My First Part-time Job

    It's been a month since the summer vacation started. We had a long holiday1most of us planned to find a part-time job in order to kill the boring time. I've been2 to take a part-time job since I was in junior high school, more to get some valuable3 than money.

    Lots of my friends have had some work experiences and have a more 4life as a result. They always share their work experiences with me. In their work life, they met many 5 but those setbacks made them stronger and everything easier afterwards6 they would also try to do something on their own in their work. I felt somehow 7of myself because I depended on my parents for everything. For this 8I took a part-time job together with my friends. Our9was demanding（费时的）. Sometimes we felt disappointed, made many complaints, and10 thought about giving up. But we11doing it.

    While working, I met some really 12people. There was a warm-hearted old man, who was a security guard. He took good care of us, which made us feel 13 in another city. We were very grateful to him14 I got a bad headache and a high temperature when I was planning to go back. That was 15the hot weather and the hard work. When I was ill, my friends16 me, as if my mother was around. They made me feel deeply about the importance of 17.

    When I got the first salary of my life, I18 how difficult it is to make 19Now, my first work experience in life is over. I 20 lots of things. It's been meaningful.

Be a Traveler, not a Tourist

    Last summer, I had just enough money saved to buy a golden ticket—a 3-month train pass that would take me to the furthest reaches of Europe. Excited for my journey, I packed all the necessities(生活的必需品)—except the 1.

    While the convenience of the Internet was definitely a contributing factor to my 2not to take with me the few expensive kilograms of out-of-date information, this was not the only reason why I decided to fly alone.

    To be honest, my main 3with the guidebook is that I find it 4 the pleasure of a journey—like bossy aunt who is always telling you what to do, 5 she doesn't always know what is the best.

    Experience has taught me that there is an obvious 6 between a tourist and traveler.

    While waiting in a queue, I met a man who had a checklist. He showed me his list of "Top 20 Things To Do in Italy" and 7 off in a loud American accent that he'd seen everything Italy has to offer in just four days.

    The problem I had with this man's 8 to travelling was that he was too 9information provided by his guidebook. He was lost in the 10 attractiveness of the "must-sees" and 11 to all the wonders and adventures that might happen during the 12 trip.

    So, 13any guidebook, I traveled to Estonia, the tiny Baltic country bordering Russia. In the 14 of advance plans as guidebooks would suggest, I had no choice but to turn to some friendly faces for advice. I 15myself first and then asked them what was happening around the town. When this16 an invitation to a beautiful Estonian home by a river where I 17 a 110-degree wood-stove sauna（桑拿浴）, 18 picked forest-mushrooms and the good 19 of our five newfound Estonian friends, I was most glad that I had left my "bossy 20" at home.

    A mum of two was shocked. She went downstairs to get a drink and found a1stranger asleep on her sofa. The 26-year-old man had let himself in and2his shoes at Elaine McDade's door while she was upstairs watching TV in bed with her children. She later3the man had made a mistake4his parents used to own her house.

    Engineer Thomas Airlie, from South Lanarkshire, didn't5that none of the belongings in the house were those of his parents' when he lay on the sofa for a6. "When I saw him, I7him up straight away," Elaine said. "I even asked him if he used to live here, or if he lived in the same8now and just got the wrong door."

    Elaine said Thomas9when she woke him up. "I10my husband and he agreed to come home immediately.11, my husband didn't even know where he lived so he12the man at the police station instead," she said. She later posted a photo of the13Thomas on Facebook explaining that it was the only time when she had ever forgotten to lock the door. She wrote that Thomas was "14" but added, "Lesson learned again. Lock your doors."

    She sent him the15and got a message from him on Facebook saying "Oh, my God. I can't apologize16."

    Thomas had been out with friends when he17got a taxi back to his parents' old house,18his current home.

    His friend Robbie McKean said they will never let him19his experience. "Our friend had a baby boy not long ago so we were drinking a lot to celebrate it. I can happily say he doesn't walk into people's houses and sleep on their sofa on a(n)20basis."

    Haze Mabry has just turned 80 years old, and on his birthday, just like every other day, he reported to Pike County Elementary in Georgia where he works as a cleaner, prepared to clean.

