Of course, all of these parts of the hotel are made of ice. In fact, all the furniture, art, lights, and even plates and drinking glasses are made out of ice.

      Because this hotel is so unusual, it is becoming very popular. People from all over the world come to the Ice Hotel to look at the fantastic ice art, drink and eat from designed ice dishes and experience the unique atmosphere (独特的气氛). Some couples have even gotten married in the hotel's ice church. But all these guests keep their winter coats on! Because of all the ice, the temperature inside the hotel is always between - 2ºC and - 5ºC. Surprisingly, sleeping is not a problem in the freezing cold hotel rooms. Every guest gets a special cold-weather sleeping bag and some fur blankets. These keep the room cozy and warm until morning.

Two soldiers, hungry and exhausted, came upon a small village. They went from door to door, begging for food. However, the villagers, suffering poor harvests and many years of war, gave them none.

    Then the first soldier had an idea. He took three round stones and washed them. There was a large iron pot in the square. He filled the pot with the water and built a fire beneath the pot. The villagers first looked out of their windows and then poured out into the square, wondering what was going on. The first soldier announced that he was going to make stone soup to feed them all. He carefully placed the stone into the pot.

    The water boiled all afternoon as the soldiers told tales of the lands they had travelled. Finally the first soldier announced that it was time to taste the soup. He took a sip and said, "It's a good soup. But it needs something. Here, you taste this and tell me what it needs. "The soldier looked at the nearest villager who quickly tasted the soup and said, "I think it needs an onion." "An onion!" said the soldier. "Anyone knows you can't make soup without an onion."

    One of the children, who knew where an onion was hidden, went and got it. Another hour went by and the soldier tasted the soup again. "What does it need?" he asked a nearby villager, who tasted the soup. The villager replied, "It needs a cabbage." Soon a villager approached hesitantly, holding a cabbage he'd retrieved, of course, from its hiding place.

    Another hour and another tasting… Gradually, salt, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes and beef found their way into the pot. When the villagers enjoyed the delicious soup together, they realized that only by sharing can they make a feast.

It was Monday. Mrs. Smith’s dog was hungry, but there was not any meat in the house.

Considering that there was no better way, Mrs. Smith took a piece of paper and wrote the following words on it: “Give my dog half a pound of meat.” Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently: “Take this to the butcher(屠夫). And he’s going to give you your lunch today.”

Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher’s. It gave the paper to the butcher. The butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady’s handwriting and soon did it as he was asked to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up at once.

At noon, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it, he gave it half a pound of meat once more.

The next day, the dog came again exactly at noon. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth. This time, the butcher did not take a look at paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had regarded the dog as one of his customers.

But, the dog came again at four o’clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher’s more surprise, it came for the third time at six o'clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt a bit puzzled. He said to himself, “This is a small dog. Why does Mrs. Smith give it so much meat to eat today?”

Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it!

One summer day my father sent me to buy wire and fencing for our farm in Marion County,South Carolina. At 16, I liked nothing better than getting behind the wheel of our Chevy pickup, but thistimeit made me low in spirits. My father had told me I’d have to ask for credit at the store.

Sixteen is a prideful age, when a young man wants respect, not charity. It was 1976, and the uglyshadow of racismwas still a fact of life. I’d seen my friends ask for credit and then stand, head down, while a store owner questioned whether they were “good for it”. I knew black youths just like me were watched like thieves by the store clerk each time they went into a grocery.

My family was honest. We paid off our debts. But before harvest, cash was short. Would the store owner trust us?

At Davis Brothers General Store,Buck Davisstood behind the register, talking to a middle-aged farmer. When I brought my purchases to the register, I said carefully, “I need to put this on credit.”

The farmer gave me a cynical look.But Buckˈs face didn’t change. “Sure,” he said easily. “Your daddy is always good for it.” He turned to the other man. “This here is one of James William’s sons.”

The farmer nodded in a friendly way. I was filled with pride.James William’s son. Those three words had opened a door to an adult’s respect.

That day I discovered the good name my father and mother had earned brought our whole family the respect of our neighbors. The desire to keep the respect of a good name urged me to become the first in our family to go to university. Eventually, it gave me the initiative to start my own successful public relations firm in Washington, D.C.

The values of artistic works,according to cultural relativism(相对主义),are simply reflections of local social and economic conditions.Such a view,however,fails to explain the ability of some works of art to excite the human mind across cultures and through centuries.

