【推荐1】Albert was mad about computer games. He could spend hours in front of the computer. When people encouraged him to leave the screen to have a normal life, he would respond "this is my window to the world. There is much more here than you realize."

Among all his games, he especially liked a rabbit-catching game. He was a real expert at it. He once even won the champion of an online rabbit-catching competition.

One day, as usual, as soon as he got home, he ran to his room to play computer games. But this time he found the computer was not there. Yet in its place there was a box, on which a card said, “Gift for Game Winner." When he opened the box, he found a real rabbit in it. His parents then came in to tell him that they bought him the rabbit in place of the rabbit game because his computer was sent for repair.

Albert loved the little rabbit immediately. He liked playing with it and even gave it a name. He studied its diet and habits. Days later, he actually began to enjoy the company of the rabbit. And he also enjoyed sharing his stories and his growing knowledge about rabbits with his parents, friends and teachers.

Now, Albert is no longer mad about computer games. He prefers learning and discovering new things about animals. He also uses the computer to do that. When someone asks him why he stops playing computer games, he points to his pet and says. “This is my window to the world. There is more than you realize.”

【推荐2】Growing up, Deka Ismail said she let labels define what she could be. “I was a black girl, from a refugee (难民) family,” said Deka. “It was as if I was only allowed to explore in this predetermined box.”

After a high school chemistry class inspired her to think about a career in science and gave her confidence in the field, Deka learned to live outside labels and began making big plans for her future. Now she is about to begin her freshman year at the University of California, planning to become a professor.

Born and raised in San Diego’s City Heights neighbourhood, Deka is the daughter of a Somalia refugee couple. While some might say Deka’s success happened in spite of her background, she would say differently, that her experiences shaped her and inspired her to be a driven (奋发努力的), young scientist.

When Deka was eight years old, her mother got a job by studying hard back in school in order to support the whole family. That made Deka realize that education could make a difference to one’s life. She spent a lot of time in the library reading books, and didn’t do many of the things her peers did, like partying or having romantic relationships.

“I always felt like I had to be the perfect girl for my family,” said Deka. “You have to not even do your best but two times better than everyone else. I felt like the whole world was waiting for me to mess up.”

Deka’s effort paid off. The summer before her senior year of high school, she was accepted into the American Chemical Society Project SEED Programme. “She brought both enthusiasm and focus,” Botham, a researcher at this research institute, recalled. “She arrived every day ready to work, ready to learn and ready to resolve new challenges regardless of whether or not she had done anything similar.”

When asked what advice she would give to others like her, Deka warned them not to underestimate themselves. “Don’t tell yourself that scholarship is too big, this programme is too competitive or I’ll never get into this school,” she said. “I was not sure whether I could make it until I started seeing the acceptance letters rolling in.”

【推荐3】The Truth Can Set You Free

I recently got pulled over for speeding not far from my new home in Virginia. I hadn’t been paying attention, and I had driven a few miles an hour over the speed limit.

“Can I see your license and registration?” the police officer asked me. I pulled both out for him, and he saw my Pittsburgh address on my Pennsylvania driver’s license.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. “Are you with the army?”

“No, I’m not.” I answered. I explained that I had just moved to Virginia, and I hadn’t had time to re-register yet.

“So what brings you here?”

He had asked a direct question. Without thinking very hard, I gave him a direct answer. “Well, officer,” I said, “since you’ve asked, I have cancer. I have just months to live. We’ve moved down here to be close to my wife’s family.”

“So you’ve got cancer,” he said flatly. He was trying to figure me out. Was I really dying? Was I lying? He took a long look at me. “You know, for a guy who has only a few months to live, you sure look good.”

He was obviously thinking: “Either this guy is pulling one big fat line on me, or he’s telling the truth.” He was trying to question my honesty without directly calling me a liar. And so he had forced me to prove that I was being honest.

“Well, officer, I know that I look pretty healthy. I look great on the outside, but the tumors (肿瘤) are on the inside.” And then, I don’t know what possessed me, but I just did it. I pulled up my shirt, showing the operational scars.

He looked at my scars. He looked in my eyes. He now knew he was talking to a dying man. Well, he wasn’t taking this any further. He handed me back my license. “Do me a favor.” he said, “Slow down from now on.”

The awful truth had set me free. As he went back to his police car, I had a realization. I had been one of those gorgeous blondes (金发美女) who could bat her eyelashes and get out of tickets. I drove home under the speed limit, and I was smiling like a beauty queen.

【推荐1】When I was a ten-year-old girl, my mother determined to lead us to the world of art. My brother and I were not very excited when we realized what our mother meant. What she meant was not that we could take drawing classes or painting classes but that we would have to spend our afternoon a week with her at the Fine Arts Museum. Before each visit to the museum, she made us read about artists and painting styles. It was almost as dreadful as being in school. Who wants to spend the summer thinking about artists when you could be with our friends at the swimming pool?

First we had to read about ancient Egyptians and their strange way of painting faces and then go to look at them at the museum. My 12-year-old brother thought this was funny, but I was not interested. Later we had to learn about artists in the Middle Age who painted people wearing strange long clothing. We had to look at pictures of fat babies with wings and curly hair and with no clothes on flying around the edges of paintings. I certainly couldn’t see what was so great about art.

On our last visit to the museum, things changed when I saw a painting by a woman called Mary. In it, a woman was reading to a child. The colors were soft and gentle, and you could tell by the woman’s expression how happy she was just to be with the child. I couldn’t stop looking at the painting! I wanted to see every painting Mary had ever made! It was really worth looking at so many paintings to find a painter who could interest me so much.

【推荐3】Ida Keeling’s daughter, Cheryl, a lifelong athlete, thought that maybe what would pull her mother out from under her dark cloud was something that would get her pumping again. She suggested a run. Not just a jog around the block, but an official run. At the time, Ida Keeling was 67.

Keeling had grown up poor in Harlem, and had done hard work in factories. She had lost her husband early to a heart attack, and two of her four children—both of her sons— died in unsolved drug-related incidents in 1978 and 1981.

Keeling had sunk into a deep depression (消沉), and her health had begun to slide. Her daughters began to worry that they soon might be losing their mother as well.

It had been decades since Keeling had done any running, and she would later recall that first “mini-run” feeling as if it would never end. But when it did, “I just threw off all my bad memories.”

She hasn’t stopped running since, and it’s no longer the tough work it was during that first meet. Since then, the small Keeling has set records for 60 meters in the 95-to-99 age group, and in 100 meters for the over-100 group.

“I was just exercising,” she says regarding that first run, “and now I'm all over the world.”

When she’s not running, she’s working out. She’s in the gym three to four days a week, running on tread-mills (跑步机), working out with weights and pedaling on the exercise bike, and even squeezing in some squats (深蹲) while she’s cooking. Part of her healthy diet is occasional brandy wine mixed with her coffee or water to aid circulation (血液循环).

She’s written a book about her experiences, titled Can’t Nothing Bring Me Down: Chasing Myself in the Race Against Time. Her philosophy is also suitable for a runner: “Every day is another day forward.”