【推荐1】Abbey Ahern, 34, who lives in Oklahoma, was shocked and heartbroken when she was told at her 19-week scan that her daughter had the incurable illness anencephaly (无脑畸形) which meant she would not live beyond a few hours. It ripped her heart out.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the illness means the baby has an underdeveloped brain and incomplete skull (颅骨). Approximately one in 10,000 babies in the US are born with anencephaly, most of which result in early death.

As a result, Abbey and her pilot husband Robert, also 34, decided to have a live birth so that they could spend time with their daughter and donate her organs — making Annie the first newborn baby donor in the state.

Afterwards they asked the doctor for the gender of their unborn child and decided to name her on the spot. They named her easily: Annie, which means, “grace”. Abbey said: “Carrying a seriously-ill baby to term was by far the most difficult thing I have ever done…For us, even in the middle of our terrible heartbreak we were able to see so much beauty.” The family spent just 14 hours and 58 minutes with Annie before she passed away.

Her organs were not available for transplant (移植) because her oxygen levels were too low — which Abbey said was “disappointing”— but they were able to donate her heart valves (瓣膜) and some of her organs could be used for research. She said: “Annie’s story is one of hope. I think it shows people that in the middle of tragedy, there can be beauty.”

【推荐2】My First Day of School

Frightened, I was walking into my first school in America. I had traveled a long distance from India in order to join my parents, who had been here for three years, hoping America would help my future. My father decided that I would have a better education here, so I enrolled (登记) in the local high school in my new town.

I was afraid of how I would do. On the first day, I went to my second class after I had missed my first. With anxiety, I reached for the door, opening it slowly. Without paying attention to my classmates, I went straight to the teacher and asked if this was the right class. With a soft voice he answered, “Yes.” His voice comforted me a little. He gave me a sheet called Course Requirements, which I would never get in India because we didn’t have anything like that. Then he asked me to choose where I would sit. I didn’t actually want to pick a seat. In India we had fixed seats, so I never needed to worry about that. I spent the rest of the class taking notes from the image produced by the overhead projector (投影仪). In Indian schools, we didn’t use the technology. We had to take notes as the teacher spoke.

It was noon. I was very confused about when I would have lunch. I went to my next class and the bell rang as I entered. I went through the regular (惯常的) process of asking the teacher if I was in the right class. She said, “It’s still fourth period.”

“But the bell just rang,” I said.

Changing from a gentle tone to a harsh (刺耳的) one, she said, “That is the lunch bell, young man.”

I apologized. Without another word I headed for the cafeteria. I felt lucky because we didn’t have this in India. Every confusion seemed like a barrier I had to get through to reach my goal. At the end of the day, I was on my way to the bus which we didn’t have in India either. I saw my bus and sat down inside happily. I was thinking, today wasn’t so bad.

【推荐3】Louise Blanchard Bethune showed early promise in math. But Louise did not go to school. Instead, her father taught her at home until she was 11 years old. She also discovered a skill for planning houses. It developed into a lifelong interest in architecture and a place in history as the first professional female architect in the United States.

After graduating from high school in 1874, Louise traveled and studied. She hoped to prepare herself to attend the new architecture school at Cornell University. But then Buffalo's leading architectural firm of Richard A. Waite and F. W. Caulkins offered her job. She knew that architects gained their training from practical experience, not from school. She took the job.

Louise worked there as an assistant, 10 hours a day for five years. She learned and mastered the drawing and architectural design. She also met her husband, Robert A. Bethune. Their new firm, R.A. and L. Bethune, opened in October 1881.

Bethune appeared to be the strength of the business. At the turn of the 20th century, the city of Buffalo was rapidly expanding to meet the demands of growing industry. The firm received tasks to build hundreds of structures throughout western New York. The firm designed lots of schools, apartment buildings, department stores, churches and factories.

Bethune believed that being an architect meant being an artist, a scientist and a business person. She made a point of advocating for women in the profession. She became a member of the Western Association of Architects (WAA) in 1885. In 1888, she was the first woman to join the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Besides, Bethune took a firm stand on equal treatment for women architects. She insisted on equal pay for equal work.

Bethune left almost no papers or letters, and few people recognize her name today. But her legacy remains in the foothold she established for women in the field of architecture. She started her own firm and enjoyed a successful career.

【推荐1】Wanda Smith always wanted to be a school teacher but sometimes meeting life’s demanding realities could mean a dream delayed. A mother of three, Smith also cared for her mom. While shouldering her family responsibilities, she took jobs as bus monitor and custodian (管理员) for Brenham Independent School District in Texas. The hours were tiring, but rather than let her dream die, at age 37, with the support and encouragement of her husband, she added night classes to her schedule. Nine years on, she finally graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Sam Houston State University. She was a certified teacher at last.

Smith’s story came full circle when she was hired as a first-grade teacher back at Brenham Elementary School. “When I stand in front of my classroom, I am living my dream.” Smith said during a TODAY show. During the pandemic, as some of her students struggled to meet the demands of distance learning, Smith stepped up to the challenge. Noting that many of the kids she teaches came from single-parent families, she began delivering packets of schoolwork to them at home. It’s no wonder Smith’s kids loved her. In a special surprise ceremony, they shouted their praise and held up big colorful signs declaring their devotion.

The feeling was repeated by Brenham’s mayor, Milton Tate Jr., who officially declared May 4, 2021 as “Be the Best You Can Be” Wanda Smith Day. The phrase was also carved on a schoolyard bench, and in addition, a scholarship for up-and-coming teachers at Sam Houston State University has been established in her name.

Smith’s life is an example as well as an inspiration. By always trying to be the best she could be, with hard work and the strong will, she graduated from cleaning classrooms to leading classrooms.

【推荐3】Red Adair became “the man to call” if you wanted a fire in an oil well put out, a task that was extremely dangerous and difficult.

One of Red Adair’s most dangerous jobs was in 1962. He and his men put out a natural gas fire in the Sahara Desert in Algeria. The fire had been burning for six months. The fire was so fierce that American astronaut John Glenn could see it from space as he orbited Earth and the sand around the fire had melted into glass from the extreme heat. This famous fire was called the “Devil’s Cigarette Lighter”.

Adair’s success with the big fire and earlier well fires captured the imagination of the American film industry. In 1968, Hollywood made an action film called “Hellfighters” which was roughly based on events in Red Adair’s life. Adair said one of the best honors in the world was to have John Wayne play him in a movie.

In 1988, Adair troubleshot what was possibly the world’s worst ocean accident at the Piper Alpha oil platform in the North Sea. Not only did Red Adair and his team have to put out the fires but they also had to deal with winds blowing at more than one hundred and twenty kilometers an hour, as well as the sea which was at least twenty meters high.

In March of 1991, Red Adair went to Kuwait to put out about seven hundred Kuwaiti fires following the Persian Gulf War. His efforts saved millions of liters of oil. Some experts say the operation also helped prevent an environmental tragedy.

Red Adair died at 89. Many Americans remember him as a very brave man. He lived his life troubleshooting danger. He was known for risking his own life to save others.