Unfortunately, three men died in a car accident. Soon they found themselves at the gate of heaven and saw God. Before getting in, God asked each of them the same question. If they could answer the question perfectly, they would be allowed to get into the heaven.

    "I'm sorry for your death," said God. "But when you are in your casket(棺材)and your friends and family are standing beside you, what would you like to hear them say about you?"

    Afraid of being refused, the three men were nervous. They thought for a while.

    The first man said, "I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor of my time, and a great father to my children." Hearing this, God let him in.

    The second man said. "I would like to hear them say that I was a wonderful husband and school teacher who made a great difference to children." God agreed and let him in too.

      Then it was the last man's turn. He looked anxious and replied, "God, I have lots of things to do for my family and the world. So I would like to hear them say, 'Look! He's moving!' "

    About 10 years ago, I started a job as a trainer. In one of my first classes, the head trainer told us a story.

    He began by drawing a man standing in the middle of a circle. To make it more interesting, he drew things like a house, a car, and a few friends inside the circle.

    He asked the question," Can anyone tell me what this is？"In a long silence, one guy decided to speak out," The world?" The trainer said, "That's close. Actually, this is your Comfort Area. Inside your circle, you feel very comfortable. You have all the things that are important to your home, your family, your friends and your job. People feel that inside this circle they are safe from any danger."

    " Can anyone tell me what happens when you step out of this circle？"A strong silence came over the room. At last, the same guy started," You are afraid." Another guy said," You make mistakes." The silence continued and the trainer smiled and said," When you make mistakes, what can the result be?" The first guy shouted," You learn something."

    "Quite right, you are learning." The trainer turned to the board and drew an arrow（箭头）pointing from the man to the outside of the circle.  He continued to say," When you leave your Comfort Area you put yourself out there, in front of the world to be in situations that you are not comfortable with. The end result is that you have learned something that you did not know and you slowly become a better person." He turned again to the board and drew a bigger circle around the first one, and added a few new things like more friends, a bigger house, etc.

    The moral of the story is that if you stay inside your Comfort Area, you will never be able to expand your horizons（开阔视野）and learn. When you step out of your Comfort Area you will finally make your circle bigger and your mind grow stronger, and all in all a better person."

    Sydney Fredette is very busy. Not only is she a high school student, but she has also set up her own organization（组织）, Beary Merry Christmas. She volunteers(志愿) to offer services to poor children and families in Orange Country in California, US.

    To remember her best friend who died of cancer nearly 10 years ago, Fredette decided to offer services to those in Orange Country who are less lucky than she is.

    She began with the easy idea of collecting donated(捐赠) Build-A-Bears, the popular toy animal that is made by children themselves in the stores' workshops. Fredette then gave them as presents to the homeless children in California during the holiday season.

    With donations at more than 100 bears a year, Fredette and volunteers hold activities every year, where volunteers not only give out the bears, but also clothing, meals, and other things.

    Not wanting to limit(限制) the giving to just the holiday months, Fredette held other activities for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Halloween, offering the chance to her volunteer team to make a difference through the year.

    "I love making friends with the people I offer services to," Fredette said. "It's so cool to hear their stories and see how happy they are."

    Fredette even built a public food bank and offered a self-development class to students in her school.

    She plans to stay local and continue to help out in her hometown.

    Mr. Brown was going away for a week. Before he left, he said to his son, "if anyone asks for me, you can tell him that your father has been out for doing something, and will be back in a week, then be sure to ask him to sit down for a cup of tea."

    "OK, Dad," said his son. But he was afraid his son couldn't remember this, he wrote these words down on a piece of paper and gave it to him. His son put it into his small pocket, took it out and looked at it every now and then.

    Four days passed, but no one came to see his father. The boy thought that there was no man to come and that the piece of paper was of no more use for him, so he burnt it that evening.

    The next afternoon, someone knocked at the door. The boy opened it. A man was standing at the door and said, "Where is your father?" The boy put his hand into his pocket at once and looked for the piece of paper. He could not find it. He suddenly remembered he had burnt it, so he shouted, "No more."

    The man was very surprised. He asked, "No more? I met your father last week. When did it happen?"

    "Burnt yesterday evening."

    Andrew Engel was puzzled. He was sitting in class, but had no idea what the other students were talking about. He had done his homework, paid attention to lectures. and taken notes, but nothing was familiar." Everyone is se much cleverer than I am, " he thought. It was a strange feeling, as he was always a good student in high school.

    He felt even more puzzled a few days later. He got lost on his way to his favourite cinema. What's worse, he began having trouble finding the right words when speaking. He asked, "What's for dinner, Mum? "after he had just eaten. Poor Andrew, he was only 15！

    His parents were worried and took Andrew to see a doctor. A brain scan(扫描)made it clear: Andrew had a malignant brain tumor(恶性脑肿瘤). It was pressing on the part of the brain that makes new memory. He should be operated on as soon as possible. Andrew was scared！

    Doctors removed the tumor, but Andrew's memory was still poor. He was told he would probably never go back to school. Andrew was eager to enter a university, but it seemed that his dream wouldn't come true.

    "Even though they told me this, I knew I wanted to go back to school, "Andrew said." I wanted to get my memory back. "

    Andrew began to audit(旁听)an English class at a nearby school. In class, he took notes carefully and read his notes several times a day, then typed them again and again. He studied twelve hours a day, seven days a week. He worked ten times harder than other students. In 2007, at age 29, he graduated from a local university. Six months later, Andrew found a job.