Since it was first released (发布)in 1959, Barbie has been a favourite toy for young girls. With golden or dark brown hair, she was perfect. But she didn't look like most of the girls who played with her. Some people used to dislike Barbie. "Is that your idea of beauty?" they asked Mattel, the company behind Barbie.

Over the past few years, Mattel has been trying to make its dolls look more like people in real life. The new Barbie dolls show what it means to look like a Barbie, and tell children what real beauty is. Together with the new dolls, Barbie now includes 176 different dolls in all. There are both" perfect" dolls and" imperfect" ones such as a

doll with vitiligo (白斑病), a doll with no hair, and a doll with a darker skin tone and a prosthetic limb (假肢). It's hoped that children of all sizes, colours and abilities will see themselves.

Most people are happy about this change. A curvy black Barbie with an Afro(非洲式发型)and a Barbie who uses a wheelchair were top sellers for the brand last year. "The doll in a wheelchair encourages me a lot," said a girl who has lost her leg.

"I'm very happy that more and more young girls can grow up seeing themselves in Barbie," says Stella Pavlides, a vitiligo patient. "This is perhaps the best thing that could happen for children."

Elton Hercules John is a great singer and pianist. He was born on March 25, 1947 in Middlesex, England. He went to Pinner Country Grammar School to learn piano at the age of 3. He won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 11. He became a weekend pianist at Northwood Hills Hotel at the age of 15. He and his friends formed a band called Blues ology in 1964. In2000, Elton and Tim Rice made many songs for the film The Road to EI Dorado. They also composed music for a Disney production Aida in 1999 and they received the Tony Award for the Best Original Score and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. He was one of the performers (演出者)at the Live 8 Concert at Hyde Park in London on 2 July, 2005. Elton has sold more than 250million albums and over one hundred million singles, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. He has won 5 Grammy Awards and one Academy Award. His success has had a significant influence on popular music.

I sat down to read under an old tree in the park. I felt my life was1, form my whole world was dark. A young boy ran up to me, out of 2. He stood right before me with his head down and said 3, "Look! what I've found ! "In his hand was a flower. What a poor sight! The flower was dry and4. I gave him a small smile and then turned my eyes away so that he could take his dry flower and go off to play.

5, he sat next to my side and placed the flower to his6 and said in surprise, "It smells sweet and it's beautiful, too. That's 7 l picked it. Here, it's for you. "The flower before me was dead. But I knew I must8 it, or he might never leave. So I accepted the flower, and replied, "This is just what I 9. "Just then, for the first time I noticed that the boy could not10, because he was blind.

Tears came down from my face as I11 him for picking the best one." You're welcome, "he smiled and then ran off to 12. I sat there and wondered how he was able to learn about my pain. Through the eyes of a blind child, 13 l could see the problem was not with the world; the problem was me. And for all those years I myself had been 14. I decided to see the beauty in life, and15every second of my life. And then I held that dry flower up to my nose and breathed in the smell of a beautiful rose.

Do you know Norman Bethune? He is one of China's most famous (英雄), but he wasn't Chinese-he was a (加拿大人). He gave his life to helping Chinese people.

Norman Bethune was born in 1890. He became a doctor in 1916, and he went to the front to look after injured (士兵) in World War I. He saw many soldiers die in the (战争). Later he invented new treatments to (治疗) soldiers, and medical (工具) to use outside hospitals.

In 1938 he came to China to treat the Chinese soldiers in the mountains north of Yan'an. Dr Bethune worked very hard without stopping to (休息).

Once, he performed (手术) for 69 hours without stopping, and saved more than a hundred people. He (继续)his work in spite of cutting his finger during an operation. In the end, he died because he did not take care of his (伤口).

Dr Bethune's work for the Chinese soldiers made him a hero in China. There are many books and films about him, and he is still remembered in both Canada and China today.

Captain Liu Chuanjian is an excellent pilot(飞行员) of Sichuan Airlines. He is a hero not just in China also around the world, because he saved the (life) of around 119 passengers who were travelling on the plane. Liu managed to make the plane keep balance(平衡)and landed it safely the end. However, Liu Chuanjian was badly hurt of the bad weather.

Liu still remembers that day (clear). According to Liu, this event happened on Airplane3U8633 when the airplane was (fly) at 9, 800 metres above the ground. Suddenly, a terrible sound appeared in the pilot room. When Liu and the copilot looked around, they were surprised that the right side of the window was broken. plane began to shake and all of the people on the plane were very nervous at that moment. This kind of situation was very dangerous during the flight.

Liu said to a (report), "My co-pilot was almost blown out of the window. It (be) so cold that my fingers could hardly hold anything. However, I didn't give up and I (continue) trying my best to protect the passengers. "

For four years, Christopher Schacht lived a life on the go. He travelled 65, 000 miles to 45 different countries. Around the World on 50 Bucks tells of Schacht's great journey, from his town in northern Germany to some of the most faraway places in the world and back again.

Thanks to a translation (翻译) by Janet Gesme, this international bestseller in English is on sale now. Reading Schacht's book is like ping-ponging between worrying about your daredevil (胆大妄为的)son and being proud of your older brother. While reading, I was really anxious about his safety.

In order to eat, he did any job he could find. He mostly slept on the street or in his tent (帐篷). He travelled everywhere by asking others to take him in their cars, even across the sea as he found jobs on sailing boats in return for food and a bed.

Schacht believes that many people in the world are kind and helpful. This friendliness probably saved his life many times. Though not perfect for everyone, Schacht's ways of travelling made him ask for help from others. The friendship he has developed along the way is life-changing. As he learns, "In most situations it is quite easy to help someone move forward."

From sailing across the equator (赤道)to speaking bad Korean in Gyeongju, Schacht takes us around the world. Like Schacht, we are also thankful for the journey, we feel even more pleased that Schacht chose to share it with the world.

My 10-year-old daughter suffered from dyslexia（读写障碍). When it came to tests, she would have difficulty reading the questions. That made her fail almost every test.

Her maths teacher, seemingly the only teacher that understood her dyslexia, unexpectedly offered to read her the questions (not help with the answers of course) in the test. The result? An unheard-of B for maths. The act of the thoughtful teacher had, perhaps for the first time in my daughter's public life, given her a chance to enjoy life to the full.

To thank the maths teacher, I phoned the school. When I asked to speak to him, I received a very guarded "why" from the gatekeeper. The surprise in her voice was clear when I replied "I want to thank him". She called the teacher. The teacher came on the line with the same surprise. I said I just wanted to speak to him about my daughter's maths result.

"I want to thank you for reading the questions to my daughter in her maths test. She got a B, but you have no idea of the influence(影响) your act has had on my daughter's hopes for her future. "I loved the way his voice sounded as we went on to have a lovely talk about my daughter's interests.

My daughter's sufferings from dyslexia continue to this day. However, she is confident now. As a life-experienced Family and Youth Care worker, she has helped and continues to help many people in her life.

★徐悲鸿简介：1895年出生于江苏省的一个农村。9岁开始学画画，学习很努力，1919至1927年去法国留学。中华人民共和国成立后，他成为艺术研究中心的导师，他以画奔腾的马而出名，但他更喜欢画猫。1953年去世后，徐悲鸿纪念馆在北京成立。

★参考词汇：the Central Institute of Arts艺术研究中心