D
As the saying goes, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” This is the way the charity organization Heifer International (国际小母牛慈善组织) wants to end world hunger.
It began in the 1930s when an American farmer, Dan West, went to Spain to help people in need. He tried to feed the people with milk. But it seemed that there would never be enough milk. It made him think that what they needed was “not a cup, but a cow”.
Dan West returned to America. He worked together with some friends to find ways to end hunger. He believed giving animals and providing training would stop world hunger. With his help, Heifer International was set up.
On Heifer International's website, you will see a list of animals like cows, chickens, pigs and even fish and bees. You can offer help by buying some animals for one certain family. Those animals will have babies get better lives, they will pass on the act of kindness to others. More importantly, you are buying the resources (资源) for programs run by Heifer International to help more families.
The programs also help small-sized farms. As a rule, each farmer must give his animal's first female (雌性) baby to another in need. Heifer International also provides training on animals' health and feeding. And these farmers all agree to teach others what they have learned as another rule.
However, there is still a long way to go. The milk may run out. But if families have their own cows, they can get plenty of milk to feed themselves. The organization wants the farmers to go on working together, helping each other and learning from each other. Maybe hunger can really be stopped.
17-year-old Brennan Agranoff, a colorblind boy, started his custom sock business in middle school, with a small loan(贷款)he got from his parents. Up till now, he has sold over $1 million worth of socks online in the last four years.
Brennan thought of the idea for his custom sock company at just 13 years old. He was attending a high-school basketball game in his hometown of Sherwood, Oregon, and noticed that many kids his age were wearing the same white Nike sport socks. The boy told himself that if these white plain sacks were so popular with kids, then some cool custom designs would surely be an even greater hit.
But the boy didn't tell his parents about the business idea immediately. He spent six months researching things like printing machines and technology and drawing up a business plan. Only when he had everything planned out did he ask his parents for a loan. "They thought the idea was a little out there," Brennan recently told CNN Money, but he kept pushing, and finally received a $3,000 loan to start his company. Then he began to work on his own designs. The fact that he was colorblind didn't stop him and he has created aver 200 designs now.
Business was slow the first year, but then Brennan started pushing his HoopSwagg products heavily on the Internet. Orders soon started coming in in large numbers, and HoopSwagg became a popular brand among custom sock lovers. Right now, his designs can be found on HoopSwagg website, Amazon and eBay.
Four years after starting his business, Brennan has achieved great success while balancing(平衡)school, house chores and his social life. And he says he loved every minute of it.
Every night in Jinan University in Guangzhou, a group of students plays diabolo(空竹)as a crowd watches on in amazement.
Chen Zhelun, 25, a Malaysian-Chinese started the diabolo club, which helps to increase the popularity of this traditional Chinese game, He is one of many students expressing their interest in the country's cultural heritage(通产)by starting clubs.
The diabolo, which came from China, is popular among Chinese living in Malaysia.
"We played diabolo from primary school onward. I thought I could find someone to play with in China, but only a few students knew about it. So I started a club to develop it," says Chen.
To Chen's surprise, the old game has interested a huge crowd--more than 1,000 students have joined the club.
"Itkeeps your body strong and it's fun," says Chen.
But some prefer quieter activities. Every weekend, one classroom in Shenzhen University is always crowded, but it's unusually silent. The members of Lanting Calligraphy Club are writing Chinese characters with traditional brushes.
Fan Dongling, 21，a student in Shenzhen university, says it's a shame that young people no longer enjoy the beauty of Chinese characters.
Although her club is quiet. Fan says it keeps members healthy, mentally and physically.
"Some students think traditional things are outdated. They like celebrating Western festivals like Christmas or Valentine's Day, but they seldom pay attention to traditional ones."says Kong Yanquan, 21，a student in Guangxi University.
As head of the traditional Chinese local operas club. Kong plans to put modern elements(元素)into traditional culture to get students to join his club.
"I think it's everyone's duty to save and develop China's traditional culture among young people," he says.
C
The 14th Chinese Language Competition attracted about 1,100 children from kindergarten kids to high school students. The children from different languages and cultural backgrounds met in San Francisco and competed in events like Chinese Calligraphy（书法）, drawing and Chinese poetry recital（背诵）.
