“Cleverness is a gift while kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy—they're given after all. Choices can be hard.”—Jeff Bezos

    I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that the Internet usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old, and I'd been married for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most start-ups don't, and I wasn't sure what to expect. MacKenzie told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor. I'd always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.

    I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job.” That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but finally, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision not to try at all.

    After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice. For all of us, in the end, we are our choices.

    The Amazing Penguin Rescue

    The summer of 2016, the ship MV Treasure sunk, creating an oil spill. Thirteen hundred tons of fuel oil were flowing right in the middle of the African Penguins' habitat. Soon the oil covered about 20,000 penguins. Without swift help, the seabirds would have no chance for survival. Volunteers were showing up by the thousands and I also took part in what was the largest animal rescue operation ever.

    A warehouse was turned into a rescue center near the habitat and hundreds of pools were built to hold about 100 oiled birds each. When walking into the center, I couldn't believe my ears. I had expected to walk into a chorus of honking and squawking(叫声). Instead, the center sounded like a library. The penguins were dead silent. My heart ached for the painful birds. Cleaning them all seemed like an impossible task. But we had to carry on like doctors in an emergency room. There was no time for doubt. Cleaning oil off a penguin wasn't easy. Even with more than 12,500 volunteers, it took a month to bathe all 20,000 birds at the center.

    While volunteers were busy bathing the oiled penguins, another crisis (危机) was developing. Oil from the spill had started moving north. Tens of thousands of penguins were in the oil's path. But we already had our hands full with 20,000 recovering birds. If any more birds were oiled, we wouldn't have enough resources to save them.

    One researcher came up with an idea: What if the penguins were temporarily moved out of harm's way? Experts decided to have a try. Volunteers rounded up the penguins and released them 500 miles away. The hope was that by the time the seabirds swam home, the oil would be gone. The plan worked! Another 20,000 penguins were saved.

    The entire penguin rescue took about three months. More than 90% of the oiled penguins were successfully returned to the wild. Looking back on the rescue, I am still amazed by the work of the volunteers. What I could hardly believe was that we accomplished an impossible task.

    I grew up poor. We had little money, but plenty of love and attention. I understood that no matter how poor a person was, he could still afford a dream. My dream was athletics.

    By the time I was sixteen, I was good at baseball and football. My high-school coach was Ollie Jarvis. He not only believed in me, but taught me the difference between having a dream and showing conviction(信念).

    One summer a friend recommended me for a summer job. This meant a chance for money in my pocket — cash for dates with girls, certainly, money for a new bike and new clothes, and the start of savings for a house for my mother.

Then I realized I would have to give up summer baseball to handle the work schedule, and that meant I would have to tell Coach Jarvis I wouldn't be playing. I was dreading(害怕) this, but my mother said, "If you make your bed, you have to lie in it."

When I told Coach Jarvis, he was as mad as I expected him to be. "Your playing days are limited. You can't afford to waste them," he said.

    I stood before him with my head hanging, trying to think of the words that would explain to him why I dreamed of buying my mom a house.

"How much are you going to make at this job, son?" he demanded.

"Three twenty-five an hour," I replied.

"Well," he asked, "is $3.25 an hour the price of a dream?"

    That question laid bare for me the difference between wanting something right now and having a goal. I devoted myself to sports that summer, and within the year I was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates to play rookie-league ball, and offered a $20,000 contract. I signed with the Denver Broncos in 1984 for $1.7 million, and bought my mother the house of my dream.

    When many people are worried that there are no more heroes in the modern times, two university students who lost their lives to rescue drowning children have shown that heroes still exist (存在).

    According to the Inner Mongolia Morning Post. the tragedy (悲剧) occurred on the afternoon .December 14,2002 when three school students skating on a frozen lake in Qingcheng Park in Hohhot fell through the ice into the freezing water. More than 20 university students who happened to be near the Spot immediately went to the rescue of the children. Two children were quickly rescued, but the third died. The child's body was not found for three hours. Two of the rescuers, Liu Ye and had Longbiao, also died of cold and exhaustion. The body of Hao who took the lead in jumping into the lake was not found until the next day. A student who was unwilling to tell his name said he and his Classmates from the local college were taking photos at the lake. When they heard the children's criestor help, they went to the ice hole hand in hand to rescue the children. But the ice kept breaking, causing most of them to fall into the icy water.

