1 . A wildlife photographer was waiting, hoping to get a shot of a relatively rare bird, a particular kind of heron(鹭). He’d waited several frustrating hours in the woods, but with no luck at all. Suddenly, to the photographer’s delight, a heron settled on a branch right in front of him. The photographer raised his camera and took the shot. Feeling particularly pleased, the photographer looked at the image. To his astonishment, he saw that behind the heron, his photograph had also captured a very, very rare woodpecker flying past. He hadn’t seen it, but without even trying, he’d photographed an even rarer bird than the one he was aiming for. This is an example of serendipity.

Cases of serendipity can be found in numerous fields, such as science. Back in the 1800s, a man called Wellswas at a demonstration (演示) of laughing gas. After being given the gas, the patient started laughing, as expected. But then he suddenly fell over and cut his le g rather badly. To everyone’s surprise, the man reported that he couldn’t feel any pain. Wells hadn’t been looking for it, but he’d made a medical discovery — certain gases reduce and can even almost eradicate pain. Had Wells not been there that night, anesthesia (麻醉) might have taken longer to be discovered.

Most of us can probably think of at least one example of serendipity in our own lives. Jane, a friend of mine,was trying to come up with an idea for an article but got completely stuck. Frustrated, she decided to go out to a local café. As she was sipping her coffee, she heard two people talking behind her. A man was telling a story that sounded so unbelievable that she knew it had to be true. She asked the people if she could interview them for the article. They agreed and her article turned out to be one of the top trending articles of the week.

2 . Life! It’s a lot of fun but it can also be challenging.     1     Life can let us down and can sometimes fail to deliver what we were hoping for. That’s just the way it is . But sometimes the problems that trouble us are the ones that we create in our own minds so maybe it’s time to stop blaming others, bad luck, or whatever, and look to ourselves. Here are a few simple tips to change the way we live for the better.

“My life’s a mess. I just wish I could disappear”; “Why do these things always happen to me?” Thoughts like these help no one. Overdramatising (过分夸大) a situation only makes it worse. Try and put things into perspective a little, take a step back, sleep on it, or ask a friend for help.     2    

So your teacher didn’t give you the part in the school play that you really wanted. Well, that’s a shame.     3     Maybe there were other students who were more suited to the role. Similarly, when your football team loses, they don’t lose just to upset you. Things go wrong for a million and one different reasons. It’s not all about you.

No one gets it right all of the time, and that includes you! So don’t expect life to always work out the way you think it should.     4     If you’re not living up to your own expectations, be kind to yourself.

    5     And next time life doesn’t go exactly the way you want it to, try and use one or two. It’s time to take control of your life.

4 . Travel with us to the heart of Fiordland National Park and take in the beauty and vastness of remote Doubtful Sound on our Wilderness Cruise (乘船游览). It will take your breath away as you experience its deep wilderness.

There’s no direct road access, so you’ll start with a boat ride across the picturesque Lake Manapouri , followed by a coach (大巴) trip over the epic Wilmot Pass through Fiordland’s rain forest and into the Sound. Along the way, you’ll pause to experience the dense Fiordland rainforest and view Doubtful Sound glistening below. The isolation makes this field a very special place. Only those in the know get to see it. In Doubtful Sound, you’ll board our spacious, purpose-built ship Patea Explorer for a 3-hour cruise.

Non-slip shoes/boots, waterproof jackets, warm sweaters, sunscreen, sunglasses, insect repellent and cameras.

For adults who celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year, it’s a time for tying up loose ends, and     1     (look) to the year ahead. But for the younger generation, myself     2     (include), there’s only one thing on our minds: the Tray of Togetherness.

For those who haven’t had the     3     (please) of fighting with their brothers or sisters over the last White Rabbit sweet, the Tray of Togetherness is a platter (大浅盘), each compartment (分格) holding an array of candies, fruits, nuts, and coins. It     4     (be) a part of Chinese New Year celebrations for centuries.    5     (tradition), the tray is made of wood, and on the inside it is divided     6     six or eight compartments to indicate fortune, because these are lucky Chinese numbers.

Each item in the tray has     7     (it) own special symbolic meaning. If you pick melon seeds, for example, you’ll be granted with wealth and happiness. Candied melon indicates good health and growth, coconut brings happy friendships and unity,    8     nuts represent a long life with strong family ties.

Of course, the Tray of Togetherness is about more than just the sweets     9     it contains. In some regions of China, the platters     10     (bring) out for marriages and other festivities, thanks to their ability to well bring people together.

7 . At six o’clock sharp the curtain rises at Southside Cultural Center, in Reno. Two hundred audience members, including the mayor of Reno, look to the stage. Dozens of actors break out into the first number of The Lion King.

But this is not your typical production. The gifted cast is made up of homeless children living at the Volunteers of America family shelter in Reno. The children have been given a chance to live their dreams onstage, thanks to volunteer acting coach Nasya Mancini. “I see so much of myself in these kids,” says Nasya. “I tell them their current circumstance doesn’t have to be their destiny (命运) . If they are determined, they can do anything they want.”

Determination is something Nasya knows all about. She was born prematurely and was given little chance of survival. But Nasya kept fighting. Her very name means “miracle” in Hebrew. Nasya was small, but quickly proved that her talents were as big as her will to survive. She started dancing at two. By six she’d been spotted by an acting coach, who encouraged her parents to enroll her in drama classes. “There was something about being onstage,” Nasya says. “It made my spirit come alive.” She decided that she was going to be an actor.

However, her enthusiasm didn’t sit well with some of her schoolmates. They teased (嘲) her, “You’re a shrimp. You’re not even pretty.” Nasya came home in tears. Her mother hugged her and told her to ignore it. By high school, Nasya was winning awards in theater competitions. She also provided community service by teaching drama to the children at the shelter. Nasya wanted the kids at the shelter to discover the confidence that acting could give. The best way to do that, she decided, was to put on a big play.

The production was a hit. The kids took several curtain calls. Donations to the shelter rolled in. Nasya reminds the kids of something she knows with every part of her spirit to be true: “Believe in yourself. The world is your stage.”