Thomson, an 11th-grade boy from Justin-Siena High School in Napa city of California, has studied Chinese language for three years. It was hard for him to learn Chinese at the beginning, because it was one of the most difficult languages in the world. However, the writing of Chinese characters is a form of art, which made him feel different. "It's amazing to see how attractive Chinese culture is." he said.
Julie, a 12th-grade girl shared her similar experience of learning Chinese for four years. When recalling her trip in Beijing and Shanghai, she expressed huge interest in shared bikes. "The shared bike is known as one of the new 'Great Inventions' of China, along with China's Express Railway and Alipay online payment system. They amaze the whole world as part of China's rapid rise."
According to the hosting organization, the Confucius Institute at San Francisco State University, the competition was mainly for American and overseas Chinese kids. It aimed to set a platform to present （展示）their Chinese language and culture talents. It also helped to deepen the understanding of young Americans about the Chinese culture and history.
B
Last summer, Mac Hollan, a primary school teacher, was cycling to Alaska with two friends. On the way, his friends had to stop for a bicycle repair, but they encouraged Mac to ride on, and they would catch up with him soon.
Mac began to cycle alone. A few minutes later, Mac heard quick and loud breathing behind him. "Man, that's a big dog!" he thought. But when he looked to the side, he saw immediately that it wasn't a dog at all, but a wolf, quickly catching up with him.
Mac's heart jumped. He searched and took out his can of bear spray（防熊喷雾）. With one hand on the bars, he fired the spray at the wolf. A bright red cloud enveloped the animal. To Mac's relief（宽慰）,itfell back, shaking its head. A minute later, however, it was again by his side. It even attacked the back of Mac's bike, tearing open his tent bag. He fired at the wolf a second time, and again, it fell back, only to quickly restart the chase（追赶）.
Mac was riding hard now. He waved and shouted at passing cars without slowing down.
At that moment, Paul and Becky were driving their car on their way to Alaska. They found a dog-like animal running alongside a man on a bike. As they got closer, they realized that the "dog" was a wolf. Mac heard a large car behind him. He kept waving and shouting as the wolf was catching up closer. And the car did stop in front of him at the right time.
From a young age, I've had a really deep connection with being outside. I've been skiing since I was eight or nine years old. I've been on expeditions(探险)in many places like China, Pakistan and so on. But it was in my home country, the USA, that I came closest to death.
It was Apri1 1, 2011. I was skiing in the Tetons with my friends Jeremy and Xavier, both experienced snowboarders. That day, I was the last person to ski. They were watching me from a safe area. Suddenly, I heard someone cry loudly I turned around and saw the whole mountain start to move behind me. It was a massive avalanche(大雪崩). The kind of avalanche that destroys trees, cars, buses, even houses! Tens of thousands of tons of snow were coming straight down the mountain behind me. I felt the snow push me forward, hundreds of meters, and then cover me. It was so heavy that I couldn't breathe. And then it pushed me forward again and up, out of the snowpack. I looked around, and for a few seconds I actually stopped being terrified. I had a moment to pause and to look at the power of the avalanche.
I looked down into the bottom of the valley(峡谷). I could see trees that were 30m tall because I was so far away,theylooked tiny to me.“OK, I' m going all the way to the bottom!” I thought. Then the snow pushed me again down the mountain another 450m I thought the force of the Snow would destroy me, it was powerful. But in the end, I felt the avalanche slow down and I just popped (迸出)right out of the snow at the bottom of the valley.
It took Jeremy and Xavier about 20 minutes to reach me. There was a pile of debris(碎片)across the bottom of the mountain 300m wide. They couldn't believe it when they saw me. I was so lucky.
Has the experience changed me? Do I think about life differently? I don't know, maybe. But I don't know that it's important to live your life with meaning. Life is a gift, so use it wisely.
:Hi, there！It was my 15th birthday last Saturday. Some of my friends and Alan.my cousin，came to celebrate it. Everyone brought me a gift, we played games，sang songs and had a big birthday cake. It was really a wonderful day! Did you do anything special last week?
