【推荐1】One day a student went to see his teacher.He had been given an important position and now was coming to say goodbye to his teacher.The old man asked him how he would live among high officials.The student answered, “ I will be all right.I have prepared a hundred high hats, one for each official I will meet.I am sure I will succeed.” The teacher got angry on hearing this. “What?” he cried.“Is this what ten years of my teaching has made of you? Nothing but flatterer(拍马屁的人)?” “Excuse me, honored(尊敬的) master,” the student rose to his feet and apologized hurriedly.“But you have always been absorbed in your studies and don’t know how vulgar(庸俗的) the world has come to be.There are few men in the world who are above flatterers like you.” “There is something true in what you said,” the teacher nodded, smiling with one of the student’s “high hats” on.

【推荐2】My family moved into our home nine years ago. We spent a lot of time and energy in the yard to get it looking like the way it does today. In front of the house, the rocks appear to be just thrown up onto the dirt as if someone were in a hurry to finish. We called this area our “rock garden”. Denise and I would also plant some flowers between the rocks, just to bring some color to the area.

Last summer I found, in the rock garden, a tiny little plant that I could not immediately identify. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either. We decided to let it continue growing until we could figure out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the strange plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. It looked thin and tall with only one head on it. I decided to baby it along and weed(除杂草)around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something unusual. The sunflower had not started where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the sun.

That’s when I realized that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t allow a big rock to stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability to do the same thing. Once we believe in ourselves like that little sunflower, we can attain the same nourishment(养分)for growth as well.

Stand tall like the sunflower and be proud of who and what we are, then the environment will begin to support us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to achieve our goals.

【推荐3】Since I graduated from high school, I've worked in the factories surrounding my hometown every summer. However, making the transition(转变) between school and full-time blue-collar work during the break never gets any easier. For a student like me who considers any class before noon to be uncivilized, getting to a factory by six o'clock each morning is a torture.

There are few people as self-confident as a college student who has never been out in the real world. People of my age always seem to overestimate the value of their time and knowledge. In fact, all the classes did not prepare me for my battles with the machine I ran in the plant, which would jam whenever I absent-mindedly put in a part backward or upside down.

The most stressful thing about blue-collar life is knowing your job could disappear overnight. Issues like downsizing(裁员) and overseas relocation had always seemed distant to me until my co-workers told me that the unit I was working in would shut down within six months and move to Mexico, where people would work for 60 cents hour.

After working 12-hour shifts in a factory, the other choices have become only too clear. When I'm back at the university, skipping classes and turning in lazy rewrites seem too irresponsible after seeing what I would be doing without school. All the advice and public-service announcements about the value of an education that used to sound stale(没有新意) now ring true.

These lessons I'm learning, however precious, are always tinged(强烈地感觉到) with a sense of guilt. Many people pass their lives in the places I briefly work, spending 30 years where I spend only two months at a time. “This job pays well, but it’s hell on the body, " said one co-worker. “Study hard and keep reading,” she added.

My experiences in the factories have inspired me to make the most of my college years before I enter the real world for good.

【推荐1】There are some of history's most inspiring and great females who can be found on the pages of these novels.

Elizabeth Bennet Called "Lizzie" or “Eliza" by her family and friends, Elizabeth Bennet is the stubborn and clever heroine in Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. She's the second eldest of five daughters in the Bennet family and, like the rest of her sisters, she is expected to marry for status and money, not for love. To remain true of herself, she would rather remain single, a concept that was unheard at the time.

Nancy Drew She first appeared in 1932 but remains one of the most iconic female characters in all of literature. Created by Edward Stratemeyer, Nancy Drew isn't simply a pretty girl. Instead, the bold, physically strong, and fiercely intelligent Nancy uses her superior intelligence — not her look --- to solve a series of mysteries.

Josephine March Jo March is the second eldest daughter in the March family and is a central focus in the novel Little Woman, published by Lousia May Alcott in 1868. Jo struggles with challenges from society's expectations of how women in the 19th century should carry themselves, making her one of literature’ s most daring female characters.

