【推荐1】The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about a serious problem with one of the main computers.

He dialed-the employee’s home phone number and was greeted with a child’s whisper, “Hello?” The boss asked, “Is your daddy at home?” “Yes, ”whispered the small voice. “May I talk with him?” the man asked.

To the surprise of the boss, the small voice whispered, “No.” Wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, “Is your mommy there?” “Yes,” came the answer. “May I talk with her?” Again the small voice whispered, “No.”

Knowing that it was impossible that a young child would be left home alone, the boss decided he would just leave a message to the person who should be there watching over the child. “Is there anyone besides you?” the boss asked the child. “Yes,” whispered the child, “A policeman.”

Wondering what a policeman would be doing at his employee’s home, the boss asked, “May I speak with the policeman?”

“No, he’s busy,” whispered the child. “Busy doing what?” asked the boss. “Talking to daddy and mommy and the fireman,” came the whispered answer.

Growing concerned and even worried as he heard what sounded like a helicopter through the earpiece on the phone, the boss asked, “What is the noise?” “A helicopter.” answered the whispered voice. “What is going on there?” asked the boss, now alarmed.

In a serious whispering voice the child answered, “The search team just landed the helicopter.” Alarmed and concerned and more than just a little disappointed, the boss asked, “Why are they there?” Still whispering, the young voice replied along with an unclear giggly (窃笑),“They are looking for me.”

【推荐2】My elder cousin Ted liked complaining almost about everything. When he faced a problem, he always chose to complain about it instead of finding a way to solve it. That was not right. Ted was healthy and had received a good education. He should and could find a good job and work hard to feed himself, but he just complained all day drifting from one job to another. One day, I read about a farmer called Chris and told Ted about the farmer.

Chris works hard, and performs many jobs around the farm. But Chris is not exactly like other farmers. What makes him different is that he was born without arms or legs. But this has not stopped him from working hard and getting things done.

How, you may ask, is this possible? Like many other amazing people who have no arms or legs, Chris does not focus on what he can’t do, but rather on what he can do. And he can do a lot! He drives farm vehicles and looks after crops. Once you see Chris in action, you will think there is nothing he could not do.

Chris is a great example of a person who is making the most of his gifts, his positive attitude and courage make him a true inspiration.

After I told Ted about Chris, he became silent. Compared with Chris, Ted was much luckier. Then luckily, I saw Ted’s change.

Do you like complaining? If you do, think about Chris, such a man chooses to stay positive. Why don’t we?

【推荐1】Winslow Homer was a famous American painter. Since Art History class in college，I had always admired his works and I was lucky to see a large exhibition of his works when I was in my early 30s. It was at this event that I bought a print of his painting “Snap the Whip”. It always hung in my classroom until I retired from teaching.

I thought it truly captured the freedom and fun of childhood. In the painting，a group of young boys are playing a game arm in arm on the grass ground in front of a farm house. They are jumping and laughing wildly with great joy. One of the boys is falling down to the ground. They are not even wearing shoes!

During my last year of teaching，there was a young woman in her first year of teaching right next door to me and we got to be good friends. She had been an art student before taking up education. Her eyes were drawn immediately to this print when she entered my room. So on my last day of teaching，after the students had left，I took the painting off the wall and walked next door and gave it to her.

She was really surprised，but very glad to have it. I was delighted that she liked it and all the students she would have would treasure it as much as I had. We found the perfect place for it on one of her walls and hung it together. I was happy that she brought back this wonderful memory for me.

【推荐3】I was standing in the checkout line behind a woman who looked to be in her 60s. When it was her turn to pay, the cashier greeted her by name and asked her how she was doing.

The woman looked down, shook her head and said, “Not so good. My husband just lost his job and my son is up to his old tricks again. The truth is, I don’t know how I’m going to get through the holidays.”

Then she gave the cashier food stamps.

My heart ached. I wanted to help but didn’t know how. Should I offer to pay for her groceries, ask for her husband’s resume?

