【推荐2】My husband and I wanted desperately the instant transformation from typical consumers to eco-conscious people. We switched our light bulbs to CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs to conserve energy. We went about the house turning off lights and unplugging appliances that weren’t in use. But the rate of global warming exceeded our snail’s pace conversion to greenhood. So I pressed onward.

I decided to put veganism (素食主义) at the top of our agenda. Vegans refuse any animal flesh or commercial goods made from any animal byproducts such as milk or fats. All the family applauded this option except for my husband. Some kind of animal needed to sacrifice its dear life for his meal or it wasn’t his dinner. I cooked up a storm, struggling to prepare nutritious meals dominated by not — so — obvious vegan dishes like bean burritos and high-fiber vegetable stir-fry. It took a few days before he realized that he hadn’t been eating any meat.

“I feel like eating beef.” he announced. So that night, I took full advantage of a zucchini (西葫芦), cut it into chunky (粗大的) pieces and cooked them. Then I covered them with spices. My beef-starved husband had some and a curious look crossed his face.

“Where’s the beef?”

“Living peacefully somewhere on an open plain where it belongs.”

“I knew it!” he murmured. “You’ve surely made great contributions to the boom in cattle.” His taste buds were developed completely around the flavor of every kind of animal: cattle, pigs, deer, lambs, chickens and ducks. Converting him was like feeding grass to a lion.

I’m all for preserving our planet, but what good would it do to save the earth for tomorrow’s generation if today’s died of starvation? The next day, we went out for burgers. I was very careful to place the paper bag into our recycling bin.

【推荐3】“Why?” It’s a simple question that people ask Angela Madeline frequently. After all, she began a journey that very few people would ever attempt: walk around the world alone.

The thought of Madeline’s journey did not start from a place of loss or personal crisis. She said, “I was searching for a deeper interaction with nature and people.” Walking would minimize her carbon footprint, plus the slow pace meant that she could fully engage herself in nature, and gain insights into other cultures in a unique way.

She left her hometown of Bend, Oregon, on 2 May 2016 and headed into an adventure. Along the way, Madeline would suffer from heatstroke (中暑) in the Australian desert and hear gunshots while camping in Turkey. “Still,” she said, “I didn’t stop because I was more afraid of not following my heart than I was of losing everything I owned and loved.”

Apart from that, her slow pace allowed her to be drawn deeply into other cultures. She wandered the tiny seaside villages along Italy Tyrthenian Sea, enjoying the lively atmosphere. In Vietnam, she was offered food by an elderly woman and invited to rest in her wooden house at the peak for the night. She chose an experience of uncertainty and curiosity, in search of something she could never be certain to find: a sense of fulfillment and a deeper connection.

On16 December 2022, Madeline’s pilgrimage (朝圣之旅) ended right where it started. For now, she’s working on a book, planning future journeys and creating more effective ways for women to find and express courage in their lives.

Whether a walk leads halfway around the world or just down the road, Madeline has shown the true worth of embracing (拥抱) the unknown and giving more than we receive along the way.

【推荐1】It was about seven years ago. I just picked up my three-year-old daughter from the nursery. I was weighed down with shopping bags,and with my daughter’s things. We arrived at a pedestrian crossing and she pressed the button. In the distance, I heard alarms, told my daughter to wait and watched a police car approaching.

Little did I know,as the green man flashed, that my daughter had begun to run into the road. I watched the police car speed toward us — that was when you sounded your horn and waved wildly to me. My daughter was about a meter from the path of the police car, hidden from their view by your car. 

I screamed her name and ran toward her. She stopped and was shocked by the rush of the police car as it sped past. She wondered why you had blown your horn, asking, “Mom, why was that woman so rude?” not realizing you had saved her life.

She wondered why I picked her up and burst into tears. My legs gave way as I reached the other side of the road. I should have followed my “wait” with a hand on her shoulder, or an explanation of why we were ignoring the green man this time, especially as I had in effect taught her to cross the road at the sight of the green flash.

I beat myself up for months, and still do, with flashbacks and horrible assumptions about what might have been. But for your sounding your horn, seeing what I hadn’t seen, I would have been left a mother on the other side of the road, totally broken. I apologize for putting you in that position — I can imagine that it upset you, too. You saved her life and I am so grateful.

【推荐2】Nikenson's dad died when he was 3, and his mom often couldn't afford his school fees, so he got kicked out of school sometimes. But Nickenson would steal back onto the school grounds and stand outside the open classroom windows to listen, day after day. He studied on his own, keeping pace so that when his mom earned a rew aoliars, he cloud enter the classroom again.

Against all difficulties，Nikenson graduated from high school this year, first in his class, with straight A's,and was electea class president. Nikenson is a reminder of the basic saying of life today:gift is universal, but opportunity is not.

Luckily, with the help of some American people Nikenson is now receiving a university education.He 's benefiting from a program started by Bohan, a young American who is teaching in a Haitian high school. Bohan asked his family and friends to help other Haitians go to college. The progran grew and became the Haitian Education and Leadership Program,HELP, sending hundreds of young men andwomen to Haitian universities.

"Education works." Bohan said simply."Good education works for everybody, everywhere. Itworks for you, for me, and it works for Haitians. Over time, I've concluded that education may be thesingle best way to help themselves, whether in America or abroad. Yet, we don't put enough money ineducation. So we shall express our thanks to those who spread the gift of education."

One clever new high school graduate, Eric, was working as a worker in a village and earning just $50 a month. HELP sent him to college to study industrial engineering, and he just graduated and found a job at a European company as an engineer for $1, 500 a month."The only difference is his access to education." said Bohan.

【推荐3】Jim Glaub and Dylan Parker had just been handed the keys to their new Manhattan apartment on 22nd Street when the outgoing tenant (房客) said something curious, “Just so you know, there’s this thing where letters addressed to Santa come to the apartment. The previous tenants received the mail too. It has been coming for years and no one knows why.”

Glaub and Parker settled in to their new home, and for the first two years only a few letters from kids or parents asked “Santa” for gifts they could not otherwise afford. Then in the months leading to Christmas 2010, their mailbox was filled with letters to Santa every day. They responded to as many as they could, writing notes, even buying gifts. Glaub, of course, is not Santa. They could do only so much.

But one night, when he and Parker threw a 1960s — themed Christmas party, a solution appeared. Guests noticed the hundreds of letters they’d yet to act upon and asked about them. Glaub told them the story and his guests were intrigued. “A lot of people were like, ‘I’ll take a letter. I’ll satisfy it.’” And so was born Miracle on 22nd Street.

To spread the word, they started a website, miracleon22ndstreel.com, and a Facebook page. Working with other nonprofits that help those in need, they invited families from around the county to go online and request gifts for their children. Likewise, donors, also known as “elves,” can sign up to buy gifts for a child or family, accompanied by a signed note with Elf before their name, such as Elf Jim or Elf Jody.

Last year, Glaub and Miracle on 22nd Street helped more than 800 families. Glaub no longer wonders why the letters come to the apartment. Putting in the long hours to help the families is what it’s all about for him. “It’s part of Christmas for me,” he says, “It wouldn’t be Christmas without it.”