【推荐1】Les Brown was adopted by Mamie Brown, a kitchen worker and maid. Due to the learning disability, Les was placed in special education class throughout high school. Upon graduation, he became a city cleaner in Miami Beach. But he had a dream of being a DJ.

At night, he would take a radio to bed, listening to the talking DJs. He created an imaginary radio station in his tiny room with a hairbrush as his microphone, practicing introducing records to his ghost listeners.

One day, Les bravely went to the local radio station during his lunch break and told the manager he wanted to be a DJ. But the manager told him they had no job for him. The station manager assumed that he had seen the last of this young man. But he underestimated the depth of Les’s devotion to his goal. You see, Les had a higher purpose than simply wanting to be a DJ—buying a nicer house for his adoptive mother.

So Les returned to the station every day for a week, asking if there were any job openings. Finally the station manager gave in and took him on as an errand boy—at no pay. Les did whatever was asked of him at the station, and more. While hanging out with the DJs, he taught himself their hand movements on the control panel. Then, back in his bedroom at night, he practiced and prepared himself for the opportunity that he knew would present itself.

One afternoon, a DJ named Rock was drinking while on the air. Les was the only other person in the building. Only minutes after the program was on, the phone rang. It was the station manager Mr. Klein, who asked whether he knew how to work the controls in the studio. That afternoon, he impressed the audience and his general manager. From then on, Les went on to a successful career in broadcasting, politics, public speaking and television.

【推荐2】I’m a New York City firefighter. Every day, I see terror — sometimes even death. But the day I found Scarlett was different. That day I saw life. And love.

We were responding to a call about a burning garage. Outside, I heard the sound of cats crying. I couldn’t stop — I would have to look for the cats after the fire was put out.

It took a long time to finally bring the big fire under control, but we did it. No one inside was hurt.

At that point I was free to investigate the cat noises. There was still a lot of smoke and heat coming from the building. I followed the meowing (猫叫) to a spot. There, crying and huddled (挤作一团) together, were five terrified kittens.

I wanted to find the mother. It was obvious that she had gone into the burning garage and carried out all of her babies, one by one — unbelievable.

We finally found her. She was badly burnt. She could barely move. I picked her up, and she relaxed in my arms. Sensing her trust, I shed a tear. I was determined to save this brave little cat and her family.

About a week later, I found out she was going to live. One of the technicians suggested we name her Scarlett, because of her reddened skin.

Knowing what Scarlett endured (忍受) for her kittens, it melted my heart to see her reunited with them. She touched each of them again, nose to nose, to make sure they were all safe. She had risked her life five separate times — and it had paid off. All of her babies had survived.

As a firefighter, I see heroism (英雄事迹) every day. But what Scarlett showed me that day was the kind of bravery that can only come from a mother’s love.

【推荐3】Gertrude was just an average kid with an average life. She lived in an average sized house in an average neighborhood. At home, she helped out just enough to get by. At school, she did just enough homework to stay out of trouble. She had straight Cs in all of her classes.

One day Gertrude's teacher, Mr. Mister, stopped her after class. "Gertrude," he said, "I know that you can do better. I've seen the work you do in class, and some of it is amazing... Way better than C work." Gertrude knew that there were moments when she tried a little harder than what everyone expected. But she just didn't have confidence in herself. She didn't really believe that she could change; in fact, she was scared by the thought of having the power to become whatever she wanted. She stopped listening to Mr. Mister about half way through his speech and just nodded her head until he stopped.

That night, Gertrude had a dream. It was ten years into the future and she was still living with her mom in her average neighborhood. A voice spoke in the dream: "The present is nothing more than the outcome of the choices made in the past. The future will be the results of the choices we make today." Gertrude started crying average sized tears, because she knew that she helped shape the world in which she lived, and the choices she made produced the options she had. She woke   up with her pillow wet.

Gertrude was relieved to be back in middle school. She took a little more care in getting herself ready that morning, and she felt better than normal. She tried harder in school, and she felt smarter than usual. She helped more around the house, and it looked better. Sure, there were still lots of things that Gertrude struggled with, but just trying her best made her feel better when she didn't succeed. Gertrude even became great at failing by learning from her mistakes.

【推荐1】It is widely acknowledged that we live in a world which is increasingly dominated by science. Since elementary school, I have always showed great interest in subjects like science and math. To me, these subjects, full of fascinating discoveries and constant innovations, seem to play a more significant role in human progress than humanities. And I always automatically thought of these subjects as more solid and serious than classes like English. If there was no right answer, I thought, why bother to find it? But recently I had a thought that taught me my academic interests are more flexible than I had ever thought: I took my first philosophy class.

Before I entered the classroom, I was still full of doubt. I waited outside the classroom with the other students and wondered what exactly philosophy would involve. I imagined getting into pretty long as well as boring conversations naturally intended to reflect on the meaning of life. However, what I got was something quite different.

A young man in jeans, Mr. Jones—“but you can call me Rob”—was far from the white-haired, buttoned-up old man that I had expected in my mind. Rather than pulling us into dull arguments about difficult-to-understand philosophical points, Rob engaged us on our level. To talk about free will, we looked at our own obstacles. To talk about morals, we looked at dilemmas we had faced ourselves. By the end of the class, I’d discovered that questions with no right answer can turn out to be the most appealing ones.

It struck me that if I let go of my prejudice, I can actually get a lot out of the subjects I once thought little of. The class taught me—in more ways than one—to look at things with an open mind.