History has witnessed the endless productions of Shakespearean plays in every major language of the world.It is never rare to find that Mozart packs Japanese concert halls,as Japanese painter Hiroshige does Paris galleries.Unique works of this kind are different from today’s popular art,even if they began as works of popular art.They have set themselves apart in their timeless appeal and will probably be enjoyed for centuries into the future.

In a 1757 essay,the philosopher David Hume argued that because“the general principles of taste are uniform(不变的)in human nature”,the value of some works of art might be essentially permanent.He observed that Homer was still admired after two thousand years.Works of this type,he believed,spoke to deep and unvarying features of human nature and could continue to exist over centuries.

Now researchers are applying scientific methods to the study of the universality of art.For example,evolutionary psychology is being used by literary scholars to explain the long-lasting themes and plot devices in fiction.The structures of musical pieces are now open to experimental analysis as never before.Research findings seem to indicate that the creation by a great artist is as permanent an achievement as the discovery by a great scientist.

Half a centuryago, Japan built the worldˈs first high-speedrail network-a network that remains the gold standard intrain travel today. Currently the county isnow helping Texas buildits own bullettrain,a potential game-changer for transportation in the stale.

Whenit launched on October l, 1964, the worldˈs first high-speedrail networkwas knownas the“super-express of dreams." The first line in Japanˈs now world-famous shinkansen network was built against all odds, in the face of fierce public opposition, technical difficulties and astronomical costs -Half a century ago, the system was far humbler. In 1964, the first track was a 320-mile-long link betweenTokyoand Osaka that reduced the trip from six-and-a-half hours (on conventional trains) to three hours and 10 minutes, traveling at a maximum speed of 200 miles per hour. For the first time, workers could get to meetings in one city during the day and be back home drinking a beerin the local pub that night.

Not onlydid the train expand mobility profoundly, but also businesses appeared around the major stops as a growing emphasis on productivity swept across Japan. Today, the shinkansen networkhas 1,487 miles of track, with more set to open in the coming years. It seems that everything the shinkansen touches turns to city, and regions that are off the beaten track, so to speak, benefit greatly from the economic jumpstart brought by the train. New shinkansen lines are often proceeded by aggressive marketing campaigns promoting tourism in those areas, a strategy that seems to work.

Despite its astronomical costs, it actually has saved more. Today, over 350,000 annual trips transport tens of millions of passengers all over Japan with efficiency—the average delay time is less than a minute. A research report titled 30 Years of High-Speed Railways: Features and Economic and Social Effects of The Shinkansen by Hiroshi Okada, estimates that the economic impact from the shinkansen train network, bas ed on the time saved from faster travel, is approximately ¥500 billion ($4.8 billion USD) per year. Okada stresses that the cultural impact is also significant, a shinkansen offers people living far from urban centers "easy access to concerts, exhibitions, theaters, etc.,

enabling them to lead fuller lives."      .

Japan has a plan, known as the One-Day Travel Initiative. Its goal: regardless of where you areinJapan, it should only take you three hours to get to the nearest major regional city ( Tokyo.Osaka,Nagoya,Sapporoor Fukuoka). The planned impact of this hyper-mobility is to discouragethe tide of migration toward urban centers, like Tokyo, and encourage decentralization.

Recently, a study was carried out to determine who was the greatest American president．Sixty-five presidential historians took part in it, and they judged the past forty-two American leaders based on ten leadership qualities, including public persuasiveness(信服), crisis leadership, management of the economy, moral leadership, and conduct of international relations．The historians also looked at administrative ability (管理能力), relations with Congress, ability to set goals, and the pursuit of equal justice for all．Finally, the experts took into consideration the historical period in which the president lived．

The historians chose Abraham Lincoln as American’s greatest president．He had also been named best president in a similar study in 2000．Abraham Lincoln was the president who led the nation through the Civil War in the 1860s, and was able to unite it in the end．He also took the first steps to abolish(废除) slavery in America．

Edna Medford, a professor of history at Howard University in Washington, D.C., was an adviser on this study and the earlier one．She says Abraham Lincoln is seen to represent the values the nation most honors, such as truthfulness, moderation(克制), and respect for human rights．

The historians put American’s first president, George Washington, second on the list, while Franklin D．Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harry Truman follow in that order．John F．Kennedy, the country’s first Roman Catholic president, is sixth on the list．Like Lincoln, Kennedy was murdered while in office．

Among recent presidents, Ronald Reagan was named the tenth best and Bill Clinton rated fifteenth, while the historians put former president George W．Bush at number thirty-six．His father, George H.W．Bush, did much better, being placed at number eighteen．

a．Being able to persuade the public

b．Taking effective measures during a financial crisis．

c．Balancing home life and career．

d．Pursuing equal justice for all．