【推荐1】Owen Williams and his wife befriended their eighty-year-old neighbor, Ken Watson, when they moved into their home in Wales three years ago. When their daughter, Cadi, was born a year later, Watson became a grandfather figure, taking the time to drop off Christmas presents for the child. Watson died in October.

On Monday, Watson’s daughter stopped by the Williams home with a large bag containing 14 wrapped Christmas presents her father had bought and wrapped for Cadi.

Williams posted notes about what happened on Twitter to spread some Christmas spirit. He wrote that he wasn’t sure whether he should give his daughter all the presents now, or hold onto them and give her one a year. Twitter responded in a big way, with many saying the story brought them to tears. So many people weighed in about the gifts, in fact, that Williams made a Twitter poll. So far, more than 55,000 people have voted on how he should distribute the gifts.

Williams, who is a social-media consultant, said the majority of people are voting for giving Cadi one present a year. He said he has no idea what is in the packages, but he’s leaning toward listening to the will of the voters.“I think we’re going to turn it into a Christmas story for our daughter,” he said. “We’ll do one a year for the next 14 years. It feels like the right thing to do now. If she opens a box of Lego when she’s 16 then so be it.”

He said he was struck by how many people have responded by saying their neighbors are virtual strangers to them.“The thing that stands out to me is how few people know their neighbors,” Williams said. “People are saying, ‘That’s so lovely. I don’t even know my neighbors.’ … This Christmas, take your neighbors a bottle of wine or a small gift, a token. Just say, ‘Hi.’ You can open a new world like we did.”

【推荐2】When I was in my first year of high school, I had a terrible time when every area of my life was a disaster. I felt so hopeless and alone that I thought everything was impossible.

On one such day, I was walking from class across the school to catch the school bus home, with my head down, fighting tears of total hopelessness, when a young man came down the sidewalk toward me. Though I had never seen him before, I did not want him to see that I was in such low spirits, so I turned my head away and hoped to hurry past. I thought he'd walk on by, but he moved until he was directly in front of me, waited until I looked up, and then smiled.

Looking into my eyes, this stranger spoke in a quiet voice: “Whatever is wrong will pass. You're going to be OK, just hang on.” He then smiled again and walked away.

I can't explain the effect of that man's unexpected kindness and caring! He gave me the one thing that I'd lost completely—hope. I looked for him in our school to thank him, but never saw him again.

That was thirty years ago. And I've never forgotten that moment. Over the years, whenever I see someone who is in trouble, I will always think of that young man and try to give a flash of hope in the dark wherever I can. I carry things for people when they are too heavy for them, sit with naughty babies in the waiting room while their mothers are busy, or talk to tired couples at the checkout line or it could be anything. If you keep your head up, your heart will show you the place that needs hope.

【推荐3】At 6:45 a. m., I make my first appointment of the day to see 88-year-old Florence. She lives on her own and needs help to start her day. Although my duty starts at 7 a. m. . I always get there earlier as I know Florence who is easy-going will be looking out of the window, waiting for me.

For many of my clients(客户), I am the only person they will see in a day, so it's important to make sure they know they are the focus of my attention during a visit.

I help Florence get washed and dressed and make her breakfast. I tidy her surroundings and make sure she is settled, safe and secure. But most importantly, I talk to her and listen to how she is feeling.

We see many reports about "clock-watch care", where visits are limited to 15 minutes or less. It would be impossible for me to get anything done that is of value to people in this short time.

I often spend at least 30 minutes with each client, which means I can get to know their unusual qualities rather than just see them as a list of care needs.

Caring for people to is a responsibility and I feel proud to be given that trust. I was inspired to work in home care after caring for my husband and my mother during their illnesses before they died, so I know the importance of helping people feel as comfortable as possible in an environment that means something to them.

There are huge positives to work in home care --- it's a career(事业) where you can get a sense of personal achievement from knowing you are helping other people. The opportunity to do something good to others in need is a wonderful and rewarding experience.