As I walked into the parking lot, I spotted the woman returning her shopping cart. I remembered something in my purse that I thought could help her. It wasn’t a handful of cash or an offer of a job for her husband, but maybe it would make her life better.

My heart jumped hard as I approached the woman.

“Excuse me,” I said, my voice trembling a bit. “I couldn’t help overhearing what you said to the cashier. It sounds like you’re going through a really hard time right now. I’m so sorry. I’d like to give you something.”

I handed her the small card from my purse.

When the woman read the card’s only two words, she began to cry. And through her tears, she said: “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

I was a little startled by her reply. Having never done anything like this before, I didn’t know what kind of reaction I might receive. All I could think to say was, “Oh my, would it be OK to give you a hug? ”

After we embraced, I walked back to my car—and began to cry too.

The words on the card?

“You Matter.”

A few weeks earlier, a colleague gave me a similar card as encouragement for a project I was working on. When I read the card, I felt a warm glow spread inside of me. Deeply touched, I came home and ordered my own box of You Matter cards and started sharing them.

【推荐1】Next-generation fitness equipment and robots help you cook dinner. Those are a few of the countless new products expected to be shown next week at CES, the annual tech conference that typically sets the tone for the biggest trends of the year. Home automation, health and 5G will once again be hot topics, but many companies will also introduce pandemic-specific features to reflect our increased time at home.

Each year, reporters, exhibitors and investors typically explore Las Vegas showrooms filled with giant TVs, smart cars and robots, but CES will be online only for the first time in its 54-year history due to Covid-19.

The Consumer Technology Association, the nonprofit behind the four-day event starting Monday, said 1,800 exhibitors from around the world will fill its "digital venue" this year—a number that's down significantly from 4,000 in-person exhibitors last year. The move will allow tech companies from countries which have never attended before to take part in the online exhibition, but could also make it harder for smaller companies to get noticed without a physical showroom.

Registered attendees will be able to stream and re-watch keynotes from companies such as Verizon (VZ) and General Motors (GM), tune in to breakout sessions — about how, for example, technology is playing a role in vaccine deployment—and search through a registry of exhibitors to watch new product presentations.

It'll lack some of the signature ingredients of the trade show, such as hands-on time with the latest small machines and networking. But the technology that makes our lives more connected and convenient will still gain popularity.

【推荐2】Researchers from Arizona State University (ASU) published their latest report. When men expressed their opinions with anger, people considered them more believable. But when women expressed anger, they were viewed as more emotional and, thus, less convincing. In other words, a man could benefit from using anger in power and persuasion. A woman, however, could be ignored or hurt by her group if she expressed anger.

The study was based on the responses of 210 students. They were shown evidence online from a murder (谋杀) trial. A man was said to have murdered his wife. The students were asked to decide if the man was guilty or not. Before making their decisions, the students discussed the case online with five jurors (陪审员). But these jurors were computers generating responses and comments. Some of the jurors had made identities. Others had female identities.

Some male jurors were anger about the verdict (裁决). When this happened, the students reacted by doubting their own decisions about the case. Confidence in their responses on the verdict dropped. However, when female jurors seemed angry, the students became more confident in their original verdicts.

Jessica Salerno, a psychologist and co-author of the study, said, “Our results provide something important for any woman who is trying to have an influence on a decision in her workplace and everyday life.”

In a political debate, a female candidate might have less influence if she shows anger. In the entertainment world, actor Jennifer Lawrence recently wrote that women and men in Hollywood get the opposite reactions when expressing their opinions angrily. “All I hear and see are men speaking their opinions,” she wrote. “When I give mine in the quite similar manner, you would have thought I said something annoying.”

【推荐3】James Harrison is called “The Man With the Golden Arm”. The Australian man has saved the lives of more than 2.4 million babies by donating blood nearly every week for 60 years.

