【推荐2】A 16﹣year﹣old boy finds himself on a boat in the Pacific Ocean after escaping a shipwreck（海难）．Even worse，he is left with a huge tiger for company．But he manages to survive after 227 days of fighting against all the hardships of the sea．

Pi，the lead character in Oscar---winning Ang Lee's new movie Life of Pi，went through an inspiring journey of growth and self﹣discovery．So did 19-year-old Suraj Sharma，the Indian actor who plays him．

But it was a lucky chance that opened up the opportunity for the new star．Sharma was a regular student who lived with his mathematician parents in Delhi，India．As the director traveled to Mumbai to find his Pi，the teenager went along with his younger brother，who had acted in a couple of movies，to audition（试镜）．But little did Sharma know that he would end up winning the role from 3，000 hopefuls．

Lee said he saw Pi in Sharma："Not only does he have a compelling（引人入胜的） and wise look．He has this talent．"The director said that in the final round，Sharma gave one of the"most compelling readings we had．In the end，he was in tears．"Understandably，Sharma didn't want to let Lee down．"He （Lee） had given me this opportunity．I had to give it my best，"Sharma told the Philippine Daily Inquirer．

Sharma swam for four or five hours a day until he was completely comfortable with the water．He also worked on his body because he had to first gain weight and then quickly lose weight as the story developed．He even had rats run all over him to prepare for his role．Lee was impressed by the teenager，especially his endurance（耐力）and patience in staying in a water tank for many hours each day．Sharma was only 16when Lee signed him．After three years of shooting，Sharma said he had matured with Pi's journey．

【推荐3】One day Mrs．Smith was sitting in her doctor’s waiting room when a young boy and his mother entered the office．The young boy caught Mrs. Smith’s attention because he wore a patch over one eye．She felt surprised at how unaffected he seemed to be by the loss of an eye and watched as he followed his mother to a chair nearby．

The doctor’s office was very busy that day, so Mrs. Smith had an opportunity to ask the little boy what had happened to his eye while he played with his soldiers. He considered her question for a long moment, then replied, "I’m a pirate （海盗）!" Then he returned to his game．

Mrs. Smith was there because she had lost her leg from the knee down in an auto accident．Her trip today was to determine if it had healed enough to be fitted with a prosthetic （假肢）．The loss had been a disaster to her．Intellectually, she knew that this loss should not interfere with her life; but emotionally，she just couldn’t overcome this obstacle．Her doctor had suggested imagination, but she had been unable to imagine such an emotionally unacceptable, lasting image.

The word "pirate" changed her life．Instantly，she was transported. She saw herself dressed as Long John Silver，standing aboard a pirate ship．She stood with her legs wide apart—one artificial．Her hands were clenched (紧握的) at her hips, her head up and her shoulders back, as she smiled into a storm．Cold water blew across the board as great waves broke against the ship. Still she stood firmly—proud, fearless.

A few minutes later，the nurse called her．As she balanced on her walking sticks, the boy noticed her amputation(截肢)．"Hey lady，"he called，"What‟s wrong with your leg？

Mrs. Smith looked down at her shortened leg for a moment．Then she replied with a smile，"Nothing．I’m a pirate，too."

【推荐1】New Year has many interesting stories, and here is one of them told by a TikToker. The original poster works as a school teacher, and every New Year, she tries to bring joy to her students. This time, it turned out especially great and 5. 8 million views on the original video is the best confirmation of this!

The teacher’s mother loves to knit (针织) and invited her daughter to play a little game with the students. On New Year’s Eve, the original poster invited the schoolchildren to draw for themselves the“winter hat of their dreams”.

Everyone did so, but no one even doubted what would happen next. The kids eagerly drew cute hats, and the teacher’s mom made their imagination come true. It turned out amazingly great, and the video of the teacher starting to hand out hats to the class went even more viral (走红的), collecting an unbelievable 50.4 million views and counting.

The large majority of people in the comments gave this teacher the best praise — and to her wonderful mom as well. After all, as some comments have pointed out, not everyone actually realizes how much work, time and love goes into these small hats. “Hats off to your mom, she’s amazing!” one of the commenters wrote.

And people also believe that in our time it is absolutely priceless when a teacher really puts their soul into the educational process. People truly don’t realize that this is the teaching. Passion (激情), deep love and hard work characterize this profession.

“Thank you to you and your mom!” — perhaps this was the best comment, and we should only join in the gratitude. It is another wonderful New Year story, another expression of care and kindness.

【推荐2】The email request came into Ekiben restaurant in Baltimore late on a Thursday afternoon in March: tempura broccoli (天妇罗西兰花) topped with fresh herbs and diced onion. The man who sent the email didn’t actually want the food itself. He was writing for his mother-in-law, who liked the dish. He went on to explain that she was now in the final stages of lung cancer (肺癌) at her home in Vermont and that he was hoping to get the recipe (食谱) to make it for her there.

Steve Chu, one of the restaurant’s co-owners, read the email and quickly replied with a suggestion. “Thanks for asking for help,” he wrote. “We’d like to meet you in Vermont and make it fresh for you.”

Brandon Jones, the son in-law, was stunned. “I emailed back, saying, ‘You do know that this is Vermont we’re talking about, right?’” says Brandon. “But Steve said, ‘No problem. You tell us the date, time, and location and we’ll be there.’”

For the past six years, every time Brandon’s mother in-law visited Baltimore, the first place she wanted to go was Ekiben so she could order that one dish.

Chu, with his team, drove on Saturday to the apartment where Brandon’s mother-in-law lived. After boxing everything up, they knocked on their customer’s door.

“As soon as she opened the door, she recognized the smell,” Brandon says. “It smelled amazing.” Rina Jones, Brandon’s wife, says her mother also recognized Chu and his co-workers. “My mom kept saying, ‘I don’t understand. You drove all the way up here to cook for me?’ She was so happy and touched. She couldn’t believe it.”

The Joneses invited Chu and his team to join them for dinner, but they needed to get back to Baltimore. “It was an honor to help make the family’s wishes come true,” Chu says. “This is about her, not us. There was a lot of good energy in doing this.”