【推荐1】The Boy Made It!

One Sunday, Nicholas, a teenager, went skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. In the early afternoon, when he was planning to go home, a fierce snowstorm swept into the area. Unable to see far, he accidentally turned off the path. Before he knew it, Nicholas was lost, all alone! He didn’t have food, water, a phone, or other supplies. He was getting colder by the minute.

Nicholas had no idea where he was. He tried not to panic. He thought about all the survival shows he had watched on TV. It was time to put the tips he had learned to use.

He decided to stop skiing. There was a better chance of someone finding him if he stayed put. The first thing he did was to find shelter form the freezing wind and snow. If he didn’t, his body temperature would get very low, which could quickly kill him. Using his skis, Nicholas built a snow cave. He gathered a huge mass of snow and dug out a hole in the middle. Then he piled branches on top of himself, like a blanket to stay as warm as he could.

By that evening, Nicholas was really hungry. He ate snow and drank water from a nearby stream so that his body wouldn’t lose too much water. Not knowing how much longer he could last, Nicholas did the only thing he could he huddled in his cave and slept.

The next day, Nicholas went out to look for help, but he couldn’t find anyone. He followed his tracks and returned to the snow cave, because without shelter, he could die that night. On Tuesday, Nicholas went out again to find help. He had walked for about a mile when a volunteer searcher found him. After two days stuck in the snow, Nicholas was saved.

Nicholas might not have survived this snowstorm had it not been for TV. He had often watched Grylls’ survival show Man vs. Wild. That’s where he learned the tips that saved his life. In each episode of Man vs. Wild. Grylls is abandoned in a wild area and has to find his way out.

When Grylls heard about Nicholas’ amazing deeds, he was super impressed that Nicholas had made it since he knew better than anyone how hard Nicholas had to work to stay alive.

【推荐2】Customers who come into the Waffle House recognize server Evoni Williams, a soft-spoken 18-year-old from Texas City. It all started with a Facebook post. On the morning of March 3, Laura Wolf was eating breakfast at the Waffle House in La Marque when she overheard an older man, who reminded her of her late father, tell Williams he had trouble with his hands. The man, later identified as regular customer Adrien Charpentier, had an oxygen tank nearby and needed help cutting up his food. “Without hesitation,” Wolf wrote, Williams “took his plate and began cutting up his ham.”

Impressed, Wolf posted the moment on her Facebook page to share the warmth and kindness with all. The following day, Williams’s Facebook notification（关注）began to light up. Her friends saw Wolf’s post and tracked her in it.

Williams had no idea that someone took a photo that morning. The diner was so busy that a line extended outside the door. She said helping Charpentier was reflexive. She has been working at Waffle House since last June to save for college, and this, she figured, was just the right thing to do. “I would want someone to help my grandmother or grandfather,” Williams said.

The post began to make its rounds in La Marque and eventually landed in front of the city’s mayor, Bobby Hocking. He decided to declare March 8 as Williams’s day, and also received an email from Texas Southern University President Austin A.Lane, asking if the school could present Williams with a scholarship.

Williams still works at Waffle House five days a week and plans to do so until she starts classes in the fall at Houston-based Texas Southern. Wolf said Williams does not have a car to get to classes, but some people have offered to start a GoFundMe page for her, proving that a moment of a kindness can change a life.

【推荐3】When it comes to dog training, I’ve come to understand that some things can be taught quickly, while others take a while. Do you know how I learned that lesson? From a French teacher I had in college.

It was beginner’s French, and from day one she had a “no English” class rule. I was confused by 99% of what she said, but I decided to give it a shot. I was excited as we began learning numbers and the alphabet, something I could easily follow, but when it came to putting together phrases, I was lost.

My teacher came up to me and said “quel est votre passe-temps favori?” which sounded like complete nonsense to me. I knew she was asking me a question, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. So I said “Sorry, I don’t understand.” Well, that broke the “no English” rule, so I just froze because I had no idea as to how to apologize in French.

So what did she do? She kept getting closer to me, repeating ‘quel est votre passe-temps favori?’ over and over, each time a bit louder, as if I had a hearing problem, rather than a complete shortage of comprehension.

I think about that class often. I really did feel hopeless, and the laughter from everyone else in class didn’t help. It’s not that she was a bad teacher. It’s just that she had very little patience for students like me who didn’t catch on immediately.

Well, it taught me to be more patient with Laika when learning new things. And since I don’t want her to be like the embarrassed kid in class, I don’t speak loudly at her or repeat myself when she doesn’t “get it.” I go back and figure out how I can help her understand and put meaning to my requests.

【推荐2】On a February morning 13 years ago we pulled into the driveway, excited and proud, and lined up our kids for photos. It was a big day, but back then we had no idea how it would shape our lives.

That van (旅行拖车) is linked to so many great memories - soccer games, camping trips, and a 24-hour journey to Florida to visit grandparents and one three-week holiday to the east coast, full of long conversations and classic rock played on cassette tapes. In that van, I laughed my head off while going out with friends, and cried my eyes out at the death of a loved one. I've dreamed and planned and moved homes while traveling on those four trusty wheels.

There were days when it drove me nuts, too. On cold winter mornings, the sliding doors would freeze shut. Anyone who wanted to sit in the backseats had to climb in through the front. Still, we've held on to our van for as long as possible. It never ever let us down, even as the repair bills got a little bigger each year and we faithfully fixed whatever was needed to keep it on the road safely.

Yesterday we finally made the decision. It was time to find a newer, smaller, more energy-efficient (高效节能的) replacement. The van was telling us it was time.

Saying goodbye is never easy. As we close the minivan chapter（篇章）of our lives, my heart sinks -- not just for the much-loved metal box on wheels that we've driven for more than a decade, but for the days, months and years that passed by so quickly. The story of our minivan is the story of our family.