1 . The sky began to show red in the early morning as we drove across the Minnesota state line to New York for my new PhD program. The move was good for me professionally, but I worried about my husband and daughters. I also feared that I wouldn’t be able to give my kids the childhood they deserved.

Anne, our first daughter, came into the world when I was a junior majoring in biology in college. It was challenging to balance classes, work schedules, and being a mom. But I got through it, finding moments of joy along the way. On the nights when I was home, I’d read my class notes out loud with my daughter. She’d respond by asking questions, such as “Mom, what are bacteria (细菌)?” It helped us both learn.

After I graduated, I knew that I would need a PhD to land the kind of job I wanted. I arrived in New York feeling more than the usual new-graduate-student anxiety. I also suffered from a more personal fear that I was being selfish—that my decision to invigorate my career was going to have long- term bad impacts on my kids. So, I made a rule to never be visibly upset about my work in front of my children.

Over the past year, though, I’ve started to let go of some of this worry. I’ve realized that we have not only adapted to our new situation, but things are getting better. My husband landed a job that he is happy with. Anne dreams of becoming a biologist. Recently, while driving past the cancer institute I work at, Anne said, “Thinking about people having cancer is so sad, but I feel better knowing that you are researching it to help.”

Pursuing academic career as a young mother is hard, but it’s also rewarding. My kids are learning to look at the world through science, and watching their mom succeed inspires them. I look forward to seeing them follow my footsteps, whatever path they choose.

2 . Terasa Hill did not intend to do something unplanned. It began when Terasa was observing a horse auction (拍卖). A chestnut: racehorse was for sale? “She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, though it had an injured leg,” said Terasa.

When the bidding started, Terasa surprised herself by stepping in. Finally, Terasa became the new owner of Sierra, and Sierra, limping (跛) and hurt with pain from a broken knee, became a labour of love for Terasa. After three long months of nursing her under the guidance of a local animal doctor, the leg recovered.

It wasn’t only Sierra’s leg that needed to recover; Sierra needed to relearn how to trust people. Terasa thought the best way to win Sierra’s trust and fondness was to feed her treats. Terasa kept providing Sierra with many treats, but none passed the sniff (嗅) test. Desperate, Terasa experimented by making her own mixture of molasses and grains, which she baked in her own kitchen. The cookies were a hit with Sierra and other horses, sending Terasa’s life in a new direction.

Her treats, called “Barnies”, were sold to a local store and like hotcakes, within months local businessmen began demanding for more. Terasa’s kitchen was no longer big enough for the increased demand, moving her operation to an Oshawa company.

Then a serious health problem threatened to ruin her plans. Terasa called upon the same resolution that had helped her save Sierra to help her overcome her own illness. Family and friends came to her rescue and kept Barnies Ltd. going. Almost a year later, healthy and more resolute than ever, Terasa found a national distributor and Bainies began selling in 144 stores across Canada.

And what about Sierra, the inspiration for all this success and change? The horse has fully recovered and has become a wonderful riding horse.

3 . A man was fishing on the bank of a river. A boy came to see him fishing. The man was really good at fishing and he could catch a full basket of fish in a short time. The man saw that the boy was very cute, and he wanted to give him a whole basket of fish. But the boy shook his head. The man was surprised and asked, “Why don’t you want the fish? ”

The boy replied, “I want the fishing rod(竿)in your hands.”

The man asked, “Why do you want the rod? ”

“I will eat up all the fish in the basket soon, but if I have the fishing rod,I can use it to catch a lot of fish by myself.”

Many people will certainly say the boy is very smart...wrong! If he doesn’t know fishing skills. He can’t catch fish without a fishing rod. It’s useless to only have a fishing rod, fishing skills are more important than having a fishing rod.

Many people want to have a “fishing rod” in their life. They are just like the boy, they thought that if they had a fishing rod, they would have fish to eat. Life is full of exciting things, we should try to learn fishing skills instead of having a fishing rod.

4 . When your dream is to become a footballer, nothing should get in your way —even if you have no feet.

Gabriel Muniz, an 1l–year-old Brazil kid, was born without feet. Although his family thought he would have serious difficulties living a normal life, he started walking before he was one year old. His mother would go after him, expecting him to keep falling, but he never fell. It took him a while to make the jump from walking to playing football, but he did make it. And, in fact, there’s nothing he loves more than playing football. In his school, the skillful youngster is not only the best player in his school team but also the captain of his gym team.

He knows that his disability means he’ll never be able to play for a professional football team. So Gabriel is hoping that football will one day become a Paralympics(残疾人奥运会)sport. He proved to everyone there he could go head to head with any other boy. Watching him play is unbelievable. He’s fast and he’s got a big bag of tricks – he’s very skilled and he does everything he can to copy his hero, Messi so much that he was invited to go to Spain to meet his hero Messi and show his talent in the Barcelona Football Club. His coach says he is proving the disability only exists(存在)inside our heads and he is challenging the social rules.

5 . One summer day, as I was heading to the teaching building, I heard someone call my name. I turned around and saw Philip, a counselor at our college, standing with another young man. Philip introduced me to him, Stephen, and reminded me that Stephen would be taking one of my classes.

Stephen looked at me. With a somewhat painful expression, he asked if my class was going to be hard and if he would be able to pass. I introduced all the things that he would be expected to learn. As we talked, I saw Stephen’s eyes getting big with fear.

I told him to do all of his assignments, and to hand them in on time. Rather than being overwhelmed(压倒) by all of the work, I told him the most successful students made a master calendar of all the assignments so they could plan their workload.

As the fall semester went on, I learned more of Stephen’s story. It had taken him longer to finish the assignments than most young people. Family members, including his mother, kept reminding him thathewasafailure.Buthekeptatitanddidn’ttakethemtoheart.Hetoldmethatbeforecomingto our college, no one believed he could manage it.

