【推荐1】For my first year at Oxford, I barely said anything in tutorials(辅导课).

We'd have 2-3 tutorials a week, each ranging from 1 to 3 hours. Some would feel informal with comfortable chairs and teas, sitting and chatting with a few friends. Others would feel more like we were being grilled for facts. In both types, I was pretty quiet. I was shy, introverted, and worried that everyone would think I was stupid. The fact is that everyone in Oxford, Harvard, Yale, etc. has felt insecure about their intelligence at some point. I didn't volunteer in discussions and, as a result, I didn't understand much. My understandings of different texts never matured or became complex. They stayed the same. And they were often wrong.

Then, somewhere in the middle of my second year, I got over myself, stopped being worried, and offered more of my own opinions. I responded to others, asked thoughtful questions, and interacted way more. I always asked if I didn't understand something. Most of the time, others also didn't understand the thing I was confused about and felt happy I asked.

I went from being a passive learner and having everything go over my head to being an active learner and having tons more information understood. In tutorials, I took notes. After tutorials, I reviewed those notes. I rewrote them. I explained new concepts to my friends in other subject areas. And I felt smarter. I went from struggling and failing to thriving and suddenly getting firsts on my essays.

Being an active student also means asking for help. So I recommend you to visit your tutor during office hours and ask for their help or ask your peers to help explain stuff to you. Or get a mentor(导师) if you can. I had a PhD student mentor me once a week over coffee in my final year. It was the best thing that happened to my studies.

【推荐2】My brother and I were driving home together and started talking. Because of this distraction, my brother took a wrong turn.

Unfortunately, the wrong turn took us toward a bridge and we had no way of turning back. My brother had to pay to cross. He was clearly frustrated by the mistake and the needless waste of $4.

As we drove forward, my brother noticed a beat-up (破旧的) black Mustang (福特野马汽车) pulled over to the side of the road. A young guy was standing nearby trying to phone someone. I was busy trying to figure out which way we went next but my brother pulled over and asked the guy if he needed any help. And he did. He had a flat tyre.

My brother helped him change the flat. We started getting to know the young man who was from a dangerous neighborhood nearby. He said that this has been a bad week for him; earlier he had gotten into a minor car accident, and now this flat on his way home from work. But he called us “a breath of fresh air” and kept thanking us because he really would have been stuck if we hadn’t come along. After we had finished the job, he thanked us again and pulled out $20 to try to give it to us. “No,” I said. “We were never supposed to even get on that bridge. We took a wrong turn. But now we know why we did. It was to help you. Thank you for turning our mistake into an opportunity to serve.”

What I loved most was watching my brother throughout this process. He was able to turn his annoyance over the mistake into positive energy. He was able to see a chance to help (which I totally missed!) even in an otherwise negative situation, which can only come from a calm mind and an open heart. That was the bridge we were meant to cross.

【推荐3】Tears ran down from my eyes as I saw the essay my high school English teacher had just handed back. A big F was written on top. I was hopeless. I was stupid ! My face burned with shame when my classmates called me stupid.

“I’m the only one who doesn’t know my ABCs!” I sobbed to Mom.

“I’ll help,” she promised.

Every day I sat with her, but to me, cat looked like cta and red was reb. Frustrated, I would return to my bedroom and draw, filling the paper with houses, restaurants and offices.

“When I grow up, I want my own store,”  I told Mom , pointing to my drawings.

“ That’s great !” she said, “ but first you have to learn to read.”

Later, I was diagnosed with dyslexia (失读症). So Mom took me to a learning centre, where I was given reading exercises. But I still had a hard time. Finally, I graduated, but I was afraid of my reading skills.

“I’ll never get a job !”  I cried to Mom later again.

“ Don’t focus on what you can’t do,” she comforted, “ Concentrate on what you really can.”

But what can I do? I wondered. Suddenly, I thought of the drawings I’d made as a child and my dream of having my own store. I enjoyed sales so much that over the next few years, I tried my hand at other businesses. Today, I watch over seven branches. We have 187 employees and $15 million in sales.

While I’ll never be what my teachers might have wanted, I am a success--on my own terms. The other day a student sent me a card, reading: You gave me so much confidence. I hope to be like you when I am big. Tears of joy filled my eyes. This was my A, and I smiled.

