B

I got into the teaching profession by choice. I was then in 9th grade, when my mathematics teacher asked me to take a class for a few students to whom the subject seemed difficult. And believe me, I enjoyed the teaching. I never knew teaching would be so interesting. I loved my freshmen and was delighted to teach my so-called students who came up with lots of good questions.

After my post graduation, I worked as a software developer with a public sector(部门) in Bangalore for a few years. But I realized that no job could provide me the satisfaction that I experienced while teaching and training. In fact, I feel it was a timely realization for me to choose the teaching profession. I applied to a few colleges, and finally I was chosen as a “Lecturer”, and I had to lecture graduate and post-graduate students in a college.

On the first day, I was nervous thinking that I had to teach the senior classes. But now I can say that taking lectures was one of the best experiences of my life. I was a Computer Science and Information Technology Lecturer, but I tried to help my students with subjects that were not within my domain(范围). It was a new feeling to me every morning before going to the classes. I used to feel energized and excited thinking that the class would be lit up with bright faces to greet me, “Good morning, Madam”.

To me each day was a new beginning, with new feelings, new experiences and new queries(疑问). I loved to explore their young minds, read their inquisitive faces when a particular topic seemed tough. It was very challenging to motivate them to take part in the classroom, think critically, question and also respect others’ point of view. Though few things never seemed easy, it was very exciting to assure them that they really can. That is the reason, I love to teach.

With multi-identifies m modern society, women are not only mothers and wives who take care of their families, but also doctors, scientists and teachers. To encourage more young women to follow their dreams, we list four outstanding women of achievements in recent years.

Tu Youyou

pharmacologist (药理学家)

    Tu Youyou was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of a new therapy (疗法) against malaria. She is the first Chinese female scientist to win the Nobel Prize. Her studies were inspired by traditional Chinese medicine theories and she obtained Artemisinin (青蒿素) in 1972 after hundreds of failures.

    Li Na

    Professional tennis player

    In 2004, the 22-year-old Li became the first Chinese female player to win a WTA tour title. After winning nine WTA singles titles that includes two Grand Slam (大满贯) singles rifles at the 2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open, she became the first and only Grand Siam singles champion from Asia.

    Dong Mingzhu

    President of Gree Electric Appliances Inc

    In 1990, she joined Gree when she was 36 years old and stared her career from tieing sales work. She became Gree's president in 2012. Her achievements helped China's home appliances industry to develop in an environmentally-friendly way.

    Yao Chen

     Actress

    Most people know Yao Chen through the 2006 comedy series, My Own Swordsman. In 2009 she started to use her Sins Weibo, which now has 79 million followers, to help people in need. In 2013

she became the first UNHCR (联合国难民署) goodwill ambassador in China. And at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2016, she was awarded the Crystal Award for artists who devote themselves to improving the state of the world.

Many little girls like flowers, watching butterflies and riding small horses. A lot of them also like cars, robots and spaceships. But most girls’ clothing only has pictures of flowers, butterflies or horses.

Two mothers decided to make clothes that include all the things that little girls do and love.

Six-year-old Bella loves to play with cars. So her dress has pictures of cars on it.

“We haven’t found this type of dress in the store,” Cathy, Bella’s mother, says.

The car dress is from a new girl’s clothing line called Princess Awesome. Rebecca Melsky set up the business. She says its products for girls have some designs normally found on boys’ clothes.

It all started two years ago when Rebecca was hoping to buy clothing for her two-year-old, who liked robots, trucks and spaceships.

“One day when I walked through a girls’ store, I thought to myself I wish they’d make one of those beautiful dresses that also have a robot on it because she will love that. And I thought someone should do that. Maybe I should do that,” Rebecca, said.

Her friend Eva St. Clair believed she should, and their business was born. The women sold the first 70 dresses they made at a market. So they decided to expand their business online. Their products sold very well there, too.

“They sold out so fast that I could not make them fast enough. We decided it was time to think about a factory,” Rebecca said.

So they started to raise money from people over the Internet. The women raised more than＄215,000 within days, far more than the＄35,000 they expected.

“Our biggest challenge is going to be how we expand as rapidly as people seem to want us to,” Rebecca said.

The women hope Princess Awesome will expand into products for girls of all ages and all interests.

A student worked part-time at a zoo. On his first day the zoo boss took him to the gorilla(大猩猩) cage. But it was empty. The gorilla was sick and couldn’t be there for the next week. The boss asked the student to put on a gorilla suit and sit in the cage. This way the people would at least have something to look at.

“It sounds interesting to me.” said the student.

The next day, he put on the gorilla suit and climbed into the cage. Soon there was a crowd of children coming to see the gorilla. “I need to do something to make them happy.” thought the student.

Then, he grabbed(抓) a rope in the cage and started to swing(摇摆). He swung higher and higher. All of a sudden, he flew out of his cage and dropped right into the lion’s cage!

He was so scared that he quickly got up and ran to the front of the cage. He shouted to the crowd, “Help me! I’m not a real gorilla!”

