Jack is a twenty-year-old young man. Two years ago, when he finished middle school, he found work in a shop. Usually he works until ten o'clock in the evening. He is very tired when he gets home. After a quick supper he goes to bed and soon falls asleep. His grandma who lives downstairs is pleased with him.

    One day, on his way home, he met his friend Mary. They were both happy. He asked the girl to his house, and she agreed happily. He bought some fruit and drinks for her. And they talked about their school, teachers, classmates and their future. They talked for a long time.

    “Have a look at your watch, please,” said the girl. “What time is it now?”

    “Sorry, something is wrong with my watch,” said Jack. .” Where's yours?”

    “I left it at home.”

     Jack thought for a moment and found a way. He began to stamp his foot on the floor, “Bang! Bang! Bang!”

    The sound woke his grandma up. The old woman shouted downstairs, “It's twelve o'clock in the night, Jack. Why are you still jumping upstairs?”

Deisha walked up and down as she waited backstage. This would be her most important piano performance yet. At ten years old, she was the youngest performer in the recital (音乐演奏会). She had practiced playing her song more than 30 times that week. When she closed her eyes at night, the music played over and over again in her head.

    Now that the day had arrived, Deisha was not sure she was ready. She smoothed her hair and picked a piece of lint (绒毛) from the new dress that her mother had bought for her. She noticed that her hands were shaking. How could she play the notes of the song if her hands were shaking? She tried to concentrate on steadying (稳住) them, but they only shook more.

   Deisha's piano teacher, Ms Neal, walked up to speak to her. “I have something for you,” she said, putting a smooth black stone into Deisha's hand. “It's a special stone. There's no other one like it in the world. You've practiced so much, you don't need anything else.”

   The stage lights reflected off the rock. “Thank you,” Deisha said.

   When Deisha's name was called, she rubbed the stone, stepped onto the stage, and played better than ever. After her performance, she noticed that Ms Neal had a whole bag of black stones. “Why did you say this one was so special?” she asked.

   Her teacher responded, “Because, like your talent, it belongs only to you.”

    Dear Adam,

    I'm on vacation in Central America and having a great time. I'm in Guatemala. It's a small country but there is so much to see and do! There are volcanoes (火山), mountains, rainforests, beaches and Mayan temples (玛雅寺庙) in the country.

    The Mayan people have a long and interesting history. They built many temples. Last Friday I visited a Mayan temple at a place called Tikal. The temple has a history of about 1,300 years. It is a wonderful place to visit.

    I am staying at Lake Atitlan now. Some people say it is the most beautiful lake in the world. It is a very big lake and there are mountains and volcanoes around it. You can walk around the lake and even climb to the top of a volcano.

    The volcanoes at Lake Atitlan are not active volcanoes (活火山), but tomorrow I am going to see an active volcano called Pacaya. Active volcanoes can be dangerous because they still erupt (爆发) sometimes. I want to climb Pacaya. It erupted in 2010. I hope it won't erupt when I' m there!

      I'll send (发送,) you another e-mail soon.

                                                      All the best,

                                                       Kate

    It was a Christmas night. I was an unlucky nurse who had to work on such a beautiful festival. When I was so tired that I didn't want to work any longer, three people came to my desk — a tired woman and two children.

    "Are you all sick?" I asked.

    "Yes," the woman answered and lowered her head.

    But when they started to tell their problems, things became unclear. One child had a fever, but his temperature was OK. The other child had an earache, but she could not tell me which ear hurt. It seemed that the mother was trying to cough.

    Something was wrong. But I only explained that it might take a while before a doctor could meet them. "Take your time, please," said the mother. I checked their information — no address. Suddenly I knew, they were homeless and the hospital was warm.

    The family stayed together under the Christmas tree, smiling and talking with each other sweetly. Quietly, I went back to the nurses' station and told them what happened in the waiting room. It was just like the God sending us a gift on Christmas Day. The nurses' station suddenly came back to life. All the nurses went into action for "a Christmas emergency(急诊)."

    We took out our meals for our Christmas "sick people". We also put oranges and apples together as presents. We tried to give them a warm place on Christmas night. Later, the little girl kissed me and said, "Thanks for being our angels"

    I did not have a rich father. I tried 3 times for university, but all failed. I applied(申请)for Harvard for 10 times, but all failed. They didn't even want to see me. For the last time, I went to the teachers' college which was regarded as the third class of my city. I applied jobs for 30 times.

    A lot of people said Alibaba was a terrible model. As I said, "I believe it. I think this thing could be big. I never thought it would be so big like today. "I believe that something, something is waiting for me there, and I have to work hard to prove myself. That was the tough experience. So we gathered 50 thousand US dollars from 18 founders. Little by little, we built up our business. And now, after 16 years, we have a Alibaba group; We have a T-mall group; We have a Taobao group; We have Alipay.

    “You are so smart, how could you make a company like that? People asked. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, the Jack Welch, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, the difference between those people and other people, they are always optimistic(乐观的)for the future. They never complain. They always try to solve the problems of the others. When you are optimistic, it's always an opportunity (机会).“Jack, Where's the opportunity? I don't have a job. I don't have this. I don't have that.” We are at the best of time of this century. The best asset(财产)you have is that you are young. Don't complain. Let the other people complain. The opportunity lies, always lies where people complain. I saw a lot of people, especially young people have fantastic ideas every evening. But the next morning, they go to the office on time again.

    Tomorrow is new. Make the move. Make action. Whether investors(投资者)believe this or not, whether your friends believe it or not, whether your parents believe it or not, that's not important. You believe it. Your team believe it and work day and night on this. Everything happens. Make enough mistakes. You fall, and you stand up. Any mistake is an income and a wonderful revenue(收益). Don't worry about the money. Money follows the people. Young people should follow the dreams. If you have a dream, just to go ahead.

    To travel around the world is the dream of many adventurous people. But very few people can afford a global tour because hotels, food and airplane tickets are too expensive. Some people, however, have thought of some ways to realise their dreams.

    Laura Cody and Tanbay Theune, a couple from Britain, decided to travel around the world. They have found a good way to pay for their trips. They look after pets for rich house owners. In exchange, they can stay in the houses for free. They have looked after horses, cows, cats, dogs and fish. In two years, the couple has been to Australia, Germany, Spain and Italy. They have stayed in big cities and small villages. The home owners are usually very generous and give them food, wine and day trips.

    Another person who tries to realise her travel dream is photographer Rhiannon Taylor. She travels around the world to visit, review and take photos of the best hotels. She shares the places she stays in and the food she eats on the Internet with tens of thousands of followers.

    With these ways of making money, travelling around the world is no longer a dream. More and more young people are thinking creatively to make their dreams come true.