Some people like to collect stamps. Others prefer posters or coins. But Pinky Bhutia is different. She collects children. In her mountain village, in Sikkim, she is known as the wonderful young woman who adopts(领养) all the children she can.

    Pinky was 14 when she adopted her first child, a Nepali baby girl, whose patents passed away. Pinky's parents did not mind. Pinky left school and started working full time because she had a baby to feed. Today , she has twelve adopted children, and two sons from her marriage.

    Pinky is about 30 years old and she comes from a common family. If you passed her on the street, you wouldn't give her a second look. She lives in a brown mud-washed(泥刷的) house. There is a vegetable garden outside. Red hens with noisy chicks run all over the garden looking for food.

    If you ask her why she provides a home for so many kids, she smiles shyly. But her eyes are serious. "I know what it is to be poor and hungry." As a child, her only dream was to eat a full meal, and her favorite amusement was watching people with shoes and imagining what it felt like. By adopting poor and homeless children she is making sure that they never feel that hopeless.

    Pinky feels very proud when she sees her children happy and bright, her oldest baby, Aarita Rai, is now 20 years old, Then, there is 19-year-old Nimbe who came to Pinky because her mother was unable to look after her. She started to work in a government office two years ago. Ten-year-old Bhim and 14-year-old Kumar came to Pinky five years ago, after their father's death. They started living on a patch of land given by Pinky and grew vegetables for sale.

    "I like children. It's not one more mouth to feed but one more soul saved," Pinky says.

TO DO: Let go of the list

Dear Disappointed,

    I know how you feel! For spring break, my family visited my cousins Sam and Kate. It was a long drive, so I had lots of time to make plans for the world's best vacation.

   "You have been writing for a while!" said my dad." Are you working on the next great American novel?" "Maybe tomorrow!" I joked. "Now, I'm making a list of things to do with Sam this week." Because Sam is my age. We usually hang out when we all get together, while Tex and Indi play with Kate.

    When we finally arrived, I went to find Sam." How about checking out the lake?" I said. "Nah, "said Sam." I have something more fun for us to do." "Awesome" I said, prepared to start checking off activities on my list. Sam turned on his computer." Which bat do you want to be?" Which bat?" I repeated." I got the best new computer game called Bat Adventure." Sam explained," Bats are the coolest creatures, you can learn all interesting facts about bats."

   "Um, this looks fun" I said, "but it's not exactly on my to-do list." "All the things I want to do this week." I explained, "are all outside." "Oh, that's cool." Sam said." You do your thing. And I'll just restart the game in one player mode."

    I wandered out of the room. And Kate called. "Zona, are you coming to play soccer with us?" "Sure, I guess for a minute," I said. Kicking the ball gently in Kate's direction. Kate gave the ball a huge kick. Pow! Tex ran after it.

   "Shhh," whispered Tex, pointing at a hole. We saw two little fuzzy bats! They had mousy ears and their wings were spread." Goodness!" I laughed." Let's show Sam. He knows all about bats." Sure enough. Sam was really excited about our discovery. Later that day. We all looked up bat facts on Sam's computer.

    I managed to do only a couple of things on my list that week. But I had some other great experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. So dear Disappointed, even though it's helpful to have lists, it's also good to stay open-minded. Life almost never goes exactly the way you plan. So if you are open to the possibilities, something even better can pop up out of nowhere and totally make your day.

Arizona

    A jobless man wanted very much to have the position of "office boy" at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test. "You have passed the test," he said. "Give me your e-mail address and I'll send you the form to fill in and the date when you may start." The man answered, "But I don't have a computer, neither an e-mail." "I'm sorry," said the HR manager. "If you don't have an e-mail, that means you are not living. And anyone who isn't living cannot have the job."

    The man left with no hope at all. He didn't know what to do, with only 10 dollars in his pocket. He thought and thought. Then he went to the supermarket and bought 10 kilos of tomatoes. He sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he had 20 dollars. He repeated the operation three times, and returned home with 60 dollars. The man came to know that he could make money in this way, and started to go early every day, and returned home late. Shortly, he bought a cart, then a truck, then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles (运货车队). Five years later, the man was one of the biggest food retailers (零售商) in the US.

    One day, one of his friends asked him for his e-mail. He said, "I haven't got one." His friend couldn't believe his ears. "Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?" The man thought for a while and answered, "Yes, I'd be an office boy at Microsoft!"

    There is a famous American writer called Jack London. He was born on January 12, 1876 in San Francisco, California. His family was very poor, and Jack had to leave school to make money. He worked very hard in many different jobs.

    Later Jack returned to school, but he didn't stay there. In 1897, he went to Alaska (阿拉斯加) to look for gold. He didn't find any gold. Instead (代替), he found ideas for his books and stories. He returned home and started to write. His writings were so successful that he became rich and famous in his twenties.

    But Jack London was not a happy man. In poor health he took his own life in 1916. He was only 40 years old.

It's a loss that has brought Louis, 15, and Ken, 93, together. The 1 friends me t while filming a TV' show.

Louis said the pair first clicked (一见如故) when Ken told him that his mother had 2 in childbirth, leaving him alone. At that time the ninth—grade r was very 3 about the loss of his father." I think we clicked after I realized we had a similar 4 experience," the teen said " In addition, we also 5 a trust—building activity. Arid the friendship between us grew from there."

Ken began a long career working experience on ships at the age of 

17. He said the pair each filled a little void (空虚). in life for the other and that his 6 was more of a "grandfather giving a pep talk (加油打气的话) "。

The old man said," When I first met Louis, he was very 7 and stood back from the crowd a little. But after seven weeks of filming, the change in him was amazing. He has become more and more outgoing Besides . Louis' mother tells me that his schoolwork has 8 and he has a better outlook on life. "Ken added that the 9 lesson he could teach young people—or a person of any age —was to embrace (拥抱) life." I've been a very lucky man throughout my life . There have been hard times, but this is what I try to 10 the teenagers to understand life is a challenge and you have to meet that challenge ."