【推荐2】A year ago, we bought our son a bike for his birthday. In this way he could stay more active. Plus, we didn't have to push a tricycle around the neighborhood.

I thought he even wanted to sleep with his bike. He got on, rode, and had a huge smile on his face. When we went out for a walk, he would ask me politely if he could ride his bike. I said yes. Then he would play for a long time and didn't want to go home. He rode in every season: winter, spring, summer and fall.

This year, we had him join in a program called SprocKids started by our local mountain bike club. As you can imagine, my little mountain biker showed great interest in it. On the first night, he tried riding over the obstacles（障碍物）, which made me worried and frightened. One obstacle was even taller than me, but he persisted.

Later, one day, he found an old bike in the storeroom. It was mine. He called me out and said, "Mommy, will you go biking with me?" I was surprised because I hadn't biked since high school, but I decided to cycle with him.

I was highly rewarded for my efforts. On the one hand, I took part in an activity with my child. And I didn't have to do all the work by pushing or carrying him. It was an activity he loved and he told me about every path and every move excitedly. On the other hand, we developed a closer bond（关系）.

In my opinion, it's very important for kids to stay active. And parents' encouragement is very important for them to stay active. But words of encouragement are not enough. It's better if parents can do a physical activity together with their kids.

【推荐3】Not long ago, a good friend of mine asked me to help him in a halfway house in Nashville. I agreed and made my way there one evening.

When I got there, I sat with my friend and talked about how he ended up there. As we talked, another man came up, lighting up his cigarette as he sat down. He had dark, leather skin, and looked like he had endured the sun, the rain, and the wind for long, long time. I couldn’t tell how old he was, but I was sure that he was younger than he looked.

Through a bit of conversation, I found out that he had been on the streets for many, many years.

Without my asking, he started describing life as a homeless man. How he got food; how he stayed warm; how he got money. And he told me something that caught my attention.

He said, “You want to know how I keep my stuff safe at night?”

“Sure, “ I replied.

“I put it up in the trees.”

“Why is it safe in the trees?” I asked.

“The homeless are always looking for treasure on the ground--- coins, something someone’s dropped, half-smoked cigarettes. I know if I put my stuff in the trees, they’ll never find it because they never look up. Never. “

Profound words from an unexpected place. And his message is for all of us.

We all have our particular search. We’re looking for treasure on this earth. But what we are REALLY looking for is right there above us. There’s really nothing we need on the ground.

In fact, it’s surrounding us.

【推荐1】On September 18, 2020, people gathered on the steps of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, singing songs like Amazing Grace. Some placed twinkling candles on the steps. Others left flowers and messages. They were there to mourn (哀悼)the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away at the age of 87.

Ginsburg was the second-ever female justice(法官)on the US Supreme Court, the most powerful court in the United States. She served in that position from 1993 until her death. During her long career, Justice Ginsburg fought for women’s equality and human rights for everyone.

Because she was a woman, she had many barriers placed in her path by people who, at the time, felt that women should not have the same rights as men. When she attended Harvard Law School in 1956, she was only one of nine women in her class. The rest of the class-541 students- were men. It wasn’t that other women weren’t smart or talented enough to get in, but because there was a tendency against women attending schools like Harvard Law, so many were turned away while similarly qualified men were accepted. Ginsburg also faced discrimination(歧视)because she was Jewish.

Ginsburg knew that men and women are equal. As a lawyer and later as a judge, she devoted her life to fighting for that principle.

One of her most famous rulings as a Supreme Court justice involved the Virginia Military Institute(VMI), which, in 1996, only allowed males to attend. Ginsburg wrote a ruling that persuaded the other justices that not allowing women into the institute was against the 14th Amendment (修正案), which explains that all people in US have equal rights. Today, about 10％ of the students at VMI are female.

Ginsburg was so inspirational that people wrote books, movies and songs about her. Children went out for Halloween dressed as her, wearing the black justice robes and white collars and other neck pieces she often wore.

【推荐3】Marty Verel, a 59-year-old kidney transplant patient in Ohio, should have been near the top of the list to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Yet like millions of others, he wasn't having any luck. Marty and his wife, Nancy Verel, would sit with computers on their laps trying for hours to book an appointment on different sites, all of which were complex. “I felt hopeless,” Nancy says.

Then Nancy heard about Marla Zwinggi, a 40-year-old mom of three who was spending up to ten hours a day online trying to secure appointments for vulnerable (易受攻击的) individuals. As a result, Nancy messaged Marla on Facebook: “Can you help?” Twenty-five minutes later, Marla responded by asking for Marty's legal name, date of birth, and other information. Nine minutes after that, Marla reported back—Marty had an appointment.

Marla's vaccine hunting started on February 1, when she learned that her parents—her father has leukemia (白血病) and her mother is a breast cancer survivor with a heart condition, were unable to get appointments themselves. She hated that they had to wait. Clicking around on vaccine registration sites, Marla discovered just how difficult it was to book an appointment. “It was like trying to get a World Series ticket,” she says.

She applied strategies that web insiders are familiar with (keeping multiple browsers open, refreshing sites every 20 seconds, erasing cookies) and added a few of her special skills. “I’m determined. I drink a lot of coffee, and I’m a fast typer,” she says. Soon enough, Marla had secured appointments for her parents. “I felt like a rock star,” she says.

Marla decided that helping others would be her way of giving back. “I feel like I need to will us out of this pandemic (大流行病),” she says. On February 10, she logged on to Facebook to let people know that she was assisting with bookings. By March 2, she’d secured appointments for 400 seniors, a feat that made Nancy and Marty fail to make an appointment themselves?

【推荐1】Going to college was not optional. In my family, it was just another step toward the American dream. As soon as I graduated, I enrolled in the English Department of Colorado State University. I went on to earn two scholarships, and membership in the National Honor Society. I truly believed the hard work was worth it.

It wasn’t until a few months ago that I realized how clueless I was. I had been combing through the classifieds when my eyes fell upon my dream job: “National College Magazine looking for writers.”

Thrilled, I spent the weekend composing a resume. Needless to say, I was stunned when the interviewer barely took one glance before throwing it aside.

“No experience”, he said flatly.

I felt like screaming, “What do you mean, no experience? Look at these grades.”

I was left to absorb the shock of rejection, thinking that nobody ever told me that a 4.0 student would be turned down for a job.

Didn’t all of my hard work count for anything?

I see plenty of demands for two years of experience at a print publication, but none requiring extensive knowledge of how to write academic papers. Yet 95% of my energy in school went toward the latter, leaving me little time to devote to anything else. If career preparation is supposed to be the point of college, then why isn’t it the focus?

Has a college degree just become another societal status symbol like fancy cars or designer clothes?

Given my experience, I feel that a college degree would be a lot more valuable if students were required to get some outside experience to supplement their in-class knowledge. Instead of requiring four science classes, why not three science classes and an internship? In my college career, I took one class that taught me how to write and submit essays for publication. This ever so brief taste of the real world was like holding an ice cream sundae in front of a child and only giving her a small bite.