Maybe you don’t think animals have certain mental powers which human beings do not have. But the truth is that some of them have instincts, and besides this, I am sure they can feel certain things we humans cannot. A personal experience showed me this.

Some years ago, I had a dog named Howard. From the time when he was a puppy, he was timid, so we named him Howard, sounding like “coward”! He was especially afraid of thunderstorms. At the first flash of lightning or crash of thunder, he would run whining into his house and hide under a table.

I often went for a walk with Howard. Once, as we were walking along a road, it began to rain. I quickly ran to a bus stop for shelter. The bus stop had a roof supported by metal poles. Soon after I had got there, Howard caught my trousers in his teeth and tried to pull me away. At first I was puzzled and a little angry at his behavior. But I decided to humor him and walked away from the shelter into the rain and started to go home.
    When I was about two hundred metres from the shelter, there came a flash of lightning and soon after, there was thunder which nearly deafened me. Howard stopped walking and began whining. Thinking he was afraid, I bent to pick him up. As I straightened up, I glanced at the bus shelter we had just left. I was shocked to see that two of the poles were bent and the roof was lying on the ground, broken. The shelter had been struck by the bolt of lightning!

Americans like to travel on their yearly holiday. Today, more and more travelers in the United States are spending nights at small houses or inns (客栈) instead of hotels. They get a room for the night and the breakfast the next morning.

Rooms for the night in private homes with breakfast have been popular with travelers in Europe for many years. In the past five to ten years, these bed­and­breakfast places have become popular in the United States. Many of these America's bed­and­breakfast inns are old historic buildings. Some bed­and­breakfast inns have only a few rooms. Others are much larger. Some inns do not provide telephones or televisions in the rooms, others do.

Staying at a bed­and­breakfast inn is much different from staying at a hotel. Usually the cost is much less. Staying at an inn is almost like visiting someone's home. The owners are glad to tell about the areas and the interesting places to visit. Many vacationists say they enjoy the chance to meet local families.

Meet Ben Saunders, adventurer, motivational speaker. Ben, at the age of 23, was the youngest man to ski solo(单人滑雪)to the North Pole. He dragged a 180-kilogramme sledge（雪橇）over 1,420 miles through the worst Arctic(北极) conditions. This year, aswell as planning a return to the Arctic, Ben plans to ski solo from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole and back in the autumn, carrying all his supplies on his sledge.

      People said it was impossible for me to get to the Pole. I said, “No, I can get there,” and I did. Self-belief, I see it as being a bit like a muscle(肌肉) — it’s my belief that the more you stretch(伸展) yourself the stronger it gets. If you never do anything that’s uncomfortable or risky then your self-belief gets weaker. So that’s one of the lessons that I’ve found out along the way. The thing that I’ve stretched and tested is my self-belief.

      “My Antarctic adventure is just practicable and that’s what is exciting to me. If I knew I could do it without too much trouble, I wouldn’t be interested. Why? Personally I’m attracted by the human performance element to it. Not that long ago, running a marathon (马拉松)was seen as the top point of human attempt, and now I wouldn^’t be that surprised if my mum said she was going to run one next year.”

       People’s horizons (见识) are changing. “I’m not particularly gifted, and I’m absolutely average. I’ve just chosen this one goal to achieve and I’ve been working hard to realize it. That’s it. And that’s the thing that attracts me: with enough training and enough determination, enough focus and preparation, how far can we go? And I don’t think I’ve found out yet.”

There was once a professor of medicine, who was very strict with the students. Whenever he took the chair on the exam committee(担任考试委员会主席), the students would be in fear, because he was seldom pleased with the answers they gave. A student would be lucky enough if he or she could receive a good mark from him. At the end of the term, the students of medicine would take their exam again. Now a student entered the exam room and got seated before the committee. This student was a little nervous as he knew it would not be so easy to get through the exam at all. The professor began to ask. The student was required to describe a certain illness, his description of which turned out to be OK.

Then the professor asked about the cure (药剂) for illness, and the student, too, answered just as right.

“Good,” said the professor, “and how much will you give the patient?”

“A full spoon”, answered the student.

“Now you may go out and wait for what you can get”, said the professor. At the same time, the committee discussed carefully the answers the student had given. Suddenly the student noticed that there was something wrong with his last answer. “A full spoon is too much,” he thought to himself. Anxiously he opened the door of the room and cried, “Mr. Professor, I’ve made a mistake! A full spoon is too much for a patient. He can take only five drops.”

“I’m sorry, sir.” said the professor coldly, “But it’s too late. Your patient has died.”

  Since Abbi Hickman was just a little girl, she has been surrounded by animals. Chickens, cats, dogs, rabbits, and sometimes goats are just some of the animals she cares for. At the age of 9, Abbi went to the Tracy Animal Shelter, in her hometown of Tracy, California, to adopt Sheldon, her cat. There, she saw the poor conditions that the animals were kept in. Abbi knew that it was her duty to take action.

   Pins for Pets is Abbi's solution. For the last three years, she has organized a bowling tournament to raise funds for the Tracy Animal Shelter. She has raised more than $30,000. "Now, the shelter is nicer and cleaner. Animals have more space and they are more comfortable to live in the shelter. It is far better, a hundred percent better," Abbi says.

