This is the story of two adventurous mountain climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, who managed to climb the West Face of Siula Grande.

Several teams had tried before, but all failed. After reaching the top, Joe and Simon decided to go back down an extremely dangerous but faster route. Then something dramatic happened. Joe fell over, breaking his leg. They had no communication with the base camp, and there was no chance of outside help. As a snowstorm was forming around them, Simon tied two ropes together, tied them to himself and then around Joe, and started lowering him. Suddenly, the rope got stuck between two rocks and Joe was left hanging in mid-air over a huge crevasse(裂缝).

Simon couldn’t talk to him or see him. He tried hopelessly for more than an hour to pull his friend up, but without success. The situation was obviously hopeless. Simon imagined both himself and his friend dying in the snow and ice. He didn’t want to leave his friend alone, but the more he thought about it, the more he began to understand that there was surely no way he could save both his own life and that of his friend.

Finally, Simon had no choice but cut the rope and saved his own life. Joe fell away, right down to the bottom of the crevasse. The next day, when Simon continued down the mountain and passed the area where Joe had landed, he saw nothing, and supposed Joe was dead.

But Joe wasn’t. He had survived the fall and managed to climb out of the crevasse. For the next three and a half days, he continued to go down the mountain, climbing and hopping on one leg under extremely difficult conditions. He even managed to cross a glacier(冰川) with no safety equipment(装备). When he finally got to their base camp, the climbers were amazed to see him, especially Simon.

After the two men went back home, their story became famous. Simon was unfairly blamed(责备) for cutting the rope. In 1988, Joe wrote a book about the accident and defended(辩护) for his friend. He believed Simon made the right decision.

“I’ve seen a huge difference in Irina since she started talking to a life coach,” says her mother Sylvana. “I get on very well with Irina, but she can’t always talk to me about everything. Talking to someone who listens but is not a close family member is very important.”

What is a life coach?

An athlete improves because he trains with a coach. A life coach can also guide you to success. A life coach encourages you to think not only about what you want, but also about how you are going to get it. Until now, life coaches have helped adults, for example business executives who need to make decisions or parents who want some advice on bringing up their children. Now it’s the turn of our young people.

Life Coach Simone Waltz

Simon Waltz, a former radio producer, set up her life coaching company five years ago. “I offer teenagers a place to talk, to decide on their future plans and to sort out problems, ” says Waltz. Jem’s parents are delighted with what Waltz has done. Jem has got a place at university to study medicine but he has decided to take part in a volunteer project in central Africa first. “Yes, we were surprised, but Jem is still very young. This experience abroad will help him grow up before he goes to university here.”

Life coach Tara Newhouse

Tara tells the story of a 15-year-old who was failing in science, until they found out she learnt best through music. Once she made up songs to learn by, she achieved 99 percent in her tests. Tara has also helped Sylvana’s daughter, Irina, who was not sure whether she would go to university. Now she hopes to get into a top university. Irina now feels more confident about everything. She has even taken up exercise for the first time in years.

Life coach Mo Ahmed

Mo Ahmed has coached children as young as five years old, “It could be something as simple as leaning multiplication tables—asking them how they’re going to do it, how are they going to make it fun?” Mo has also helped teenager Regina who was having problems making friends when she moved to a new school. They talked together about the things Regina really enjoyed doing. By joining the school basketball team Regina has made several new friends.

Last year a rainstorm came to a small village. It started early in the morning and lasted for an hour. Many houses were broken. Several people were badly hurt and taken to hospital. Over two hundred people were homeless after the rainstorm.

A student, Kate, said, “It was terrible. I was helping my mother make breakfast when the rain started to beat heavily against the windows.”

“I was eating with my family.” A housewife, Jenny said, “I heard a loud noise. A few minutes later, our house fell down. We tried our best to get out. We were very afraid but safe.”

Mr. Green, an engineer, said that he was drinking coffee and reading a newspaper in the office when he felt that the building began to shake. He had to stay in the office. “There was no electricity and I couldn’t contact(联系) my family members,” he said. “I was very worried about them at that time.”

Volunteers helped the people out of the village and gave food and clothes to them. They felt very tired but it was meaningful.

A kung fu teacher in Northwest China’s Gansu Province is known as a “wonder woman” for her skills. Zhang Hanliang, who has practiced kung fu for over 25 years, is now a kung fu teacher at Tianshui Normal University in Gansu.

Zhang and her team have produced many kung fu videos in the past years. She exercised with swords, spears, cudgels (剑、矛、棍) and practiced tai chi in the videos. The videos have been watched about 16 million times on Bilibili. “Those online videos have attracted (吸引) so many Internet users at home and abroad. I hope that more and more people will see the charm (魅力) of Chinese kung fu,” said Zhang, adding that she wanted to introduce kung fu to the public through the Internet.

Zhang’s love for kung fu comes from her family. Both her grandfather and father are kung fu masters. All the children in her family learn kung fu at home from a young age. Zhang has been practicing kung fu since she was seven. After a few years of practice, Zhang’s father sent her to a sports school in Gansu. She was the youngest at the school. 4.这个刻苦的女孩每天坚持练习。

Zhang won her first sword championship in Gansu Province at 13. She later claimed titles at a national level in many other categories (种类). Now she is a first-class national athlete and a first-class national judge of kung fu.

As a kung fu teacher, Zhang has been invited to France, Russia, Malaysia and other countries many times to teach students there.

“5.Kung fu can be a bridge for cultural exchanges between China and other countries,” says Zhang, hoping that more and more foreigners can understand and love kung fu.

【推荐3】My name is Nora Norton. My first name is Nora and my last name is Norton. I am twenty years old. I live in London, England. My phone number is 8367821. I like playing tennis and swimming. I also like to watch TV. My favourite season is spring and I like purple best. I can speak English and French. I have a brother and a sister. I have free time on Saturdays and Sundays. I take care of different people every day. What’s my job? I am a nurse in a hospital.