When our professor Dr. Dressel outlined the requirements of the term paper, he sounded especially terrible, so I recalled another classroom nightmare, Mrs. Grace from Forsyth High. I could still picture her neat script in the margins (页边) of my papers, carefully listing each of my grammatical shortcomings in bright blue ink.

“One of these days,” she was fond of saying, “you’ll find that what you’re learning here will be useful. “Few of us believed her, but that didn’t discourage her from relentless training in composition repeatedly. At the slightest protest, her dark eyes would flash, “You’ll find that the real world is far more demanding than my term papers, but meanwhile they can help prepare you for it!”

When Dr. Dressel handed back my papers, an A+ stood out on the page. I disbelieved. I even bent over for a closer look. Professor Dessel, standing next to my table, said, “Your term paper is among the finest by a junior student. It tells me that somewhere along the line you had a remarkable English teacher. You should go to that teacher and express your gratitude.”

On the evening, I forced myself up to the Mrs. Grace’s house. The woman who answered the door was far different from the Mrs. Grace I remembered. She was pale and frowning. I gave my term paper into her hands. She glanced at it, then looked back at me wondering.

“My professor knew someone like you was responsible for my paper and”, I stammered (结巴着说出), “I just wanted to thank you. I really appreciate all you did for me.”

Mrs. Grace began to cry. “You’re the first person ever to thank me,”she sobbed. “This has been such a hard year. I’ve been sick all fall, but your visit has done me more good than all the medicine I’ve taken. God bless you!” She threw her arms around me and hugged me hard. Then we both shed some tears.

“I’m so glad you stopped by,” she said.

“So am I!” I replied.

Never again have I been reluctant to express gratitude.

We owe our knowledge about the Earth’s geography largely to such explorers as Christopher Columbus and James Cook, who ventured into the seas in search of new lands. Portuguese ship captain Ferdinand Magellan was also such a man, who was the first explorer to sail around the world.

Magellan was interested in the paths Christopher Columbus had taken on his voyages, and after studying the maps of those routes for years, he requested King Manuel in 1513 to allow him to sail to the Spice Islands, but this time he would travel the waters south of South America. He was convinced that the trip would be shorter than if he headed to the southern tip of Africa and then across the Pacific Ocean. Nevertheless, Manuel refused his request. Later on, Magellan applied himself to astronomy ( 天 文 学 ) and navigation for almost two years. In 1517, he took the information gathered from his studies to Charles I of Spain, who agreed to fund his voyage.

In 1519, with 5 ships and 241 men under his command, Magellan sailed across the Atlantic to what is now Rio de Janeiro; he then headed south to find the passage to the Pacific. Luck was not with him, however—he was unable to find that passage before the end of summer, and he adjourned in Puerto San Julian, Argentina, a country in southern South America, where one ship was destroyed, and some of his crew rebelled.

Determined to continue, Magellan managed to restart his voyage in the spring of 1520, but difficulties once again nearly defeated him. The crew went for 98 days without seeing any land, ran out of food, and used up almost all their water. 19 men died before the ships reached Guam, and conflicts with people there prevented them from getting resupplied fully. When they finally reached the Philippines in 1521, Magellan himself was killed in a battle.

Only one ship, with 18 survivors, made it back to Spain in 1522. But the exploration must in one very important respect be considered a success—it paved the way for explorers, merchants, and settlers to sail the Pacific, travelling relatively quickly to new and far-off lands.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent her life fighting for women to be treated equally. In doing so, she became an inspiring role model for women and girls around the world.

Her passion for women’s rights began when she was young. She started off her adult life having trouble finding a job. Even though she was smart, determined, and capable of doing the job, she was passed over primarily because she was a woman. She felt like she was being treated unfairly, or discriminated against, only because she was a woman. She wanted to do something about it. But at the time there were no laws in the United States to protect her.

She decided to devote her career to being a lawyer and fighting for equal rights of women. Then, early in her legal career, when she was 29 years old, Ms. Ginsburg took a trip to Sweden to perform legal research. What she saw really focused her on fighting for women in the workplace. Seeing the progress women had made in Sweden convinced her even more that America was behind and wrong in its treatment of women.

Back in the USA, laws advocating for women’s rights were missing. She decided that she would help invent laws, write them, and defend them. Ginsburg would also become a professor to help other women to become lawyers so that they could do the same thing. And then, in 1993, after years’ practicing and teaching laws, she became only the 2nd female justice of the Supreme Court.

At only 5'1" tall and as a generally quiet person, Ms. Ginsburg’s power came from her focus, her determination, and her integrity(诚实正直). She went on to become an inspiring role model for girls and women around the world and one of the most respected justices in history. She changed the lives of many women and girls in the United States and beyond.