At the age of 14, Harrison had an 11-hour operation to remove a lung. “I received 13 units of blood and my life was saved by unknown people,” Harrison said. “When I’m old enough, I’ll become a blood donor.”

That is exactly what Harrison did Soon afterward, the doctor told him that his blood contains the rare antibody that can help mothers who have rhesus disease, a condition where a pregnant woman’s blood attacks the blood cells of her fetus(胎儿). In the worst case, it can result in brain damage or death of the baby. And until about 1967, thousands of babies died each year in Australia.

Before long, researchers had developed an injection(注射剂), called Anti-D, using Harrison’s donated blood. Because about 17 percent of pregnant women in Australia require the Anti-D injections, the blood service estimates Harrison has helped about 2.4 million babies in the county. At the age of 81, he had already passed the age limit allowed for donors, and the blood service had suggested Harrison should stop donating to ensure his health.

Harrison was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in recognition of his extraordinary efforts and generosity, but he doesn’t consider himself a hero. He has donated his blood 1,173 times, which breaks the Guinness World Records. But in all those times of donating blood, he has never once watched. “I look at the celling or the nurses and maybe talk with them. I feel faint at the sight of blood, and I can’t stand the pain.”

【推荐1】It is not uncommon for human-generated fires-lit to clear the land out for farming-in the Amazon rainforest to get out of control. However, this year, the number of wildfires has been extraordinarily high. Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has recorded over 73 ,000 fires in the world's largest tropical rainforest between January and August 2019, 2,500 of which are currently active. This is the highest number observed since the agency began keeping records in 2013.

Brazil, which is home to 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest, has been the hardest hit. The thick smoke from the fires currently covers half of the country and can be seen clearly from space. The fires have recently also spilled over to the neighboring country of Bolivia, where they have thus far torched over 113,000 acres, including forests and grasslands in Chiquitania, a popular nature reserve.

The area’s dry season, which spans from August to November, is undoubtedly a factor in the unusually high number of fires. “However, there is nothing abnormal about the climate this year or the rainfall in the Amazon region, which is just a little below average,” INPE researcher Alberto Setzer told Reuters, “Starting a fire is the work of humans.”

While all wildfires are harmful to the environment, the ones in the Amazon can be particularly so. Often referred to as the “lungs of the planet,” the tropical rainforest generates more than 20% of the world's oxygen. It also sucks up about a quarter of the 2.4 billion metric tons of carbon that global forests absorb each year. The rainforest is, therefore, crucial in regulating global climate. If the Amazon disappears or is reduced in size greatly, it could change weather patterns everywhere, impacting everything from how much food farms can produce to the availability of clean drinking water.

【推荐2】Robert has never had an art lesson or even visited a museum in fact. he has spent a good part of his life mopping floors. But when he began painting on canvas (帆布) at age 60—after years of sketching (素描) people on the subway -he knew he had found his passion. “I was very lonely” he said, “It made me feel good to create something beautiful.”

Now, Robert, 75, is debuting (首秀) his collection of colorful scenes and landscape at New York City’s Outsider Art Fair, the premier showcase for self-taught artist. “It feels great to say I am an artist. I was always told that I didn’t have any talent. I became something from nothing.” adds Robert.

Abandoned by his parents to an orphanage at age 7, Robert was on his own by the time he was 15, working the counter at a Schrafft’s restaurant in Manhattan and street-bustling for money on the side. At Scharafft’s, one of his regular customers was a former school teacher Marian O’Conner, who taught him to read and later left him enough money to buy a modest apartment. “She told me someday I would be something,” said Robert, who considered O’Conner his second mother. “So I kept going.” In 2009 artist Daniel Belardineli discovered Robert’s work on the walls of the town hall and arranged his first art show. “It was like a left blow,” he said, “I saw these raw drawings that jumped out with emotion.” Whatever comes next, for Robert it has all been worth it. “I have had a lot of hard times,” said Robert, “But my art kept me going. Good thing happen to those who wait.”