【推荐1】A successful businessman, addressing the commercial club of his city, told a story of an orphan (孤儿) named Jim.

Jim was 12 years old, who was the laughing stock of the whole town. He never remembered having a kind word spoken to him in his whole life. One day as Jim walked down the street, he saw some flowers slip from a little lady’s arms just in front of him. Jim gathered up the flowers and replaced them in her arms. “Thank you, dear; you are a nice little boy.” she said kindly, and went on her way after giving him a bright smile.

Jim was amazed. These were the first kind words he had ever heard in his whole twelve years of existence. He stood and stared after her until she was out of sight, then he made straight for a stream. He sat down on the bank of the stream and did some thinking. “Thank you, dear; you are a nice little boy,” he thought. Finally the boy pulled from his pockets a piece of broken mirror and looked at himself. He saw nothing but dirt. He went down to the water and washed his face carefully, almost painfully. Then he looked again. He scarcely recognized himself. He stood straight and looked up instead of down for the first time since he could remember.

A feeding of self-respect awoke within his being. At that moment the course of his life was changed; a determination to be worthy of the kind words spoken to him by the little lady, and to pass them on, took possession of his soul. After telling this story of Jim, the speaker paused and then he shocked the audience by saying, “Gentlemen, I was that boy. That gentle woman implanted in my life the first seed of kindness. As a tribute to her memory I have told you this story.”

【推荐3】Fear is a fact of life everyone faces from time to time. In most cases fear is a healthy reaction to a dangerous situation. But sometimes fear can be so extreme that it interferes with normal living. That is what happened to me driving cross-country last summer.

I’d agreed to help my brother, Mac, move from the East Coast to California. He would drive a rental truck loaded with his belongings and I would follow him in his car, then fly back. We figured it would be a simple trip, with four or five motel (motorists’ hotel) stops along the way.

Living and working in coastal Georgia for most of my life, I did not have a great deal of long-distance driving experience. Looking back on it today, I can see that I’d always felt a sudden, sharp pain of fear when driving over small bridges and along hilly highways. And as I was getting ready for the trip I had an unclear concern about the steep mountain roads that lay ahead. But I thought I would get used to them.

As we crossed some high bridges near the Blue Ridge Mountains on the first leg of our trip, a kind of breathlessness gripped me, a sinking, rolling feeling in the pit of my stomach. I tended to move slightly away from the edge of the roadway and the drop-off beyond. My knuckles (指关节) whitened from my tense grip on the steering wheel. At the end of each bridge, a great rush of relief would come over me, only to be replaced in short order by fear of the next obstacle.

When we stopped in Nashville the first night, I mentioned my feelings to Mac, who is the practical sort. “Oh, that’s nothing.” he said cheerfully. “Lots of people hate driving on mountain roads and high bridges. Just turn up the music on your radio and focus on that. Keep your mind occupied.”

【推荐2】Everyone would like to be a millionaire , a person with a lot of money, but can you imagine having over $30 million and only being 20 years old? Britney Spears from Kentwood, a small town in Louisiana, is only 20 years old. She is a world famous film star with not only $30 million but also a $2 million house in LA. At her young age, she can look after her family financially (经济上) all her life. This year is a big year for Britney. She is now on a 31-day tour of the US and every concert is a sell-out. That means she plays in front of a crowd of around 18,000 people every time. It’s a tiring schedule but brings her a lot. When touring, she goes to bed around 1 a.m. and then has a lie-in until 1 p.m. the next day. Her philosophy (人生观) is to take care of the body and relax but always make sure you work hard and have fun.

Spears is not pleased with only touring and selling nearly 40 million records so she decided to step into the movie business and try a bit of acting. She made an appearance in “Austin Power 3” this year and she is filming a teenage light play that will come out in March 2003. In this movie, she has a starring role.

For Britney, acting is another way to express herself and she is enthusiastic (热心的) about it all. If her movies are successful, her money in the bank is sure to grow by another few million dollars but she does it for the love, not the money, as she herself tells the reporters .

【推荐3】Mary Lyon was a leader in women’s education in the nineteenth century. It was a time when women’s education was not considered important in the United States. States did require each town to provide a school for children, but there were not enough teachers. Most young women were not able to continue their education. If they did, they often were not taught much except the French language, how to sew clothing, and music.

Mary Lyon felt that women’s education was extremely important. She believed women were teachers both in the home and in the classroom. Mary opened a school for young women in the village of Buckland. She suggested new ways of teaching, including holding discussion groups for students.

Then, Mary began to raise money for her dream school for the higher education of women. This school would own its own property (财产), guided by an independent group of direction. Its   finances would be the responsibility of the directors. It would not depend on any one person to continue. And, the students would share in cleaning and cooking to keep costs down. In 1837, Mary Lyon opened Mount Holyoke Seminary for Women. In 1893, 34 years after her death, under a state law, Mount Holyoke Female Seminary became the first college to offer women the same kind of education as men.

Mary’s efforts led to the spread of higher education for women in the United States. Her influence lasted as the many students from her schools went out to teach others.