Li Na is a middle school student. Last term, while she was watching a clothing show on TV, a kind of traditional clothes called hanfu caught her eye. How she wished to have her own hanfu!
She told her mother that she wanted one. Her mom thought for a while and said, "You can have one if you make progress by the end of this term." She felt disappointed（失望的）but decided to make it. After that, she studied harder than before. Whenever she faced difficulties, she tried her best to solve them. Sometimes she thought about giving up, but she fought on. Then, in the final exam, she made great progress. And her mom was happy with her. Finally, the "big" day came. When she got home one afternoon, she saw a beautiful big box on the table: "Wow, hanfu!" Her wish came true.
On a sunny Saturday, Li Na wore her own hanfu to a park with her family. There, a lot of people were attracted by her clothes including some foreign children. Li Na introduced hanfu to them proudly. She told them that hanfu-a symbol of Chinese culture, is getting more and more popular. That day, she enjoyed the beauty of hanfu and experienced the traditional culture.
Looking back at the past days, she thinks she has got a lot more than the new clothes. Whenever she sees hanfu, it reminds her that hard work can help people get what they want.
If someone is 2.57 meters tall, we would say this person is super tall. Can this person be the tallest on record?
The tallest man in history was Robert Pershing Wadlow. He was 2. 72 meters tall! When he was born, he was just like other babies. But as he was growing, he became unusual from other children. Let's take a look at the timeline of Robert's early years of life:
Childhood
1918 Robert Pershing Wadlow was born on February 22. He weighed a normal (正常的) 3. 9 kilograms. When he was six months old, he weighed 13. 6 kilograms.
1919 When he was 18 months old, he weighed almost 30 kilograms.
1923 Robert went to kindergarten- the place like a school or class for children aged five. He was already 1. 7 meters tall. He could wear the clothes of a 17-year-old boy.
1926 When Robert was eight years old, he was over 1. 8 meters tall.
1927 Robert could carry his father up the stairs (楼梯) of their home.
Cindy was eight years old and lived with her parents in California. One day, her parents told her ha they would leave California in a week and move to Florida because her father found a new job there.
A week later, after they moved to Florida, Cindy's mother took her to meet her new teacher. The teacher said, "Welcome to our school, Cindy. Let me tell you what we do in our second-grade class. We start the day with reading and wring. After that, we do math. Then we go out to have a long rest for outdoor activities. We eat lunch at eleven o'clock. Then we have story time. After story time, we have science. Then we go to learning centers. There you can work on the computer, play a game, or read a book. Next, we have spelling (写字课). Finally, we go to music and art classes for the last hour of the day. Here is a time list of the subjects and school activities for you. There is some other information in it. I'll be glad to see you tomorrow, Cindy! I'm sure your new classmates will be glad to see you, too. "
Dreams are like stars. You may never catch them, but if you follow them, they will lead you to success. Yan Ning is such a dream follower.
Yan is a rising star in the science world. When Yan Ning was only a little girl, she dreamed of being a great scientist. After years of hard work, in 1996, she went to Tsinghua University to study biology. After graduating from Tsinghua in 2000, she went to Princeton University and finished her study abroad in 2007. Then she returned to Tsinghua and set up her own lab. At the age of 30, she became the youngest professor(教授)at Tsinghua.
Now. Yan, 42, has become a leading biology researcher at Princeton. On April 30, she was included among the 100 new members and 25 foreign associates(院士)into the US Natinal Academy of Science(国家料学院)
However, it was a long and difficult road for her to make such achievements. She said that in order to realize her dream, she experienced a lot of failures and pains. But she never gave up her dream. Instead, she followed her dream and fought for it.
She usually works at least I4 hours a day. Sometimes she even forgets to eat and rest and works until late night. She never gets tired because she thinks doing research is the most "comfortable" job for her.
In a TV interview, Yan encouraged young people to work hard for their dreams. "All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to follow them."
Cycads(苏铁)grow in warm places. They are tall and green all year round. Their leaves grow on the top and flowers seldom come out. Some have bright orange fruits. They usually need hundreds of years to grow into adult plants.
Cycads are facing problems now. In South Africa, the situation of cycads is getting terrible, but this has drawn little attention from the public. "In fact, there are 38 kinds of cycads in South Africa. Among them, 2 kinds have disappeared since 2003 and 25 kinds are in great danger," said a gardener. "Do you know what the loneliest plant is in the world? It is Wood's Cyead. Someone found it in a forest in 1895. It is the only one of its kind."
So what causes cycads to be in danger? Surprisingly, the danger is from the people who love them most. These slow-growing adult cycads even sell for tens of thousands of dollars each. As time goes by, they have become a symbol(象征)of wealth and position(地位)in society. This makes cyead lovers want to own more. Cyead lovers buy and plant them in their private gardens. As a result, nearly all these cyeads die because the living conditions have changed.
Recently, South African government has taken some actions to protect cycads from being stolen traded. At the same time, people around the world should also work together to protect the plants.
