A beggar, carrying a shabby(破旧的) old wallet, was begging alone from house to house. As he complained about his 1 , he kept wondering that people who lived in 2 houses should always be unsatisfied, 3 rich they might be, and they should go so far as to 4 all they have.

    "Here, for example," he said, the former master of this house succeeded in trading, and made himself very rich. By then, instead of stopping, and handing over his 5 to another, and spending the rest of his years 6 peace, he took to(从事) equipping ships. He expected to get mountains of gold; but the ships were 7 , and his treasures were lost. Now they all lie at the bottom of the sea, and he has found his 8 disappeared like those in dreams. In short, examples of this are 9.

    At this moment Fortune suddenly appeared to the beggar and said, "Listen! I have long wished to 10 you. Here are a lot of gold coins I have found. Hold out your wallet, and I will fill it with them; but only on this condition: All shall be gold that falls into the wallet, but if 11 of them falls out of the wallet to the ground, it 12 become dust. Consider this well. I have warned you I shall 13 keep my word. Your wallet is old, don't fill it 14 its power." The beggar was almost too overjoyed to breathe. He 15 felt the ground below his feet. A stream of coins were poured 16 it. The wallet soon became rather heavy.

    "Is that 17 ?" "Not yet," "Isn't it 18 ?" "Never fear." "Consider, you are a millionaire." "Just a little more, just 19 a handful," But at that moment the wallet broke, the gold coins 20 dust and Fortune disappeared. The beggar had nothing but his empty wallet and remained as poor as before.

    For more than 20 years I have been traveling the world, preferring often to spend a year or two in different countries 1 to just visit as a tourist. It has become a big part of my identity as an adult and shaped 2 I see the world and myself.

    My first 3 of this amazing life was when I was 19 years old. I was 4 among a small group of college classmates to spend a year abroad. This was long before people could travel the world 5 through social media like Facebook, Instagram and Weibo. In order to see a place, you had to go there and 6 it firsthand.

    Living abroad can be exciting. I thought it would be 7 because I spoke the language, but I enjoyed the little differences between the British and American culture and language. For instance, instead of 8 the British called it "rubbish" ; instead of favor they spelled it "favour" .

    But there were also 9 that year too. One of my classes was called "Europe Since 1870". In the U.S., I would have expected an introductory history class, but in England, I was 10 o have already known the history; now was the time to analyze it. That 11 I not only had to learn the history as I went along, but also I had to try to write a paper explaining why certain events happened as they did. I know now that I was thrown into the deep 12, in a completely different and far more challenging environment, and it was natural that I wouldn't understand everything easily. Despite this, I don't 13 anything about my time in London. Even 14 painful experiences, we learn to grow.

    15 the difficult times made me sad and homesick. But luckily that was not as important as the amazing experience I had getting to know people from all over the world. I met dozens of interesting people from places like France, Greece and Germany in Europe, to Rwanda. Palestine and Australia. Learning how to make friends with people from different cultures and backgrounds was really fun, and these new friends helped put a(n) 16 to the countries they represented (代表).

    As I finished the 17 year, I was torn inside about leaving London after such a life-changing experience.

    I learned so much about myself as a young woman and a(n) 18. When I 19 to my college for my final year, friends and professors saw a(n) 20 me. I had more maturity and self-awareness that I hadn't had before. It was just the beginning of a future of world travel and a love of different people and cultures.

This wasn't the way I wanted to see Rome. Sure, it felt  1 to spend Christmas there and stand in awe of the city's attractions. But life wasn't meant to turn out like this. 

I was supposed to go to Rome with my mom back in 

2012. However, life had different  2 . A week before our trip, I got a stomach infection, a condition that required a week of  3 . What's worse, my mom  4 a cough, which later proved a stage-four cancer. 

My mom spent the final months of her life5 the terrible disease though it was a losing 6 . After she passed away, I 7 a trip to Rome. And 8 , you never get used to a world that mom isn't a part of. You just deal with it because you don't really have a  9 . 

I spent two weeks doing all the things we had wanted to do. Maybe she wasn't physically there, but I  10 her presence every minute. Her presence also11 me that life isn't about the things we buy or the money that we have. It's about making 12 with the people we love. They never really 13 us since they are constantly influencing our lives in  14 ways. 

After my trip to Rome, 15 knew that my mom would always be there because she had forever changed my life in the best possible way. 

I still remember that busy fall evening as I hurried with my eldest daughter, Athena, to get to her classroom on time for a parent-teacher night. We walked in and all 1 were on me. A few adults quickly quieted their kids' 2 . A classmate 3 my daughter, "What's wrong with your mom's 4 ?" Shocked, I started to explain my 5 , but my six-year-old daughter looked at him and said, "It's my mom's birthmark! Don't be rude!" I was extremely 6 of how she handled that situation. 

I was quite young when I realized I looked 7 . I always thought I would be alone because of birthmark, but I was lucky enough to meet my 8 who saw me for who I am inside. When I had my first daughter, I was overjoyed, but I began to 9 if the world would judge my children. 10 , my facial difference has 11 my children. My daughters get disinvited from birthday parties or certain kids are no longer friends with mine. 

When my kids were 12 , I explained how my special purple skin was rare, and we talked about acceptance and never 13 others on how they look. With time, both my daughters have become my strongest 14 : we see the world a little differently and with a kinder, more 15 heart.

Don't ignore (忽略) the difference teenagers can make.

John Michael Thomas, 14, Florida

When John Michael Thomas decided to honor his friend and classmate Elizabeth Buckley, who died from cancer, he remembered how much she loved peacocks (孔雀).

He wanted to build a life-sized peacock fountain (喷泉) in Elizabeth's favorite park in the city. He thought it could be a place for people to relax and be inspired.

John Michael raised $52,000 to build the fountain.

Barrett England, 13, Utah

The wheels began to turn for Barrett England when he heard about Karma Bike shop, a place where young people can earn free bikes by reading and performing community (社区) service.

Barrett visited Karma's owner with his idea: He would collect and repair used bikes and donate them to the shop.

He expected to get about 10 donated bikes. In the end, Barrett received 39.

Zachary Blohm, 15, Wisconsin

The 25-year-old playground at an elementary school near Milwaukee, Wis. was so small that only 70 of its 575 students could play on it at a time.

That's when Zachary Blohm saved the day. He and some volunteers wanted to build a huge playground. To raise money, Zac planned T-shirt and bake sales, sold tickets and more. He held monthly money-raising events for more than a year. Overall, he collected $130,000 — enough to finish his project.

Jack Zimmerman, 16, New Jersey

For some people, finding a meal is as simple as opening the refrigerator. For more than 366,000 hungry kids in New Jersey, it's not that easy.

That fact didn't sit well with Jack Zimmerman, who organized a drive to lessen childhood hunger in his state. His goal: create 40,000 packaged meals that could be donated to those in need.

On game day, Jack and his volunteers started their work. After the final count, the team had packaged 47, 124 meals—well above Jack's goal.