【推荐1】Hi, my name is Ethan King. I’m 14 years old and I love the game of soccer. In the summer of 2009, I went to northern Mozambique(Africa) with my dad to help repair water wells(井)in local villages. I took my soccer ball along. I thought I might be able to play with the local kids. When we arrived at the village of Ntette, I threw out my ball and soon, 50 kids were playing .Many of these kids had never had the chance to enjoy playing soccer with a real ball. For me, it’s no big deal to play soccer with a real ball. I do it all the time.

I’ve discovered that many kids in poor countries want to play soccer, but they can’t because they don’t have a ball. I have several soccer balls in my house. I thought that these kids would enjoy this soccer ball far more than me. So, I gave my ball to them.

As we prepared to leave, one of the boys brought the soccer ball back to me. I said to him, “No, this is yours. I gave it to you.” He laughed and cheered! I loved seeing that they had a real ball to play with.

Every kid who loves the game of soccer deserves(值得)to play. Every kid who loves the game of soccer deserves his or her own ball. And that’s why I started Charity Ball in 2010. It provides new soccer balls for kids in poor communities around the world.

【推荐3】When I was about 12, I had an “enemy”, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings (缺点). Week by week her list grew: I was very thin; I wasn’t a good student; I talked too much; I was too proud, and so on. At last, I couldn’t stand it. I cried and ran to my father. He listened to me quietly. Then he asked, “Sweetie, are the things she says true or not? Didn’t you ever wonder what you are really like? Well, you now have that girl’s opinion. Go and make a list of everything she said and find out the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”

I did as he told. To my surprise, I discovered that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn’t change (like being very thin), but a good number I could and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I got a fairly clear picture of myself.

I brought the list back to Dad. He refused to take it. “It’s just the case for you,” he said, “you know better than anyone the truth about yourself. But you have to learn to listen, not just close your ears in anger and feeling hurt. When something said about you is true, you’ll find it will be of great help to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your duty. Don't shut your ears, listen to them all, but hear the truth only and do what you know is right to do.”

Daddy’s advice has returned to me at many important moments. In my life, I’ve never had a better piece of advice.