【推荐2】Do you like running enough to make it a habit? Temey Wolfgram does; she has made running a lifelong career and isn’t stopping.

In February, the 16-year-old from Woodbury High School, Minnesota, US, competed at the 2020 US Olympic Trials. She finished the marathon (42,J95 km) with a tune of 2:42:47 as the youngest competitor in the race and ranked 76th out of 390 runners.

Then, in November, Wolfgram, who turned 17, broke the Women's American Junior marathon record with her time of 2:31:49. The old record was 2:34:32, which had stood since 1984. During the run, Wolfgram once hit a wall pretty hard, but she overcame it to finish. ^“I guess I can say I gave it my all,” she told Runner's World. “When I finished, all I was thinking was that I was super happy,” Wolfgram said.

This was only her third marathon. In 2018, when Wolfgram was 15 years old, she ran her first marathon just because she wanted to see if she was capable of doing it. “I believed that I would get faster as the distances got longer... and I'm still glad that I did it.”

When preparing for that first marathon, she ran up to 120 miles （about 190 kilometers） per week. Although her parents didn't have any background in running, they helped Wolfgram train. At first, her dad would take her out in the morning and run about 13 miles. The distance would gradually increase each day. On top of her runs in the morning, she would do cross-country practice after school.

Next, Wolfgram will think about attending the Olympic Games in 2024 after it's scheduled.

【推荐1】To anyone else, it was just a simple white cotton bag, but to me, it was a canvas (油画布）for my latest masterpiece. I laid it flat on the six-foot-long wooden table in my kitchen. With one hand I held down a corner of the bag and with the other I dipped my brush in the paint and touched it to the canvas; slowly an image took shape, waves crashing on a sandy beach, seagulls flying above, fishing for a meal. I put down my brush and rubbed my neck. It was hard work, but I enjoyed it.

And my friends and family loved the bags. "I get tons of praise for mine," my mother-in-law told me. "People are always asking where they can buy one." Those weren't quite the honor I'd dreamed of when I first picked up a paintbrush as a kid. I used to aim higher. I wanted my work to appear in the Louvre Museum in Paris, right next to the Mona Lisa. But even then, I knew what a wild dream it was.

My parents encouraged my interest, and paid for art lessons. In high school, I joined an art club and showed my work along with other local artists in an exhibition. I started college, majored in fine art and took classes in drawing and design. But the farthest I ever traveled was New York City. The Louvre might as well have been on another planet.

Then things changed. I met and fell in love with Charlie. After we got married, I took a break from art. Making a home together was more important. Art supplies didn't fit into our budget.

When I finally picked up a brush again, I was rusty. I tried a landscape but it was flat. Things in the foreground were the same size as in the background. I'd lost the ability. I threw down my brush in frustration. Maybe I'd never really had any talent at all. Forget the Louvre, my work wasn't good enough to hang in our living room. Charlie turned me around. “You have a talent,” he told me. “Keep painting.” He helped me find room in our budget for paints and brushes. One day, walking through town, I spotted some giant white shells in a store window. What an interesting canvas they could be! I bought a few and began painting them. In Savannah, there was no shortage of inspiration. Charlie took some of my pieces into the electric company where he worked. He came home with the proudest smile. “They want to order them for their wives." he told me.

Lately I’d been painting these bags. Itwasn'ta money-making project-I barely covered the cost of materials. But seeing others appreciate my art made me feel good. This one, the beach scene, was going to a friend of my mother-in-law's. When it dried, I brought it over to my mother-in-law. “I just know my friend will love it,” she said.

Several months later my mother-in-law's friend called me. I'd moved on to other projects and I'd nearly forgotten what I'd made for her, "I went to Paris, " she said. “And I brought your bag with me. I have to tell you about the Louvre," she continued. "For two hours, we wandered the museum. Delacroix, Michelangelo, the Venus de Milo, there was so much to see, and of course, the Mona Lisa. But every few minutes, somebody stopped me.' Where did you get that bag? ' they asked. Some folks thought I'd bought it in the gift shop there! I had to tell them it was a Cindy Barnwell original.

Today I'm painting an 11- by-14-inch canvas of bunnies picking flowers, to go in a friend's baby nursery. It may not be a da Vinci, but that doesn't matter. This world was made for artists. I'm convinced of that. And my gift is to share that beauty, any way I can.

【推荐3】At times my mom has been uncomfortable seeing these qualities in me. For example, when I was 12, I went to Puerto Rico all by myself to stay with my grandmother for the summer. My mom was extremely nervous about it. She kept telling me how things were different in Puerto Rico, to always put on sunscreen，not to wander away from my grandmother, and other warnings. She helped me pack and did not leave the airport until she saw my plane take off.

But despite her worries, she let me go on my own. As I moved into my teens, she continued to give me space to grow and learn, even when it might have been difficult for her. When I reached my senior year, I decided to move away for college. Once again I found that I differed from my peers. While many of them wanted to stay close to home, I couldn't wait to be out in the world on my own. While my mom may not have been happy at the thought of my going away, she was supportive and excited for me.

