【推荐1】Everyone may dream at night. Do you always believe your dream? Some dreams make us feel relaxed and happy, while some dreams frighten us. Don’t you think so? I even had such an experience.

One day I noticed the brakes (刹车) on my car getting weaker. They still worked but it took longer for my car to stop. I knew I needed new brakes, but I had many other things to do. So I didn’t take it seriously.

Then on Christmas Eve, I had an awful dream. I was driving my car on a bright, sunny day when suddenly a truck appeared on the road in front of me. I pushed on my brakes but they didn’t work and I hit that truck. The terrible dream woke me up at once and I made up my mind to change my brakes the next day. When the worker took out the old ones, I noticed that they had worn thin.

One day, I was driving home with my daughter beside me and my two sons in the back seat. Suddenly, a truck came from the other direction. It was running too fast and moved two feet over the center line. I hit my brakes and led my car toward the side of the road. We were surprised that the huge truck missed us by only a foot. It was too dangerous.

Later when I lay in my bed, I realized if I didn’t get my brakes changed, I couldn’t slow down fast enough. My children and I may be hurt or killed. I closed my eyes and gave thanks for that dream.

【推荐3】My wife’s birthday falls at the beginning of spring when the winter chill still hangs over the approaching warmth.

On that day, I came home from work, stopped her from entering the kitchen and asked her to dine out. “Has Lily called?” she asked. I shook my head. The atmosphere at the dinner was oppressive. My wife kept glancing at her phone, showing no signs of appetite.

Early the next morning, my wife got up, dark rings encircling her eyes. We only have one child. When Lily still lived at home, every year when her birthday approached, we would start the grand preparations days in advance. And after she left for college, my wife would call her countless times from morning till night. How could she ignore all our love and utterly forget her mum’s birthday? On the way to work, I texted Lily, “Your mum didn’t sleep well last night.”

Another day concluding, we were about to go to bed when there was a sound of a key rattling in the lock. In came our daughter, face red with cold, birthday cake in hand. “Sorry, Mum. Happy birthday!” she said, tears welling up. Immediately, my wife pulled Lily into a hug, complaining, “You silly girl, why do you come all the way back at such a time? Don’t you know it is cold outside?”

Lily just stayed two hours in case of missing her classes. Seeing Lily boarding the train, my wife started blaming me for that message, yet in a better mood. I did feel I handled this matter perfectly both for my wife and my child’s growth.

Later, I called my parents and told them about it. I never thought they would respond with a long silence, and then said: “How many times have you forgotten our birthdays? Has either of us ever complained?”

【推荐2】Dr. Paul Farmer, who died unexpectedly at the age of 62 in Rwanda, was one of the most extraordinary people I have ever known. As co-founder of the global health organization Partners in Health, Paul spent more than 30 years changing the way health care is delivered in the poorest places on earth.

Along the way, his fine mind, big heart, and continuous drive to do good inspired countless others to follow his example.

While still a student at Harvard Medical School in the 1980s, Paul and his colleagues opened a one-room clinic in remote Cange, Haiti, where they not only cared for locals, but trained a team of health workers to serve the surrounding areas. He lived there in a simple home with concrete floors, and no hot water, not so different from the adapted bus he grew up in with his parents in Florida.

Within a few years, the clinic’s work gained worldwide notice for bringing tuberculosis (肺结核) under control in the area. Today, Partners in Health operates 16 health institutions in Haiti, and employs a local staff of nearly 7,000. They also operate in 11 other countries, including Rwanda, where they partnered with the government to rebuild the nation’s health system. Millions of people are served every year, most of whom live on less than a few dollars a day.

I’m honored to have worked closely with Paul. For 20 years, I watched him make a difference in the poorest places, even in the face of dysfunctional (功能失调的) politics and violence.

Paul’s passing is a huge loss to the world. But his voice still rings in our ears. All our lives are passing, but the purpose of living lasts: to lift others and enable them to live and work just as he did — with love, gratitude, and joy.

【推荐3】What Famous Women in History Achieved

In 1928, Ear hart was the first female pilot to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. She was also the 16th woman to be issued with a pilot’s license ah (执照) She mysteriously disappeared during a flight in 1937, and was pronounced leg ally dead two years later.

When her husband Franklin De la no Roosevelt took office, Eleanor didn’t just stand by-she changed the role of the first lady, supporting for human rights, women’s rights, and children’s education. She went on to become chair of the UN’s Human Rights Commission in 1945.

Back in the 1950s, the rule in Montgomery, A lab a ma, was that if a bus became full, the seats at the front would be given to white passengers. Parks, a leader in the local NAACP and the civil rights movement, refused to give up her seat. Her willingness not to observe the rule helped to clue the Montgomery boycott (联合抵制) and other efforts to end segregation (种族隔离) in America.

Tan was the author of the book The Joy Luck Club, which “explored the relationship between Chinese women and their Chinese-American daughters”. The novel came out in 1989 and it was the longest-running New York Times best-sellers at the same year. The novel has been translated into 25 different languages since it first came out.