【推荐1】When my son was 11 years old, he got a small job helping out with a traveling carnival in our town. He didn’t come home at lunch time, phoning instead to tell me he was fine and had found a few days’ work helping out at an exhibit. He turned up for supper as usual however after he finished work.

I asked him how he had managed at lunch and he told me he had made some new friends at the carnival, some young men who were twin brothers, and their mom and dad. They had paid him a few dollars and invited him for lunch in return for helping them set up their exhibit and wanted him to return the next day to help with other chores (杂务).

I was glad he had found new friends but a little worried about the type of people who might be traveling in a carnival. "Oh, Mom, these are just normal everyday people like anyone else. They just work at a carnival instead of in a store or something". "Come down tomorrow and meet them yourself," he said.

So the next day I went to the carnival and to the exhibit he had directed me to. The twin brothers turned out to be Siamese (连体的) twins, joined at the chest. He hadn’t thought this fact was noteworthy(重要的) enough to mention. When I brought it to him, he said, "Yes, I noticed that too. Do you know that their mom has to make all their clothes because it’s so difficult to find anything to fit them? They’re also really good cooks. Today, Joe, the one on the right, made me spaghetti (意大利面条) for lunch."

What others see first in a person is not what a child considers important. Where I saw Siamese twins, he saw people having difficulty buying clothes that fit, and young men who were good cooks. It was a lesson I have thought about many times over the years.

【推荐2】It was Saturday morning. I heard loud noises of moving furniture in the next room. I could almost feel the excitement of John who was soon going to get a room of his own. I remember my own feelings when I was 13. I knew how much he longed for his right to privacy when he was sharing a room with his younger brother, Robot. He said, “Mum, can I please have a room of my own? I could use Jeff’s. He won’t mind.”

It was true that Jeff had graduated from college and flown from the nest. But would he mind? The room was the place where I told him a thousand stories and we had a thousand talks. As close as we were, though, the time came when Jeff needed a door between us. His life was spreading into areas that had less to do with family. I no longer could — or should — know everything about him.

It turned out that getting Jeff’s permission was easy. He said, “Of course, Mum, it would be selfish of me to hold on to it.” Then his voice softened, “Mum, I won’t be living at home again — you know that.” Behind his glasses, his eyes were lit with all the love. There were no doors closed here — they had all opened up again.

As John and I were cleaning the room, I fixed my eyes on Jeff’s things around me and could almost touch the little boy I knew was gone forever. I looked at the room and, in my heart, I let it go. To hold on would be, as Jeff said, selfish. Now it was time for John, shouldering through the door, his eyes bright with promise of independence, to disappear behind the door. It was time for letting go to happen again.

【推荐2】I spend 99 percent of my time writing about others. However, so many people have encouraged me to turn the tables and write about my own running journey, that I’ve decided to try “first person” for once.

Sunday, November 11, 2018 will forever be a treasured memory. It was a near-perfect first-time marathon experience. The weather was perfect and the sun was shining, but more than that, I truly felt the love of family and friends the whole day.

For more than a year, my goal was to run my first marathon before the age of 50. But my long term goal is to stay healthy enough to continue running the rest of my life. I had all but given up on the possibility of ever running again, after cracking(断裂) my kneecap at the age of 16. I tried to get back into running in my 20’s and 30’s, and finally five years ago at the age of 44 thanks to yoga, ballet & Pilates cross training, I was strong enough! I can’t imagine “not running” ever again, now that I’ve rediscovered it. Running inspires and challenges me, and in return, I hope my story inspires others. It’s never “too late” to do anything you set your mind to do.

Some of the runs I cherish the most take place with my daughters, when they are home from college or work, or when I can join them for a run where they live. How many teenage “kids” actually WANT to be seen in public with their mom, let alone be seen running with her? We have done lots of 5Ks together and they are some of my favorite races. Every run over the past year formed a building block for the marathon, and my journey has introduced me to many special people, including my beloved ones.

【推荐3】I’m 52, and as surprising as it may seem. I’m a gymnast. In a sport for young girls, I have found an unlikely path to joy. When I enter the gym, no matter how much stress I might be feeling, my mind clears and I forget my life. I think of nothing but what I am doing.

When I was 9, I went every Saturday to a gymnastic academy. The coach had gray hair and wore ballet shoes and had boundless enthusiasm. He would say, “You are going to be a gymnast.” And I believed him. I vividly remember the first time I did a round off back handspring by myself, the weightlessness of it. I lived for Saturday mornings. I only ever did gymnastics recreationally — I didn’t even know real gyms existed — but I always loved it.

That long dormant love came roaring back in my forties. It happened in an instant, at parents’ day for my daughter’s beginning gymnastics class. The bars were just sitting there, and I had this overwhelming urge to grab hold and swing. But I couldn’t make it through the warm-up at the first adult class I went. I felt bad during conditioning. I was the oldest person there. But that spark of memory glowed with possibility. I went back to class again, and again. It was hard and it was humbling. But soon I was doing back handsprings like I used to.

