My mother used to ask me what is the most important part of the body. Through the years I kept trying to give the correct answer.

When I was younger, I thought _______ was very important to us as humans, so I said, ＂My ears, Mommy.＂

She said, ＂No. Many people are deaf. Keep thinking about it and I will ask you again.＂ Several years _______, she asked me again. This time I told her, ＂Mommy, sight is very important to _______, so it must be our _______.＂

She _______ me and told me, ＂You are learning fast, _______ the answer is not correct because there are many people who are blind.＂

Over the next few years, she asked me a few more times and always her answer was, ＂_______, but you are getting smarter every year, my child.＂

I was greatly _______ when she asked me this now. I always thought this was a ________ between her and me. She saw the confusion(困惑) on my face and told me, ＂This ________ is very important. It shows that you have ________ lived your life.＂ I saw her eyes filled up with tears. She said, ＂My dear, the most important body part is your shoulder.＂

I asked, ＂Is it because it ________ your head?＂

She replied, ＂No, it is because it can hold the head of a friend or loved one when they ________. Everybody needs a shoulder to cry on sometimes in life, my clear. I only hope that you will have a shoulder to cry on when you need it.＂

Then and there, I knew the most important body part is not a ________ one. It is sympathetic(同情的) to the pain of others.

   A psychologist（心理学家） walked around a room while teaching stress management to the audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the “half empty or half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she asked: “______?”

Answers came out from 8 oz（盎司） to 20 oz.

She replied, “The real weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

She continued, “The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel numb-unable to do anything.”

It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses. As early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the evening and into the night. Remember to put the glass down!

   Denny was a famous photographer. He traveled all over the world, taking pictures for magazines and newspapers, and won many prizes.

“I’ll do anything to get a good photo,” he often said. “I’ll go anywhere at any time, even if it is dangerous.”

And he told the truth. He had photos of earthquakes, forest fires, floods and even wars. If something interesting happened, Denny went to photograph it.

He was a married man and his wife often asked him to take her with him, but he always refused. “I’ll travel for my work, not for pleasure,” he told her. “You won’t have fun, and I won’t have time to look after you. Sometimes there’s not even anywhere to stay, and I have to sleep outside. I often don’t have a good meal or a bath for days. You won’t like it.”

“Denny, I am not a child,” his wife didn’t agree. “I can look after myself. Please take me with you the next time you go overseas.”

Denny didn’t say anything, but he thought about it, and when he was asked to go to Africa, he said to his wife, “You can come to Africa with me if you want to. I have got to take photos of wild animals there. It should be interesting and not too uncomfortable.”

His wife was very excited, and at first she had a very enjoyable time. Then Denny went to the forest to find some lions to photo. His wife went with him, but before long they became separated.

She walked down one path while he walked down the other.

Suddenly, Denny heard her crying. He ran back and saw her running towards him. A huge lion was chasing her. Quickly Denny took his camera out of its case and pointed it at his wife and the lion. Then he shouted, “Slow down, woman! I can’t get you both in the picture!”

Imagine having an ear made out of an apple. It seems like a crazy idea from a horror movie. But it could happen in the near future.

Canadian biophysicist Andrew Pelling used an apple to grow a human ear. He thinks fruit and vegetables can be used to cheaply repair human body parts in the future.

Scientists have been trying to grow organs (器官) in labs to replace our old ones. But it is a hard job. For example, liver cells (肝细胞) can grow in a lab, but the cells still need things like blood vessels (血管) to actually work. These things have to grow inside a scaffold (支架).

In the past, scientists have used man-made materials, animal parts and even dead people as scaffolds. But that has proved to be difficult and expensive.

Pelling and his team, however, found the apple to be a cheap and easy-to-use scaffold.

They first cut an apple into the shape of an ear. Then they used a special way to take out the apple’s cell and make it a scaffold. The team then added human cells to the apple, and watched it grow.

“You can implant these scaffolds into the body, and the body will send in cells and a blood supply and actually keep these things alive,” Pelling said during a Ted Talk speech.

The team put the apple scaffold inside a living mouse and the mouse’s cells slowly took over the pieces of apple.

Now Pelling is thinking of other fruits, plants or vegetables to use.

He says that the shape of flower petals could be perfect for repairing skin. And asparagus (芦笋) could fix a broken spine (脊柱).

Now, Pelling and his team are trying hard to put these crazy ideas into reality.

Pepole in the Netherlands(荷兰) are quite e
56． this month. That’s because they welcomed the first pair of Chinese pandas on April 13^th. The two pandas, named Xing Ya and Wu Wen, are both more than 3 years old and will stay in the country for scientific r
57． for 15 years, according to Xinhua.

The pandas will live at a zoo with n
58． 500,000 visitors each year. It has built the most beautiful panda house in history for the pandas, reported China Daily.

At a cost of nearly 7 million euros(51 million yuan), the panda house covers 9,000 square meters and l
59． like an ancient Chinese palace. It has areas for the pandas to sleep and play, as well as rooms for their f
60． babies to live in.

A carpenter's story

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire (退休). He told his boss of his plans to leave the house-building business to live a more pleasant life with his wife and children.

The boss was sorry to see his skillful worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but over time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He used shoddy workmanship (粗糙的手艺) and low-quality materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a perfect career.

When the carpenter finished his work, his boss came to inspect the house. Then he handed the front-doorkey to the carpenter and said, “This is your house... my gift to you.”

The carpenter was shocked!

“What a shame! If only I had known I was building my own house, I would have done it all so differently…” The carpenter said to himself.

So it is with us. We build our lives, a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then, with a shock, we realize we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over, we would do it much differently.

But, you cannot go back. Someone once said, “Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Your attitude and the choices you made today, help build the “house” you will live in tomorrow. Therefore, build wisely!

Title: A carpenter's story

   青少年是祖国的未来，也是城市的名片。在创建全国文明城市的过程中，我市举办了“美德少年”评选活动。假如你是“美德少年”的争创者，请根据下列表格中的提示，以“Be a virtue teenager, build a civilized city”为题，用英语写一份倡议书，号召大家积极争做 “美德少年”，为港城添彩。

Be a virtue teenager, build a civilized city

Being a teenager of Lianyungang, what should we do to help buid a civilized city? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________