Dear Alcohol,

    You've been around forever. I can remember all the pain you've caused me.

    Do you remember the night when you almost took my father's life? I do. He loves you. Sometimes I think he loves you more than he loves me. He's addicted to you, to the way you promise to rid him of his problems only to cause more of them. You just sat back and laughed as his car went turning through the street, crashing into two other cars. He wasn't the only one badly hurt by you that night.

    Do you remember the night of my first high school party? My friends were intrigued by you. They treated you as if they were never going to see you again, drinking all of you that they could. I spent two hours that night helping my friends who had fallen head over heels for you. “I'm so embarrassed,” they said as I held their hair back so that they could throw up. “I'm sorry,” they said when I called taxis for them, walking them out and paying the driver in advance. “This won't happen again,” they said as they were sent to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped. Two 15-year-old girls slept in hospital beds that night due to you.

    Do you remember the night when you took advantage of my 17-year-old neighbor who had to drive to pick up his sister from her dance lesson? Do you know how we all felt when he hit another car head-on and killed two people in the other car? He died the next morning, too. His sister walked home from her dance lesson, and passed police cars and a crowd of people gathering on the sidewalk just two blocks away from the dance studio. She didn't realize her brother was among them at all. She never saw him again. And it was all your fault.

    I wish you'd walk out of my life forever. I don't want anything to do with you. Look at all the pain you've caused. Sure, you've made people happy too from time to time. But the damage you've caused in the lives of millions is not excusable. Stop attracting the people I love! Stop hurting me, please!

Sincerely,

Me

    Justin Bieber is only fifteen years old and has become very popular already. He was raised (抚养) by his mother in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. When he was twelve he won second place in a local singing contest. He started posting (贴) videos of his contest performances on the Internet for his friends and family. Soon these videos had been seen more than ten million times.

    A music manager saw those videos and asked Justin to fly to Atlanta, Georgia, to meet the singer and songwriter Usher. A year later Justin released (发行) his first albumMy World. It sold over a million copies in the first two months. Four singles were released before the album. All became popular. This made Justin Bieber the only singer in the history of the Billboard magazine to have four singles from his first album among the most popular songs before the album's release.

    Justin Bieber performed for President Obama at the White House last December. He was part of a musical show that raised money for the National Children's Medical Center. He was also among the many singers who recorded the song We Are the World. The song was produced to raise money for Haiti. The video has been seen more than seven million times on the Internet. And it was shown during the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

    Justin Bieber's family did not have much money when he was young. He did not have as much so other children did. Justin says he wants to influence young people in a good way. He believes that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

    It was a cold winter day. A woman drove up to the Rainbow Bridge tollbooth(收费站). “I'm paying for myself, and for the six cars behind me,” she said with a smile, handing over seven tickets. One after another, the next six drivers arriving at the tollbooth were informed, “Some lady up ahead already paid your fare.”

    It turned out that woman, Natalie Smith, had read something on a friend's refrigerator: “Practice random (任意的 )kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” The phrase impressed her so much that she copied it down.

    Judy Foreman spotted the same phrase on a warehouse wall far away from home. When it stayed on her mind for days, she gave up and drove all the way back to copy it down. “I thought it was beautiful,” she said, explaining why she'd taken to writing it at the bottom of all her letters, “like a message from the above.” Her husband, Frank, liked the phrase so much that he put it up on the classroom wall for his students, one of whom was the daughter of Alice Johnson, a local news reporter. Alice put it in the newspaper, admitting that though she liked it, she didn't know where it came from or what it really meant.

    Two days later, Alice got a call from Anne Herbert, a woman living in Martin. It was in a restaurant that Anne wrote the phrase down on a piece of paper, after turning it around in her mind for days.

    “Here's the idea,” Anne says. “Anything you think there should be more of, do it randomly.” Her fantasies include painting the classroom of shabby schools, leaving hot meals on kitchen tables in the poor part of town, and giving money secretly to a proud old lady. Anne says, “Kindness can build on itself as much as violence can.”

    The acts of random kindness spread. If you were one of those drivers who found your fare paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else later? Like all great events, kindness begins slowly, with every single act. Let it be yours！

    Though pigs may never fly, a two-year-old pig in Franschhoek, South Africa is proving they sure can paint! Meet Pigcasso, the world's first known pig artist whose masterpieces are selling for thousands of dollars to benefit Farm Sanctuary S. A. , Africa's only registered shelter for rescued farm animals.

    Joanne Lefson, who saved Pigcasso from a slaughterhouse(屠宰场) two years ago, discovered the animal's artistic talent accidentally. The South African activist says, of the numerous toys presented to keep the then four-week-old piglet entertained, it was the paintbrushes that seemed to attract her the most. "They were the only thing she didn't eat," Lefson quips.

    The rescuer decided to present the pig with canvas and paint and see what happened. To her delight, Pigcasso began creating works of art that can best be described as "abstract expressionism". Now weighing a hefty(重量）450 pounds, the celebrated pig, who loves to paint the area's scenic landscapes, has a dedicated "studio" at Farm Sanctuary S.A. where she resides. Lefson says, "I do not force her to paint. She paints when she wants to."

    Pigcasso's artwork, which has thus far been sold online, is currently on display at Cape Town's picturesque Victoria ~ Alfred Waterfront. Dubbed "Oink", the pop-up exhibition will run through March 5before heading to London-Paris-Berlin, and Amsterdam. Lefson says its main aim is to highlight the effect of animal agriculture on the planet and inspire change.

    While Pigcasso is the first pig and first nonhuman to headline an exhibition, she is not the first animal to create masterpieces. Elephants, sea lions, and even penguins have shown similar artistic talent--in exchange for some treats, of course!

    Once upon a time, two brothers who lived on neighboring farms fell into conflict(冲突) . It was the first serious one between them in 40 years of farming peacefully side by side. In the end, they fell apart.

    One morning, a man with a carpenter's toolbox came for some work. The elder brother said, "I have a job for you. Look at the farm across the creek(河沟). My younger brother lives there. It was he who used his bulldozer(推土机)to dig the creek last week to spite(刁难) me. So I want you to build me a fence, an 8 – foot – high fence, in order not to see his place any more." The carpenter smiled and said, "I see. I'll try to do a job that satisfies you." Then the elder brother went downtown.

    At sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer's eyes opened wide! To his surprise, there was no fence there at all! Instead, there was a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other! A fine piece of work! He saw his younger brother coming to him with the hands outstretching. The brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then they met in the middle, taking each other's hands. They turned to see the carpenter lift his toolbox on his shoulder.

"No, wait! Stay a few days. I've a lot of other work for you," said the elder brother. "I'd love to stay on," the carpenter said, "but I have so many more bridges to build."