2 . It was eight o’ clock on Christmas morning, and Uncle Tom said he wanted to listen to the news. My 11-year-old self was wondering why grown-ups would be interested in the news when there were important things to be done, such as handing out presents. However, while I was only half-listening to the radio broadcast, I was confused that I had heard that report earlier.

My older brother, Colin, figured out what was happening. “Pete, it’s a tape recorder! We’ve got our tape recorder!” This was one of those rare moments when my inside gave an involuntary lurch (倾斜). Colin and I had both been blind from birth. In the late 1950s, tape recorders were definitely the top choice for blind kids, especially with the rise of rock ‘n’ roll.

But it wasn’t the first time I had been attracted to a tape recorder. I vividly remember walking into a room when I was four and hearing a child’s beautiful singing. It turned out that my dad had borrowed a tape recorder for preparing his projects. And for the first time, in the same way that a sighted child might react to seeing themselves in a mirror or a photograph, I got the sense of myself as a separate person who existed outside my head and was experienced by other people.

Then I became a broadcaster at school. I would wander around the school with my microphone, recording my thoughts in the style of the voices I heard on the radio. But the biggest challenge was not finding things to do with the tape recorder but taking it away from Colin. His generosity on the first day we got it did not extend to handing it over to his brother at school. “You’ll break it,” he would say.

But ten years later, I drew on the confidence gained from those early explorations of the sound and walked into a radio station, in the hopes of selling myself as a broadcast journalist. Eight years later, I presented my first report for BBC’s Six O’Clock News. I never thought that a Christmas present had changed my life.

3 . This past January, Captain Preet Chandi set foot on a historic, though decidedly icy trail by becoming the first woman of color to reach the South Pole alone, without assistance. While others might have been content to make history with this singular accomplishment, “Polar Preet” Chandi is not one to rest on her achievements. The journey to the South Pole was merely “phase one” of a larger and even more extraordinary goal for the adventurous British Army officer.

“For the phase two”, the 33-year-old has set her sights on crossing Antarctica — once again doing the journey alone and unsupported to become the first woman to achieve this goal.

On November 14, Chandi departed from Hercules Inlet, an ice-filled bay at the southwestern section of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf bordering the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. Her goal is to reach Reedy Glacier within 75 days, a coast-to-coast journey consisting of roughly 1,100 miles. And “roughly” is the key word here — she’ll be pulling a sled (雪橇) with equipment, weighing about 264 pounds altogether, and she’ll be doing so in temperatures that can sink to minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit, with wind speeds of up to 60 miles per hour.

Her journey thus far required years of training. Prior to her 700-mile South Pole journey, she prepared by attending a polar survival course in Norway. She continued her training back home in the UK by dragging tires, the closest thing to pulling a sled, and a month-long practice run in Greenland. Ultimately, Chandi went on to finish her first South Pole expedition in 40 days, a full eight days ahead of schedule.

When not otherwise setting records of human endurance in extreme conditions, Chandi tries to inspire others in her day-to-day work.

Chandi will be posting interval (间隔) voice blog updates of her phase two progress on her website, polar Preet. com, where a live tracking map will also provide her current location at every point along her journey.

“Nothing is impossible. I’ve always had this idea that I can achieve something great, something that allows me to be a role model,” Chandi shared on her blog.

4 . I was born missing my left arm. In 1986, at 18 months, I was fitted with a prosthetic (义肢) device, a decision made by my parents and doctors so that I would develop “normally”.

I spent my entire childhood and adolescence trying to fit in. I did just about anything to ease the pains of the stares and pointing fingers from my classmates. By the time I was 8, I had no self-confidence, and the hand I was wearing was making it harder for me to fit in. So I decided I was better off without one. I didn’t need anyone to fix me.

To prove that I wasn’t limited by my disability, I developed a love for all sports, in particular swimming. I was selected to my first Australian women’s swimming team at age 13 and successfully represented my country for eight years. I realized I’d made a name for myself because of my disability.

I taught myself how to be comfortable in a society filled with insecurities. So when I was first contacted in 2021 by Covvi, a company trying to create the world’s most advanced bionic (仿生的) hand, I was a bit surprised. They asked me to trial the hand and, if possible, to become a patient advocate. Initially, I said no. Then, curiosity got the better of me.

While I was busy advocating for disability rights, a new generation of leaders, like Amy Purdy and Nick Vujicic, used the power of technology and social media to display wheelchairs or artificial limbs without explanation. People feared disability less. Society was beginning to see a person first, and their disability second.