    Local residents held mourning ceremonies (祭莫仪式) at the lake. Eight of the students were seriously affected by the freezing water and were being kept in hospital for further observation, but their lives were no longer in danger.

    A young woman sits alone in café sipping tea and reading a book. She pauses briefly to write in a nearby notepad before showing her words to a passing café waiter: "Where are the toilets please?" This is a familiar scene in Tokyo's so-called "silent cafes", where customers are not allowed to speak, and only communicate by writing in notepads.

    The concept rises by a desire to be alone among young Japanese, a situation brought by economic uncertainly, a shift in traditional family support structures and the growing social isolation. The phenomenon is not limited to coffee shops but covers everything from silent discos, where participants dance alone wearing wireless headphones connected to the DJ, to products such as small desk tents designed for conversation-free privacy in the office. One Kyoto company even offers single women the opportunity to have a "one woman wedding" – a full bridal affair, complete with white dress and ceremony, and the only thing missing is the groom. The trend has its own media expression – "botchi-zoku", referring to individuals who consciously choose to do things completely on their own.

    One recent weekday afternoon, Chihiro Higashikokubaru, a 23-year-old nurse, travelled 90 minutes from her home, to Tokyo on her day off in order to enjoy some solo time. Speaking quietly at the entrance of the café, Miss Higashikokubaru said: "I heard about this place via Twitter and I like the idea of coming here. I work as a nurse and it's always very busy. There are very few quiet places in Tokyo, and it's a big busy city. I just want to come and sit somewhere quietly on my own. I'm going to drink a cup of tea and maybe do some drawings. I like the idea of a quiet, calm atmosphere."

    The desire to be isolated is not a new concept in Japan, home to an estimated 3.6 million "hikikomori" – a more extreme example of social recluses（隐士）who withdraw completely from society.

    Consumer electronics once again topped the list of the most wanted gifts this holiday season.

    "Seventy-six percent of consumers who plan to buy holiday gifts say that they will spend money or buy at least one technology product; definitely a solid vote of confidence for technology."

    Steve Koenig is with the Consumer Electronics Association. He says the group's latest research also shows that Americans this year are spending more on technology products. "Here in 2012, $252 on average the technology spend for consumers this year."

    From tablet computers to smart phones, American shoppers have been lining up to get the newest and coolest electronic devices on the market. There are more choices today than ever before. "It's kind of hard to make a decision."

    Tablet computers are one of the best-selling products this year. Brian Tong is Senior Editor of CNET.com. The website reports on tech news and examines the latest electronic products. He says the Apple iPad Mini is one of the most popular tablets. Its starting price is $329. One of Apple's biggest competitors is the Google Nexus 7. It starts at $199.

    "Its hardware is more powerful than what's in the iPad Mini, but also it offers you a lot of things like maps that work better than Apple's maps.

    But Brian Tong says there is one reason why people may like the iPad Mini more than the Nexus 7. "If you just want to read books and surf the Internet, you don't really need to get an iPad Mini, but if you want the largest robust group of apps (应用软件) that's where the iPad and Apple's ecosystem shines the most."

    Elman Chacon is with the electronics store Best Buy. He says another hot product this season is smart cameras. They connect to the Internet through Wi-Fi. This makes it easy for users to email or upload photographs directly from the camera." You can literally take a picture and upload it into your Facebook in a matter of seconds. These things are pretty cool because they do a lot of things."

    Streaming media boxes also connect to the Internet. People are able to watch web content such as movies and YouTube videos on their televisions. Another popular item is wireless speaker systems. The newest ones work with any device that has Bluetooth technology, including smart phones, laptops and tablets.