【推荐1】Back in 1845, there were many children who were not in school and many adults who could not read or write in the state of Illinois, America. Everyone there knew public education was important but it was hard to educate children or adults without good teachers.   

Word went out in 1857 that the Governor of Illinois wanted to build a “normal” school. The word “normal” came from French. In France, schools that trained teachers were called “normal schools”. But the Governor stated that the location of the first “normal” school would be in the place that offered the most money to help pay for the costs of building the college.   

A Bloomington man named Jesse Fell was one of the first people who acted on what he heard. When Jesse Fell heard that the city that raised the most money for the school would be the home of the first teacher training school in Illinois, he started going door to door to families and businesses, asking for money to build the school. Three other cities were trying to get the Governor to build the school in their town. Then, Jesse Fell increased his efforts to raise money. In all, the city of Bloomington raised $141,000 to help the state build the normal school.

Finally the school came to be built next to Bloomington. The university later moved to North Bloomington, which was incorporated (并入) in 1865 as the town of Normal. And the school, Illinois State Normal Teachers’ College, had its name changed to Illinois State Normal University and shortened to Illinois State University. And in that university, there is a special room called the 1857 Room to celebrate the year of 1857 when Jesse Fell took the first step in setting up Illinois State Normal University.

【推荐2】Your education is very important. So it is important to build a good relationship with your teacher.     1     by trying to make a good impression each day.

Greet your teacher with a smile. Your teacher likely arrives to work very early each day, perhaps even before the sun has risen. Every day, they have to work with lots of different students.     2    , which is a great way to promote your relationship and to improve their day.

Come to class on time. Another way to establish a good relationship with your teacher is by being punctual (准时的) to class all the time.     3    . This will allow your teacher to see you as a reliable person who is respectful of their time.

    4    . Though you may see many of your classmates being disrespectful (不尊敬的) to your teacher, try very hard not to become one of these people. Your teacher has been hired to guide your education and to help you learn important knowledge that will be useful to you in life. Respect this and do not argue with them. However, do ask questions if you are confused about something.

Follow instructions.     5    . Be sure to make a note of these rules and to keep them. If your teacher feels that you keep yourself out of trouble, they will view you more positively and your relationship will strengthen.

【推荐3】My family and I never talked about school as the ticket to a future. I was in the classrooms, but I wasn't there to learn to write, read or even speak. When it was my turn to read, I wanted to hide. I was13 years old, but I already hated being who I was.

I had an English teacher, Mr. Creech, who knew I couldn't read. In one of my first lessons the teacher said that anyone who had a reading age below six had to stand up. I felt so embarrassed. But at the same time, it made me realize that I needed to change the situation. I was determined it wouldn't happen again. Later that day, Mr. Creech encouraged me and promised he would try his best to help me learn to read. From then on, I never gave up practicing reading.

Now I was 41 years old. One day, I planned to fly back to Texas to visit my friends and family. On my way from the airport, I saw Mr. Creech buying himself a drink. I rushed over and reached into my pocket to pay for him. "Do I know you?" he asked. "Yes, sir, you do know me," I answered excitedly." My name is Anthony Hamilton. You taught me English." The look on his face told me that he remembered the boy he'd once encouraged.

"I'm so glad I had a chance to see you," I said. "And Mr. Creech, I have great news to share." I told him I had learned to read. But that wasn't all. I had become a published author and an active speaker. "The next time you get another Anthony Hamilton in your classroom, please encourage him to read as well," I added.

The experts say what once worried me has a name: dyslexia（诵读困难症）. But I can tell you it was a lack of desire for education.

【推荐2】Every year on my birthday, from the time I turned 12, a white gardenia was delivered to my house. No card came with it. Calls to the flower-shop were not helpful at all. After a while I stopped trying to discover the sender’s name and just delighted in the beautiful white flower in soft pink paper.

But I never stopped imagining who the giver might be. Some of my happiest moments were spent daydreaming about the sender. My mother contributed to these imaginings. She’d ask me if there was someone for whom I had done special kindness. Perhaps it was the old man across the street whose mail I’d delivered during the winter. As a girl of seventeen, though, I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy whom I had met.

