Hundreds of years ago, a Roman army came north from England to make war on Scotland. The Scots, a brave people, love their country. They fought hard to drive the enemy out of Scotland. But there were too many of the Romans. It looked as if the Romans would win.

One night, the leader of the Scots marched his soldiers to the top of a hill. “We will rest here tonight, my men,” he said, “Tomorrow we will fight one more battle. We must win, or we will die.”

They were all very tired so they ate their supper quickly and fell asleep. There were four guards on duty, but they were very tired, too, and one by one, also fell asleep.

The Romans were not asleep. Quickly they gathered at the foot of the hill. Slowly they went up the hill. Closer they came to the sleeping Scots. They were almost at the top. A few minutes more the war would be over. Suddenly, one of them put his foot on a thistle (蓟). He cried out and his sudden cry woke the Scots. In a minute, they were on their feet and ready for a battle. The fighting was hard, but it did not last long. The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved Scotland.

The thistle is not a beautiful plant. It has sharp needles all over it. Few people liked it. But the people of Scotland liked it so much that they made it their national flower.

Making a quick decision can be hard when it comes to saving a life even for grown-ups. But one high school student didn’t waste a second when it came to saving a drowning (溺水的) girl.

People say Chloe Payne is quiet. Her mother, Angela Payne, describes her as the kind of girl who doesn’t need too much attention, helpful and respectful (尊重人的). In other words, Chloe, a student at Louisville Male High School, is a gentle, sometimes shy 17-year-old. However, that wasn’t the Chloe who jumped into a pool at the All About Kids swimming pool to save a drowning 4-year-old girl on March 25.

“I was a little surprised by her courage,” Angela Payne said. Well, so was Chloe herself. When she saw that a little girl was not doing anything in the water, her newly learned lifeguard skills kicked in. “I jumped in and I rolled her over and she wasn’t breathing (呼吸),” Chloe explained. “She couldn’t do anything in the water, so I pulled her out and I started CPR (心肺复苏法) and she almost sat up at once and started coughing and crying.”

Chloe’s decision was so brave that even the Jeffersontown fire chief was surprised. Today was the first time in his 27-year career to present such an award to a young lady. “It’s the first time I’ve seen a student do CPR in our area and save a life, so it was pretty special,” Chief Sean Dreisbach said.

As for Chloe, if there’s one thing she’s taken away from this event, it’s about being on close watch. “It’s hard to give young kids advice,” Chloe said with a laugh. “They don’t listen, so I guess everybody has to be more careful.”

It was 1504, and Columbus was making another trip to the New World. Columbus and his men needed fresh water and food after three months at sea. They saw an island and went on shore. On the island there were unfriendly Indians who refused to give food to them.

Columbus' men were afraid of the Indians, but he had a clever plan.He used body language to tell the Indians about his mysterious (神秘的) power to turn off the light in the sky. He knew about a lunar eclipse (月食) the next night because the information was in his almanac (天文历书).

Columbus told the Indians, “Tomorrow night I'll turn off the light in the sky.”But they didn't believe him. When the eclipse began the next night, the Indians became very frightened. They begged Columbus to turn on the light again, and they quickly gave him all the food and water he wanted. Immediately Columbus and his men hurried back to the ship and sailed away in the moonless night.