:Yes. My class were on a school field trip last week. First, we went to the University of North Carolina to learn about the history of its basketball team. Many basketball stars were students there. Then we visited a museum. We learned about how the plane was invented and took many pictures there.
:Well, I was lucky enough to go to a conference（会议） on charity(慈善) last Wednesday. I was excited to meet a lot of kind people there. One of them was a boy named Richard. He spoke at the conference about the charity work that he had done in the past few years.
:It was a different week than usual. Last Thursday, my school band（乐队） went to Atlanta to perform in a competition. I played the violin and we won a prize! On Friday we went to the Georgia Aquarium and got to see different kinds of sea life from over the world. It was really cool!
We often reach a point in our life when we should be ready for change that will help us unlock our self-improvement power. However, there's always something staring at us right under our nose but we don't see it. The only time we think of unlocking our self-improvement power is when everything gets worst.
When do we realize that we need to change diets? When none of our shirts and jeans would fit us. When do we stop eating candies and chocolates? When all of our teeth have fallen off. When do we realize that we need to stop smoking? When our lungs have gone bad. We see the warning signs and signals when things get rough and difficult.
The only time most of us ever learn about unlocking our self-improvement power is when the whole world is falling apart. We think and feel this way because it is not easy to change, but change becomes more painful when we ignore(忽视) it，
Change will happen, like it or hate it. At one point or another, we are all going to finally unlock our self-improvement power not because the world says so. But because we realize it's for our own good.
Happy people don't just accept change; they embrace (拥抱)it. Unlocking our self-improvement power means unlocking ourselves out of the box of thought that is just the way we are. It is such a poor excuse for people who fear change.
Jane always tells everyone that she doesn't have the courage to be around groups of people. She heard her family tell the same things about her to other people. Over the years, that is what Jane has believed. Every time a great crowd come, she steps back and locks herself up in a room. Jane not only believes in her story, but lives it!
Self-improvement may not be everybody's favorite word, but if we look at things in a different way, we might have greater chances of enjoying the whole process instead of counting the days until we are fully improved. Three sessions in a week at the gym would result in a healthier life. Reading books every day would build up knowledge. And only when we are enjoying the whole process of unlocking our self-improvement power will we realize that we're beginning to take things light and become happy.
Amanda Kitts is one of “tomorrow's people” people who have artificial (人工的) body pats. She has a bionic(电子操控的)arm.
Now, Kitts runs a day-care center. Children run up to her happily as she comes into the classroom. She bends over to talk with a small girl. As she bends Kitts puts her hands on her knees. For most people, this would be easy. However, just a few years ago, this was impossible for Kitts.
In 2006, Kitts was in a car accident. A truck crushed(挤坏) her left arm and the doctor had to cut it off. "I was angry, sad, depressed. I just couldn't accept it," she says. But then she heard about a new technique that could use the remaining nerves(神经) in her shoulder to contort an artificial arm.
In a difficult operation, a doctor moved Kitts's nerves to different areas of her upper- arm muscles. For months, the nerves grew. Millimeter by millimeter, they moved deeper into their new homes. “At three months I started feeling littletingles and twitches(刺痛和抽搐),”she said. A month later, she got her first bionic arm. A research engineer worked with Kitts to make the computer programs match her real movements more and more closely.
Today, Kitts's arm is great, but it's not yet perfect. She wants feeling in her hands. For example, she needs to feel whether something is rough or smooth. She also needs feeling to do one of her favorite things-drink coffee "The problem with a paper coffee cup is that my hand will close until it gets a solid grip,” she says. One time at a coffee shop, her hand kept closing until it crushed the cup. But Kitts says positively, "One day I'll be able to feel things with it, and clap my hands… to the songs my kids are singing”
Bangladesh (孟加拉)is an agricultural country between India and Burma. Storms from the Indian Ocean sweep across the country every year, and large areas of farming land are flooded(冲毁). The people are very poor.
Fewer than half of the country's children complete their primary education. When they are six or seven years old, many children leave school to work in the fields or at home. The rest of their "education" consists of looking after cattle, collecting firewood or doing household jobs.