Stephen didn’t become an A student. However, he managed to pass most of his courses by being in class every day, turning in all of his assignments on time and breaking down his studying into bite-sized parts. By passing course after course, he began to gain a measure of self-confidence.

On his graduation day, he walked up to me, and said,“Thank you.”

6 . Two weeks ago, a 5-year-old girl named Sunshine Oelfke emptied out her piggy bank (存钱罐) onto the living room floor and immediately started counting. Her grandmother, Jackie Oelfke, thought she was playing as she carefully lined up the coins, but then she saw the girl put the coins into a plastic bag and place it in her backpack.

“What are you doing with that money?” Jackie asked her granddaughter.

“I’m taking it to school,” Sunshine replied. “I’m going to take it for milk money. My friend Layla doesn’t get milk— her mom doesn’t have milk money and I do.”

Jackie’s heart melted at Sunshine’s words. Choked with strong feelings, Jackie held her sweet granddaughter tightly in her arms.

Last week, Jackie and Sunshine met with her teacher, Rita Hausher, and handed her the $30 the kindergartner had saved. There are 20 kids in Sunshine’s class and about half don’t get milk. It costs $ 0.45 a carton (纸盒). The total adds up to about $180 a month for every child in the class to have milk every day.

After dropping Sunshine off at school, Jackie posted a tearful video on Facebook to explain her granddaughter’s plan. To her surprise, many people offered to donate toward the cause. Within a week, Jackie raised more than $1,000. Now every student in Sunshine’s class can get free milk for the rest of the year.

Jackie said Sunshine doesn’t see her kind act as a big deal. She was just trying to look out for her friends. “She doesn’t understand the effect she’s brought about,” Jackie said. “But now she knows she can do whatever she puts her mind to.”

7 . There was once a boy called Mario who loved to have lots of friends at school. However, he wasn’t sure whether or not his classmates were his true friends, so he asked his grandpa. The old man answered, “I have just exactly what you need; it’s in the attic (阁楼). Wait here for a minute.”

Grandpa left, soon returning as though carrying something in his hand, but Mario could see nothing there. “Take it. It’s a very special chair. Because it’s invisible (无形的) it’s rather difficult to sit on, but if you take it to school and you manage to sit on it, you’ll be able to tell who your true friends are.”

Mario took the strange invisible chair and went to school. At break time he asked everyone to form a circle, and he put himself in the middle, with his chair. “Nobody move. You’re about to see something amazing,” Mario said.

Then Mario tried sitting on the chair. He missed and fell straight onto his backside. Everyone had a pretty good laugh. Mario wouldn’t be beaten. He kept trying to sit on the magic chair, and kept falling to the ground... until, suddenly, he tried again and didn’t fall. This time he sat, hovering (悬停) in mid-air.

Looking around, Mario saw George, Lucas, and Diana — three of his best friends — holding him up, so he wouldn’t fall. At the same time, many others he had thought of as friends were doing nothing but make fun of him, enjoying each and every fall.

Leaving with his three friends, Mario explained to them how his grandpa had so cleverly thought of such a good idea. Now he knows that those who take joy in our misfortunes (不幸) when we are in difficulty are not our true friends.

8 . Becca was 6 when she was told she had cancer on Sept. 8, 2014. She clearly remembers the bad days of her 26 months of non -stop treatment. Luckily, Becca celebrated her final treatment on Nov. 13, 2016, and she has been cancer-free ever since. But she was thinking about what her life was like while experiencing the treatment.

“I was never able to do much, and that’s what the kids lying in their hospital beds right now experience, asking their mom and dad, ‘When are we leaving? When can I play with my friends?’ So I decided I have to help them.”

In February, 2017, Becca came up with the idea for Knots and Arrows, a company that makes bracelets (手镯) out of swimsuit materials (泳衣布料). Part of the money made from each bracelet goes to the organizations that help people with cancer.

Becca created the company with her father, Gerhard Salmins. Gerhard Salmins once had cancer and already recovered from it. “I would be in the hospital sitting there crying and then my dad would come in and he would play games with me,” she said. “It made me forget about what I was going through” Becca said the name of the organization shows the motto (座右铭) she stuck to through her personal cancer journey.

Her organization has already given thousands of dollars to research organizations and families in need. Becca said she hoped her bracelets would make people remember that great things can result from small changes. “No matter what age you are, what you look like, and how you act, you can make a difference!”she said.

9 . My teacher held up a piece of broken glass and asked, “Who broke this window?”

Thirty boys tried to think about not only what they had done, but also what the teacher might have found out. She seldom became angry, but she was this time.

“Oh,” I thought. I was the one who broke the window. It was caused by a naughty throw of a baseball. If I admitted guilt, I would be in a lot of trouble. How would I be able to pay for a big window like that? I didn’t even get an allowance. “My father is going to have a fit as a result of it,” I thought. I didn’t want to raise my hand, but some force much stronger than I was pulled it skyward (朝向天空). I told the truth, “I did it.” It was hard enough to say what I had done.

My teacher took down a book from one of our library shelves and I had never known my teacher to strike a student, but I feared she was going to start with me.

“I know how much you like birds,” she said as she stood looking down at my guilt-ridden face. “Here is the field guide about birds that you are constantly checking out. It is yours now. It’s time we got a new one for the school anyway. You will not be punished, but remember that I am not rewarding you for your misdeed (恶行), but I am rewarding you for your truthfulness.”

I couldn’t believe it! I wasn’t being punished and I was getting my own bird field guide — the very one that I had been saving up money to buy.

The lesson my teacher taught me stays with me every day, and it will echo forever.