Trying new things is the only way we can discover hidden talents. I 1 my career as an editor for a magazine. I didn't really mind the work, but I wanted something more 2Then I was offered a management 3 of a digital reading company. The job was a seemingly 4 mix of my skills and interests, so I jumped at it.

    5, soon after I joined the company, its model changed to focus on K-12 education, and everything about my position changed. I was asked to take on the 6 different roles of selling content to teachers and training people. I felt more than a little 7 my comfort zone.

    I knew I wanted to grow as a(an)8 and make a serious effect on the company. I told myself that everything feels 9 at first and I should at least try.10 I felt like I didn't have a(an)11. I knew jumping out of the 12 was the right thing for me, even though it felt pretty awful.

    I was fortunate to be 13by very helpful people, both at work and at home. They kept 14 me. I spent hours researching my company's 15. I asked lots of questions and spoke to many people in need. I looked for opportunities to put in extra 16 .The more I did, the better I felt.

    Over time, I discovered that the job was17I could do and liked doing. It was an amazing 18 to see the company grow and know that my efforts contributed to 19success and that it's important to take risks and accept new 20. Actually, there's nothing worse than failing because you refuse to even try.

    I think I will never forget the special day in November. It was hotter than normal. This was the 1 my father and I had waited so long for, because we had been working towards this race for three years. Dozens of familiar faces from church and school flashed across my view. They had come 2 me. I saw worry and 3 on my father's face. Then the race began!

    For the first two and a half miles, I felt 4. I had never before been so ready for something. The weeks leading up to the race were filled with controlled 5 and a strict diet. My friends hadn't seen me in weeks, but they understood the 6required to make my dream a reality. As in all of my races，I didn't 7 out in the front. I loved the pleasure of passing people as my strength overtook their premature speed.

    Then without warning，my strength began to decrease. Neck and neck with one of my greatest competitors, I 8 see the finish line. I had begun the final dash into 9 when my knees became weak and my legs gave way. Nothing I could do would make them 10 weight.

    I watched as runners rushed by me. 11 I knew my dreams of victory were destroyed, I had to finish the race. However, my legs hurt badly. With all of the 12 left in me, I got on my hands and knees and crawled (爬), inch by inch, across the finish line. Voices, both 13 and familiar, cheered me on. They gave me the courage to keep 14 until the very end.

    The doctors were there in seconds, but my eyes searched the crowd for him. There was only one person I wanted to 15 to. I whispered, “I' m so sorry, Dad, I'm so sorry I 16 you.” He looked at me, saying, “You could never disappoint me. Sometimes these things just 17. All that matters is that you did your best.”

    “But we worked so 18. What about our dream?” He reached over for my hand and said, “Don't you know that you are my dream and it has come true?”

    It wasn't long before my running shoes were back on, marking a 19 path for my journey. I learned that all of the miles, the tears, the sweat, and the pain my dad and I experienced together were not for a 20. What I realized, though, was that to him, I was the greatest prize he had ever won.

    As she waited at the edge of the ice for her music to start, Peggy took a quick look at her father standing nearby with a group of parents and teachers. He smiled at her. Then she 1 out at the audience, 2 to see her mother. These two, Alvert and Doris Flemint, had 3 all the way from California more than 2,000 miles away, to see their 4 compete in this sports meet in Cleveland, Ohio.

    The music 5 and Peggy moved onto the ice, letting the music 6 her along into her turns, and she began skating with much 7 in herself. The cold fear she always had in the 8 seconds before skating onto the ice was9. She was feeling the movement of the 10 and letting it carry her. She skated easily, 11 did some jumps, a final turn and her performance was 12.

    The crowd loved it and cheered 13 she skated off the ice. “Nice job,” said one of the other 14. It was the remark that 15 came after a free-skating performance. But what should the 16 say? Standing beside her father, Peggy 17 for the scoring to be finished. On all sides were other young skaters, some waiting 18 alone, others with a parent. Shortly before 10 o'clock the results were 19. The new United States Women's Figure Skating Champion was Peggy Fleming of Passdena, 20.

