Homemade Ship
Hans Andersen, a life-long fisherman, had a dream. He wanted to sail around the world. And he did it. He got several sponsors who subsidized his trip. He bought a beautiful 40-foot yacht, with all the latest technical and safety gear, and had a pleasant voyage. Well, except for almost sinking while going around the tips of South America and Africa.
The voyage went so smoothly that, looking back on it, he felt it was too easy. He needed a new challenge. He decided to build his own boat. But that was nothing new. Several people had built their own boats and sailed them around the world. No, he needed a unique boat. Watching TV commercials one day, he got it—ice cream sticks! He would be the first man to sail around the world in a boat built exclusively of ice cream sticks.
He put out the word. Within three years, school children from all over Holland had sent Hans 15 million ice cream sticks. He used these sticks to build a 45-foot replica of a Viking ship. After all the sticks were glued together, Hans took his new boat out to sea on a one-week voyage. “It’s magnificent, and totally sea-worthy,” he proclaimed.
He plans to set sail in early 2008 with a crew of two. He will sail across the Atlantic to Canada, and then down to Florida and through the Panama Canal. Then he’ll travel to Los Angeles, Honolulu, Tokyo, around the tip of Africa, and back to Holland. “If this trip succeeds,” he joked, “my next goal will be to build a plane out of ice cream sticks and fly it around the world!”
初一英语小故事演讲稿2
The Way to a Man’s Heart…
He was her university teacher. He was smart, confident, and had a great sense of humor. And he was rather good-looking, too. The fact was, she had fallen in love with him. She sensed that he might like her. She had caught him looking at her more than once. What to do?
At the end of the semester, she waited till all the other students had left. She said she had a gift for him. He said that was very nice of her. Then he looked around for a wrapped package. Where was the gift, he asked. She said it was still at the store. She would pick him up and take him there that Saturday, if that was okay with him.
She picked him up at the Starbucks near his apartment. He was enjoying the mystery. He asked her: Was it an alarm clock so that he wouldn’t be late for class? Was it teaching materials, like markers and erasers? A new briefcase? An extra ink cartridge for his computer for when he printedhandouts? She said that she couldn’t comment.
They got to the mall and went into Nordstrom’s. “I hope it isn’t a suit,” he joked. “I never wear suits.”
“No, it isn’t. But it’s something that you always wear with a suit.”
“A tie? Why would I wear a tie if I never wear suits?”
“Not a tie, silly,” she said, as they walked into the shoe department. She had noticed that he always wore the same pair of shoes in class. She had guessed that he wore size 11, and had picked out a nice two-tone casual model by Clark. She hoped that he would like the shoes as much as she did. The shoes fit perfectly, and he did like them. When they left the store, he offered her his hand, and they walked out to her car hand in hand. She was tingling. “Let me at least buy you dinner,” he suggested as they got into her car.