1. The Last Leaf by O. Henry

　　Johnsy is an inhabitant of an art colony in Greenwich Village, where pneumonia is taking its

　　toll. Eventually, Johnsy is stricken with the disease and gives up all desire to live. Outside

　　her window resides an old ivy vine on which only a few leaves remain. Convinced that she

　　will die when the last leaf falls, Johnsy watches the vine incessantly. This morbid fascination

　　distresses her big hearted neighbor Mr. Berhman, an old painter scraping by as an artist’s

　　model and still dreaming of painting his masterpiece. Time passes, Johnsy remains

　　fascinated by the withering vine. To her growing astonishment, a single last leaf remains

　　attached firmly to the vine. Taking this as an embodiment of hope, Johnsy’s condition

　　ameliorated. In the meantime, her neighbor contracts pneumonia and has been taken to

　　hospital, where he later dies. It is later discovered that he had contracted the disease after

　　staying up all night to paint the perfect image of a single leaf on the brick wall outside

　　Johnsy’s window. (168 字)

　　2. Charles Schulz

　　Charles Monroe Schulz is an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts is considered to

　　be one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium. Although Charles is

　　a shy, timid teenager, he is steadfast and persistent. It is his self-defeating stubbornness

　　and admirable perseverance in trying his best against all odds that made him a popular

　　figure. He can never win a ballgame but continues to play baseball; he can never fly a kite

　　successfully but continues to do so. Although his drawings were first rejected by his high

　　school yearbook and then refused by Disney, he persevered and created the world

　　renowned Charlie Brown and Snoopy, known as Peanut comic, which reflects his own life.

　　Peanuts ran for 50 years, and, at its peak, appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75

　　countries. (138 字)

　　3. Thomas Edison

　　Thomas Edison is considered to be one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding

　　1,093 US patents under his name. He is one of the first inventors to apply the principles of

　　mass production and large teamwork to the process of invention, and therefore is often

　　credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. To find a long lasting

　　material for the light bulb, Edison and his team worked for many years and experienced more than 1,500 failures through the process. However, their research was not hampered by

　　setbacks and their hard work was finally paid off in 1879. Using a small carbonized bamboo

　　filament, Edison and his team were able to produce a light bulb that was able to last over 40

　　hours. After soughting further improvements, Edison finally filed for US patent 223898 in

　　November4, 1879. His invention of the light bulb not only revolutionized the nascent electric

　　industry, but also made electricity viable to mankind. (161 字)

　　4. Henry Ford

　　Henry Ford, the American founder of the Ford Motor Company, had been stimulated by

　　Thomas Edison in his youth and followed Thomas Edison’s career then. In 1896, while

　　attending a company-sponsored convention in Manhattan Beach, New York, Henry Ford was

　　introduced to the great inventor Thomas Edison. During their conversation, Edison asked the

　　young Henry Ford a series of questions and when the conversation was over, Edison

　　emphasized his satisfaction by banging his fist down on the table. "Young man," he said,

　　"that's the thing! You have it!” To Henry Ford, as he later indicated, that bang on the table

　　was worth worlds.

　　After receiving the complete approval from Thomas Edison, Henry Ford strived to accomplish

　　his invention of the cheap and convenient Model T. After further improvements, the price of

　　Model T decreased from $850 to $225, a price that is affordable to most social classes. The

　　design later revolutionized the transportation industry in America because prior to its

　　introduction, cars were a form of luxury that is only affordable to the upper echelons. And in

　　just 19 years after the first introduction, the sales of the Model T had reached an astounding

　　15,007,034, a record which stood for the next 45 years. (204 字)

　　5. Jack Welch

　　Jack Welch was the former CEO of General Electric. He joined the company in 1960 and

　　worked as a junior engineer. After a year at GE, he was displeased with the strict

　　bureaucracy regarding pay rise which led to a mere $1000 increase in his salary after his

　　first year. Welch, who then harbored thoughts of leaving the company, was convinced by

　　Reuben Gutoff to stay. He then started questioning the decisions made by the authorities

　　and moved up the ranks quickly. When he became the CEO of GE in 1981, he worked to

　　streamline the company by trimming inventories and dismantling the bureaucracy that

　　almost led him to leave the company. Each year, he would fire the bottom 10% of his

　　managers, while rewarding the top 20% with bonuses and stock options. By pushing his

　　managers to perform, the perennial problem with regards to perceived inefficiency was

　　effectively eradicated. When Welch left GE, the company had gone from a market value of $14 billion to more than $410 billion at the end of 2004, making it the most valuable and

　　largest company in the world. (186 字)