The yearly marathon (a long-distance running race of 42.195km) in my town usually takes place during a heat wave. My job was to  (1)  behind the runners in an ambulance (救护车) in case any of them needed medical attention.

       “We’re supposed to stay behind the  (2)  runner, so take it slowly,” I said to the driver, Doug, as the race started.

       The front-runners started to  (3)  and then my eyes were fixed on the  (4)  in blue silk running shorts and a loose white T-shirt.

       We knew we were already watching our “last runner”. Her  (5)  were so crippled(残废的)that it seemed almost   (6)   for her to be able to walk, let alone run a marathon.

       Doug and I   (7)   in silence as she slowly moved forward.   (8)  , she was the only runner left in sight. At that time,   (9)  streamed down my face when I watched with respect   (10)   she pushed forward with great   (11)   through the last miles.

       When the finish line came into sight, rubbish lay everywhere and the   (12)  crowds had gone home.   (13)   , a man was standing straight there, so proud. He was   (14)  one end of a ribbon(缎带)of crepe paper(绉纸) ,   (15)   was tied to a post. She slowly crossed through, leaving both ends of the paper fluttering(飘动)  (16)  her. I do not know this woman’s name, but that day she became a part of my   (17)  – a part I often depend on. For her, it wasn’t about   (18)   the other runners or winning a prize, but about winning what she had set out to do. When I think things are too difficult or I get those “I-just-can’t-do-it,” I think of the last   (19)  . Then I realize how   (20)  the task before me really is.

  Helen Thayer，one of the greatest explorers of the 20th century，loves challenges. She says， “I like to see whatˈs on the other side of the hill.” She has gone almost everywhere to do that.

   In 1988，at the age of 50，she became the first woman to travel alone to the North Pole. She pulled her own sled (雪橇) piled with 160 pounds of supplies，and during her trip no one brought her fresh

supplies. Accompanied (陪伴) only by her dog Charlie，she survived cold weather and meetings with polar bears. In fact，Charlie saved her life when one of them attacked her. Near the end of her trip，a forceful wind blew away the majority of her supplies. The last week of the trip， she survived on a handful of nuts and a little water each day.

   Helen goes to challenging places not only for adventure，but also for education. Before her Arctic journey，she started a website called Adventure Classroom. On the site，she shares her adventures in order to motivate (激发) students. She explains， “Although kids often see the world in a negative way，without hope for their future，we work to inspire them to set goals，plan for success and never give up...”

   Helen grew up in New Zealand. Her parents were athletes and mountain climbers. Following her parentsˈ example，she climbed her first mountain at 9. Later，she climbed the highest mountains in North and South America，the former USSR and New Zealand.

   In 1996，she took on another challenge--the Sahara Desert. She and her husband，Bill，walked 2,400 miles across it！In 2001，she and Bill traveled on foot from west to east through the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. They hope to travel in mainland China into Sichuan and Tibet to study pandas this year.

   Helen plans to continue taking trips. Sheˈll use her explorations，writing，photography and environmental work to create programs for her Adventure Classroom website. She wants to inspire her students never to stop facing challenges!

　Hannah Levine decided she wanted to give hugs to all of the children and families in need at local hospitals. Because she couldn’t give them one by one, Levine，then a sixth-grader, decided she would use her talents(才能) to do the next best thing. She began to knit(编织) hats, scarves, and blankets for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford. Her creations also went to Bundle of Joy, a program that provides newborn baby items for families in need, and to Knitting Pals by the Bay, a local organization that provides hand-knitted caps to cancer patients.

“I love to knit, and I thought it would be a great idea to make all these handmade items for kids and adults who need them. It would be like a hug for them，”Levine explained.

  Levine started the project about a year ago.“I think it’s just really fun to do, and it keeps me busy，” said Levine, now 13

  Once she got started, Levine realized that her project could be much bigger than the goods she was able to produce with just her own two hands. So she sent emails to her school and communities(社区)，asking for knitted donations(捐赠物) to the project she named “Hannah’s Warm Hugs”．She also posted advertisements at Starbucks and other locations in her area. The warm goods began to gush in．

“It was amazing; more strangers than people she knew started dropping donations at our door，”said Levine’s mother, Laura Levine.“We ended up with this huge box of items she was donating.”

