When Johnnie Martin was in the second grade in high school, one day a psychologist of the school called him into his office.

    “Johnnie, I've made a very careful study of you. And I feel sorry to have to tell you… Though you have worked very hard, it has not helped. You're just not fit for it.”

    The boy buried his face in his hands, “This will be hard on my parents,” he said. “Their one idea is for me to be a college man.”

    The psychologist laid his hand on the boy's shoulder and said, “People have different kinds of talents. Some day you will find what your special gift is and when you do, you will make your parents very proud of you.”

    Johnnie never went back to school. Jobs were scarce in town, but he managed to keep busy mowing the lawns of the householders and puttering in their flowerbeds. Before long he discovered he had an eye for color.

    One day while he was downtown, he happened to notice a stretch of unused land behind the city hall. Chance or fate or whatever you may like to call it brought one of the town's aldermen（市政委员会委员）round the corner just at that moment. The boy said, “I can make a garden out of this dump, if you'll let me do it.”

    “The town's got no money for it,” said the alderman.

    “I don't want any money for it,” said the boy. “I just want to do it.”

    The alderman was shocked to find someone who did not want money. He took Johnnie into an office, and when the young man came out he had the authority to clean up the public eyesore. Before long the old dump became a little beautiful park.

    It was also a kind of show window for Johnnie. People saw the result of his skill and knew him as a natural landscape gardener.

    That was twenty-five years ago. Today Johnnie is the head of a successful business in landscape gardening. His aging parents are proud of Johnnie, for he is not only a success, but he has also made his part of the world a lovelier place to live in.

    MySpace, the social networking website, is different from other websites which only provide stories about other people. MySpace is a place that allows you to broadcast your own stories and personal information to as many people as you like. Started two years ago, it is a big source of information for and about American kids.

    Teenagers and their parents feel very different about it. Teens are rushing to join the site, not sharing their parents' worries. It signals yet another generation gap in the digital era.

    For teenagers, it is reliable network to keep in touch with their friends. They will often list their surnames, birthdays, after­school jobs, school clubs, hobbies and other personal information.

    "MySpace is an easy way to reach just about everyone. I don't have all the phone numbers of my acquaintances. But if I want to get in touch with one of them, I could just leave them a message on MySpace, "said Abby Van Wassen. She is a 16­year­old student at Woodland Hills High of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

    Parents on the other hand are seriously concerned about the security problems of MySpace. "Every time we hold a parents meeting, the first question is always about MySpace, "said Kent Gates, who travels the country doing Internet safety seminars(研讨会). The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children has received at least 288 MySpace ­ related complaints, according to Mary Beth Buchanan, a lawyer in Pittsburgh.

    "Your profile on MySpace shows all your personal information to anyone on the Web. And MySpace even lists this information by birthplace and age. It's like a free checklist for troublemakers and it endangers children, " Buchanan said.

    Flying for a long time, you finally arrive at the place where you can relax—your hotel room. Now you throwyour bag on the bed, turn on the TV and watch an international news programme on a satellite channel probably from UK or the USA.

    The main international broadcasters are BBC World and CNN. With an audience of over 1.5 billion people, these are popular channels that offer good-quality news programmes. In both companies, the journalists are experienced writers that produce journalism of a high standard.

    However, there are alternative news channels which people watch because they want a less traditional or non-Western view on world events. Russia Today and Al Jazeera International, an Arabic company, are international channels that broadcast in English. Both companies say they give a fresh view on big stories, and their experienced journalists often report from places where Western journalists do not work, and so they give us stories that we don't normally see.

    The Internet offers more variety. OneWorldTV is an Internet site where you can find stories about the developing world and human rights, rather than the usual stories about US politics and business. The writers for this company are often local people who write the stories for free. This non-professional journalism is increasing, and it certainly offers more choices.

    This increase in citizen journalism means that you can write the news, too. Main news broadcasters often use photographs and stories that members of the general public send to them, especially when there is a dramatic breaking news story. Besides this, some blogs are popular sources of news, and the website NowPublic lets you write stories using information you can get from anywhere, including sites like Youtube, Flickr and Twitter.

    The Taj Mahal(泰姬陵) is a love story, a sad and beautiful one. If it didn't exist, we would easily imagine that the story of its construction was simply a fairy tale.

    Three hundred years ago, there lived an Indian emperor called Shah Jahan. His wife was a beautiful and bright woman whom he loved greatly. Her title was Mumtaz Mahal: its shortened form Taj Mahal, means “pride of the palace”. In the year 1630 this beloved wife of the emperor died. He was so broken-hearted that he thought of giving up his throne(王位). He decided out of his love for his wife to build her the most beautiful tomb(墓穴) that had ever been seen.

    He invited the best artists and architects from India, Turkey, Persia and Arabia and finally, the design was completed. It took more than twenty thousand men working over a period of 18 years to build the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.

    The building itself stands on a marble platform, 29 meters' square and 6-7 meters' high. Towers rise from each of the four corners. The Taj itself soars another 61 meters into the air. It is an eight-sided building made of white marble.

    The emperor planned to build an identical tomb of black marble for himself on the other side of the river connected by a silver bridge. However, his son put him into prison in the palace before he could finish, and for the rest of his life, he could only gaze across river at the tomb of his beloved wife.

    14 Oct 2019

    Sydney, CBD, Inner West & Eastern Suburbs

    Full Time

    Administration & Office Support, Office Management

    The Opportunity:

    We are currently looking for an energetic office assistant to support the daily running of our office! This is a hands-on role that would suit someone who has an office management background and is looking for a busy role within an exciting industry. Within this role you will have the opportunity to deal with clients at home and abroad.

    Duties will include, but are not limited to:

    Being the face of the office!

    Meet and greet guests with a warm and friendly approach

    Manage all deliveries in and out of the office

    Office Administration

    Manage expenses for the management team

    Order stationary

    Manage kitchen supplies

    Order samples for sales staff

    General office management ensuring everywhere is kept tidy

    Sales & Marketing Support

    Support the management team on meeting arrangements

    Order catering for meetings

    Event Management

    Coordination of wine dinners with customers

    Arrange office social events

    Travel Bookings

    Support the management team with travel bookings

    About you:

    To be successful in this role you will have administration or office management experience and will be comfortable dealing with people at all levels. You will be flexible, adaptable and will have strong organizational skills.

    To apply for this role, please submit your application through our career's website: http://careers.australianvintage.com.au/

Dawn Loggins of Lawndale, N. C. is on her way to Harvard, one of the eight world­famous universities in the eastern US. Nobody encouraged her to study or paid for her special classes. This girl created her own future.

The teen was abandoned by her family last summer, when her parents and two sisters moved to Tennessee. She found herself homeless and had to spend the night on friend's sofas.

The school bus driver learned about Dawn's situation and invited Dawn to move in with her family. Soon, Dawn had a job at Burns High School. She worked from 6 a. m. to 7：40 a. m. before the first school bell rang. She swept floors and picked up trash again in the afternoons, before diving into her studies in the evenings.

Dawn's hard work paid off. She finished school with a 3. 9 GPA and scored 2, 110 on the SAT.

"There were times when I felt like it would be easiest if I gave up," the 18­year­old said." But it was never in me to give up, because I realized that I was never going to be successful unless I got an education."

Even before Dawn's family left her, she led a difficult life. Her family was poor and cups of noodles were often the only food. Dawn" studied by candlelight" because her parents couldn't afford to pay the electricity bill(电费).

Dawn has now reconnected with her family. They are proud of her accomplishments(成就)and are attending her high school graduation.