【推荐2】In November 2020, Stephanie Morton announced her retirement. The then 29-year-old athlete’s exit was a blow to the Australian Olympic program. “This decision wasn’t made lightly. Eight months ago, I had such an idea, and thankfully I had the support of the Australian Cycling Team throughout the whole process, along with my family and close friends,” said Morton.

Born in Adelaide, Morton stood out as an athlete throughout her childhood even though in a different sport. She grew up in a badminton-mad family. Her father coached the South Australian team, and her mother was its manager. It just so happened that when Morton was 15, her uncle suggested she test her power output on an exercise bike. “I always say cycling picked me. I didn’t pick cycling,” Morton said.

Morton joined the national program midway through the reign(任期)of Anna Meares, who won a medal at every Olympics between 2004 and 2016. It was an unusual relationship—Meares was Morton’s coach, teammate and opponent.

In 2010 Morton took on the role as Tandem Pilot for the cyclist Felicity Johnson, with the combination winning three world titles across 2011 and 2012, followed by one gold medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. In 2014, Morton beat Meares for the first time at the national track championships. The same year, Morton won one gold medal and one silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. But it was after the 2016 Rio Olympics, a disappointing overall campaign for the Australian track team, that Morton really began to shine. Two silver medals at the 2017 World Champions were followed by three gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Compared with the number of deaths from the global epidemic, the retirement of an athlete might not seem significant. For Morton, the next stage of her life now begins. The cyclist has studied criminal justice part-time throughout her cycling career and has previously shown an intention to join the police. Morton said, “I want to be an active and positive role model.”

【推荐3】In 2004, Moe Hunter was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis (细菌性脑膜炎) in the brain. He went into a coma (昏迷) for over a month, during which his heart even stopped. He awoke from brain surgery with no memory, but instead, a new set of art skills.

“I woke up on Oct. 13, 2004. I don’t remember anything before 2004—everything has been said to me by family and friends,” Hunter, 38, said. “I really wasn’t creative before, in fact, people used to laugh at my drawings,” he said. “I was more interested in going out, football and computer games.”

His friends and family still can’t believe his newfound ability, describing it as “crazy.” “They’re still completely astonished,” he said. “It’s insane, but when I spoke to the doctor, he just said, ‘Enjoy it,’ and said there’s so much about the brain they still can’t understand, and this is just a phenomenon.”

Hunter has sold and displayed his artwork at Comic Con events across the country. He builds complex life-size model of characters from films and TV shows.

“Nobody has really given a medical explanation for it. I just know comas can do crazy things to a human brain. They just kind of said there are many stories and theories over the years and people have woken from comas with skills and even speaking other languages,” Hunter said.

“I remember the first thing I drew afterwards was a Legend of Zelda sketch and my mum turned around to me and said ‘when did you learn how to draw?’ It was crazy, I haven’t stopped since then. I just found I had this passion there which never existed in me before. I just feel incredibly lucky but also shocked as I really don’t know where this came from.”

【推荐3】For many people, finding an unattended wallet filled with £400 in cash would be a source of temptation (诱惑). But the urge would no doubt be greater if you were living on the streets with little food and money. All of this makes the actions of the homeless Tom Smith even more remarkable.

After spotting a wallet on the front seat inside a parked car with its window down, he stood guard in the rain for about two hours waiting for the owner to return. After hours in the cold and wet, he reached inside and pulled the wallet out hoping to find some ID so he could contact the driver, only to find it contained £400 in notes, with another £50 in spare change beside it.

He then took the wallet to a nearby police station after leaving a note behind to let the owner know it was safe. When the car’s owner John Anderson and his colleague Carol Lawrence returned to the car, which was itself worth £35,000——in Glasgow city center, they were shocked to find a policeman standing next to it. The policeman told them what Mr. Smith did and that the wallet was safe.

Mr. Anderson said: “I couldn’t believe that the guy never took a penny. To think he is sleeping on the streets tonight when he could have stolen the money and paid for a place to stay in. He thought about others instead. It’s unbelievable.”

Mr. Smith’s act drew much of the public's attention. He also won praise from social media users after Mr. Anderson posed about the act of kindness on Facebook. Now Mr. Anderson has set up an online campaign to raise money for Mr. Smith and other homeless people in the area, which by yesterday had received £ 8,000. “I think the faith that everyone has shown in him has touched him. People have been approaching him in the street; he’s had job offers and all sorts,” Mr. Anderson commented.

【推荐2】Another Reason

It was a quiet village in which there was a military camp. It was far from the towns and cities and there were some high mountains around. Of course it was a good place for training the new soldiers. But it was difficult for the young men to go outside. Mr. White, an officer of forty, was strict with them and he hardly let them leave the camp.

Once Mr. White was ill in bed. He couldn’t work and a young officer, Mr. Hunt, began to train the new soldiers instead of him. He knew the young men well and let nine soldiers go to the nearest town to have a holiday. But night fell and none came back to the camp. He was worried about it and stood at the gate. It was five to twelve when Mr. Hunt decided to go to the town and see what was happening with the young men. He started the car quickly and set off. At that moment the nine soldiers came back. It seemed they were all drunk. Of course they found the officer was angry.

“I’m sorry, sir,” said the first soldier. “I left the town on time. But something was wrong with my bus on my way here. I had to buy a horse and made it run fast. Bad luck! It died and I had to run back.”

And the other seven soldiers said they were late for the same reasons. It was the last soldier’s turn. He said, “I’m sorry, sir. I got on a bus on time, but…”

Having heard this, the officer became even angrier and stopped him at once. He called out, “If you say something was wrong with your bus, I’ll punish you at once!”

“No, no, sir,” said the young man. “My bus was all right, but the dead horses were in its way!”

【推荐3】How far would you go to help a friend? Jeremy Savage and Ian Marshall had their friendship tested to the limit on a recent trip to the Rocky Mountains with their parents.

On Saturday morning, the two boys decided to climb a mountain nearby on their own. After three hours, they reached the top and enjoyed the beautiful view from the mountaintop.

However, trouble began when they started the climb down. On one very dangerous part of the mountain, Ian fell three metres off the side of the path. Jeremy climbed down to where Ian was and found him badly injured and not able to move. Jeremy had to decide what to do. He needed help but he did not want to leave his friend. He cleaned the dirt and blood from Ian’s face and hands, and then tried to help Ian stand up, but Ian’s right leg was hurting too much. They had to wait and hope that help would come.

Meanwhile, as darkness started to fall, their parents back at the campsite became very worried about the boys. They called park workers and began searching for the boys.

While waiting for help, Jeremy gave Ian his food and let him lie on his jacket. As the evening grew darker and the temperature dropped, Ian told Jeremy to leave him and go back to their parents but Jeremy still did not leave. He thought it was too dangerous for Ian to be alone on such a cold windy night. Jeremy used his jacket to keep Ian warm and they rested together through the night.

At sunrise, Jeremy decided that the only way to help his friend was to carry him down the mountain. So, they started the long climb back to the campsite. Jeremy carried Ian on his back. Finally, after four long and tiring hours, they came across their relieved parents, who were still looking for them on the mountain. “I will always remember what Jeremy did for me,” said Ian afterwards. “He saved my life. That is the greatest thing that a person can do for his friend.”