I am Tom. My mom told me my first and second words were "Mommy" and "Daddy". The next one was "No". I didn't want to eat vegetables. I didn't want to go to bed early. I didn't want to study in the school. Being the "baby" of the family (I have two sisters)，I said a lot of "No".

    When I became a middle school student, my father had a talk with me. He asked me to say "Yes" more than "No". "You can have a different life when you do that," he said.

    Then I began to say "Yes" more. When mom asked me to give her a cup of tea, I said "Yes". I saw a big smile on her face. When Dad asked me to buy some food for him，I said "Yes". When he said "thanks" to me, I felt excited and happy. When I met problems in study, I said "Yes, I can do it!" I began to study hard and got good grades.

    Saying "Yes" can bring good luck to me and make me happy. Let's say "Yes" to life. Say "Yes" when others ask for help. Say "Yes" to make this world be a good place.

    Jeff Black has only one leg. When he was 12 years old, he got cancer. The doctor had to cut off most of his right leg to save his life.

    Every day Jeff walks with all artificial(人造的) leg. With the help of the leg, he can ski, ride a bike and play tennis. He can even run.

    When he was 22 years old, Jeff ran across the United States. He ran 5,150 kilometers. That was about 9.6 kilometers each day. Jeff wore out 36 pairs of running shoes and five artificial legs.

    On his way, people in every city gave Jeff some money. The money was not for Jeff himself. It was for a project, which helps people with cancer. Jeff talked to people about cancer and his disability.

    Though Jeff is disabled, he can do lots of things like a healthy man. He has finished college and now he is studying to be a lawyer. He says, "I want people to know that I ran not only for the disabled but also for everybody. I hope my spirit can cheer others up."

    I'm going to have a great weekend. I'll go across Canada with my parents by car. We'll drive seven or eight hours a day.

    In Toronto, we'll stay in a big hotel. The food is very delicious. There's a big swimming pool and a lot of game rooms. I think I'll play there happily. But there will be lots of people in the hotel, so I think we'll sleep in one room. And it's expensive.

    Then we are going to stay in a small cabin(小木屋) in the mountains. I really love it. The cabin is clean and quiet. We'll have two rooms, so I can get up late in the morning. But we have to get up early because we want to go swimming. There is a beautiful lake near the cabin. We can go fishing and cook food outside.

    Devike was walking home from school. Everything was bad at school. In the morning, she got to school late. In the math test, half her answers were not right and she forgot to do her English homework. The teacher wrote a message in her notebook for her parents to sign.

    She knew her parents would be angry with her. She also knew she had a lot of schoolwork to do. Just thinking about these, she was sad.

    After she got home, her mother gave her a hug(拥抱) and said, "How was your day, dear?" Her little brother Rohit came to her and said," Hi, sister! I miss you.

    Quickly Devika felt better. Of course, her mom would be angry with her poor grades. But she loves her and that is more important. And her little brother always thinks she is smart and beautiful.

    At that time, Devika felt lucky to have such a great family and she didn't worry about her poor grades because the family could comfort(安慰) her when she was sad.

    Indonesia is my mother's homeland and one of my favorite countries. Since I was young, I had learned a lot about the country and become interested in it. For a long time I had wanted to do something for the country and people there, and I thought volunteering（做志愿者） would be a good and fun way to do so.

    I received the greatest pleasure from being with the children.

    Teaching my first English class in Aceh was exciting, but I was rather nervous. As time went by, I learned how to be a better teacher. Teaching was actually the most enjoyable of my many responsibilities(责任).

    Many children were shy at first. But when they relaxed, they would start talking and telling you a lot of funny things. I believed we were helping them build up their confidence.

    For the children who are more in need. The Education Program（TEP） will collect donations(募捐) to help them.

    As a volunteer, I had to visit the TEP children at home once a month and help them write a thank-you letter to their sponsors. This was a way for the children to communicate with their sponsors. Sometimes the sponsors would write back to the children. Seeing the children's happy faces, I had a great sense of pleasure.

    Clay Warner is wearing his basketball clothes, waiting in the chair for his chance to play—but until last week, nobody asked him to play. Although the 18- year-old students does well in playing basketball, his coach wouldn't like to bring Clay into play. He is afraid that Clay would get hurt.

    This is because it's kind of difficult for Clay to see things—even when he wears glasses. His mother says that he was born with cerebral palsy(脑瘫). Although he tries his best to look at the basketball hoop by focusing on the right corner of his glasses, it is not easy for him to do it well.

    On the high school's Senior Night last week, Clay's coach finally called him to play during the final minute of the game. With the watchers already standing to give him a warm welcome, Clay got into position as the crowd cheered him up.

    "I want to get him in. It was Senior Night," the head coach told reporters. "If there is an opportunity for him, I wanted to take advantage of it. All the player were for it, too."

    Once the game was back in play, one of Clay's teammates passed him the ball. Though he had been practising shooting hoops since he was in the third grade, this was the first time he had ever taken a shot on his high school basketball team.