   To commend Abbi for her outstanding efforts, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) named her the 2015 ASPCA Tommy P. Monahan Kid of the Year. This award is given to kids who make a substantial effort to help animals. Abbi responded to the news of her win with shock. "I was pretty excited. I'm really honored to receive it," she says.

   Sacrificing time and effort to assist animals can sometimes be difficult, but Abbi hopes to do more. "I want to spread my free services to more shelters. I really just hope people are kinder to animals and respect them more," says Abbi, sharing her goals for her organization. At the age of 12, Abbi has already accomplished so much.

   The advice she has for kids like her, who want to accomplish their goals, is "Nothing is impossible. You can do anything you put your mind to. Even if it is something small, it can make a huge difference."

 Welcome to your future life!

   You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is firm and young-looking. In 2035, medical technology is better than ever. Many people your age could live to be 150, so at 40, you're not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age!

   You say to your shirt, "Turn red." It changes from blue to red. In 2035, "smart clothes" contain particles (粒子) much smaller than the cells in your body. The particles can be programmed to change clothes' color or pattern.

   You walk into the kitchen. You pick up the milk, but a voice says," You shouldn't drink that!" Your fridge has read the chip (芯片) that contains information about the milk, and it knows the milk is old. In 2035, every article of food in the grocery store has such a chip.

   It's time to go to work. In 2035, cars drive themselves. Just tell your "smart car" where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve. Such "smart technology" is all around you.

   So will all these things come true? "For new technology to succeed," says scientist AndrewZolli, "it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already." The Internet is one example. What will be the next?

The city of Venice，in  Italy，is one of a kind．It is built on more than 120 islands，just off arrival．After explaining where my new house was，I told him that I had left the key under the doormat．Since I knew it would be quite late before I could get back，I suggested that be make himself at home and help himself to anything that was kept in the refrigerator（冰箱）．
　　Two hours later my friend phoned me from the house．At the moment，he said，he was listening to some of my records after having had a nice meal．He had found the pan and meat in the refrigerator．Now，he was drinking a cup of tea and hoped that I would join him soon．When I asked him if he had any difficulty finding the house，he answered that the only problem  was that he had not been able to find the key under the doormat，but luckily，the living room window by the apple tree had been left open and  he had climbed in through the window．I listened to all this in great surprise．There is no apple tree outside my window，but there is one by the living room window of my next-door  neighbor’s house！
　　

C

     When you visit America, you will see the word Motel on signs and notice boards. It is made up of “motor” and “hotel” and it is really a hotel for people who arrive by car (however, you don’t need a car to stay at one). You have to pay when you arrive for your room, which usually has a bath. Meals are not provided, but there will certainly be a cafeteria (自助餐馆). Americans eat a lot of salads and sandwiches. Along the main roads there are a lot of motels. Each tries to offer more than next. Some provide television in every bedroom; others have swimming pools; and so on. Motels are especially useful when you are in the country, far from a town or city. You will also find them in the big National Parks.

     In these great National Parks, you may meet guests you don’t expect to see. An American friend told me a little story. In the middle of a moonless night she heard strange noises outside her motel window in the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Thinking it might be a thief, she jumped out of bed, opened the door and crept towards a dark shadow. As she got close, she saw the thief. She was dreadfully frightened: it wasn’t a human thief — it was a big black bear. The bear was turning over some empty tins with its paw, looking for tasty bits of food. My friend decided to leave that particular thief alone!

    There are also, of course, places called “rooming houses”,  where they receive lodgers (房客). You will see such signs as Tourists or Rooms Rent, and you could try one of these. A word of warning — looking for a room in New York during the tourist season is like looking for gold on the moon!　

I became a teacher at 55 years of age. Things were going on so well during my first two periods. Then came my 3^rd period class – the 8^th graders with only one girl in the class. I thought the class was bad until the intercom(内部通话系统) came on and the office was asking if I was in my classroom. “Of course,” I responded. A student who knew he was going to be late for class had informed the office I was not in my classroom – 10 minutes after class began.

When the student came in and I walked over to greet him, he said, “Don’t touch me.” He then put his head on his desk and did not seem to listen to a word I said. I did not comfront(使面对) him with the “lie” to the office.

The next day he came into class on time. This time instead of listening or following instructions on keyboarding software, he played Internet games. I walked over to him. He looked at me ready to snap back(没好气地顶撞) at anything I said. I asked him, “Where did you learn to use a computer like that?” he looked at me surprised. I repeated, “You are really good at that. Where did you learn so much?” He began to tell me his father “used to” buy him games to play, but not anymore. I could feel the pain. Instead of blaming him for being off task, I surprised him and praised him for his skills. Then, I asked him to show me what he could do in our software. He was amazed.

On a Friday night at a high school football game, I really got my breakthrough(突破). From about five feet away, in front of his friends he came over to me and gave me a big hug saying, “Hi, Ms. Marie.” We talked for a while and before he walked away, he had hugged me two more times. This was a long way from “don’t touch me” on that first day.