Clara Barton,founder of the American Red Cross , gained worldwide honour for her devotion to easing human suffering and earned the nickname“Angel of the Battlefield”.

Barton was born into a freethinking family in 1821. Her elder brothers and sisters happily educated her in math and reading, so when she entered school at three years old, she could read and spell three-syllable words. 【小题1】

Concerned about Barton's difficulty in making friends, her parents sent her to a boarding school,hoping it would make her more comfortable with her peers. 【小题2】 Barton lost her appetite（食欲）and cried constantly. After only one term, she had to be brought home. Then, Barton stayed out of school to nurse her brother through a serious injury and also volunteered to care for poor families during a smallpox （天花）outbreak.

In 1861, the Civil War broke out. The sight of wounded soldiers touched Barton deeply. She began to collect and give away food , bandages, medicines, and other supplies to the Union Army.

 【小题3】 There, with little concern for her own safety, she cooked meals, assisted surgeons, and comforted wounded soldiers.

Eventually, because of working too hard , Barton broke down finally. 【小题4】 It was there that she learned of an organization based in Switzerland called the International Committee of the Red Cross , whose work mirrored her own.

Shortly after Barton arrived back home in 1873,her sister died. 【小题5】 When recuperating（康复）at a health facility in New York, she began planning for the establishment of an American wing of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Although at first the government opposed it, her efforts finally paid off. The American Red Cross was officially organized on May 21, 1881. Her influence lives on today in the work of the organization she founded.

Christopher Reeve was born in September, 1952. He started acting while he was in college and made many successful films and TV shows. 【小题1】（fortunate）, disaster came in 1995, when he fell from his horse and 【小题2】（break）his back. The doctors did not expect him to live, saying that he was not going to pull through. However, he made 【小题3】（amaze）progress. At first, he couldn't breathe 【小题4】a machine, but he learnt to breathe on his own. He had moments of feeling sorry for 【小题5】（he）, but he never had any 【小题6】（think）of committing suicide. The second year after the accident, he returned to film making. He also raised a lot of money 【小题7】（promote）medical research into back injuries. He made speeches all over the USA about his experiences, 【小题8】 encouraged a lot of people living with all kinds of problems. Besides, he also got 【小题9】（involve）with charity work. He died on October 10,2004. But people all over the world will always remember him as 【小题10】 superhero.

   Ludwig van Beethoven is the most famous classical composer of the Western world. He is known for his powerful music and for continuing to compose after he became deaf.

Born to a musical family in the small German city of Bonn in December 1770, Beethoven was an excellent pianist and violinist as a boy. He soon became the first important composer to earn a successful living without working for the church or court. Beethoven began to lose his hearing in the late 1790s and by 1819 he was totally deaf. When he heard nothing, in order to hear the notes (音符), he cut the legs off the piano so that he could feel the vibrations (震动)as he played.

Beethoven enjoyed taking long walks in the countryside. The villagers respected him a lot and would not bother him when they passed him. He was a strange man with his untidy clothes, wild hair and a bad temper.

For his last 15 years Beethoven was regarded as the world’s best composer. The four-note beginning to his Fifth Symphony is one of the most famous moments in all of music. The notes were described as “Fate knocking at the door”. He wrote the popular Moonlight Sonata in 1801.

Beethoven never married. After his death in March 1827, his friends found his letters to a lover, but they never found out who she was.

Besides lots of concerts and broadcasts, over 200 films use Beethoven’s music. Although he died many years ago, Beethoven is still influencing the music world.

   George Orwell is one of the UK’s best-known 20th century authors but he’s also claimed by Motihari, a town in north-eastern India, where Orwell spent the first year of his life, before he and his mother moved to Henley, England.

More than a century after the Orwells left, the shabby bungalow (平房) is being turned into a museum. The four families who have been living here are in the process of moving out. Among them is Aditya Abhishek. “That’s something I share with George Orwell,” he tells me. “We were both born in the same house, but he became famous, and I didn’t.” He is sad to say, “I have so many memories associated with this bungalow.”

As very few people here understand English, it’s perhaps no surprise that few know much about George Orwell. Motihari has no bookshop selling anything other than school and college textbooks. You cannot easily lay your hands on any of Orwell’s books here.

“Today, scholars have to travel to London for research on Orwell, but once the museum is developed, they can carry out their research at his birthplace,” says cloth merchant Debripya Mukherjee.

He and his friends are in touch with Orwell’s son, Richard Blair, who may help them get copies of the collection of original manuscripts (手稿), pictures and so on held by the George Orwell Archive at University College London (UCL) . The local government is planning to spend $ 150,000 on the project. “We’re fortunate that a writer like George Orwell was born here,” says Mukherjee. “So, it’s our duty to preserve this bungalow and make it presentable.”

American writer Theodore Seuss Geisel, better 【小题1】 (know) as“Dr. Seuss”, is one of the world's most famous authors of books for children.

March 2, 2018 was his 114th birthday. He was born in 1904 in Massachusetts and 【小题2】 die) in 1991. 【小题3】 his honor, March 2 is called both “Dr. Seuss Day” and, in many places,“World Book Day”. The aim of  the observance (纪念) is to celebrate literature and urge children around the world to read.

Dr. Seuss is famous for his fantastical and 【小题4】 (humor) books for young children. His books 【小题5】   (fill) with colorful pictures and fun rhymes. Dr. Seuss’ 【小题6】 (work) include “The Cat in the Hat”,“Green Eggs and Ham”and“The Lorax”.

Dr. Seuss helped generations of children learn to read and to love reading. His books have been published in some 20 languages.

Many people used “World Book Day” 【小题7】 (express) thanks for Dr. Seuss' books. If you missed out on World Book Day, you will have 【小题8】 chance later this year to celebrate books and reading. The United Nations marks World Book and Copyright Day on April 23. That is the date on 【小题9】 several of the world's 【小题10】 (great) writers died. They include England's William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes of Spain.