Viewing disability through a social lens also meant acknowledging that a person is more disabled by their environment and the discrimination of others than by their actual disability. As those conversations shifted, I realized that there was an opportunity to use technology to steer the narrative for future generations. In July 2022, I decided to trial the hand.

The role of patient advocate is an enormous privilege. Through sharing my journey, I’m able to reach thousands of other people who would benefit from its extraordinary capabilities. That’s why I wear a bionic hand—not because I’m broken, but because I have an opportunity to enhance the human capabilities that already exist.

5 . The story of Oprah Winfrey’s life is one of overcoming incredible odds and achieving great success. Born into poverty in Mississippi, Winfrey faced numerous challenges throughout her childhood. She was raised by her grandmother, who installed in her a love of reading and a strong work ethic. However, Winfrey was also the victim of abuse and neglect, both at home and in her community.

Despite these obstacles, Winfrey showed great promise from a young age. At age 19 she became a news anchor(主播) for the local television station, and in 1976 she was made a reporter and co-anchor for the ABC news in Baltimore, Maryland. She found herself limited by the objectivity required of news reporting, and in 1977 she became co-host of the Baltimore morning show People Are Talking.

Winfrey excelled in the casual and personal talk-show format, and in 1984 she moved to Chicago to host the faltering(衰退的) talk show AM Chicago. Winfrey’s honest and engaging personality quickly turned the program into a success, and in 1985 it was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. Winfrey’s warmth, intelligence, and empathy made her a beloved figure to millions of viewers. She used her platform to address important social issues, such as child abuse, domestic violence, and poverty.

Despite her success, Winfrey faced many challenges along the way. She struggled with her weight, and was often criticized for her appearance. She also faced many personal and professional setbacks in her life and work. However, Winfrey refused to give up. She continued to work hard, launching her own production company, Harpo Productions, and starting her own cable network, OWN. She also became a philanthropist, donating millions of dollars to charitable causes.

Today, Winfrey is one of the most successful and influential people in the world. She has won lots of awards for her work. She is also a best-selling author and a respected public speaker. Winfrey’s story provés the power of perseverance, hard work, and faith in oneself.

6 . The day I met Hani Irmawati, she stood alone in the parking lot of the International school, a shy seventeen-year-old in worn clothing. Despite the school’s policy against Indonesian students, she approached me, begging to improve her English. When I inquired about her motivation, expecting a local job search, she quietly expressed her dream of attending an American university.

Moved by her determination, I volunteered to help her after school. Each day, Hani woke at dawn, studying on the bus to her public high school, then joining me in the afternoon, exhausted but eager to learn. Despite her struggles with college-level English, her perseverance amazed me.

Hani’s family lived modestly, her parents working as a custodian and a maid. Their income couldn’t support her American university aspirations, dampening my initial optimism.

In December 1998, a scholarship opportunity arose, but upon reviewing the requirements, I despaired. Hani lacked the extracurricular experience and standardized test scores typical of applicants. Despite my discouragement, she remained resolute, asking me to submit her application. Unable to refuse, I completed the application, highlighting her courage and perseverance. I warned her of slim acceptance odds, but she remained steadfast.

In the following weeks, Hani intensified her English studies, and I arranged for her to take the Test of English Fluency. The computerized test posed a significant challenge for her. Just before departing for the test, she received a letter from the scholarship association. I began reading the letter with her, only to discover she’d been accepted.

Overjoyed, I celebrated while Hani stood quietly, perhaps bewildered by my shock. In that moment, I realized what Hani had known all along: success requires not just intelligence, but also the drive to persevere and the courage to believe in oneself.

7 . I had always dreamed of living and working in New York, which promised endless opportunities. But as soon as I arrived, I realized that my journey was going to be filled with countless setbacks and challenges.

My first major failure came when I landed my dream job at a famous company. However, after just a few months, I was let go due to budget cuts. I was shocked and felt like all of my hard work had been for nothing.

Determined to bounce back, I applied for a new job at another company. This time, things seemed to be going better. I was making progress and gaining valuable experience, but then I was suddenly laid off again due to company restructuring.

Feeling defeated and hopeless, I decided to take a break from the job search and focus on self-improvement. I enrolled in courses and attended workshops to learn new skills and expand my knowledge. But even with all of this effort, I still couldn’t find the right job.

One day, while searching online job listings, I found an opportunity that seemed too good to be true. It was a remote position that offered a competitive salary and flexible hours. Without hesitation, I applied and was thrilled when I received an offer letter.