    But to his1, that day was different from any other day. Just as he was settling in for a day of work, he was2by more than 750 people, including students, teachers and staff,3the hallways.

    The students had made handmade4and banners(横幅), and they all sang happy birthday and shouted his name as he5by.

    "They're like my children ," Mabry said in a(n)6with The Washington Post ."I'm like the old lady in the shoe."

    Mabry makes a point of interacting(互动)with the7when he can ."I know the little faces, but I don't know every8,"Mabry said ."Some of them make you know them."

    The unexpected celebration at school9Mabry how valued(珍视) he is by students and teachers alike ."He's the most10person in this whole building ,"said teacher Lori Gilreath, who11his surprise ."He won't brag(吹嘘) on himself, but it doesn't12what he's doing or where he is, he will13stop what he's doing to take care of a child if that child is having a14day."

    Haze spent the whole following weekend15the pile of handwritten cards he16!

    Maybe we can't all organize something as17as this birthday celebration, but it's a18:take any chance you get to make someone's day19, and let them know how they are valued! It can make much20.

There's one patient that Sarah Rose Black still thinks about. Back in 2019, the nursing team at Toronto's Cancer Center called to ask if she could reach out to a patient who had been there for about a week. The man was struggling, and unwilling to communicate with workers or be part of any activities. 

Black isn't a doctor or a nurse. Since 2013 she has played an important role for patients at the center as a music therapist (治疗专家). On any day, she might see one person who's anxious about an operation, another who's in need of a calm moment.

So, Black walked into the patient's room and introduced herself. She asked if she could sit and offer to play some music. In an effort to persuade him, she said, "If you don't like it, you can just tell me to leave." After some gentle urging, the man in his 70s, who had lung cancer, told her a few musicians he liked and then turned away to look out the window. But as she started to play one of his favorites, a change came over him. He turned towards Black and started to cry. 

She stopped playing. "Do you want me to continue?" "Certainly," he said through tears. "It was as if the music went places that nothing else could," recalls Black. The music showed up at a moment when it felt like a hug. 

As Sarah Rose Black says, people have been connecting with music for their whole lives—she is just helping them use it again at a time when they need it most. 

"We have a heartbeat, so we have a drum (鼓) inside us; we are wired to be musical people," she says. She smiles softly as she reflects back on the experience.

The Boy Made it!

    One Sunday, Nicholas, a teenager, went skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. In the early afternoon, when he was planning to go home, a fierce snowstorm swept into the area. Unable to see far, he accidentally turned off the path. Before he knew it, Nicholas was lost, all alone! He didn't have food, water, a phone, or other supplies. He was getting colder by the minute.

    Nicholas had no idea where he was. He tried not to panic. He thought about all of the survival shows he had watched on TV. It was time to put the tips he had learned to use.
    He decided to stop skiing. There was a better chance of someone finding him if he stayed put. The first thing he did was to find shelter from the freezing wind and snow. If he didn't, his body temperature would get very low, which could quickly kill him.
    Using his skis, Nicholas built a snow cave. He gathered a huge mass of snow and dug out a hole in the middle. Then he piled branches on top of himself, like a blanket, to stay as warm as he could.
    By that evening, Nicholas was really hungry. He ate snow and drank water from a nearby stream so that his body wouldn't lose too much water. Not knowing how much longer he could last, Nicholas did the only thing he could—he huddled(蜷缩) in his cave and slept.
    The next day, Nicholas went out to look for help, but he couldn't find anyone. He followed his tracks and returned to the snow cave, because without shelter, he could die that night. On Tuesday, Nicholas went out again to find help. He had walked for about a mile when a volunteer searcher found him. After two days stuck in the snow, Nicholas was saved.
    Nicholas might not have survived this snowstorm had it not been for TV. He had often watched Grylls' survival show Man vs. Wild. That's where he learned the tips that saved his life. In each episode(一期节目) of Man vs. Wild. Grylls is abandoned in a wild area and has to find his way out.
    When Grylls heard about Nicholas' amazing deeds, he was super impressed that Nicholas had made it since he knew better than anyone how hard Nicholas had to work to stay alive.