Last summer Jenny and her friends had a bus trip to New York. She felt very relaxing on the way. They visited a museum. But it's really crowded there and the display(展览) were not interesting at all. They went to different restaurants to have dinner. Some food was quite delicious, but Jenny thought the fast food was terrible. When the weather was fine, they went to the beach to swim. The sea was beautiful and they had a good time.

    Emma and Hannah are 13-year-old school girls from Minnesota, USA. They are good at making new things both of them are also good at sales. They are selling charms (小装饰物) made out of bottle caps.

    The girls came up with the idea last summer when they saw charms were popular with kids. They talked with their parents about the idea. Since then they have sold enough charms to buy a bike for Hannah.

    The girls collect bottle caps and then clean them. They find some interesting pictures on the Internet or on paper, and then glue them onto the inside of the caps. There are different kinds of pictures, "Peace signs are popular with girls, and single-letter charms are popular with boys whose names start with those letters," Emma and Hannah said.

    Now, charms can be found everywhere at Dakota Hills Middle School in Eagan. "Students put charms on purses, backpacks, and their lunch boxes," said Emma. Emma and Hannah also have a shop on the Internet. They hope they can sell their charms to more kids. They're thinking about selling their charms at the Eagan Market Festival next summer.

    Their business is not only for getting money. At their Valentine's sale, 20% of the income (收入) went to charity.

Andrew has a mental illness. He doesn't speak. He had used a picture chart to communicate. The pictures stand for words—people, places, food and activities.

Years ago, Andrew's parents discovered that he could communicate more by a letter board. He could point to and spell out words and thoughts. Using the letter board needs time and effort for Andrew. He hated to use the letter board, so his parents always offered it to him.

On Andrew's 15th birthday, his mother took him to a shoe store. After buying the shoes, she said. "It's Andrew's birthday today. Fifteen! Now we're off to celebrate."

The salesmen said happy birthday to Andrew. Instead of having Andrew point to the "thank you" on his picture chart, his mother held up his letter board and asked Andrew how he'd like to respond. Andrew pointed to each letter one by one on the board— "Thank you." Andrew's mother smiled.

One of the salesmen asked what it was. "This is a letter board that Andrew uses to communicate," his mother replied. "We've practiced it for years. It's amazing. It's changed everything for us." Then the salesman told them he had a brother called Jason. "Jason is 30 and doesn't speak," he said.

"Andrew, what do you think?" his mother turned to Andrew. Andrew started pointing to letters, "Tell Jason..." She was excited. Andrew continued, "Tell Jason he will change everyone's opinion of him in 26 letters." Andrew's mother and the salesmen were all moved and happy.

Months later, Andrew's mother returned to the shoe store and learned that Jason is now using a letter board to "speak". This is how Andrew affected another person's life in a split second (瞬间).

Ken is a worker in a newspaper. He works hard and is self-confident (自信) when he works as an advertisement salesman (销售员). Every time Ken begins his work, he will do some preparation (准备). He closes the door, stands before the mirror and reads the bosses' names ten times. But this time, his workmates think the task is very hard and it is impossible to finish. 

With his great effort (努力), three bosses change their mind and make a deal with him the first day. Three days later he finishes another three tasks. One month passes, only a boss still refused to cooperate (合作) with him. 

Ken works harder. He tries to learn something about his company and his family, and visits the boss every day. Every morning, when the boss opens his door, he sees Ken outside his company smiling to him and waiting for his answer.  ★  He keeps on visiting him every day. The boss asks him why. 

"It is like having a class. You're really a good teacher. You're teaching me how to keep it up when I want to do something important,"Ken answers. 

The boss nods, "In fact, you're my teacher. You're teaching me what is the power of perseverance."