When I was 12 years old, my grandparents passed away. I was really close to them, and losing them was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through. I couldn’t eat, sleep, or think; I felt like I couldn’t ever breathe. It was as if my whole world had fallen down from under me, and I fell into this huge hole of depression.

Although I was battling depression, I was determined to make my high school years the best of my life. It was difficult to be happy, but I had to try. I joined Women’s Choir (合唱团). Mr. Wright was the choral director and he was so funny that the first day, I just knew I had made the best decision of my life.

As the year progressed, I loved chorus more and more. I began to smile again and really enjoy life.

Then one day that all changed. My friends—or those that I thought were my friends—started talking about me behind my back. I was hurt, and I sat by myself. Mr. Wright came over and asked what was wrong. The look in his eyes told me I could trust him, Trying hard to hold back tears, I told him the whole story.

When I finished, he nodded and told me, “If you never learn anything from me, learn this: No one is worth stealing your joy.” What Mr. Wright said really struck a chord (心弦) in my heart. He truly cared about me and what was going on. He not only saved me but influenced every day of it.

I began to realize that my happiness didn’t depend on what others thought of me. I slowly let go of the hurt and pain, and with each passing day, I felt myself regaining the strength to smile again. The chorus became my sanctuary (避难所), a place where I could lose myself in the beauty of music and forget about the world’s troubles.

Out of gratitude for all of these, I decided to write a letter to Mr. Wright.

Years later, I follow in Mr. Wright’s footsteps, becoming a choir teacher myself.

I grew up in a small town where the primary school was a ten-minute walk from my house. When the noon bell rang, I would race breathlessly home. My mother would be standing at the top of the stairs, smiling down at me.

One lunchtime when I was in the third grade will stay with me always. I had been picked to be the princess in the school play, and for weeks my mother had rehearsed (排练) my lines so hard with me. But no matter how easily I acted at home, as soon as I stepped onstage, every word disappeared from my head. Finally, my teacher took me aside. She explained that she had written a narrator’s (旁白的) part to the play, and asked me to change roles. Her words, kindly expressed, still hurt, especially when I saw my part go to another girl.

I didn’t tell my mother what had happened when I went home for lunch that day. But she sensed my pain. Instead of suggesting we practice my lines, she asked if I wanted to walk in the yard.

It was a lovely spring day and the rose vine (藤蔓) was turning green. Under the huge trees, we could see yellow dandelions (蒲公英) in the grass in bunch, as if a painter had touched our landscape with gold. I watched my mother casually bend down by one dandelion. “I think I’m going to dig up all these weeds,” she said, pulling it up by its roots. “From now on, we’ll have only roses in this garden.”

“But I like dandelions,” I protested. “All flowers are beautiful-even dandelions.”

My mother looked at me seriously. “Yes, every flower gives pleasure in its own way, doesn’t it?” She asked thoughtfully. I nodded, pleased that I had won her over. “And that is true of people too,” she added. “Not everyone can be a princess, but there is no shame in that.” Relieved that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry as I told her what had happened. She listened and smiled.

“But you will be a beautiful narrator,” she said, encouraging and comforting me as usual.       

After the play, I took home the flower.

4 . New App Helps People Remember Faces

Large gatherings such as weddings and conferences can be socially overwhelming. Pressure to learn people’s names only adds to the stress. A new facial-recognition app could come to the rescue, but privacy experts recommend proceeding with caution.

The app, called Social Recall, connects names with faces via smartphone cameras and facial recognition, potentially avoiding the need for formal introductions. “ It breaks down these social barriers we all have when meeting somebody, ” says Barry Sandrew, who created the app and tested it at an event attended by about 1,000 people.

After receiving an invitation to download Social Recall from an event organizer, the user is asked to take two selfies and sign in via social media. At the event, the app is active within a previously defined geographical area. When a user points his or her phone camera at an attendee’s face, the app identifies the individual, displays the name, and links to his or her social media profile. To protect privacy, it recognizes only those who have agreed to participate. And the app’s creators say it automatically deletes users’ data after an event.

The start-up has also developed a version of the app for individuals who suffer from prosopagnosia, or “ face blindness, ” a condition that prevents people from recognizing individuals they have met. To use this app, a person first acquires an image of someone’s face, from either the smartphone’s camera or a photograph, and then tags it with a name. When the camera spots that same face in real life, the previously entered information is displayed. The collected data are stored only on a user’s phone, according to the team behind the app.

Ann Cavoukian, a privacy expert who runs the Privacy by Design Center of Excellence praises the app’s creators for these protective measures. She cautions, however, that when people choose to share their personal information with the app, they should know that “ there may be unintended consequences down the road with that information being used in another context that might come back to bite you. ”

7 . A woman was drowning and she put her hand in the air with her last energy. She was only moments away from_______when she was rescued. Surf lifesaver Andrew Reid, who helped _______ the woman,said the woman was_______ lucky, with a number of factors contributing to her rescue.

He had just walked in at 6:55 a. m. and a fellow lifeguard _______ because they start at 7:00 a.m. They were _______ just looking out and checking the conditions. It was then that the struggling woman was_______ .

Mr.Reid said as he _______ his way towards the woman, other lifeguards were also trying hard. One of the other _______ , Troy Stewart, got to the woman quicker. He reached the woman as she began to _______ under water. Mr.Reid said the woman was ________when got above the waterline.

Another lifeguard, Anthony Carroll, raced to the rescue, and he even made a separate rescue. “She is a very lucky lady,” Mr. Reid said. “She had two of the country’s________ surf swimmers at the beach this morning.” He added that each lifeguard took a different ________ to ensure at least one of them was able to ________ the woman in time.

The woman was ________once she had been rescued. Mr. Reid was proud of the role he and his colleagues________ in the rescue.

At noon that day, I drove back to my house after the performance. Just as I entered the living room, I heard a gentle sound coming from the bedroom upstairs—it was the sound of my favorite violin.

“Thief!”

I dashed upstairs. Sure enough, as expected, a boy of about 12 years old was petting my violin. The boy had messy hair and a thin face, his oversized coat seemingly filled with something. At first glance, I found a new pair of shoes missing. It seemed that he was surely a thief.

Then, I saw his eyes full of fear and despair. My anger was immediately replaced by a smile, I asked, “Are you Mr. Ram’s nephew, Michael? I’m his housekeeper. Two days ago, I heard his nephew living in the countryside will come. It must be you. You’re really like him!”

On hearing my words, the boy was first astonished, but then quickly said, “Has my uncle gone out? I think I’d better first go out for a walk and visit him again in a while.”

I nodded and asked the boy who was preparing to put down the violin, “Do you like to play the violin so much?”

“Yes, but I’m so poor that I can’t afford it,” the boy replied.

“Then, I give this violin to you.” The boy looked at me questioningly, but he picked up the violin. Going out to the living room, he suddenly saw on the wall my huge color photo I performed in the Sydney Opera House. He involuntarily trembled for a moment and ran out without looking back.

I was sure that the boy had understood what happened because no one would decorate the living room with the housekeeper’s photo.

A few years later, I was invited to be a judge at a music competition of senior high school students.

After the competition, “Michael” ran to me, holding a violin box.