Would you agree with the statement that a wish is born from an idea, a simple idea imagined in the mind? Back in the 19^th century two men had an idea which became their great  (1)  . The efforts they had made were rewarded with their success that   (2)   world travel.

In 1903, the Wright Brothers (Wilbur and Orville) achieved their dream. They flew the world’s first power-driven, heavier-than-air machine by which they made free, controlled and sustained   (3)  . Kitty Hawk, North Carolina   (4)   this important and memorable moment.

The dream started with an idea that was planted in their minds by a   (5)   given to them by their father. In the words of the boys, “Our father came into the house one evening with some object in his hands, and   (6)   we could see what it was, he threw it into the air. Instead of falling to the floor, the toy flew across the room   (7)   it hit the ceiling, where it finally sank to the   (8)  .” This simple toy attracted the Wright Brothers and started their lifelong   (9)    in human flight.

The Wright Brothers   (10)   learning new things.   (11)   they opened their own printing office and then in 1893 they opened a company where they repaired bicycles. But Wilbur had his mind set on something more   (12)  . He decided to pursue   (13)  .

The brothers spent many hours researching,   (14)   their machines and making improvements. What started out as a   (15)   soon became a career. With determination and   (16)  they realized their dream in 1903.

The next time you hear or see an airplane or travel on one,   (17)   where it all started. A simple idea was developed in the minds of the two young men who didn’t have a university degree. They were not scientists in the   (18)   sense of the world.

What idea are you working on? Have you limited yourself by saying you are not a scientist or not   (19)   enough? Whatever the mind can think and believe, it can be   (20)  .

Robert Owen was born in Wales in 1771. At the age of ten he went to work. His employer had a large private library so Owen was able to educate himself. He read a lot in his spare time and at nineteen he was given the job of superintendent(监工) at a Manchester cotton mill. He was so successful there that he persuaded his employer to buy the New Lanark mill in Scotland.

When he arrived at New Lanark it was a dirty little town with a population of 2,000 people. Nobody paid any attention to the workers’ houses or their children’s education. The conditions in the factories were very bad. There was a lot of crime and the men spent most of their wages on alcoholic drinks.

Owen improved the houses. He encouraged people to be clean and save money. He opened a shop and sold the workers cheap, well-made goods to help them. He limited the sale of alcoholic drinks. Above all, he fixed his mind on the childrenˈs education. In 1816 he opened the first free primary school in Britain.

People came from all over the country to visit Owenˈs factory. They saw that the workers were healthier and more efficient than in other towns. Their children were better fed and better educated. Owen tried the same experiment in the United States. He bought some land there in 1825, but the community was too far away. He could not keep it under control and lost most of his money.

Owen never stopped fighting for his idea. Above all he believed that people are not born good or bad. He was a practical man and his ideas were practical. “If you give people good working conditions,” he thought, “they will work well and, the most important thing of all, if you give them the chance to learn, they will be better people.”

 Fifteen years ago, I took a summer vacation in Lecce in southern Italy. After climbing up a hill for a panoramic(全景的) view of the blue sea, white buildings and green olive trees, I paused to catch my breath and then positioned myself to take the best photo of this panorama.

   Unfortunately, just as I took out my camera, a woman approached from behind, and planted herself right in front of my view. Like me, this woman was here to stop, sigh and appreciate the view.

   Patient as I was, after about 15 minutes, my camera scanning the sun and reviewing the shot I would eventually take, I grew frustrated. Was it too much to ask her to move so I could take just one picture of the landscape? Sure, I could have asked her, but something prevented me from doing so. She seemed so content in her observation. I didn't want to mess with that.

   Another 15 minutes passed and I grew bored. The woman was still there. I decided to take the photo anyway. And now when I look at it, I think her presence in the photo is what makes the image interesting. The landscape, beautiful on its own, somehow comes to life and breathes because this woman is engaging with it.

   This photo, with the unique beauty that unfolded before me and that woman who "ruined" it, now hangs on a wall in my bedroom. What would she think if she knew that her figure is captured(捕捉) and frozen on some stranger's bedroom wall? A bedroom, after all, is a very

private space, in which some woman I don't even know has been immortalized(使……永存). In some ways, she lives in my house.

   Perhaps we all live in each others' space. Perhaps this is what photos are for: to remind us that we all appreciate beauty, that we all share a common desire for pleasure, for connection, for something that is greater than us.

   That photo is a reminder, a captured moment, an unspoken conversation between two women, separated only by a thin square of glass.

I had known for a long time that the people around me used a method of communication different from mine; and even before I knew that a deaf child could be taught to speak.One who is entirely dependent upon the manual alphabet（手写字母）has always a sense of narrowness.This feeling always disturbed me.Finally I insisted on using my lips and voice.Friends tried to discourage this tendency,fearing it would lead to disappointment.But an accident soon occurred which resulted in the breaking down of this great barrier.