One big thing I realized during my senior year, as my mom granted me more freedom, was that she actually believes in me and trusts me. That means a lot. Most of my life, and especially when I was little, the main person I tried to impress in my schoolwork or other things was my mother. I knew she expected nothing but the best from me. Sometimes it was hard to live up to her standards: getting a single B on my report card would make me feel bad because I knew she wanted me to have all As.

I know that her high standards have helped me stay focused on what's important, like education, and made me who I am. I am thankful for her support and involvement in my life. Most of all I respect her. She is the strongest woman I know and that's why I have turned out so strong and independent.

【推荐1】Every day when Glen Oliver orders his morning coffee at the drive-through window of a local cafe, he insists on paying for the order of the person behind him. He also asks the restaurant workers to tell the customer to have a great day, in case they’re not already having one.

Oliver has never made a big deal out of his own generous actions until a letter was published by a news website in November. He found out that he had not just bought someone his breakfast —he had saved a life.

According to the website, someone had written a letter stating that on July 18th, he was planning on committing suicide. The writer said that while he was at the drive-through window, he was planning on going home, writing a note and ending his life. When he went to pay for his coffee and muffin, however, the cashier told him that the man in the SUV in front of him had picked up the tab and told him to have a great day.

“I wondered why someone would buy coffee for a stranger for no reason,” said the writer. “Why me? Why today? If I were a religious man, I would take this as a sign. This random act of kindness was directed at me on this day for a purpose.”

When the writer arrived home, he couldn’t hold back his tears and started to think about the simple good deed that had affected him so deeply. “I decided at that moment to change my plans for the day and do something nice for someone. I ended up helping a neighbor take groceries out of her car and into the house.”

The writer says that in the months following that fateful event, he does at least one kind thing for others every day. “To the nice man in the SUV, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Please know your kind gesture has truly saved a life,” he said. “On July 18, 2017, I had the greatest day.”

【推荐2】Amy Jandrisevits knows the value of a good doll. “Dolls have a power we don’t completely understand,” she told The Today Show. It’s a conclusion she came to while working as a pediatric oncology (儿科肿瘤学) social worker using dolls to help her young clients adapt to their changing medical situations. Many of the kids saw themselves in those dolls. But for the kids missing a limb or who had lost their hair, there were none they could relate to.

So, seven years ago, when a friend revealed that her child was suffering from appearance anxiety caused by a rare disease, Jandrisevits, now 49, knew what might help the youth through this potentially challenging period. “It’s hard to tell a kid, ‘ You are perfect the way you are’, and to build self-esteem that way, but never offer them anything that looks like them,” she says.

Jandrisevits went about changing that. She crafted a doll by hand — using fabric, stitching, and markers-that resembled her friend’s child and sent it off. After the friend posted a photo online of the happy child and doll, another woman asked Jandrisevits to make a doll that looked like her baby, who was missing a leg.

Word spread, and soon Jandrisevits was making dolls for children with scars, birthmarks, facial deformities (畸形), tracheotomies—in short a doll that looked like them. She quit her job and started a nonprofit, A Doll Like Me.

Working out of her home in Milwaukee, from photos sent by parents or caregivers, it takes Jandrisevits roughly seven hours to craft each doll. A GoFundMe page helps her offset costs and allows her to donate her services. She hasn’t charged for a doll since she began her nonprofit.

In all, she’s made more than 400 dolls. The waiting list is long, but Jandrisevits is unbowed. As she explains on her GoFundMe page, “Every kid, regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, medical issue, or body type, should look into the sweet face of a doll and see their own.”

【推荐3】About15 years ago, Andrew McLindon, a business owner and passionate cyclist, was riding his bike in Austin, Texas, when he thought about a friend’s 12-year-old son. The boy had never known the joy of biking because he suffered from a brain condition that often caused balance disturbances.

When he got home, McLindon, now 60, went online and found a three-wheel recumbent (侧卧的) bike with a seat belt, perfect for a child with balance issues. Soon the boy was cycling around the street with his peers, having fun and getting exercise. But there was more, as McLindon learned from his friend’s reaction. “To see his son interacting with other kids,” McLindon says. “I’ll never forget the smile on his face.”

That smile launched the McLindon Family Foundation. Funded by donations, the group works with pediatric rehab (小儿康复) clinics to find children who can benefit from owning bike and to help craft each bike to the particular needs of the child. A bike may include a headrest, a shoulder band, a seat belt, and a caregiver’s steering and braking system in the back. The bikes are expensive — $3, 000 to $4, 000, and that’s with the foundation’s large discount. For kids lucky enough to get one, they’re a life changer.

“We worked with a 14-year-old who had a back problem,” says McLindon. She spent most days on the couch watching TV. Soon after she got her bike, she was training for special-needs triathlons (铁人三项). In a magazine interview, she said, “I always knew there was an athlete me.”

So far, the foundation has given away 450 bikes, and that’s just a start. “I do a lot of things. I run a lot of companies.” McLindon says. “But getting these kids their bikes most important thing that I do.”