1 . Adam Braun set up the organization Pencils of Promise in 2008. Its goal is to make sure all children have a chance for education. Twelve years later, the non-profit organization is building a new school somewhere every 90 hours. It has helped more than 22,000 children in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

It all started when Adam Braun was a college student. He was visiting India when a boy stopped him and asked for money on the street. Mr Braun asked the boy what he would want if he could have anything in the world.

“I thought the answer was going to be ‘a house’ or ‘a car’ or ‘a boat’. His answer was ‘a pencil’. So I gave him my pencil and he was just happy and excited. I realized he had never been to school before, and that was the ①reality for over 57 million children around the world.” Braun said.

Adam Braun started working in finance (金融) after he graduated from college. But he never forgot the boy and ②the problem he realized.

③“We live in a world in which every child can have a chance to get a good education, because we have everything necessary already. We are able to educate every child, So I promised to help change that world,” Braun said.

Mr Braun raised money for his project. He paid for building the first Pencils of Promise School in Laos, five years ago. Since then, his organization has helped pay for more than 200 schools in the countryside of Laos, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Ghana.

3 . Drmiinnggg! That’s the sound that kids all over the country hate to hear—the alarm bell. The new school year has just started and children across the UK have to wake up early in the morning to go to school.

But students at one school in north-cast England are lucky. They can lie in bed for an extra（额外的）hour before they go to school. Monkseaton High School has been allowing its pupils to come into school an hour later than other schools.

The headmaster, Dr Paul Kelley, says that this new way helps students pay more attention to their lessons in class. He feels that young people are more energetic and can perform better for the rest of the day. And he adds that for their school students, a late start at school may be better than an early one.

Dr. Kelley tells the BBC that teenagers don't perform very well in the morning and their need to sleep is biological（生物的）.

It seems that this new approach to teaching shows positive（乐观的） results. The number of students who sleep in class drops quickly. Besides, the school has already seen a drop in the number of pupils who play truant（逃学）by 27%. More importantly, Dr. Kelley also says that exam results have improved by 20%—30% over the past year.

Classes at Monkseaton High School begin at 10 a.m. and finish at 3:40 p.m. However, the school opens from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The students can come early and leave late if they want.

5 . Flowers feel feelings. It’s a secret well known by flower lovers. They expect flowers to come out with quiet and soft encouragements.

So it should be no surprise that the Yellowbright Flower growing in a large red field trembled (颤抖) with strong feelings now. He trembled because he felt different. He was the only Yellowbright Flower flowering in a field of red plants, whatever they were. He knew walkers stopped and stared before walking on. He knew he was some special thing, the only thing of his kind. And the only thing of anything is always a very lonely thing to be, no matter what thing it is.

Until one bright midnight, as he danced in the summer wind, the field spoke to him. Yes, a voice came from one red plant in the field. This plant, whatever it was, now spoke to him by saying this, “You’re not really alone, you know.” No one and nothing had ever spoken to him before. To say he was surprised would be an understatement (轻描淡写). Remember, flowers feel strong feelings.

“You’ve been wrong before,” the red plant went on. “You’re a rose. So am I. So are we all, all of us in this big field. If you re yellow, with a different bloom (开花), ________. But it’s all of us, together, that the walkers stop walking to see. Not just you. Together, we’re a garden. Alone, you’re only one pretty but very small blossom (花).” Funny how this changed things for the Yellowbright Flower, who now realized he was really a Yellowbright Rose. Funny how those few words changed everything. Because nothing is really the only thing of anything, no matter how special that one thing is.

We stop feeling different and lonely when we understand we’re part of something larger than ourselves.

7 . What makes you who you are as a person? You probably have some ideas of your own personality. Are you similar to Martin Luther King or Albert Einstein? Read about these types and find out.