I was 8 years old when I found out my father was ill. It was 1993, but I can remember my mother's words as if it were yesterday. “Jessica, I don't want you to take food from your father, because he has AIDS. Be very careful when you are around him.”

    AIDS wasn't something we talked about in my country when I was growing up. From then on, I knew that this would be a family secret. My parents were not together anymore, and my dad lived alone. For a while, he could take care of himself. But when I was 11, his condition worsened. My father's other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him.

    We couldn't afford all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work. I had no money for school supplies and often couldn't even buy food for dinner. I would sit in class feeling completely lost, the teacher's words muffled as I was thinking how I was going to manage.

    I didn't share my burden (负担) with anyone. I had seen how people reacted to AIDS. Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease. And even adults could be cruel. When my father was moved to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside even though he was too weak to feed himself.

    I had known that he was going to die. But after so many years of keeping his condition a secret, I was completely unprepared when he reached his final days. Sad and hopeless, I called a woman at the nonprofit (非营利的) National AIDS Support. That day, she kept me on the phone for hours. I was so lucky to find someone who cared. She saved my life.

    I was 14 when my father died. He took his secret away with him, having never spoken about AIDS to anyone, even me. He didn't want to call attention to AIDS. I do.

    17-year-old Brennan Agranoff, a colorblind boy, started his custom sock business in middle school, with a small loan(贷款)he got from his parents. Up till now, he has sold over $1 million worth of socks online in the last four years.

    Brennan thought of the idea for his custom sock company at just 13 years old. He was attending a high-school basketball game in his hometown of Sherwood, Oregon, and noticed that many kids his age were wearing the same white Nike sport socks. The boy told himself that if these white plain sacks were so popular with kids, then some cool custom designs would surely be an even greater hit.

    But the boy didn't tell his parents about the business idea immediately. He spent six months researching things like printing machines and technology and drawing up a business plan. Only when he had everything planned out did he ask his parents for a loan. "They thought the idea was a little out there," Brennan recently told CNN Money, but he kept pushing, and finally received a $3,000 loan to start his company. Then he began to work on his own designs. The fact that he was colorblind didn't stop him and he has created aver 200 designs now.

    Business was slow the first year, but then Brennan started pushing his HoopSwagg products heavily on the Internet. Orders soon started coming in in large numbers, and HoopSwagg became a popular brand among custom sock lovers. Right now, his designs can be found on HoopSwagg website, Amazon and eBay.

    Four years after starting his business, Brennan has achieved great success while balancing(平衡)school, house chores and his social life. And he says he loved every minute of it.

    Sixteen years ago a boy gave me an important gift. It was a smile.

    It was the early autumn of my first year at a middle school, and my old school was far away. As a result, no one knew who I was. I was very lonely, and afraid to speak to anyone.

    Every time I heard the other students talking and laughing, I felt my heart break. I couldn't talk with anyone about my problems.

    Then one day, when my classmates were talking happily with their friends, I was sitting at my desk unhappily as usual. At that moment, a boy entered the classroom. I didn't know who he was. He passed by me and then turned back. He looked at me, with a smile.

    Suddenly, I felt the touch of something bright and friendly. It made me feel happy and warm. That smile changed my life. I started to talk with other students and made friends. Day by day, I became closer to everyone in my class. The boy with the lucky smile has become my best friend now.

    One day I asked him why he had smiled, but he couldn't remember doing so!

    It doesn't matter because all the dark days have gone. I believe that the world is what you think it is. If you think it is lonely, you might always be alone. So smile at the world and it will smile back.

    Michelle Wie, from America, is like a lot of other young girls in many ways. She is a good student, and she likes reading, drawing, and computers. However, in some other ways, she is very different. She doesn't spend much time going out with friends or shopping or going to parties. She's very busy practising golf.

    Michelle Wie is the best woman golfer for her age in the world. She was born in 1989. In 1999, at the age of 10，she began to win games. At 13, she could hit the ball farther than most of the women in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). At 14, she showed she could hit the ball farther than most men.

    Wie began playing golf at the age of four. When she grew older, she played about four hours a day on weekdays and seven hours a day at weekends. Another thing that helped her was that she was tall. Now Wie is about six feet tall. She has the flexibility of a dancer and also is very strong. And it's clear that she loves the game.

    Do you remember when your grandma told you the story of Snow White? Ah, the happy days of childhood! But did you know that Snow White comes from Germany? It's just one story from the 20 in Grimm's Fairy Tales(《格林童话》).

    The Grimm brothers started to collect (收集) fairy tales in 1806. Six years later, their first book came out. Why are German fairy tales so interesting? Maybe it's because they comes from a great place famous for its stories—the Black Forest.

    The Black Forest is in southwest Germany. It's the largest forest in the country and one of the most beautiful. It's famous for its trees and lovely views. There are valleys and waterfalls there It's a good place to start a story.

    Don't forget to bring something back if you visit. People there are good at making clocks, musical instruments and watches.