Not long ago, an experimental school was opened near the capital, Dacca, to help poor children. There are only 120 children in the school, which has three classrooms. In each class, forty pupils are divided into four groups of ten. Each pupil is free to decide which group he or she wants to join.
The most able pupils do a great deal of the teaching. They act as group monitors. Their duty is to ensure that all pupils in their group understand and practice what the teacher has taught.
There are a number of unusual features in the Bangladesh school. Children do not move up a class automatically when they grow older. Each group is promoted (升级)only when EVERY pupil in it has succeeded in getting to the right standard. As a result, all members of a group work hard to help the less able pupils. Nobody is left behind.
Lessons are extremely practical and include work on farming, carpentry, health and running a home, as well as lessons on the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. At school, pupils prepare for adult life by learning to carry out almost all the tasks which they will face when they grow older.
If pupils have to look after cattle or young children, they are allowed to bring them to school. If a child has to stay at home to help his parents, there is noscolding or punishment(责罚) at school. Children enjoy their lessons and the school is cheap to run. It is so successful that other schools in Bangladesh are beginning to imitate (模仿) its methods. Visitors are even coming from other agricultural countries to see if they can use a similar method.
A
When I was four, one day I was playing outside our house. I saw my grandfather's truck. It was black and looked better.” I got some paint and a brush which were left in the kitchen by my father. I painted the truck white and blue all over. I was finishing the job when my mum walked up and stopped me. She was worried that my grandfather would be angry. However, when my grandfather looked at my paintings on the truck, he laughed loudly. “Angela, that's the prettiest truck I've ever seen! I love it!”
Sometimes adults (成年人) don't stop to see things through children's eyes. They missed so much beauty in the world. Luckily, my grandfather saw things in another way.
"Can I take your order?" Night after night, I had to say this as I worked in my family's restaurant. My father was a fantastic cook. He wanted me, his only son, to cook with him, but I didn't like cooking. Because of the restaurant, my father was always busy. He never had time to play football with me.
During my high school and college years, I worked with my family at night. But I always avoided the kitchen. I couldn't wait to graduate (毕业)so that I could move away from the family business. Several days before my graduation day, my father and I started looking at new cars. Finally, we found the right car. I was sure that my father would give it to me as my graduation gift.
On my graduation day, my father gave me a book as a gift. It was his old cookbook. I was so angry that I gave it back to him and ran out of the house. Several days later I moved away and started my business. Although I often saw my father during holidays, we never talked about the graduation gift. Then one day, I got a call that my father was ill. I went to see him because I was very worried.
That night, I looked through my father's books and saw the cookbook that he had given me year before. I carefully opened the cookbook and went through it. Then I found something that made me cry. It was a check(支票)for$30,000 dated(注有日期) the day of my graduation. And the price of the car my father and I chose all those years ago was $30,000.
It's a cold, grey Sunday afternoon in March. The British are all working in their gardens. They're digging, cutting leaves and planting new seeds(种子). By summer, their gardens will the full of bright colours.
The British love their gardens. A British newspaper recently asked people for their opinions about them. Around 70% of the people felt it was important to spend time in the garden, and over 50% of these described gardening as the most enjoyable thing they ever did.
Only one in ten houses in Britain do not have a garden. People who live in houses without gardens often rent(租用) land from the government.
At first, only very rich people had gardens. You can still see the gardens around houses with a long history, such as Chatsworth House or Castle Howard. In the early twentieth century, however, gardening became a hobby. People bought different kinds of seeds and plants for their gardens. Although roses, sunflowers and tomatoes are often grown in British gardens, they originally(起初) grew wild in other countries.
Every year, there are competitions for the largest vegetables, but don't expect to win:Britain's biggest carrot is almost six meters long.
Wang Fuman is a 10-year-old student. He is now studying in Zhuanshanbao Primary School in Zhaotong, Yunnan Province. On Monday morning (January 8, 2018), he braved -9℃ weather to travel over an hour to reach his school.
