Yong Le was an ambitious emperor who believed that China's greatness would be increased with an “open-door“ policy regarding international trade and diplomacy. In 1405, he ordered Chinese ships to sail to the 1ndian Ocean, and put Zheng He in charge of the voyage. Zheng went on to lead seven expeditions in 28 years, visiting more than 40 countries.
The voyages helped expand foreign interest in Chinese goods such as silk and porcelain. In addition, Zheng He brought exotic foreign items back to China, including the first giraffe ever seen there. At the same time, the fleet's obvious strength meant that the Emperor of China commanded respect and inspired fear all over Asia.
Though Zheng He died in 1433 and was probably buried at sea, a grave and small monument to him still exist in Jiangsu Province. Three years after Zheng He's death, a new emperor banned the construction of oceangoing ships, and China's brief era of naval expansion was over.
英语名人励志小故事篇3：托马斯;爱迪生Born in 1847 in Ohio, Thomas Edison attended school for only three months. After his teacher claimed that he could not learn, Edison's mother decided to teach him at home. There he was allowed to explore the subjects that most interested him. By age ten, Edison had built a science laboratory in the basement of his family's home and had become an avid experimenter.
Edison got his first job at age twelve on the railway selling candy and newspapers. Three years later, he suffered an ear injury from a train accident and lost much of his hearing. He could have had an operation, but he refused He insisted that being deaf helped him concentrate on his experiments.
Thomas Edison's first invention was the automatic telegraph repeater. He was already an expert on the telegraph before he came up with a gadget that sent telegraph signals between unmanned stations. Thanks to Edison, people were then able to send several telegraph messages simultaneously.
Next came the electric vote recorder. It made voting quicker and more accurate, yet no one wanted to buy it Edison then moved on to tackle the stock market ticker, the machine that gave information about stock market prices Edison improved it, and sold the rights for US$40,OOO.