The lion jumped on his back. The student was sure he was going to die. Then he heard a voice from behind saying, “Shut up, or you’ll get us both fired.”

Travel has long been a huge part of my life. I am not your typical traveler. Over the last 46 years of travelling and the 65 countries I have visited, I have never pre-booked accommodation nor joined an organized tour. I like to limit myself to 7kg of luggage—enough room for the necessities and two radios.

I was in my early 30s when I decided I would buy radios from garage sales in Perth and give them to people I met during my travels who were down on their luck. Since then I've always packed one radio for personal use and one to give away. Collectively, I have parted with more than 300 radios over the last three decades, but there was one exchange that has really stuck with me.

In late 2006, I visited the scared(神圣的) Hindu city of Puri on the eastern coast of India. It was my third visit, and over five weeks, I explored the city's fabulous buildings, feasted on masaladosa, and indulged on cardamom tea and fresh home-baked biscuits at street stalls. One evening, after I had finished my swim and the sun was starting to set, I noticed a young man no older than 25. He sat on the beach holding a full bottle of alcohol tightly. “Are you fond of alcohol?” I asked him.

“No,” he replied. “I normally don't drink, but this is once in a lifetime,” he replied in broken English.

 “What's the celebration?” I asked.

He told me he was unemployed, depressed and disappointed with his life. He explained that the alcohol coupled with a jar of pills would solve his problems and that I was witnessing his final hour. Shocked by his confession, I sat with him and talked at length. We discussed the beauty of his beach, with its sunshine and white sand. We talked about the joy of good health when there were people living in the city suffering leprosy, elephantiasis, tuberculosis, malaria, to name a few. Finally, I told him he had his youth, mine had vanished at my 53 years of age, and from my position, I thought he had a lot to live for. All the while, my radio was playing quietly in the background. “Here, have my radio,” I offered. “It's a great companion no matter what.” I could see that he was quite shocked by the gift, but accepted it with gratitude.

By August 2014, I had long forgotten my encounter with this man and returned to Puri to escape Australian winter. Three weeks into my trip, I finished a swim at the beach and went to an internet café to send some emails to family and friends. I am not particularly tech-savvy so I asked the shop attendant to help with setting up the emails. As I typed away, I noticed some music coming from a grubby radio sitting on the front desk. When I approached the desk to pay, I asked the shop attendant, “Have you had your job long?”

“Since January 2007,” he explained with a smile. “I had the job advertised on my radio and came straight down.”

“Well, that is a fine radio,” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “It was a gift from the Australian gods.”

This was the same man I had met on the beach all those years ago and while he didn't recognize me, this comment caused the memories to flood back. I didn't remind him that it was me who gave him the radio, but I couldn't help but smile to think how far they had both come.

I paid him, then wandered down the street and bought myself a cardamom sweet tea and some biscuits to celebrate.

D

Raised by a single mother in Hartford, Fred Wright struggled with behavioral problems and was forced to move from one school to another. He even reached a point where he felt like he had nothing to live for.

“I was walking around with a lot on my shoulders,” he said. “I couldn’t handle it. I didn’t care about life anymore.” But all that started to change when Wright met Patricia Kelly.

“I was seven when I met Mrs Kelly. I wasn’t used to strictness. I wasn’t used to hearing the word ‘no’,” said Wright, now 17.

Kelly, a former soldier and an equestrian(骑手), took Wright under her wing and helped him find hope in an unlikely place—on a horse.

“Wright was like a round peg（钉子）that everybody kept trying to squeeze into a square hole,” Kelly said. “He was hurting. He needed a place where he could express himself. The riding field became that place for him. ”

For the last 30 years, Kelly has helped children stay on the right track through her nonprofit, Ebony Horsewomen. The program offers horseback riding lessons and teaches animal science to more than 300 young people a year. By exposing those children to horsemanship, Kelly aims to give them an alternative to the streets and an opportunity to turn their lives around.

“We use horses as a hook to create pride, esteem and healing,” said Kelly, 66. “They learn that they have ability. They just have to unlock it.”

“When you teach a child to ride a horse, they learn they are the center of their environment,” said Kelly. “Once they make that connection, they can change what happens in school, at home and in the community.”

  Going green seems to be fad(时尚)for a lot of people these days. Whether that is good or bad, we can’t really say, but for the two of us, going green is not a fad but a lifestyle.

       On April 22, 2011, we decided to go green every single day for an entire year. This meant doing 365 different green things, and it also meant challenging ourselves to go green beyond easy things. Rather than recycle and reduce our energy, we had to think of 365 different green things to do and this was no easy task.

       With the idea of going green every single day for a year, Our Green Year started. My wife and I decided to educate people about how they could go green in their lives and hoped we could show people all the green things that could be done to help the environment. We wanted to push the message that every little bit helps.

