One day, when I 2 a mobile phone store, I saw an advertisement on its door. It was hiring(雇用，雇佣)new workers!
“Sir, are you hiring people?”I went 3the shop and asked. “Yes, but you should be the man who we need,” the manager answered. He looked at me for a few 4 from head to foot. “Do you have a high school diploma(文凭)?5he, “Or do you have any work experience?” I felt so ashamed and 6that I didn't know what to say, so I just turned around and left. I could not fall asleep that night, and I thought a lot about my 7 . “I must go to school or I can't do anything without a good education,” I 8 to myself silently. I never went back to the store again 9I finished my study and got a diploma.
10 looked the same when I returned to the store: the same people and the same design. However, compared with last time, I had more 11The manager told me they needed new12So it was a great chance for me. I13my diploma to the manager. He looked at it and said, “Great, you are in.”
Now I am still working in the same store. With this experience, I always14people to attend school. Education helps you have a bright future. Now I am not worried about my future because I'm still15 in my spare time.
Anna was excited about starting her first day in the new school. However, when she first walked past the students in the school, her excitement turned to fear, and then to loneliness over the next few days. “Why didn't anyone say ‘hi' to me or invite me to his or her lunch table? Is it because of my clothes or my hair?” she wondered. Almost every day during the first week, Anna stayed alone, thinking that there must have been something wrong with her or that nobody saw her at all!
What caused Anna's problem? The reason was that nobody knew her. Most people don't like talking with strangers. So it's your job to volunteer to make contact with people who you want to know. The easiest way to catch their attention is to notice them first. Make eye contact with them and smile at them. When you smile at them, you are doing your best to show your kindness to them, and they are sure to understand that you are saying, “Hey, how's everything going?” In this way, you are taking the first step towards the road to friendship.
When Anna realized this, she started talking to her classmates. Guess what happened? It really worked. She had made two friends by the end of the month.
In fact, saying “hi” or making friends with strangers is not hard. And the joy it brings you is really great. So try to open your heart to strangers!
I work as a volunteer for an organization(组织) that helps the poor in Haiti. I decided to take my son Brain there for a week, hoping to educate him.
Before getting out, I told Brain this trip would be tiring and hard. For the first two days, he said almost nothing. Then on the third day, when we were climbing over high rocky mountains, he turned to me and smiled, “Really hard.”
After that, a five-year-old girl, wearing a too large dress and broken shoes, followed Brain around. Later he said regretfully(遗憾地), “I wish I could speak French.”I was surprised that this was from a boy who always hated French classes.
However, the moment that really reached my heart occurred in a village deep in the mountains. I was interviewing a woman villager for an article. By working hard, she had learned to read and write and became part of the leadership(领导层) of the village.
Learning her story, Brain was greatly touched. His eyes were wet and there was love and respect on his face. He finally understood the importance of my work. When leaving for home, Brain even offered to stay in as a volunteer. This trip was very meaningful.
What's going to happen in the future? Will robots control our planet? Will computers become smarter than us? Not likely. But here are some things that scientists say are most likely to happen in 10 to 0 years from now, according to the BBC.
Digital money
We used to pay with cash(现金) for everything we bought. Now when we use a credit card(信用卡) to shop online, money is spent without us seeing it. That means we are already using digital(电子的) money. Using a card is much easier than searching our pockets for change. It is also safer than carrying a lot of cash.
When ATM cards were first introduced, they were not accepted everywhere. But now it's hard to live without them. It's reported that people in Sweden completely stopped using cash last year, and the US might be next.
Bionic(仿生的) eye
It's no longer something only in a science fiction movie. People who are blind may have a chance to get their sight back—by wearing bionic eyes.
A blind eye can no longer sense light, but a bionic eye can use a camera to “see” the environment and send data(数据) to the mind. Now the bionic eye only allows patients to see lights and unclear shapes. A high resolution(高清的) image could be just a few years away.
Self-driving cars
Unlike a human driver, a self-driving car won't get distracted(分神) by a phone call, the radio or something outside the window. Sensors (探测器) and cameras on the car would allow it to stick strictly (严格地遵守)to the rules of the road and keep a safe distance from other cars. This would greatly reduce（减少） the number of road accidents. You could even take a nap while the car drives itself. In the future, driverless cars would be widely accepted.
—We (fish) by the river.
Why are so many people so afraid to fail? Quite simply because no one tells us how to fail so that failure (失败) becomes an experience that means growth. We forget that failure is part of the human condition and that every person has the right to fail.
Most parents work hard at preventing failure or protecting their children from the knowledge that they have failed. One way is to lower standards. 60% of the parents choose this way. When a child finishes making a table, the mother describes it as “perfect” even though it doesn't stand still. Another way is to blame (责怪) others. If John fails in science, his teacher is unfair or stupid.
There's a problem with the two ways. It makes a child unprepared for life in the real world. The young need to learn that no one can be best at everything, no one can win all the time, and that it's possible to enjoy a game even when you don't win. A child who's not invited to a birthday party, who doesn't make the honour list on the baseball team, feels terrible, of course. But parents should not offer a quick consolations (安慰), prize or say, “It doesn't matter.” Because it does. The young should be allowed to experience failure and be helped to come out of it.
Failure never gives people pleasure. It hurts both grown-ups and children. But it can be really good to your life when you learn to use it. You must learn to ask “Why did I fail?” Don't blame anyone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong and how you can improve. If someone else can help, don't be shy about asking them.