When he arrived, his hair and eyebrows had been completely frozen with snowflake (雪花). This made his 16 classmates laugh a lot. Fu Heng, Wang's teacher saw this and took a picture. He uploaded (上传) Wang's picture. The picture soon has got much attention to children from poor families in the countryside. Wang, who has been nicknamed “Snowflake Boy” by netizens, became famous online overnight. By Wednesday morning, his picture had been “liked” more than 260,000 times on Sina Weibo and shared more than 40,000 times.
After hearing Wang's story, the Yunnan China Youth Development Foundation held a public donation ( 捐赠) activity for children from poor families. The Foundation has promised to give each poor child 500 yuan ($75) to help them stay warm in winter.
By 1 pm on Wednesday, the Foundation had collected about 300,000 yuan in public donations, according to their website. Wang's village now has electricity and tap water, “…and my family is getting help to build a new house close to the school”, Wang said, “I think our life will get better.”
As long as everyone contributes a little, the world will become a much better place.
Most people are kind-hearted and want to lend a helping hand. Now let's share some memorable moments.
Linda: Once, when I was on my way back to my hometown, I lost my purse without even knowing it. I was told over the train's loudspeaker that my purse was at the railway station's lost and found office. But the train had already started. Seeing my helplessness, a kind hostess offered to lend me some money. I went back to the railway station and got my purse. I am still thankful to the railway staff and the person who found my purse.
Scott: When I was a little boy, there was a time when I went to fish with my elder sister. All of a sudden, I slipped into the river. The next thing I remember is my father holding me in the hospital. Today I still don't know who got me out of that river. I have been trying to help other people whenever I can all these years.
Tina: One of my neighbors is an old man who cannot speak. He makes money by recycling waste. Our other neighbors don't like his behavior. But in my opinion, it's his way to support his family. Once, after cleaning my house, I placed some cardboard boxes in his garden and left my rubbish beside my door. However, when I was about to go out, I found nothing outside my door but a note: "I have thrown away your rubbish. You are a nice girl. Thanks a lot!"
I graduated from college recently and moved to Washington by myself. While I was in college, it was really easy to meet new people. But "out in the real world", I was finding it really hard. I live in a big city, and it seems like everyone around me is busy or already has all the friends they want. I was feeling so discouraged(沮丧的）and I didn't know what to do, so I called my sister for some advice.
My sister is five years older than I am, so she's been through all this already. She's been helping me with my problems all my life. When I explained my problem, she understood completely. She said, "Why don't you try meeting people online?"
"Online? Are you kidding?" I asked. "A friend of mine chatted with a guy online, and when she finally met him face to face, he was nothing like what he said."
My sister laughed. "You don't have to look for dates online," she said. "But you can find other people like you—people who have just moved to town and want to make some new friends. When I first moved to New York after college, I found a book club and a football team online. I met a lot of people that way."
"But you don't even like football!" I said.
"I know," she replied. "But that didn't matter. I still had a lot of fun. You played volleyball in college. Why don't you look for a volleyball team to join? Or an art class?"
"Yeah! I saw a website about volunteering the other day." I said. "I could volunteer for an organization here in Washington. I bet I could meet a lot of really nice people that way."
"Good idea!" my sister answered excitedly. "Hey, you might even meet the perfect guy."
"OK, now you're starting to sound like Mom," I said. "Thanks a lot for the advice. I'm going online right now. I'll let you know what happens. Will you be home tonight?"
"No, but I'll be here all day tomorrow, so give me a call," my sister replied. "Good luck!"
① My little sister is spoilt(宠坏的). She has Dad wrapped around her finger. If I had done or said some of the things that she does when I was her age, I would have been in big trouble. Not her- she's Daddy's girl. She's three.
②An example: Dad asked her to get his glasses from the kitchen. My sister said, “You've got legs. You get them.” When he asked again, she said, "Benny's got legs. He can get them."Mum and Dad thought she was funny. I just thought she was rude.
③One night she woke Dad and said she dreamed that "Benny was fighting a witch (巫婆)."Mum and Dad let her sleep in their bed the rest of the night. I never slept in their bed- not that I would have wanted to. She is so spoilt.
