Today we tell about Louisa May Alcott. She wrote one of America’s best loved children’s books.
In 1868, an American publisher asked Louisa May Alcott to write a book for girls. At first, she was not sure if she wanted to do it. She said she didn’t like girls.
However, she decided to write the book finally. She told about her experiences growing up in the northeast of the United States. The book was quite interesting. Little Women became one of the most popular children’s books in American literature. It was published (出版）in more than 50 languages.
Alcott was born in Pennsylvania in 1832. The Alcotts did not have much money. She tried teaching, sewing(缝纫) and taking care of children. She did not like any of these jobs.
At the age of 16, she wrote her first book, Flower Fables. Her stories were exciting, but unreal. She sold them to newspapers and magazines for money.
The first volume (卷) of Little Women came out in 1868. It made Alcott famous and get a lot of money. She continued writing other popular books for young people. These books included An Old-Fashioned Girl, Little Men and Eight Cousins.
Alcott wrote many exciting stories about love. But she was single (独身的) all her life. She continued to help her family during the last years of her life.
【小题1】Alcott grew up in the ______ of the US.

One morning, a blind boy sat beside a building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said, “I am blind. Please help me.”

There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognizedhis footsteps and asked, “Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?”

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way.”

What he had written was, “Today is a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.”

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beautiful day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.

The first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.

There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story.

The first is: Treasure (珍惜) what you have. Someone else has less. Try your best to help those who need your help.

The second is: Be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way.

1.From the article we know that________.

2.On the sign what the man wrote was, “                .”

3.According to the article, which of the following is TRUE?

4.The word “recognized” here in Chinese means _______.

5._______ is the best title (题目) for this story.