There is nothing like the thrill of getting a new skill, that combination of speed, mechanics, timing, muscles, and bravery. There is an indescribable (不可言喻的) element, too, something like faith. By the time we reach middle age, most of us have had to deal with our fair share of unwelcome surprises, like illness, family crisis or the death of a beloved parent. But gymnastics has brought the most delightful surprises — I keep getting better, overcoming what I thought were limits, amazing myself by what I can do. At a time in life when many things feel like they are sliding down the slope (斜坡) towards old, gymnastics is a gift of fluency and competence in motion. I’m in the best shape of my life. I’m a better gymnast now than I was at 16.

【推荐1】In mid-August, Hou Changliang and Lei Yudan finally held their wedding ceremony at Hou’s hometown in Shaoyang, central China’s Hunan Province.

During the past 11 years, Hou has been traveling and teaching in rural schools across three provinces in Southwest China. In 2011, he signed up for a program, funded by government agencies since 2003. The programme sends col graduates to China’s underdeveloped western regions to work for one to three years in different fields, such as education, agriculture and rural management.

Born into a rural family, Hou knows how life-changing education can be for a rural kid. When most young people were competing for places in big cities, Hou headed deep into the mountains. For Hou, the most difficult aspect of teaching in a remote village was not the poor working conditions or the low income that came with it. For two years, he batted to end the alarming dropout rate among his students in Dahua, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Locals often saw little reason to support school education for their children, especially girls. “The number of students tended to decrease after winter vacations” said Hou. “After the Chinese New Year, some were brought to big cities to work when they were old enough.”

Since the 1990s, working in cities has gradually become the main way of employment for rural laborers. Working in cities becomes the most popular pat for young people from rural regions to earn an income and become independent early, but at the cost of their education.

Studies into the high drop-out rate of rural students in middle school show that students from poor families often feel anxious about the burden of education on their parents and are more likely to drop out when they have poor grades.

“If I can’t change the parents’ mind, at least I can change the mind of my students-the future parents,” said Hou.

【推荐2】For days, Hunter Mollett’s stomach growled with hunger because he had nothing to eat, but, he still headed to Enterprise High School in Mississippi. Mollett never complained: he’d simply do his work, hang about with his friends, and attend band practice.

From the second year to the third year in high school, Mollett experienced varying degrees of homelessness. However, as one of the smartest students in his grade, when struggling to find stable housing, he also wanted to attend Harvard University.

Jackie Lewis first learned of his dream when she met him in her ninth grade math class. “He told me he was going to Harvard,” she recalled, “but I was unsure if he was going to make it.” However, after having Mollett in class, Lewis changed her view on his chances in the Ivy League.

When he was in first grade, Mollett first decided on Harvard when he was watching Boston Legal with his mother. He asked her how the characters became lawyers; she said they went to Harvard. Though he didn’t know if they went to Harvard or if she was just joking, Mollett decided that’s where he wanted to go.

When Mollett’s teacher learned of his unstable housing, they started helping when they could. If Mollett needed school pictures, a teacher would buy them for him. If he needed a ride, someone would take him. Meanwhile, Mollett worked hard toward his goal of becoming a surgeon. He took his tests and started applying to colleges, including Mississippi State University and Harvard.

Soon he learned Mississippi State accepted him and offered him a full ride. Then he got an email about financial aid at Harvard. He felt bewildered until he realized he received the financial aid acceptance letter before his university acceptance letter.

“I sat there for 16 minutes just staring at my phone. I was amazed I got it.” Mollett, 18, said.

【推荐3】Recently, I experienced a wonderful lesson in how little things still mean a lot. My brother, mother and I live in Hawaii. Our farm is at least a dozen miles from even the most basic of services. Therefore, I take weekly trips to the shop to get supplies. About a month ago, I finished loading up the car and was about to leave, when a piece of paper on the ground caught my eye. I picked it up and read it carefully.

It was a receipt from the State Motor Vehicle Division, recording the owners payment of her Vehicles Registration fees. At first I thought that I could find the owner. So I waited there for about an hour. Although the receipt had been borne on the wind, where in the busy, crowded parking lot would I find the owner? I looked over the receipt for contact or any personal data, perhaps a license tag or telephone number. I checked the date, the fees paid, noted the name of the owner and pocketed the paper. I concluded that the best and easiest step to take was to put the receipt in an envelope and send it to the owner first the next morning.

By the end of the week, I received a beautiful "thank you " letter from a very grateful and happy woman containing a handwritten message and a gift card. In the letter, the woman explained how the wind snatched (夺去) her receipt from a pocket in her car’s passenger door. She had searched everywhere for quite some time before giving up.

It felt great to know I had helped someone avoid a loss by doing something that at first glance(一瞥) seemed little and unimportant.