    In 2011, a law was born. A kind of ladybug（瓢虫）became the state insect of North Dakota. When the governor 1 the bill into law, four kids stood behind him!

    Jaden, Logan, Megan and Isabel were in first grade 2 their idea for a law was born. Megan and Logan were farm kids and they had been 3 with the ladybug already. They knew that farmers had difficulty in 4 crop-eating pests called aphids and that ladybugs tended to 5 on aphids. The more ladybugs were around, the fewer 6 the farmers had to use.

    They decided that this ladybug should be their state insect. This ladybug was of great 7 to the crops on the farm and deserved a place of 8. But they had no idea how to 9 a law. So they asked help from their teacher, who happened to 10 their local state representative. When they all met, he told the kids they would have to present facts and reasons to 11 lawmakers that North Dakota was 12the ladybug as the state insect.

    The students spent much of that first-grade spring 13 ladybugs. There was no doubt that their research was hard work; 14 , they fell in love with it. "Even if we hadn't 15what we wanted," says Jaden, "even if the bill hadn't passed, I think it was really 16 a lot."

    In the fall of their second-grade year, they were invited to speak to a committee. In 17 , Megan wrote songs for the group to sing, they 18 more experts for support, and they practiced their presentation a lot! They showed up at the state building in ladybug costumes and presented their case. 19 , the bill passed!

    The students want everyone to know that kids can make a 20 . "Whether you are 20 or 80," says lsabel, "you have a voice in your community（社区）."

As a young girl growing up in France, Sarah Toumi dreamed of becoming a leader who could make the world a better place. Her passion to help others was awakened when, from the age of nine, she accompanied her Tunisian father to his birthplace in the east of the country during holidays. There she organized homework clubs and activities for children. Toumi witnessed first-hand the destructive effect of desertification. "Within 10 years rich farmers became worse off, and in 10 years from now they will be poor. I wanted to stop the Sahara Desert in its tracks." A decrease in average rainfall and an increase in the severity of droughts ( 干 旱 ) have led to an estimated 75 percent of Tunisia's agricultural lands being threatened by desertification. 

Toumi recognized that farming practices needed to change. She is confident that small land areas can bring large returns if farmers are able to adapt by planting sustainable crops, using new technologies for water treatment and focusing on natural products and fertilizers (肥料) rather than chemicals. 

In 2012, Toumi consolidated her dream to fight the desert. She moved to Tunisia, and set up a programme named Acacias for All to put her sustainable farming philosophy into action. "I want to show young people in rural areas that they can create opportunities where they are. Nobody is better able to understand the impact of desertification and climate change than somebody who is living with no access to water." 

By September 2016, more than 130, 000 acacia trees had been planted on 20 pilot farms, with farmers recording a 60 percent survival rate. Toumi estimates that some 3 million acacia trees are needed to protect Tunisia's farmland. She expects to plant 1 million trees by 2018. In the next couple of years, Toumi hopes to extend the programme to Algeria and Morocco. 

When I was a young boy I was in a poor neighborhood as a foster ( 领养) child. I was1 to spend lots of time alone. I would often wander the neighborhoods on my own and2 to help rake (用耙子耙平) a yard, mow a lawn ( 割草), or wash some walls3 some pocket money just to buy some clothes or candy.

Once I knocked on the door of an elderly woman and asked if she needed her leaves raked in the yard. She asked why I was not in school and I4 her my torn trousers and shoes, which were5 and no longer keeping my feet warm and6 . And when I finished the work she gave me some7 . She said, "I want you to buy some trousers and new shoes and8 school. I also want you to come back and9 me with your report card and I will reward you when I see you have worked hard and have some good10 ."

I returned several times to see the woman in the corner house and she did just as she11 . She looked at my report card and gave me a handful of dollars and a sandwich every time I12 showed her I had an "A" or "B". And over the next couple of years, she continued to be this13 influence in my life as brief as it was and I never knew her name.

I was twelve years old when I moved from that neighborhood into a different home, with another family. I will of course never14 the huge difference this wonderful stranger made over my life with her15 . This is something I hope to do myself in this lifetime over and over again.