【推荐1】Every superhero, no matter how small, needs a cape (披风). That was Robyn Rosenberger’s motivation when she started sewing superhero capes for kids with cancer, heart defects, and other serious diseases.

It all began when she was making a cape as a birthday present for her nephew. Rosenberger heard of a girl named Brenna who was battling a potentially deadly skin condition called harlequin ichthyosis (丑角样鱼鳞病). Anyone going through what she was going through had to be tough. “I had an aha moment,” Rosenberger says. “Brenna was a superhero! She needed a cape.”

So Rosenberger sent her one, and Brenna’s mother was delighted. Rosenberger found ten more kids online and sent out ten more capes. Before long, she quit her job at a software company to dedicate herself full-time to tinysuperheroes.com, a website where people can buy handmade capes for brave kids facing illness and disability.

Since 2013, Rosenberger and her small paid staff have sent more than 12, 000 handmade capes to kids in all 50 states and 15 other countries. The capes come in pink, blue, purple, or red and can be decorated with the child’s initials or specialized patches, including a heart, a rocket, or a lightning bolt. One recipient was eight-month-old Gabe, who was born with imperfection, which causes distinct facial features. Rosenberger sent him a red cape with a bright yellow G in the center. It was a hit. Gabe is now a fixture on the company’s social media posts. “The Tiny Superhero community has been a wonderful connection to have,” says Gabe’s mom, Kate Glocke. In fact, two years later, “we still bring Gabe’s cape with us to every hospital appointment.”

【推荐2】Chuvina was 56 when she discovered knife throwing in 2007. She'd landed a simple job in the coat check section of the local pool. One day, two young people came by to discuss the possibility of opening a knife throwing club there. It was the first time that Chuvina had heard of knife throwing, so she decided to have a try and signed up for training. Just a month and a half into her training, she learned that her hometown would soon host a knife throwing competition. She signed up and shocked the audience by winning first place.

Her victory inspired many people, but there were also those who simply called it beginner's luck. Chuvina silenced the latter at the 2007 National Knife Throwing Championship in Moscow, where she beat the best knife throwers in the country. Her very first prize had been a brand-new meat-grinder, but for her win at the nationals, she received a mobile phone and an air mattress. This greatly motivated her to participate in more competitions.

In 2008, Chuvina competed in the World Knife Throwing Championship in Kaliningrad, against 36 of the world's best knife throwers. She was the only retiree among the participants, but she won once again, becoming the world's number one knife thrower.

Throughout her amazing career, Chuvina won 5 national championships, as well as 50 medals and titles. In most countries, she would have been considered a national treasure, but not in Russia. Chuvina got much attention from the press, giving interviews and making appearances on television shows, but she never really received any great support from anyone, including the authorities. Chuvina stopped going to competitions mostly because she couldn't afford to travel.

Chuvina didn't return to her old job at the local pool, and despite getting offers from parents to teach their kids, these offers never materialized. Today, at age 68, she lives in a shabby house and makes ends meet on a monthly pension of 17,000 rubles（$ 220）.

【推荐3】When I was 6 years old, my mom bought me a goldfish whose name was King. Some weeks after King arrived we decided to give him some friends, so I ended up with an aquarium (鱼缸) with about 15 fish. Every month, one or two fish would die and my mom used to replace them with new ones. After 3 years I lost interest in the aquarium, and my mom stopped buying new fish. The only fish remaining was King; he lived for 3 years!

Five years ago, when I was telling a friend how long my goldfish stayed with us, my mom cut in and told me the truth, “Son, your real King lived for only 3 months instead of 3 years. I replaced him after he died so you wouldn’t get upset.”

My mother is creative when it comes to deceiving. To prevent me from catching a cold after taking a shower, she always told me, “If you don’t dry yourself properly after showering, your body hair is going to grow out, making you look like a furry bear.” And her reason was simple — you water plants and they grow — similarly, you water your body and if you don’t dry, your hair grows.

When I was little, my dad told me that pressing the button on the handbrake (手刹) would make the car fly and that he only used it in an emergency as it was extremely dangerous. Back then I knew he was probably cheating me. But now, when I am stuck in a terrible traffic jam, I gently touch the button and tell myself it’s always there for me in case I need to use it as a very last thing to depend on.

I know they cheated me because they love me.