    As the watchers waited, Clay took the shot and dropped the ball clean through the net, hardly touching the rim(边框)—and the watchers shouted in wild cheers.

    "This whole gym was calling my name," Clay told the news reporters. "The whole crowd was jumping. They were going crazy. It was like I were a little kid again."

    An eight-year-old child heard her parents talking about her little brother. All she knew was that he was very sick and they had no money. Only a very expensive operation could save him now and there was no one to lend them the money.

    When she heard her daddy say to her tearful mother, "Only a miracle (奇迹) can save him now." the little girl went to her bedroom and pulled her money from its hiding place and counted it carefully.

    She hurried to a drugstore with the money in her hand.

    "And what do you want?" asked the salesman. "It's for my little brother," the girl answered. "He's really, really sick and I want to buy a miracle." "Pardon?" said the salesman.

    “My brother Andrew has something bad growing inside his head and my daddy says only a miracle can save him. So how much does a miracle cost?" "We don't sell a miracle here, child. I'm sorry." the salesman said with a smile.

    "Listen, if it isn't enough, I can try and get some more. Just tell me how much it costs."

    A well-dressed man heard this and asked, “What kind of miracle does your brother need?”

    "I don't know," she answered with her eyes full of tears. "He's really sick and mum says he needs an operation. But my daddy can't pay for it, so I have brought all my money."

    "How much do you have?" asked the man. "$1.11, but I can try and get some more." she answered. "Well, what luck ,”smiled the man. "$1.11, the price of a miracle for your little brother."

    He took up the girl's hand and said, "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the kind of miracle you need."

    That well-dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a famous doctor. The operation was successful and it wasn't long before Andrew was home again.

    How much did the miracle cost?

    There was once a man called Mr. Flower, and flowers were his only joy in life. He spent all his free time in one of his four glass-houses and grew flowers of every color, with long and difficult names, for competitions. He tried to grow a rose of a new color to win the silver cup for the Rose of the Year.

    Mr. Flower's glass-houses were very near to a middle school. Boys of around thirteen were often tempted to throw a stone at one of Mr. Flower's glass-houses. So Mr. Flower did his best to be in or near his glass-house at the beginning and end of the school day.

    But it was not always possible to be on watch at those times. Mr. Flower had tried in many ways to protect. his glass, but nothing that he had done had been useful. He had been to school to report to the headmaster; but this had not done any good. He had tried to drive away the boys that threw stones into his garden, but the boys could run faster than he could, and they laughed at him from far away. He had even picked up all the stones that he could find around his garden, so that the boys would have nothing to throw; but they soon found others.

    At last Mr. Flower had a good idea. He put up a large notice made of good, strong wood, some meters away from the glass-houses. On it he had written the words: DO NOT THROW STONES AT THIS NOTICE. After this, Mr. Flower had no further trouble, the boys were much more tempted to throw stones at the notice than at the glass-houses.

    Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous scientists in this century. He was born in 1942. He's world well—known on space and time. Stephen was searching some very big questions, such as "How did the universe begin? How will it end?"

    Stephen was a student at Oxford University. He studied math and science. Then, at the age of twenty, he became sick. He was so young, but the doctors said to his family, "He has only two more years to live." As a matter of fact, the doctors were wrong – he didn't die. He can't walk but he uses a wheelchair. He can't feed himself and get in or out of bed himself. But he refused to give in to the condition. He talks with the help of a computer. After Oxford, Stephen went to Cambridge University. Three years later, in 1965, he became a doctor of philosophy (哲学).

    Because of his serious health problems, it was difficult for him to draw or to write. So he started to think in pictures. With this new way of thinking, he became one of the most famous scientists in the world. In 1981, he met the Pope (教皇) in Rome. They talked about his ideas. Then in 1988, he wrote his first important book, A Brief History of Time. It sold more than 5.5 million copies in 33 different languages. He was once invited to China, he impressed us with his self—confidence, humorous and witty (风趣的) conversation.

    Once upon a time, there lived a kind-hearted king. He loved birds and animals, and had a huge bird sanctuary (禁猎区) in his kingdom. He disliked harming the animals and birds. He did not kill them for meat. One day, the king was sent two beautiful birds by a businessman. The king ordered the trainer to make them feel comfortable in their country.

    One day, the king saw one bird fly very high, very quickly. However, the other bird just sat on the branch (树枝) and didn't move even a step. The trainer said that he had tried everything he could but still failed to make the bird move. Soon, the king announced that he needed someone to make it move and fly.

    A few weeks later, an old man reached the king's palace and assured him that he would make the bird fly like the other one. The king asked the trainer to take the old man to train the bird. The next day, the king went to visit the old man. He was surprised to see the other bird fly like the first one to great height at rapid speed. The king was very happy and sent the old man quite a few gold coins and asked the old man what he had done to make the bird fly in a day. 

    The old man simply replied, "I just cut down the branch of the tree where the bird used to sit on."

    Many of us are like this. We have wings to fly; we know how to fly, and where to fly. Still we sit doing nothing or doing something that makes us inferior (较差的) to others.