One month before my graduation, my father died of a heart attack. I felt so sad that I became completely uninterested in my upcoming graduation party.

The day before my father died, my mother and I had gone shopping for a party dress. We’d found an impressive one, but it was the wrong size. When my father died, I forgot about my dress.

But my mother didn’t. The day before the party I found that dress—in the right size—over the living room sofa. I didn’t care whether I had a new dress or not. But my mother wanted me to have one. She wanted her children to feel loved and lovable. In truth, my mother wanted her children to see themselves much like the gardenia—lovely, strong and perfect with perhaps a bit of mystery. My mother died ten days after I was married. I was 22. That was the year the gardenia stopped coming.

【推荐3】At thirteen, I was diagnosed (诊断) with kind of attention disorder. It made school difficult for me. When everyone else in the class was focusing on tasks, I couldn’t.

In my first literature class, Mrs. Smith asked us to read a story and then write on it, all within 45minutes. I raised my hand right away and said, “Mrs. Smith, you see, the doctor said I have attention problems I might not be able to do it.”

She glanced down at me through her glasses, “You are not different from your classmates, young man.” I tried, but I didn’t finish the reading when the bell rang. I had to take it home.

In the quietness of my bedroom, the story suddenly all became clear to me. It was about a blind person Louis Braile. He lived in a time when the blind couldn’t get much education. But Louis didn’t give up. Inslead, he invented a reading system of raised dots (点), which opened up a whole new world of. knowledge to the blind.

Wasn’t I the “blind” in my class, being made to learn like the “sighted” students? My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to dance. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was not different from others; I just needed a quieter place. If Louis could find his way out of his problem, why should I ever give up?

I didn’t expect anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs. Smith, so it was quite a surprise when it came back to me the next day—with an “A” on it. At the bottom of the paper were these words, “See what you can do when you keep trying?”

【推荐2】Soon after Savannah Phillips got fastened into her window seat on a United Airlines flight this past May, she glanced over at her seatmate. He was in his 60s and was busy texting. The letters were unusually large and the screen was bright, making it easy for Phillips to read what he was typing out: “Hey Babe, I’m sitting next to a smelly fatty.”

“It was like confirmation of the negative things I think about myself on a daily basis,” the 33-year-old mother wrote in a Facebook post after the flight. Soon tears streamed down her cheeks.

Sitting a row behind them was Chase Irwin, a 35-year-old bar manager. He could see the man’s texts, too. And he could see Phillips. “I noticed her looking at his phone. I was sick to my stomach. I could not have this guy sit next to her this whole flight and her thinking he’s making fun of her.” he told Nashville’s News Channel 5.

Instantly, Irwin had unfastened his seat belt and was overlooking the texter. “Hey, I need to talk to you,” he continued, “We are switching seats, now.” When asked why, Irwin said, “You’re texting about her, and I’m not putting up with that.”

The texter agreed. Irwin took his place next to Phillips and was soon cheering up his new seatmate.

“He encouraged me not to let that guy get to me and that everything was going to be fine.” Phillips wrote.

And he was right. She and Irwin spent the rest of the flight chatting like old friends.

With her faith in humanity restored, Philips wrote on Facebook, “The flight attendant told him that he was her hero. He wasn’t her hero—he was mine.”

【推荐3】It was 1504 Columbus was making another trip to the New World. Columbus and his men needed fresh water and food after three months at sea. They saw an island. On the island there were unfriendly Indians who did not give them food. Columbus and his men were afraid of the Indians, but he had a clever idea. He used the body language to tell the Indians about his mysterious (神秘的) power to turn off the light in the sky. He knew about a lunar eclipse (月食) the next night because the information was in his almanac (天文历书). Columbus told the Indians,“Tomorrow night I will turn off the light of the moon in the sky. ”But they did not believe him. When the eclipse (月食) began the next night, the Indians became very frightened. The Indians begged Columbus to turn on the light again, and they quickly gave him all the food and fresh water he wanted. Immediately Columbus and his men hurried back to the ship and sailed away in the moonless night.