④One time at the beach after she'd been playing in the surf with Mum, my sister shouted that an "octopus's tentacles" had bitten (咬) her. Dad laughed his head off. It wasn't that funny. She was certainly imagining. I knew that's what she thought as I'd done a project on animals for school.
⑤She likes to do homework when I do mine. She sits next to me and pretends to write pages of homework. It's just letters such as the letters in her name that she repeats for row after row. Mum says she's just trying to be like me but it drives me crazy when I'm trying to fix my attention on my work.
⑥She took her favorite book, Animalia, to Kindy(幼儿园) this morning. When dad and I collected her from Kindy this afternoon, a boy had taken her book out of her locker and was being really careless with the pages. I could tell she didn't like him having her book. I took the book off the boy and told him to treat books nicely. My sister looked very happy.
⑦Later my Dad told me that my sister admires me. I guess that's pretty cool.
When Canadian teenager Ryan was six years old, his teacher told him that in many parts of Africa, there was no clean water. She said that people often made themselves ill, and even died, just from drinking or bathing in dirty water.
What she said made Ryan upset. He decided to raise money for a well(井) so that people in Africa could have clean water. He did extra chores for his parents and raised $70 all by himself. Then he found out that it actually cost $2,000 to dig a well.
Most people would have given up at this point, but not Ryan. He was disappointed, but determined to raise more money. Finally he collected over $2,000. That money was used to dig the first of “Ryan's wells”.
Since then, Ryan has continued to raise money for more wells. In fact, Ryan has raised over
$1,500,000!
Ryan calls himself “a normal boy” and likes to play ice hockey when he's not in school or traveling around the world talking to other students about himself and his work. As for the future. He has said that he isn't exactly sure what he will choose to do. “Something along the lines of a lawyer or a teacher. Maybe a leader!”
When our son Bradley was ten, the new bicycle he had received earlier that year was stolen. Owning a bicycle was a big deal to our children when they were little. They spent hours and hours, day after day, on their bicycles, riding up and down the footpath, and at the front of the house. We also rode together as a family a lot. Bicycling was a great way to get the kids out of the house and into the fresh air without spending any money.
Bradley had discovered that his bicycle had been stolen from our backyard in Campbelltown, South Australia, when he and his sister went outside for a morning ride. He couldn't believe that someone would do this.
He got a large piece of cardboard, painted a sign begging for the bicycle to be returned, and tied the sign to the letterbox. The following morning, when I went out to collect the mail, I found a white envelope with the magical words, "Buy yourself a new bicycle". There was a $100 banknote inside.
We were very touched that someone had the heart to do this, We've never been able to thank the person but we suspect(猜想) that it may have been one of our wonderful neighbors. Bradley painted a big"______!"on the sign and we left it outside for a couple of weeks afterwards, hoping the kind stranger would drive down our street.
A delighted Bradley was able to buy a new bicycle. As the years went on, the bicycles became bigger and more expensive but remained just as important for those family bicycle rides. Now Bradley is 25. Sometimes I miss the days when receiving a bicycle was the best thing in the world to them.
All these years later we are still thankful for the stranger's kindness. We were a young family with three little children and it meant a lot to us. We still talk about it and, even now, wonder who the kind stranger was.
:Hi, there！It was my 15th birthday last Saturday. Some of my friends and Alan.my cousin，came to celebrate it. Everyone brought me a gift, we played games，sang songs and had a big birthday cake. It was really a wonderful day! Did you do anything special last week?
:Yes. My class were on a school field trip last week. First, we went to the University of North Carolina to learn about the history of its basketball team. Many basketball stars were students there. Then we visited a museum. We learned about how the plane was invented and took many pictures there.
:Well, I was lucky enough to go to a conference（会议） on charity(慈善) last Wednesday. I was excited to meet a lot of kind people there. One of them was a boy named Richard. He spoke at the conference about the charity work that he had done in the past few years.
:It was a different week than usual. Last Thursday, my school band（乐队） went to Atlanta to perform in a competition. I played the violin and we won a prize! On Friday we went to the Georgia Aquarium and got to see different kinds of sea life from over the world. It was really cool!
