【推荐1】Child care workers help care for children when their parents are working or are busy with other tasks.     1     But for children who are not attending school, they may watch them full-time. Some child care workers are employed (雇佣) through a school or day care center. Others are self-employed and work out of the home.

    2     The workers need to keep the children safe. Also, they must let children fully take part in different activities. So, it’s important that child carers know many games and activities. Besides, they should keep children healthy and make sure they’re in a clean environment.

As for the personality, child care workers need to be very patient when talking to children and guiding them.     3     If not, children will find it hard to get along with them. Also, they need to be able to stay calm (镇静的) in dangerous situations, for example, if a child falls down.

Child care providers are helpful; they can give reports to the parents on how their child is doing. Since some workers help with homework, they know well how a child is dealing with the work. They know how the child communicates with other children. And they know how they deal with certain key situations.     4     They can learn about how the child behaves (表现) when they’re not around.

In many cases, child care workers play the part of a teacher, playmate, etc. They should have a high level of responsibility. Their job plays an important role in the lives of many families.     5    

【推荐2】I was truly delighted by the beauty that I enjoyed when I came to this country. My journey started when I was in my senior year at the University of Ottawa. As a health science major, I’d always planned on just applying to medical schools and continuing my studies in some fashion or another country.

After four years of intense studies, something just didn’t feel right. I felt a strong urge to make a change. It was 2008. I began searching for alternatives to what most university graduates see as their two options: enter the workforce, or continue studying.

But I knew I wanted something completely different. I didn’t have money to travel, but I was searching for an idea that could allow me to leave whenever I want. Despite never having left my country, I felt the urge to explore.

I spent my final few months as a student researching all of my options and soon had made up my mind that I was going to teach English in a foreign country. Quickly I was able to narrow down the options to either Japan, South Korea, or China.

Finally, I set China as my destination. The moment I set foot on this magical land, my eyes were opened, and my mind transformed. This was the beginning of a new lifestyle for me. The culture shock was real, but at the same time, it could get people back on their feet. I spent the next few years studying everything under the sun about marketing, online business creation, and sales.

Fast forward a few years, and that site has grown enough to fund my travels. Therefore, I decide I never look back, and I’m determined to start a new life on this land.

【推荐3】Ever wonder what happens to spacecraft after they get launched to space? Well, that is where my job as an instrument operations engineer comes in. My job consists of planning, generating, and operating scientific instruments in-flight. I am grateful for having worked on missions at Saturn, the Moon, and our own planet Earth.

When I was a high-schooler, I was unsure of what college I wanted to attend, or what major I wanted to choose. After receiving an email from a college called Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), I decided to apply to a summer program they were offering with the encouragement of my mom. After participating in that program, I knew that MIT was the right university for me. The passionate students and boundless opportunities developed a feeling of belonging in me that led me to apply and eventually get accepted.

The most exciting and fulfilling part of being an engineer is that I am able to work on projects that benefit humanity. When people think of the space industry, they picture the outer reaches of our solar system. What they may not imagine is the great body of work being done to study our own home-Earth. I am thankful to have a career that allows me to commit myself to that responsibility.

The highlight of my career has been witnessing the end of the Cassini mission to Saturn. Some of the people on the team had been working on the mission for longer than I had been alive, but they still treated me as one of their own. I was given the opportunity to operate the cameras that would catch breathtaking images of the planet. And when the Cassini spacecraft had run out of fuel, I quickly learned that it was not just the end of the mission, but the end of a team. The night we watched with bittersweet longing as its signal faded to nothing is something that I will always keep in my memories. And while Cassini will be remembered for its historic contributions, what I will remember it for is the team it brought together.

My friends often ask why a girl could achieve all these. I always grew up a big fan of fiction. I read the Harry Potter books and loved anything fantasy. I realized that a common theme of hero stories is that the hero must always make a choice to start their adventure. If you don’t pick up the sword in your own story because you are afraid of what may happen next, you risk not having a story at all.

【推荐2】TeenJobFind, created by Palo Alto tech expert and mother Janet Shah, matches teens with local jobs, such as washing cars, tutoring or yard work. And like other ‘on demand’ services, TeenJobFind runs via mobile devices.

Shah was motivated to build TeenJobFind after facing the same problem as many other parents of teens: She wanted her children to learn the value of earning money, but couldn’t fit a regular work schedule into their busy lives. ‘‘When my three kids asked me for things, I found myself reminding them that when I was their age, I was babysitting and earning my own money, ” Shah said. ‘‘However, because of academics and extracurricular activities, my kids don’t have time for a traditional part-time job.”

Drawing on her experience at Apple, Yahoo and other tech companies, Shah thought through the elements of TeenJobFind carefully before launching the app. First on her list was security. As a mother, she did not want to send her children to a stranger’s house to do a job without knowing if the situation was safe.

That is why all potential job posters on TeenJobFind must agree to a background check through a third party. As emphasized in the site’s FAQ, ‘‘Our task at TeenJobFind is to create a safe marketplace. Our number one priority is to ensure the safety of those using our platform.”

Adults looking for help, called ‘owls’, download the app, submit (提交) their information for the security check, and begin posting jobs.

Teenagers interested in working—called ‘owlets’—also need to download the app. Through geolocation (地理定位), TeenJobFind shows both teens and job posters which jobs are available in their neighborhood, or ‘nest’.

When ‘owls’ need a job done, they post a ‘hoot (夜枭鸣叫声)’,   which gets sent to nearby ‘owlets’,   whether it is for occasional yard work, cleaning a garage, taking care of pets, helping out at a party or tutoring. The possibilities are endless. Teenagers can choose to complete the task if it works with their schedule and interest.

If you have ever hired a teen, you know that it is difficult to figure out how much to pay them. Fortunately, TeenJobFind takes the worry out of this situation by charging job posters $15 per hour for all tasks.

From this fee, teens get paid $12, which is transferred electronically through the app. Like most other gig economy (零工经济) apps, TeenJobFind uses the $3 per hour difference to cover operational costs and increase accessibility to these services.