Nowadays many students are wearing glasses.

   Caroline Solomon was on her high school's swim team. But at times she could not go into the creek（小溪）near her home. It was simply too polluted. "I decided I wanted to do something about it，"she recalls. So she studied environmental science and public policy at Harvard University in Cambridge. Later，she went to graduate school. Some of her classes could be challenging，though，since she couldn't hear her teachers. "I've been deaf since I was 15 months old，"Solomon notes.

Today she teaches biology at Gallaudet University in Washington，DC. She has no trouble communicating with her students. They，too，are primarily deaf or hard of hearing. That's why all classes at Gallaudet are taught in American Sign Language. Solomon also has an active life outside the classroom. She especially enjoys hiking，biking and other activities with her family.

Her research takes her to the Anacostia River. "It is very close to Gallaudet，and I easily bring my students there，"she says. Water running through local forests and marshes drains into this river，so does water running off urban streets，golf courses and industrial sites." The river's watershed（流域）kind of concentrates all the things that happen when humans mess with the natural landscape，"she explains. Not surprisingly，this river has developed a reputation for being quite polluted.

Solomon has been focusing on how pollutants affect tiny organisms that form the base of the river's food web. "I am now looking at the bacteria population，" she says，"to see what types there are."

Solomon wants to see more students who are deaf or have other disabilities make a difference in environmental science and other fields. As she often says, "If I can do it, you can do it."

The Dujiangyan is the oldest man-made water system in the world, and a wonder in the development of Chinese agriculture. 【小题1】（build）over 2,200 years ago in what is now Sichuan Province in Southwest China, this amazing engineering 【小题2】（achieve）is still used today.

In ancient times, the region where Dujiangyan now stands 【小题3】（suffer）from regular floods from the Minjiang River. 【小题4】（help）the victims of the flooding, Li Bing, 【小题5】 region governor, together with his son, decided to find a solution. Li designed a series of channels built at different levels along Mount Yulei that would take away the floodwaters while leaving the river flowing naturally. 【小题6】（good）still, the extra water could be directed to the dry Chengdu Plain, making 【小题7】 suitable for farming.

Once the system 【小题8】（finish）, no more floods happened and the people were able to live 【小题9】（peaceful）. Today, Dujiangyan is admired by scientists from around the world because of one feature. Unlike modern dams, 【小题10】 the water is blocked with a huge wall, Dujiangyan still lets waterflow through the Minjiang River naturally, making the ecosystem（生态系统）and fish populations exist in peace.

   When a mom attended school to help her disabled son, her son and the school thanked her in the sweetest way. It wasn't until after his college years that Marty became disabled after __down stairs. When her son __to get his MBA, Judy O'Connor attended every class with him to help him write and __. Every day, Judy would sit by Marty in class, taking notes to make sure of __specific requests, raising her hand so he could answer questions, and silently writing down his __on test days. "After a little while, we found that working together we could __a great deal, " Marty says.

On graduation day at Chapman University, Judy was dressed in black to mix in with the other __. Little did she know she'd soon be the center of __. When Marty's name was called, his mom helped __him to the front of the stage, ___for a picture with Marty as he received his diploma. Over the loudspeaker, a（n）___was made in a voice ___with happy tears: The university was giving Judy an honorary（荣誉的）MBA. " A lump came to my throat. I was proud of my son and ___to be honored, " says Judy.

The mother and the son had joked that Judy was putting in enough work to earn her own ___. To Marty, there was no question that his mom,a retired elementary school teacher with a business degree, had ___earned her honorary MBA.

Perhaps just as important, Judy gave Marty ___. Life as Marty knew it before the ___may have changed, but he encourages anyone in a ___situation to keep up hope. " Just keep an open mind, ___you can make your diversity your advantage and take challenges as a（n）___for growth in your life," he says.