Hester Prynne Recognized by some critics as one of the most important characters in female literature, Hester Prynne is the leading character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel, The Scarlet Letter. Married but separated by distance from her husband, Hester has an affair with a minister and becomes pregnant.

【推荐3】Sharon Holland and her husband, Jer, are travelling around the world and saving money at the same time — by swapping (交换) houses with strangers to keep the bills low. They only have to pay for their flights, meaning they save hundreds of pounds on their holidays each year.

The couple’s occupation (职业) allows them to enjoy long periods of school holidays. Both work as school Deputy Principals,which allows them to take their children, Cian, 23, Miah,13, and Faye, 11, abroad up to four times per year. On average, they pay £1, 250 per year for flights.

Sharon, from Cork, Ireland, has exchanged her home with a stranger 40 times in the last 13 years and says she’s never looked back. She said, “I couldn’t imagine travelling any other way now. Swapping our Irish Georgian farmhouse for another house abroad is amazing. There are home-style houses, modern city apartments and beautiful architectural period houses too. Every holiday is different and staying in someone else’s house makes our experience more rewarding and enjoyable. We are able to meet more locals and understand the culture more than we would if we were to stay at a hotel. We bring our laptops during the summer weeks as we are both responsible for timetabling and school planning but this can be done at a distance.”

Sharon has visited various cities in America, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, the UK and their home country of Ireland. “But our favourite place is Italy. We have been lucky enough to visit there six times. Over the years, every experience has been great — from taking in the architecture to the food. We have made some wonderful happy memories for less,” adds she.

【推荐1】My problems started after I went to a boarding (寄宿) school. I was only 14, and at first I missed my family a lot. I often called them and cried on the phone. But after two weeks, I found that I enjoyed being with my classmates at school. I had many friends who were boys. I thought of them as my best friends — but only friends. I never guessed my friendships with boys would become a problem.

Then, three months later, my friends told me that some teachers and girls said I was staying with boys all day long in order to get attention from them. Seven months after that, the head teacher Mr. Wang asked the class to choose some students to join the Student Union (学生会). I thought I could win, for I was doing well in school. I had already won prizes for the best math and English exams. A week later, the list came out and it didn’t include me. I was sad.

Mr. Wang came to me and said, “Don’t be sad. I know you’re excellent! Maybe you are a little distant from the girls in our class. They don’t know much about you, so some of them didn’t choose you. It doesn’t matter. Do your best to get along well with everyone and I think you’ll make it next time.”

【推荐3】I’m a talker. I’m into debating, gossiping and teasing. I solve problems by talking them through. This works perfectly well when I have people to talk to. Under lockdown, however, I’ve only had my partner,   Peter. We not only lived, worked and traveled together, we socialized together, too. Under the first UK lockdown, our constant closeness began to feel uncomfortable.

For the first time in our 10 years together, we needed to be alone. I tried to manufacture this by going on walks on my own, but a short walk in the local park wasn’t doing the job. I considered my options and hit upon an idea: the semi-solo hike. Could we do a circular hike but walk in different directions? This would give us the space and peace of a solo hike. It felt like a promising compromise, so I told him about it. He thought it was thoroughly silly but agreed to give it a try.

We started with a four-mile loop(环形)from Reeth. At the start, we parted ways. At first, I was aware of how close we were, which lessened the appeal. Walking alone offers freedom and alone time, but here I was with my boyfriend nearby. As I gained ground, however, I found myself very much alone. I set my own pace, and I decided to take my time.

I sat on a rock and breathed out. That moment-with the weak sun through the clouds and the breeze blowing across makeshift(临时的)pools-felt extraordinary to me. I was born and raised in London and had never imagined leaving until I met an outdoorsman(野外活动爱好者). Now, my former life as a city girl felt crazy. Realizing what I had gained, I felt the tension leave me. There, in the chilly air, I no longer needed to talk. The semi-solo hike gave us a shared experience with added room to breathe. I didn’t see Peter en route(在途中)but reunited back where we started, both of us sheepish(难为情的)but pleased. The semi-solo hike is admittedly silly in theory, but for me it has been a lifeline. It has given me the gift of time alone and, in a year of constant closeness, the joy of reuniting.