The knitted items numbered in the hundreds. Levine made her first round of donations around Hanukkah (an eight-day Jewish holiday in November or December) and later received thank-you letters from the organizations. Levine is still knitting, and she said the project will continue.

“It has turned into a bigger thing than she had thought，”her mom said.“It made her feel pretty good; it made us feel pretty good.”

Minutes after the last movie ended yesterday at the Plaza Theater, employees were busy sweeping up popcorns and gathering coke cups. It was a scene that had been repeated many times in the theater’s 75-year history. This time, however, the cleanup was a little different. As one group of workers carried out the rubbish, another group began removing seats and other theater equipment in preparation for the building’s end.

   The film classic The Last Picture Show was the last movie shown in the old theater. Though the movie is 30 years old, most of the 250 seats were filled with teary-eyed audience wanting to say good-be to the old building. Theater owner Ed Bradford said he chose the movie because it seemed appropriate. The movie is set in a small town where the only movie theater is preparing to close down.

Bradford said that large modern theaters in the city made it impossible for the Plaza to compete. He added that the theater’s location(位置) was also a reason. “This used to be the center of town,” he said. “Now the area is mostly office buildings and warehouses.”

Last week some city officials suggested the city might be interested in turning the old theater into a museum and public meeting place. However, these plans were abandoned because of financial problems. Bradford sold the building and land to a local development firm, which plans to build a shopping complex on the land where the theater is located.

The theater audience said good-by as Bradford locked the doors for the last time. After 75 years the Plaza Theater has shown its last movie. The theater will be missed.

I had I had ever been invited to see a performance. That day I met a brave and talent boy I would never  (1)  .

The young musician, Mr. Patrick Henry Hughes was rolled onto the stage in his wheelchair and began to play the   (2)  . His fingers danced across the keys as he made beautiful   (3)  . He then began to sing as he played, and it was even more   (4)  . I was seeing something   (5)   in his face. It was something that I   (6)   can’t explain. And his smile was magic!

He was born with no   (7)   and a pair of paralyzed(瘫痪的) legs. As a child, he was fitted with artificial eyes and   (8)   in a wheelchair. Today, Patrick is a junior. His father   (9)   classes with him and heˈs made nearly all A’s.

But more than his   (10)   musical talent, it was Patrickˈs "attitude of gratitude" that   (11)   my soul. On stage, between songs, he talked to the   (12)  about his life and about how blessed he was. He said,“ God made me blind and unable to   (13)  . BIG DEAL! He gave me the ability, the musical   (14)   I have and the great opportunity to meet new people.”

I thought of a quote, "Life is not about waiting　  (15)   the storms to pass；itˈs about learning to　  (16)  　in the rain!”

I thought thatˈs it! We all   (16)   adversity(不幸) in our life. However, itˈs not the adversity, but how we react to it that will determine the joy and   (17)  in our lives. During   (18)   times, do we spend too much time feeling sorry for ourselves, or can we, with gratitude,   (19)   how to dance in the rain?

John Blanchard stood up from the bench(长椅), watching the crowd of people walking through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl---he knew her heart, but didn’t know her face---the girl with the rose.

His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf, he found himself curious, not about the words of the book, but about the notes written by someone. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous(之前的) owner’s name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With some efforts he knew that she lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself, and the next day he was sent to the battlefield(战场) of World War II.

       During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed(种子), maybe a romance was starting. Blanchard wanted a photograph, but she refused. She felt what one looked like wouldn’t be a mountain between soul mates(伙伴).

When the day finally came for him to return homeland, they planed their first meeting: 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. “You’ll recognize(认出) me,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my lapel(衣领).” So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he’d never seen.

       Mr. Blanchard himself will tell you what happened next: A young woman was coming toward me. Her blonde hair was like waterfall; her eyes were blue as flowers. In her green suit she was like springtime come alive. I stared at her, forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose.          

       Almost uncontrollably(情不自禁地) I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had gray hair under a worn hat. She was really like a huge rock, her thick-ankled(厚脚踝的) feet were into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split(撕裂) in two---I desired to follow the young girl, but I deeply longed to meet the woman with the rose, because her spirit could truly be close to me.

       And there she stood. I walked to her. My hand held the small worn book with blue cover to help her find me.

