The captain of the ship, the Beagle, wanted someone who would “profit by the opportunity of visiting distant countries yet little known”. The person who answered the call was not the captain’s first choice. It was a young man who had left medical school without completing his degree. What’s more, he had recently received a letter from his father predicting that he would be “a disgrace to yourself and all your family”. Despite all this, his adventures on this ship would lead to one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time.

The young man in question, Charles Darwin, was a geologist and naturalist, fascinated by rocks, plants and animals. The journey gave him the chance to study various living things in their natural environments. After Darwin had spent some time in South America, his room on the ship was crowded with samples of the plants and animals he had collected. As he studied these, he asked himself the question: how did different species come to exist?

At that time, people believed that all species had appeared on Earth at the same time, and had not changed since. But Darwin began to think differently. He noticed that some species of animals were very similar to each other. Maybe animals evolved as they adapted to their changing environments. It was just an idea, but enough to inspire Darwin to look for more evidence.

When the Beagle reached the Galapagos Islands in 1835, Darwin saw a variety of new species, but it was the birds that interested him the most. Darwin noticed that there was a difference between the finches(雀科小鸟) on each of the islands. It seemed their beaks(鸟喙) had evolved according to what food was available on that particular island.

Darwin suspected the finches had evolved from a common ancestor, which had arrived on the islands a long time before. Over time, it had slowly evolved into many new species. And that was the answer to how new species of plants and animals came to exist: they evolved from earlier ancestors.

It was a completely new idea—a theory of evolution. Darwin explained this theory in his book, On the Origin of Species. Many people refused to believe that living things, including humans, had evolved from lower forms of life. But Darwin’s scientific studies were so convincing that more and more people started to believe his theory.

Today, On the Origin of Species has changed ideas about life on Earth forever. And it all began with the journey on the Beagle.

Nikenson's dad died when he was 3, and his mom often couldn't afford his school fees, so he got kicked out of school sometimes. But Nickenson would steal back onto the school grounds and stand outside the open classroom windows to listen, day after day. He studied on his own, keeping pace so that when his mom earned a rew aoliars, he cloud enter the classroom again.

Against all difficulties，Nikenson graduated from high school this year, first in his class, with straight A's,and was electea class president. Nikenson is a reminder of the basic saying of life today:gift is universal, but opportunity is not.

Luckily, with the help of some American people Nikenson is now receiving a university education.He 's benefiting from a program started by Bohan, a young American who is teaching in a Haitian high school. Bohan asked his family and friends to help other Haitians go to college. The progran grew and became the Haitian Education and Leadership Program,HELP, sending hundreds of young men andwomen to Haitian universities.

"Education works." Bohan said simply."Good education works for everybody, everywhere. Itworks for you, for me, and it works for Haitians. Over time, I've concluded that education may be thesingle best way to help themselves, whether in America or abroad. Yet, we don't put enough money ineducation. So we shall express our thanks to those who spread the gift of education."

One clever new high school graduate, Eric, was working as a worker in a village and earning just $50 a month. HELP sent him to college to study industrial engineering, and he just graduated and found a job at a European company as an engineer for $1, 500 a month."The only difference is his access to education." said Bohan.

An American architect (建筑师) was visiting London. He wanted to see all the famous buildings there so he stopped a taxi and asked the driver to take him to all the old and famous buildings in London.

The driver drove him to the Tower of London. “This is the Tower of London. It was a prison (监狱) in the old days,” he said.

“It is so small. In America we could build this in a day.” said the American.

The taxi driver took the American to Westminster Abbey. He said, “This is a famous church. Kings and queens get married here.”

The American looked at the old building and said, “Huh… we could build this in two days.”

The driver decided to take the American to a bigger church so he drove him to St Paul’s Cathedral. He stopped outside the church and said, “This is the most famous church in England. The great architect Christopher Wren built this church.”

The American got out of the taxi and looked at the church. “Huh. We could build this church in three days,” he said.

Next the driver took the American to the House of Parliament. “This is where British politicians (政治家) meet.”

“Huh.” The American said, “We could build this in four days.”

The driver said nothing and drove past Buckingham Palace, the home of Queen Elizabeth. As the taxi passed the palace, the American said, “Hey! What is this building? I have never seen such a beautiful one.”

The taxi driver looked at the palace and said, “I don’t know. It wasn’t there this morning.”