      Over the course of Our Green Year, we completely changed our lifestyle. We now shop at organic(有机的)stores. We consume less meat, choosing green food. We have greatly reduced our buying we don’t need. We have given away half of what we owned through websites. Our home is kept clean by vinegar and lemon juice, with no chemical cleaners. We make our own butter, enjoying the smell of home-made fresh bread. In our home office anyone caught doing something ungreen might be punished.

       Our minds have been changed by Our Green Year. We are grateful for the chance to have been able to go green and educate others. We believe that we do have the power to change things and help our planet.

A

Like many families in Sanyati, a small countryside town in western Zimbabwe, Tatenda’s family does not have a television. One day after school, Tatenda arrived home tired and noticed something unusual in the house. “At first, I thought Dad had bought a television set, but when my mother said it was a computer, I was disappointed,” 11-year-old Tatenda said. “Nobody in our neighborhood knew how to operate a computer.”

For almost two weeks, the gift lay untouched in the house. But things changed when Amina, a young family friend from Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, came to visit. Amina knew all about computers and was a good teacher, too.

At first, Tatenda always pressed the wrong button (按钮). But he kept on going because he was eager to learn. After three weeks, Tatenda mastered some computer basics.

Meanwhile, Tatenda’s friends wondered what had happened to him, because Tatenda always had an excuse for going back home.

One day, Tatenda’s three friends surprised him at home. When they arrived, they couldn’t believe what they saw — a computer and Tatenda operating it.

After that surprise visit, Tatenda taught them how to use the computer. It wasn’t long before the neighborhood kids wanted to learn, too! Tatenda worried. The computer began to experience problems because the kids were pressing too many buttons. So he began charging (收费) for lessons. But those whose parents did not have money paid with chickens or goats.

With the money earned from teaching, Tatenda has bought a television and radio for his family. And he plans to buy a new computer. He also plans to keep on teaching. The people of Sanyati couldn’t be more pleased. Tatenda has single-handedly introduced computers to his town and is simply known there as “Teacher.”

I came to study in the United States a year ago. Yet I did not know the real American society until I was injured in a car accident because after the accident I had to see a doctor and go to court.

After the accident，my roommate called a doctor for me. I was very grateful and determined to repay him one day. But the next day，he asked me to pay him 200 for what he had done. I was astonished. He had good reason to charge me，he said. And if I wanted to collect money from the person who was responsible for my injury，I’d have to have a good lawyer. And only a good doctor can help me get a good lawyer. Now that he had helped me find a good doctor，it was only fair that I should pay him.

But every day I went to see the doctor，I had to wait about 50 minutes. He would see two or three patients at the same time，and often stop treating one so as to see another. Yet he charged me 115 each time. The final examination report consisted of ten lines，and it cost me 215.

My lawyer was all smiles the first time we met. But after that he avoided seeing me at all. He knew very well the other party was responsible for the accident，yet he hardly did anything. He simply waited to collect his money. He was so irresponsible that I decided to dismiss him. And he made me pay him 770.

Now I had to act as my own lawyer. Due to my inexperience，I told the insurance company the date I was leaving America. Knowing that，they played for time and I left without getting a cent.

My experience taught me two things about America：firstly，in a country like America money is everything. It is more important than friendship，honor or professional morality(职业道德).Secondly，foreigners are still being treated unfairly. So when we talk about America，we should see both its good and bad sides.

A

The baby elephant Ishanga was lying in the bushes, scared, starving, and struggling to breathe.Until just a few days before, she had been with her mother, walking through the sweeping grasslandsof Tsavo National Park in the African country of Kenya.

The baby’smother was killed, most likely by apoacher. On Wednesday, November 17. 2010，an anti-poaching team was removing the deadly wire traps that poachers set throughout the park. Luckily, a member of the team spotted the baby and rushed to help her.

Suddenly, a lion sprang from the bushes and clamped its mouth around her neck. One person managed to pull out his gun and fire shots in the air. The shocked lion released the baby and backed away.

Now the weakened baby had a grave wound on her neck. About 300 miles north of Tsavo is a place that helps baby elephants. Over the years, the orphanage(孤儿院)has raised 130 elephants and successfully released them back into the wild.

After a tense wait and a plane ride, the baby’s rescuers made it to the orphanage. The medical staff worked frantically to treat her wound. She was scared and wild. She screamed, and wouldn’t let any humans get near her, refusing to eat or drink.

After two hours of intense medical care, Ishanga awoke and slowly struggled to her feet. Two keepers and a veterinarian had been with her all night. They were relieved that she seemed to be recovering.

The next day, though Ishanga remained weak, her keepers introduced her to some of the other 14 young elephants living at the orphanage. The keepers stood back as the other elephants extended their trunk in friendly greetings. The older elephants led Ishanga around, giving her a tour of her new home.

Over the past year, Ishanga’s wounds have healed. She has made many friends. It’ll be up to Ishanga to decide when she’s ready to leave the orphanage. Returning to the wild is a long process that can take more than 10 years. For now, she is in no rush to leave this extraordinary community of elephants and humans. Ishanga has a long, happy life ahead of her.