The day I received my letter of acceptance to New York University, I was extremely excited. It was my dream university, and my _  (1)   _ were pleased for me. But they also hadn’t  _  (2)   _  me to get into such a competitive school. In fact, the best thing they ever did for me was to  _  (3)   _  me from doing things  _  (4)   _ —indeed, when I was in elementary school, they offered to buy me a present  _  (5)   _  I got a C.

It _  (6)   _  when I was in third grade. An only child in an Asian family, I had just  _  (7)   _  with my family from Taiwan to Los Angeles. Months into third grade, I developed a strong feeling of  _  (8)   _  about getting bad grades. Seeing my anxiety, Dad said, “Kate, tell you what. If you get a C or  _  (9)   _ , I’ll buy you a present. If you score higher than that, I won’t buy you anything，because you won’t  _  (10)   _  it.”

Clearly dad wasn’t the  _  (11)   _  Asian tiger parent, pressuring me to work tirelessly for the best  _  (12)   _ , and neither was my mom. They didn’t want to push me. They wanted me to be _  (13)   _  and healthy. Dad’s  _  (14)   _  of a “failing grade” gift amazingly _  (15)   _  my worries and pressure. What’s more，I  _  (16)   _  getting A’s and B’s throughout high school, but without the added stress and fear of failing. I think it was my parents’ lack of stress on grades that gave me  _  (17)   _  to encourage my own desire for achievements.

I now realize I was  _  (18)   _  when I thought I didn’t receive a present from my dad that day. He gave me two invaluable  _  (19)   _ : the space to develop my own desire for excellence, and the healthy mind to _  (20)   _ it.

What’s more exciting than having a fresh hot pizza delivered to your door? How about having it brought to you by a robot? Thanks to Domino’s Robotic Unit or DRU, that just became a reality! On March 8, the three-foot tall robot delivered its first pizza to some lucky residents in Brisbane, Australia.

The fully autonomous DRU is the result of a cooperation between Domino’s Pizza Australia and Sydney based startup Marathon Robotics. The 450-pound machine that travels at a maximum speed of 12.4 miles an hour can cross a distance of up to 12 miles and back, before requiring a battery recharge. LIDAR, a laser-based sensor technology similar to the one used in self-driving cars, enables DRU to detect and avoid obstacles, while traditional sensors, much like those used in vacuum robots ensure its path is safe as it heads to its destination.

The robot can fit up to ten pizzas and even has a separate cold area to accommodate drink orders. Equipped with both Google Maps and GPS guidance, DRU can navigate bike paths and sidewalks and also find the most efficient way to its destination. Since the robot does not have to deal with road traffic, it could potentially make deliveries a lot quicker than humans. To access their food, customers have to enter the unique code provided to them by the company. This not only ensures that they pick up the right pizza, but also prevents the pies from getting stolen on route.

Though Domino’s has thus far built just a single prototype（样机）, they expect additional DRU to be ready for service in their various Queensland locations within the next six months. But don’t expect these super cute robots to replace humans anytime soon. According to Domino’s the DRU still needs extensive testing, which the company believes could take up to two years.

And then there is also the problem of regulations. The public use of autonomous vehicles is still banned in most countries. But Don Meij, the CEO and Managing Director of Domino’s Pizza Australia New Zealand Ltd, is not worried. One day DRU will become an integral part of the Domino’s family." We for one cannot wait!

Starting the day on an egg could keep your blood pressure under control, research suggests. Scientists have shown that eggs produce proteins with a function similar to that of powerful blood pressure-lowering drugs.

    The research, from the University of Alberta in Canada, showed that when eggs come in contact with stomach enzymes (酶) they produce a protein that acts in the same way as Ace inhibitors, but more work is needed to show the effects outside a lab and in the human body.

Earlier this month, British researchers declared that, contrary to popular beliefs, it is healthy to go to work on an egg. They concluded that the type of cholesterol (胆固醇) found in eggs has little effect on increasing heart disease risks.

    Researcher Professor Bruce Griffin, from the University of Surrey, said, "The wrong beliefs linking egg eating to high blood cholesterol and heart disease must be corrected. The amount of fat in our diet has an effect on blood cholesterol that is several times greater than the relatively small amounts of cholesterol found in eggs. The UK public do not need to be limiting the number of eggs they eat. They can be encouraged to include them in a healthy diet as they are one of natureˈs most nutritious foods."

    The British Heart Foundation dropped its three-egg-a-week limit in 2005. However, almost half of Britons believe the limit still applies.