In 1890 Mrs.Lamson,who had just returned from a visit to Norway,came to see me,and told me of Ragnhild Kaata,a deaf and blind girl in Norway who had actually been taught to speak.Mrs.Lamson had scarcely finished telling me about this girl's success before I was on fire with eagerness.I decided that I,too,would learn to speak.I would not rest satisfied until my teacher took me,for advice and assistance,to Miss Sarah Fuller,principal of the Horace Mann School.This lovely,sweet-natured lady offered to teach me herself.

Miss Fuller’s method was this: she passed my hand lightly over her face,and let me feel the position of her tongue and lips when she made a sound.I shall never forget the surprise and delight I felt when I uttered my first connected sentence,"It is warm." True,they were broken syllables;but they were human speech.My soul came out of bondage（束缚）,and was reaching through those broken symbols of speech to all knowledge and all faith.

 It was a winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2005. While most people were warming up their cars, Trevor, my husband, had to get up early to ride his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On arrival, he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 hours of labor, he returned to find his bike gone.

The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work, putting in 60-hour a week to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries, saving us from having to walk long distances from where we live.

I was so sad that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our story. Shortly after that, several people in our area offered to help. One wonderful stranger even bought a bike, then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It really is an honor that a complete stranger would go out of their way for someone they have never met before.

People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another, but acts of kindness from strangers are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives because it strengthened our faith in humanity (人性) as a whole. And it has influenced us to be more mindful of ways we, too, can share with others. No matter how big or how small, an act of kindness shows that someone cares. And the results can be everlasting.

At my heaviest I weighed 370 pounds. I had a very poor relationship with food: I used it to   (1)   bad feelings, to make myself feel better, and to celebrate. Worried about my health, I tried many different kinds of   (2)   but nothing worked. I came to believe that I could do nothing about my    (3)    .

      When I was 50, my weight problem began to affect me   (3)   . I didn’t want to live the rest of my life with this   (4)   weight any more.

      That year, I    (6)     aseminar where we were asked to create a project that would touch the world. A seminar leader shared her  (7)    story—she had not only lost 125 pounds, but also raised $25,000 for homeless children.

        (5)   by her story, I created the As We Heal(痊愈), the World Heals   (6)  . My goal was to lose 150 pounds in one year and raise $50,000    (10)   amovement founded 30 years ago to end hunger. This combination of healing myself and healing the world (11）     me as the perfect solution.

    (7)  I began my own personal weight program, I was filled with the fear that I would  (8)   the same difficulties that beat me before. While the   (9)   hung over my head, there were also signs that I was headed down the right   (10)  . I sent letters to everyone I knew, telling them about my project. It worked perfectly. Donations began     (16)    infrom hundreds of people.

      Of course, I also took some practical steps to lose weight. I consulted with a physician（内科医生）, I hired a fitness coach, and I b）gan to eat small and   (11)   meals. My fund-raising focus also gave me new motivation to exercise   (12)  .

      A year later, I  (13)   my goal: I lost 150 pounds and raised $50,000! I feel that I’ve been given a second life to devote to something that is   (14)   and enormous.

A

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.

Tu Youyou, an 84-year-old female（女性）scientist, became the first Chinese to win a Nobel Prize in science on Oct 5. Before that, she ever won the 2011 Lasker Award for finding out artemisinin (Qinghaosu), which saved millions of lives. She was grateful（感激的）for the Lasker prize, but said, “It is just a scientist’ duty. I will go on fighting for the health of all humans.” 

Tu kept her work in the 1960s and 1970s. In that age, Malaria (疟疾) could took away people’s health. Scientists all over the world had already tried over 240 000 times t but failed. Tu Youyou, a member of theAcademyofTraditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing, began to study Chinese herbs. 

Before 2011, people didn’t know Tu very much. Many friends played jokes with her “the Professor of Three Noneˈs” : no degree（学位）, no study experience abroad, not a member of any Chinese national colleges. But she is hard-working. She read a lot of traditional Chinese medicine books and did a lot of researches on the disease.

InFebruary, 2012, Tu was named National Outstanding Females (One of the Ten) Tu is now a model of Chinese medical workers.

   One day after school, I went to the teacher's office to see my teacher, but nobody was there. As I was about to leave, I noticed a piece of paper on the floor. I picked it up and saw the words "Final-term Examination" at the top. I put the paper into my school bag secretly and ran out of the room.

    After I came back home, I took out the paper quickly. It was the exam paper of my worst subject, history. I felt excited. My heart beat fast. I took out my history book and started working on the answer. I had never answered any questions so seriously.

    On the day of the history exam, I went into the exam hall confidently. When the paper was sent to me, I dreamt of getting the highest mark in the whole grade and could not help smiling. "My history teacher always encouraged me to work hard and get better grades, but I let him down time and time again. This time I will give him a big surprise," I thought.

    When the teacher said we could start, I turned the paper over. To my surprise, all the questions were different. Later I felt nervous. In the end, I almost left the paper undone. After the exam, I ran to the toilet, took out the paper and carefully read it from the top. Oh! It was last year's exam paper. I read all the questions but I hadn't read the date.

    This is a lesson in which I know I have to put my feet on the ground. I regretted doing such a silly thing. After that, I told my teacher the truth and I promised to be honest. From then on, I worked harder than ever before.