【推荐1】The amount of rubbish that piles on our shore lines is hugely worrying and a growing problem for the planet. It seems like no matter how remote you hike and how high you climb, there’s always a dropped plastic container there waiting for you.

Mariah Reading, an American artist, spends the majority of her time outdoors looking for inspiration for her art, based in nature and our natural surroundings. On noticing the amount of waste filling her natural areas, she decided she had to reflect it in her works.

For her latest project, Mariah is looking at both the problem of wasteful littering and the way that art itself can be wasteful in materials, taking the dropped items that fill her natural spaces and painting them to reflect the place in which they were left.

Applying paint to create her masterpieces, Mariah has collected trash (垃圾) from different mountains and parks. “I’ve been considering my relationship with art and the large amount of waste it can produce,” says Mariah. “I wanted to find ways I can confirm art and its important purpose by working with recycled materials found in landscape environments.”

“Since the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, I’ve especially appreciated and been inspired by the natural beauty the parks offer, and found how easily we can take these precious places for granted. I seek to gather as much trash as possible, sculpt it into a canvas (画布), and paint the scene where the trash originated onto the trash itself,” says Mariah.

As well as through this project, Mariah has explored nature in her art in various different ways and through exhibitions. Mariah’s work might not solve the litter problem, but it’s just another way that we can get people talking about the problem and the ways we can prevent it from growing any larger.

【推荐2】I was in the seventh grade, and we had moved to New Jersey in November. By then, everyone already had had their own friends, and no one wanted to talk to a new girl. To make things worse, they put me in “Section L”. I found out later that everyone called Section L “Loserville”. It was sort of an open secret that it was the section for troublemakers and not-so-smart kids. When I found out, I wanted to scream. I had always been a good student and had amazing friends, and now everyone thought I was a loser!

I did text my friends in Illinois almost every night, especially my best friend, Ana. At first my friends wanted to hear all about it. But then some stopped texting back once I said something about how miserable I was. One night when I was texting with Ana, I complained about another friend who had just done that. Ana’s texts came really fast for the next few minutes and they surprised me. She said that she was tired of hearing about how bad everything was in New Jersey, too. She said she did not want to hurt my feelings but that I needed to stop feeling so sorry for myself all the time, and I had to try to make things better.

The next day, I thought a lot about what Ana had said. She was right!

I wish I could say that everything changed overnight after that, but it didn’t. I was still stuck in “Loserville”, and some people were still mean (苛刻) to me, even though I tried to just stay out of their way.

But what did change was me — I stopped feeling so sorry for myself and did something about making friends. I signed up to make sets for the school play. I met a lot of new people there, and suddenly I had friends to say hi to in the halls!

I still miss Illinois sometimes, but life in New Jersey isn’t so hard anymore. Even though I couldn’t change my situation, I could change my attitude — and that made all the difference.

【推荐2】“Earthquake!” The word flashed in my brain. A roaring sound filled my ears. I tried to hide beneath my desk. The desk did a wild tap dance, slipping and sliding towards the center of the room. I twisted (扭曲) my body and grabbed at the windowsill (窗沿) behind me, somehow kicking free of my dancing chair. I tried to stand. My legs skated away as if on a bucking escalator (弯曲的自动扶梯).

My fingers shook, grasped and held the windowsill tightly. Somewhere through the roar sounded the terrified scream of some wounded animals. I looked behind me and tried to steady my gaze on the other kids but the scene was a dizzy nightmare. Some of the class were sitting in the middle of the room, surrounded by chairs and desks. One girl was screaming. A boy was trying to move across the floor to the door in a crazy overarm crawl (肩上爬行).

I cried aloud, “I’m going to die. I’m going to die. Save me. I’m not ready to die. I’m not ready!”

I moved forward on my knees and pressed my face against my clenched fingers (握紧拳头). Suddenly I realized that the rocking had stopped. Perhaps I wasn’t going to die.