【推荐1】You’ll never guess what happened to me and Jim when we were in Australia. It was unbelievable. We decided to go camping in the Outback for a few days. The Outback is a big, hot and wild desert (沙漠) area in Australia. Almost nobody lives there at all.

Well, we went right into the desert on our first day. Just Jim and me and an old jeep. We had enough water for a couple of weeks and plenty of reserves (储备) of foods. We were excited because we knew we had to be really independent out there: it takes hours for medical help to arrive if you get hurt.

We put up our tent under a few trees next to a dried-up river and after cooking a meal we sat talking for a while. We listened to birds singing in the distance. It got dark really fast, and so soon afterwards we went to bed. A few hours later we woke up to hear a terrible loud sound. An animal was running around our tent. It sounded big, aggressive and dangerous! I was so scared! And Jim was even worse than me: he just kept saying, “I want to go home!” and started crying! The animal started trying to get into our tent, and I took our torch (手电筒) and gave it a big bang when its nose came through the entrance. Thankfully, it went away. We packed up our things and got into the car: we slept there for a few uncomfortable hours and left as soon as it was light. We both forgot some clothes we had put on the trees to dry but we didn’t care. When we got back to the civilization and our friends, we were so pleased. But we never told anyone there exactly what happened. It’s only now I’m back in the UK that I can talk about it.

【推荐1】Zhang Guimei showed us how to be a good teacher and the importance of a teacher in students’ lives.

In 2009, Zhang Guimei founded the Huaping High School for Girls in Lijiang, Yunnan Province. This was a special school which did not ask for tuition (学费) from girls in poor families. In 2003, Zhang began to raise money for the school, but her effort was often met with suspicion and even misunderstanding. Between 2003 and 2007, Zhang spent her spare time asking people to give money to her school. However, the money she got was far from enough. In 2007, after her dream was reported by media, the government promised to help her project.

Zhang carries on strict school rules. She plans every minute of her students’ timetable 5:20 am, she wakes up all the girls. They must take a nap in the afternoon. They are only allowed three hours a week outside of the school. And having long hair is no allowed. She wants to change the lives of many girls from poor families through education.

Eleven years later, over 1,600 girl students have graduated from the school and received higher education—including many famous universities in China.

When people asked why she made so much effort to help girls in the mountains get better education, she just said, “I believe it is really important for girls to get education because it will break the circle between uneducated mothers’ and children. I hope they can live happier than me.”