【推荐1】Nancy Wake was born in New Zealand, in 1912. The family moved to Australia in 1914 and after being educated in Sydney, she travelled to Europe where she worked as a journalist. In Nazi (纳粹的) Germany she saw the rise of Adolf Hitler and Anti-Semitism. On one occasion in Vienna she witnessed Jews being whipped by members of the Sturm Abteilung (SA). In 1939 Nancy married the wealthy French industrialist, Henri Fiocca, in Marseilles. Nancy was in France when the German Army invaded in May 1940. After the French government surrendered, Nancy joined the French Resistance. She worked with Ian Garrow’s group helping British airmen shot down over France to escape back to Britain.

In December 1940 the network was betrayed and Nancy was forced to go into hiding. She continued to work for the French Resistance and was eventually arrested while in Toulouse. However, the authorities did not realize they had captured the woman known as the “White Mouse” and she was set free after four days.

It was now too dangerous to remain in occupied France and Nancy crossed the Pyrenees into Spain before travelling to Britain. She now joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and agreed to become a British special agent (特工).

On 29th April 1944, Nancy was parachuted into the Auvergne region of France. Her main aim was to locate local soldiers and to provide them with some guns that were being dropped by parachute by the Royal Air Force four times a week.

Nancy had the task of helping the resistance to prepare for the armed uprising that was due to coincide with the D-Day landings. She also led an attack against the Gestapo headquarters in Mountucon and a German gun factory. Henri Tardivat, one of her comrades in the resistance later said that: “She is the most feminine woman I know, until the fighting starts. Then she is like five men.”

After the war, Nancy worked for the Intelligence Department at the British Air Ministry. In 1960 she married John Forward and returned to Australia to live.

【推荐1】A long time ago, there was an emperor who told his horseman that if he could ride on his horse and cover as much land area as he liked, then the emperor would give him the area of land he would have covered.

Sure enough, the horseman quickly jumped onto his horse and rode as fast as possible to cover as much land area as he could. He kept on riding and riding, whipping (抽打) the horse to go as fast as possible. When he was hungry or tired, he did not stop because he wanted to cover as much as possible.

Finally, the horseman was exhausted and dying. He asked himself, “Why did I push myself so hard to cover so much land area? Now I am dying and I need only a very small area to bury myself.”

The story above is similar with the journey of our life. We push very hard every day to make more money, to get power. We don’t pay attention to our health, time with our family and to appreciate the surrounding beauties and the hobbies we love. One day when we look back, we will realize that we don’t really need that much.

Life is not only about making money, getting power. Life is definitely not only about work! Work is only necessary to keep us living so as to enjoy the beauties and pleasures of life. Life is a balance of work and play. Happiness is also the meaning and the purpose of life. So, take it easy! Do what you want to do and appreciate nature. Life is fragile (脆弱的) and short.

【推荐2】A teacher decided to let her class play a game. She told each child in the class to bring along a bag with several tomatoes. Each tomato would be given a name of a person that the child hated. So the number of tomatoes in his or her bag would depend on the number of people the child hated.

When the day came, every child brought some tomatoes with the name of the people he or she hated. Some had two tomatoes. Some had three tomatoes. Some even had five tomatoes. The teacher then told the children to carry the tomatoes with them wherever they went for a week. Days passed, and the children started to get annoyed because the rotten (腐烂的) tomatoes let out terrible smell. Besides，those having five tomatoes also had to carry heavier bags. After one week, the children were very happy because the game had finally ended.

Then the teacher told them the meaning behind the game. The teacher said,“This is the same situation when you carry your hatred for somebody inside your heart. The terrible smell of hatred will pollute your heart, and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot stand the smell of rotten tomatoes for just one week, can you imagine what it is like to have the smell of hatred in your heart for your lifetime?”

【推荐3】Jimmy is an automotive mechanic (汽车修理技工), but he lost his job a few months ago. He has a good heart, but always feared applying for a new job.

One day, he gathered up all his strength and decided to attend a job interview. His appointment was at 10 a.m. and it was already 8:30. While waiting for a bus to the office where he was supposed to be interviewed, he saw an elderly man wildly kicking the tyre of his car. Obviously there was something wrong with the car. Jimmy immediately went up to lend him a hand. When Jimmy finished working on the car, the old man asked him how much he should pay for the service. Jimmy said there was no need to pay him; he just helped someone in need, and he had to rush for an interview. Then the old man said, “Well, I could take you to the office for your interview. It’s the least I could do. Please, I insist.” Jimmy agreed.

Upon arrival, Jimmy found a long line of applicants waiting to be interviewed. Jimmy still had some grease (油渍) on him after the car repair, but he did not have much time to wash it off or have a change of shirt. One by one, the applicants left the interviewer’s office with disappointed looks on their faces. Finally his name was called.   The interviewer was sitting on a large chair facing the office window. Rocking the chair back and forth, he asked, “Do you really need to be interviewed?” Jimmy’s heart sank. “With the way I look now, how could I possibly pass this interview?” He thought to himself.

Then the interviewer turned the chair and to Jimmy’s surprise, it was the old man he helped earlier in the morning. It turned out that he was the General Manager of the company.

“Sorry I had to keep you waiting, but I was pretty sure I made the right decision to have you as part of our workforce (职工) before you even stepped into this office. I just know you’d be a trustworthy worker. Congratulations!” Jimmy sat down and they shared a cup of well-deserved coffee as he landed himself a new job.