However, as soon as I started working remotely, I realized that it wasn’t the same as being in an office with colleagues (同事) around me. I struggled to communicate effectively and found it difficult to stay motivated without the support of my team.

Despite these challenges, I refused to give up. I reached out to my colleagues and tried to build relationships with them through virtual meetings and social media. With their help and encouragement, I was able to adapt to the new environment and excel in my role. Looking back on my journey, I realized that success is not about avoiding failure, but rather about learning from it and persevering through the tough times. I encouraged others who may be facing similar challenges in their own careers to never give up on their dreams and to keep pushing forward even when things get tough.

9 . Howard Schultz wasn’t the first person to be carried away by the pleasant smell of a well-roasted coffee bean. But the Starbucks Coffee Co. leader was undoubtedly the first to turn that dream into a billion dollar retail business.

Schultz’s adventure started in 1981 when he traveled from New York to Seattle to check out a popular coffee bean store called “Starbucks”. It had been buying many of the Hammarplast   Swedish drip coffeemakers (滴滤式煮咖啡壶) he was selling.

There was that great smell, sure, but what caused him to fall in love with the business was the care the Starbucks owners put into choosing and roasting the beans. He was also impressed with the owners’ devotion to educating the public about the wonders of the coffee.

It took Schultz a year to convince the Starbucks owners to hire him. When they finally made him director of marketing and operations in 1982, he had another idea. This one occurred in Italy, when Schultz noticed the coffee bars that existed on almost every block. He learned that they not only served excellent espressos (蒸馏咖啡), they also served as meeting places or public squares, and there were 200,000 of them in the country.

But when he came back to Seattle, the Starbucks owners resisted Schultz’s plans to serve coffee in the stores, saying the restaurant business was competitive, and it was costly to hire waiters. After all, economic benefits were their primary motivator. Frustrated, Schultz quit and started his own coffee-bar business in 1985, named “II Giornale”. It was successful, and two years later, the original Starbucks management sold its Starbucks retail unit to Schultz for $3.8 million.

As the company began to expand rapidly in the 1990s, Schultz always said that the main goal was “to serve a great cup of coffee”. Asked about the secret of his success, Schultz told us the principles: “Don’t be threatened by people smarter than you. Compromise anything but your core values.”

10 . A voice reaches us, crying out from the depths of a profound silence: “I am alive, I can think, and no one has the right to deny me these two realities...”

The words were conveyed by a flicker (跳动) of the left eyelid. It came from a book, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, by a former journalist, Jean-Dominique Bauby. He worked for journals like the Quotidien de Paris and Paris Match. For four years until December 1995 he was the very successful chief editor of Elle.

Then the unthinkable happened. A cardiovascular (心血管的) accident sent him into a deep coma (昏迷), from which he emerged 20 days later in a hospital on the north-east coast of France. His brain remained undamaged, but its connection to his body left him with only the ability to blink his left eyelid. The poor man was diagnosed as suffering from the rare disease “Locked-in Syndrome (闭锁综合征),” unable to breathe or eat without assistance.

It was hard to accept the transition from an “earthman in perfect working order” to what his friends termed “a vegetable.” In this inert (无活动能力的) body, however, his brain was working furiously, trying to make people understand what he was thinking. With the help of a specialised nurse, Claude Mendibil, he was able to write his book, using only his ability to blink at the most frequently used letters of the alphabet. Mendibil pointed to them on a screen: one blink for “yes,” two blinks for “no.”

He would spend most of the night editing his thoughts and composing sentences. When Mendibil arrived in the morning he could dictate them to her in a succession of (一连串) blinks. It took him about 200,000 blinks to write his book of more than 100 pages. In it, Bauby describes his paralyzed existence as being trapped in an old-fashioned deep-sea diving bell while the “butterflies” of his mind flutter about freely.

One would expect from this process a formal factual report, but that is not the case. The book reads in flowing images that light up his predicament (困境). The style is clear and fresh, and not without elegance, imagination and shafts of humour.

He is also in search of past time, of memory itself, of the books he had read, the poems he had learnt by heart. Even sadder, he thinks of all the books he wanted to read and hadn’t gotten to. He has to listen to someone else reading them to him. He recalls meals, a horse race, his life and work as an editor, and his struggle in his hospital bed to twitch his nose when a fly lands on it.

“From this hell comes a great message of life and hope,” said Antoine Audouard, a friend of Bauby’s and the book’s publisher.