Do you hate to get your hands dirty? When I see my 10-year-old son1the dirty plates  in the sink or my 8 year-old daughter cringing(畏缩) at the wet sand clinging(黏住) to her hands, I am reminded of a time when I was 2to get my hands a little dirty.

    My parents owned a 500-acre 3 n Montana when I was young. I'd often come home from school to find a/an 4lamb or a calf being bottle-fed in the basement.One exceptionally cold day, I was the5sheep with my mother in the ranch when she spied a ewe(母羊)6.The poor thing was trying to7 her baby lamb and needed our help.My mother calmly held the ewe's head and8 me to grab hold of the two protruding(突出的) legs.

I hesitated, and must have had quite a look of 9 on my young face.The slimy little things were 10not something I wanted to touch.But I worked up my 11and wrapped my fingers around them.I can still recall the feel of 12the delicate legs and their sharp little hooves(蹄子) as of it happened yesterday.

    My heart beat in fear and excitement as I 13with all my strength.The lamb was delivered with an outpouring, and I'd never seen14so beautiful.I was no 15to see ranch animals being born, but to have a hand16it was something I cherished then and will cherish forever.

    Looking back, I'm so glad that I didn't 17to get my hands dirty.18I had, the miraculous moment and the precious memory would have been lost.These days I try to instill(灌输) that life lesson into my own 19 .Sometimes you need to get your hands a little dirty to experience something 20 and pure.

    Kong Xiangdong, a famous classical 1 always wanted to create something new. He2classical music with Chinese folk music. Music has always been part of Kong's world. Since his mother was a music lover, he lived with music from3However, his mother couldn't buy him a piano so she had to draw piano keys 4a piece of paper. The 5-year-old Kong would practice on the paper piano5his mother clapped the rhythm. Although he thought about giving up because of too much practice, he didn't  6 He began to win7 at the age of 18. He became famous worldwide, but after years of8 he felt in some ways he had lost himself. Therefore he went back to his roots and 9the beauty in Chinese folk music. He even shaved off his hair to change his 10 for the new music style!

    I'm a seventeen-year-old, counting down the days till graduation, just like every other senior in the world. I've1a lot in my short seventeen years of life, but I have also made mistakes. I'm not2. I'm on the path of self-discovery, which as I've come to realize is not3.

    After many years, I still4remember the last time I had to5. At that moment, starting a new6wasn't really that big of a deal. I spent the next four and a half years in Mountain Home. I made four7friends anyone could ever ask for. When I had to8them, I was depressed.

    I soon9that starting a new high school was different from being the “10girl” in elementary or even middle school. It wasn't as easy to gain the “approval(认可)” of my11now as it had been back then. Back in elementary or middle school,12I was a freshman, I had my friends and people I knew. I could very easily13well over ninety percent of my class.14, at this new school, I15no one.

    I've been told over and over by my mom that I'll16have to enter the “real” world and that the17I have over all of these things will soon disappear. What adults18to realize is that every day in a teenager's life is a battle. We're no longer children, but not quite adults. We struggle to19who we are.

    Although I still have about a year and a half left, I honestly believe that being a teenager has been the hardest20in my life, something I'm sure I'll carry with me for the rest of my existence.

    The journey my daughter Cathy has had with her swimming is as long as it is beautiful.

    Cathy suffered some terrible1in her early childhood. After years of regular treatment, she2became healthy.

    Two years ago, while Cathy was watching the Olympics, a dream came into her sweet little head—to be a swimmer. Last summer, she wanted to3out local swim team. She practiced hard and finally4it. The team practice,5was a rough start. She coughed and choked and could hardly6her first few weeks. Hearing her coughing bitterly one night, I decided to7her from it all. But Cathy woke me up early next morning, wearing her swimsuit8to go! I told her she shouldn't swim after a whole night's coughing, but she refused to9and insisted she go .

From that day on, Cathy kept swimming and didn't10a single practice. She had a11intention within herself to be the best she could be. My ten-year-old was growing and changing right before my eyes, into this12human being with a passion and a mission. There were moments of13of course: often she would be the last swimmer in the race. It was difficult for Cathy to accept that she wasn't a14—ever. But that didn't stop her from trying.

    Then came the final awards ceremony at the end of the year. Cathy didn't expect any award but was still there to15her friends and praise their accomplishments. As the ceremony was nearing the end, I suddenly heard the head coach16, “The highest honor goes to Cathy!” Looking around, he continued, “Cathy has inspired us with her17and enthusiasm.18skills and talents bring great success, the most valuable asset(财富)one can hold is the heart.”

    It was the greatest19of my daughter's life. With all she hade been20in her ten years, this was the hour of true triumph(成功).

    One of my favourite films is Mr. Bean. At a Fancy (化装)Restaurant. In the film, after being1at his table, Mr. Bean takes out a2, writes a few words on it, signs his name, puts it into an envelope and 3it on the table. After a moment, he looks at the4but this time he looks surprised, as if he did not know it was there. He opens it to find a birthday card and delightedly puts it on the table for everyone to see.

    When he looks at the5, an astonished look quickly6on his face. He takes all7out of his pockets, counts it and puts it in a saucer(碟子).He then looks from the menu to the money with 8until he finds one thing that makes him smile. He9a dish called "steak tartare." When the dish arrives, he is 10to discover that "steak tartare" is11a raw(生肉的)hamburger. He12an attempt to eat it, but it is13, from the look on his face, that he finds the taste really terrible. He cannot14his feelings, except when the waiter asks whether everything is OK. He smiles and nods,15that everything is fine.16no one is looking, however, he17himself hiding the raw meat anywhere he can18, inside a sugar bottle, a tiny flower vase and under a plate. He becomes so disappointed in the end that he19hides some inside the20of a woman sitting near him and throws some under the seat of the restaurant's violinist!

    I like to watch Mr. Bean on TV but I wouldn't want to meet someone like him in real life.

It's 1:30 am in Kenya's populated north, and 50 people are lying on their backs on the shore of a dried-up river, staring up at the night sky. These stargazers have travelled 250 miles to Samburu to witness the Perseid meteor shower(英仙座流星雨). They are not disappointed: Every few minutes, arrows of light shoot across the sky like silent fireworks.

The Star Safari is organised by a Kenyan astronomer, Susan Murabana, who has brought a 50 kg,170 cm-long telescope to allow the group to view Mars and deep-sky objects. But here in Samburu, where light pollution is minimal, the Perseid meteors—visible with the naked eye (裸眼)—steal the show.

Every two months, Murabana and her husband load their telescope on to the roof of their 4×4 and set off to rural communities, where they give up to 300 children a chance to view the planets and learn about constellations (星座) and the basics of astrophysics. They primarily targets schools in remote areas because of her mission to give girls an opportunity that she wishes had been available to her.

"When I started this work, I didn't see people who looked like me. I was a lone ranger and I wanted to change that." says Murabana.

"There is a common misconception in Kenya that astronomy in general is hard, boring, and only for boys," she adds. "I'd like to teach young girls that astronomy is neither of these things and that they, too, can become astronomers," says Murabana.

Murabana's passion for astronomy began in her early 20s when her uncle invited her to join a similar outreach session organized by the Cosmos Education. "That was a gamechanger. If an outreach group had come to me when I was a young teenager, my attitude towards a career in astronomy would have been positive. I ended up studying sociology and economics, but maybe I would have desired to be an astronomer," she says.

Inspired by the Cosmos Education, Murabana completed an online master's degree in astronomy with the James Cook University in 201l and set up her own outreach programme. She looked to Dr Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space, as a role model. "I hope that one day, through this work, I will spark a chain reaction that leads to the first African woman in space."