A Different View

    At age 14, 15 and 16, the way we looked was the most important thing in the world to us. My friends and I wanted nothing less than perfection.

    In high school, we joined the gymnastics team, and our 1became even more important to us. We had no fat, only muscle. On the weekends, we would go to the beach, 2 of our flat stomachs.

    One summer day, all my friends were at my house 3. At one point, I was running back to the pool. I 4 on a bee, and while it was dying under my foot, it stung (蛰) me. I instantly started to feel 5. That night, I began to run a high fever and my leg and foot were red, hot and swollen. I couldn't walk. I could barely6.

    When my foot started to go numb, everyone became more 7. My foot was not getting enough blood. I had to go to the 8, and my leg hurt as if it were badly broken. I couldn't move. All I could do was think about how soft my middle was becoming. That 9 me more than any concern over my leg.

    That would all 10 when I heard the doctors mention possibly cutting off my foot. It was still not getting the 11 supply it needed. The doctors would have to speed up their treatment.

    Never before did I have such great 12 for my foot. And walking seemed like a 13 from the gods. Less and less would I want to hear my friends talk about 14 and who was wearing what. More and more I expected visits from other kids in the hospital, who were quickly becoming my friends.

    One girl came to visit me 15. Every time she came, she brought flowers. She was recovering from cancer and felt she should come back and 16 the other patients.

    She still had no hair, and she was swollen from medications she had been taking. I would not have given this girl a second 17 before. I now loved every inch of her and looked forward to her 18.

    Finally, I was improving and soon I went home. My leg was still swollen, 19 I was walking, and I had my foot! When I would go back to the hospital, I often saw my friend. She was still visiting people and 20 good cheer. I thought if even there was an angel on this earth, it had to be her.

    An 18-year-old student at Stanford University was struggling to pay his fees.Not knowing where to turn for money,he came up with a bright1.He and a friend decided to host a musical concert on campus to2money for their education.

    They 3out to the great pianist Ignacy J.Paderewski.His manager4a guaranteed fee of $2,000 for the piano recital（独奏会).A deal was5and the boys began to work to make the concert a6.

    The big day arrived. But 7,they had not managed to sell enough tickets.The total8was only $ 1,600. Disappointed,they went to Paderewski and explained their plight (困境).They gave him the entire $ 1,600,plus a9for the balance $400.They promised to honour the cheque at the10possible.Paderewski tore up the cheque,11the $ 1,600 and told the two boys to keep the money they needed for the fees.The boys were12,and thanked him heartedly.

    It was a small act of13.But it clearly marked out Paderewski14a great human being.15should he help two people he did not even know?We all16situations like these in our lives.And17of us only think “If I help them,what will happen to me?”The truly18people think, “If I don't help them,what will happen to them?” They don't do it19something in return.They do it20they feel it's the right thing to do.

    Eight years ago, when Kyle Amber was five years old, he came face-to-face with a huge problem: His brother, Ian, ten, was diagnosed with leukemia(白血病). Their parents, Laurie and Henry, were spending much of their1with him in hospital. Kyle often felt alone and 2

    What could a kindergartner do? Not much, it seemed.3, Kyle was determined. He looked around and saw lots of kids being4for cancer and decided he could help them by helping the hospital, which was trying to5money for bone-marrow(骨髓)transplant.

    But how? Since Kyle's grandfather was in the printing business, he6bring decorative cards for Kyle, who7with the idea of selling them8. He made a large sum of momey-$80-for the hospital. His next9was a candy sale at this school, Palmetto Elementary, and it has turned into an annual10.

    And then people in Miami read about his efforts and were inspired to11to donate more money and toys, and things just snowballed.

    Within a year Kyle's idea turned into an official fund-raising organization called Kids That Care Cancer Fund. Today it is one of the12organizations in the country run by kids and13kids. It's hard to estimate just14the group has collected, says Laurie, but it is more than $100,000. As the Mayor of Miami wrote to Kyle, “ Your efforts have made a remarkable15in the lives of many suffering from this disease.”

    Never once has Kyle thought of16, because the smiles of the kids are too important. “ Basically, the entire feeling that you get is very17,” he explains. Helping other kids has taught him to be less18. And there's another thing he learns for sure: “ There is19going to be a time when you're going to have a very hard barrier,” he says. “20you overcome that, you can do anything.”

    Many years ago, when we first went to Canada, we were driving through Montana to Colorado with our two children, then aged 8 and 11. As it was getting1we started looking for a hotel, only to find out that it was 2time in that part of the country, and all the hotels were3.

    Finally, around 9 o'clock in the evening, we 4at a gas station to fill up on gas. My husband asked for a 5 book and told the woman at the counter that we were trying to find a hotel. She told us it would be6 He tried for 15 more minutes. When he was 7 the woman, Linda, said she and her family8 nearby and would be happy if we spent the night at her home.

    My husband was 9 at her offer of generosity (慷慨). She called her son to10us, since she had to 11at the gas station till midnight.

When we reached their home, her husband 12 us. He invited us to have coffee and chat while we 13his wife. She came past 12 am. We asked if we could slip away in the morning so as not to14them. They said we were now 15 and we would have to have breakfast with them.

    Next morning, we ate breakfast, and when we were 16my husband asked if he could offer some 17.They would not hear of it and 18 we were their guests. We kept in touch for many years, and invited them to our 19 too. Over the years, we lost touch, but have 20 forgotten their kindness.

    The Adams family home has been taken over by origami (折纸)in all sizes and shapes. No one seems to1hough. Those paper creations are2clean water projects around the world and saving lives. A messy home is a small price to pay3

    In 2011, Isabelle Adams and her sister Katherine learned that every five seconds a child died from4of clean water and that girls of their age couldn't go to school5they were fetching water all day for their families. They6to do something.

    "So we took something that we loved doing - folding origami, with the7goal to help fund a well in Ethiopia," explains Katherine.8, they ended up selling out and raising far more than that to fully9the cost of the well.

    Katherine, now 13, adds, "It just snowballed,10the founding of the project Paper for Water." In eight years, this project has11more than 2 million for over 200 water projects in 20 different countries.

    Now, the rest of the Adams family are also12. But at the heart of it, beneath countless paper decorations sit two bold sisters hoping to13other girls and boys. "Kids have an incredible ability to make a real14to the world if they're just given the chance," Isabelle says, "and if people15them in their efforts."

Sargassum is the smelly seaweed piling up on beaches across the Caribbean. It isn't something most people 1 kindly. But for Omar de Vazquez, a gardener, it was something like a(an) 2 .

Years ago, as part of his gardening business, Omar launched a beach cleanup service to 3 the leafy seaweed. But, as its 4 intensified, he started considering how to turn it into something useful, and in 2018 he 5 a way to use it in building blocks. He started his company—SargaBlock to market the bricks which are being 6 by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as a sustainable solution to a current environmental problem.

"When I look at SargaBlock, it's like looking in a 7 ," he says, comparing his company to overcoming his personal 8 , including drug and alcohol addiction. "That was a time when I felt unwanted and 9 , like the sargassum people complained about."

Luckily, Omar grew up in nature and poverty, which 10 his character and turned him into someone who takes action. He wanted to make something good out of something everyone saw as bad. Omar then put his idea into 11 , mixing 40% sargassum with other organic materials, like clay, which he then puts into a block-forming machine. The process was 12 .

The UNDP selected Omar's work for their Accelerator Lab, which 13 and recognizes innovative solutions to environmental challenges globally. The idea is that some of the most timely and creative 14 come from locals suffering from environmental dilemmas 15 .