Jiajia, a third grader who was born with anemia, a medical condition in which there are too few red cells in blood, wrote an affecting article that moved many netizens.

    In the article, she shared her biggest wish: to survive so she could take care of her grandparents. Jiajia, 9, currently lives in the city of Suining in Sichuan province. In the article, she writes, "My heart gets heavier each time I see my grandma cry for me. If I ever get to grow up, I will take good care of her."

    Jiajia contracted pneumonia when she was 4 months old. Since then, she has required a blood transfusion every two weeks.

    After her parents' divorce, her grandparents took her in and faced many challenges in the process of raising her. The girl's article was only 235 words long, and it was handed in as a school assignment.

    Nevertheless, Jiajia's words "deeply impressed" her elementary school teacher, who then posted the article online, where it struck a chord with many people.

    Up till now, a fund started by teachers at Jiajia's school has reached more than 30,000 RMB, which will be put toward Jiajia's future blood transfusions.

    I was never very neat, while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled（贴标签）everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.

    War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming. “Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder.

    The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled（爬）under her covers, sobbing.

    Obviously, that was not something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy rose up in my heart.

    Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the socks and swept the floor, even on her side. I got so into my work that I even didn't notice Kate had sat up. She was watching, her tears dried and her expression one of disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me, “Thanks.”

    Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn't always agree, but we learned the key to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on.

    My wife, daughter, and I moved into our home nine years ago and we spent a lot of time and energy in the yard to get it looking like the way it does today. We live on a corner, higher than street level, and the entire side of the yard is surrounded by a professionally built rock wall. The front of the house though is another story because instead of a wall along the sidewalk, the rocks appear to be just thrown up onto the dirt as if someone were in a hurry to finish.

    We did the best we could with what we had to work with and called this area our "rock garden". Whenever we had leftover flowers or plants, Denise or I would stick them out front, just to bring some color to the area. We would do all of the yard work on our own, even the tiring weed-pulling.

    Last summer I had reached the end of the rock garden and found a tiny little plant that I could not immediately identify, I knew I didn't plant it and Denise claimed that she didn't either. We decided to let it continue growing until we could figure out what it was.

    Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the mystery plant, it appeared to be a Sunflower with a tall skinny stalk（茎，杆）and only one head on it. I decided to baby it along and weed around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something unusual. The Sunflower had not started where I saw the stalk begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the sun.

    That's when I realized that if a tiny little Sunflower didn't let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability of doing the same thing. Once our environment begins to see that we believe in ourselves like that little Sunflower, we can attain the same nourishment（营养）and growth as well.

    Stand tall like the Sunflower and be proud of who and what you are and the environment will begin to support you. You will find a way to go under or around your big obstacle in order to reach your desires.

    While smartphones stand accused of a variety of crimes, these pocket computers can certainly be a force for good. Your phone is always with you, making it the perfect device to push you into a more beneficial way of living. Here are some of the best apps that can help.

    Habitica

    Habitica turns the goal of forming good habits into a game, with its own characters and scoring. It's a lot of fun, and the app also lets you build habits with friends and family. In addition to regular repeating habits, you can add a more general to-do list, and the rewards you get can be customized too — you could treat yourself to a meal out or an extra hour of games.

    Smoke Free

    If you've got a specific habit in mind，then you'll usually find specific apps to help, like Smoke Free. If you're determined to give up smoking, then this is one of the most comprehensive apps for giving you that extra push you need to make a permanent change. The app offers a host of useful features for people wanting to go smoke-free: The ability to see your progress over time, charts showing how your health is improving, day-by-day encouragement, and some advice on techniques for giving up smoking.

    MyFitnessPal

    You can find a ton of health and fitness apps for your phone, but MyFitnessPal stands out not just because it is easy to use, but because it makes practical suggestions for you. It can take in a host of data, from the calories (卡路里)you're taking in to the number of swims you're doing per week, and offer reports on calorie consumption and macronutrient (大量营养素) breakdown.

    Two Chinese sisters have landed a dream trip to Buckingham Palace and the Peppa Pig World theme park in the UK. Lately, their mother helped them express their wish online to meet Queen Elizabeth II, which not only caught millions of social media users' attention but also the attention of the British ambassador (大使) to China.

    Five-year-old twins Mi Ai and Mi Ni, who live in Beijing, appeared in a video on social media platform Weibo last week, where they spoke of their love of British cartoon Peppa Pig and their keen interest to visit the Buckingham Palace. Mi Ni said she and her sister wanted to visit the gardens at Buckingham Palace, just like Peppa Pig and her friends did in the cartoon program.

    The British Ambassador answered their call with her own video, inviting the twins to her house in Beijing. "Hello Mi Ni and Mi Ai," she said. "I'm the British ambassador. I'd like you to come and visit me in my house in Beijing and we can perhaps have tea and cookies in a British style." The twins accepted the ambassador's invitation and joined her for a traditional afternoon tea on Monday, when they ate cake and drew pictures of their favorite characters from Peppa Pig.

    The ambassador has made arrangements for the girls and their parents to tour the UK. They are going to tour the studios where Peppa Pig is made, take a trip to Peppa Pig World in Hampshire and visit Buckingham Palace. The queen has not yet said if she will have time to welcome the girls.

    The Peppa Pig series, introduced in the mid-2000s in China, has become extremely popular among Chinese children and adults. As this year is the Year of the Pig according to Chinese tradition, the country has set to mark the Chinese New Year with a film starring Peppa Pig, where audiences can see a number of Chinese cultural elements (元素).

    A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men aboard were able to swim to a small, desert-like island. Not knowing what else to do, the two survivors agreed that they had no alternative than to pray to God.

    However, to find out whose prayers were more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

    The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the island, and he was able to eat its fruit. But the other man's parcel of land remained barren.

    After a week, the first man became lonely and decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the island. But on the other side of the island, there was nothing.

    Soon thereafter the first man prayed for a house, clothes and more food. The next day, like magic, all of these things were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

    Finally, the first man prayed for a ship so that he and his wife could leave the island, and in the morning he found a ship docked at his side of the island.

    The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island, considering the other man unworthy to receive God's blessings since none of his prayers had been answered.

    As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from Heaven booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?"

    "My blessings are mine alone since I was the one who prayed for them," the first man answered. "His prayers were all unanswered and so he doesn't deserve anything."

    "You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings."

    "Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?"

    "He prayed that all your prayers would be answered."

    For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us. So what you do for others is more important than what you do for yourself.