From Nobody to Somebody

    Brian was a funny student. He loved watching comedies（喜剧） best and hoped to become a comedy actor one day.

    When he heard about the talent show to be held at this school, Brian decided to take part in. He had never acted on stage（舞台） before, and he was very excited. But some students laughed at him. “You are not funny but silly,” Ken, one of his classmates, said to his face. “No one will like what you do,” another boy also said to him, loudly.

    Brian couldn't understand why they were so unkind to him. For a moment, he thought about giving up the show. But he remembered how much his friends liked his jokes, and also his teachers said he was very funny. So he decided to prepare for the show.

    Brian did a great job at the talent show. Everyone loved his performance, and he won the first prize! His teachers and friends were proud of him. Even so, Ken told Brian that he was not funny, and that he would never be successful. Brian didn't understand why Ken said so, but he realized that it had nothing to do with him. He confidently continued to work towards his goal.

    As the years went on, Brian met more people like Ken. “you'll do a terrible job,” they said to him. Luckily, most people encouraged him and some helped him to become even funnier. He got a lot of opportunities to perform in movies. He was even invited to appear on television. His fans thanked him because his comedies made them feel good when they were unhappy.

    Now Brian is a big comedy star! He is doing what he loves best. He never feels stressed like those unkind people, and he laughs all day long!

    I grew up in a small town in South Canada. Every autumn, there was a week—long fair in the town. Thousands of people from other towns came to sell and buy things. It was the most exciting time of the year.

    When “Fairtime” came, my grandma became the busiest person of the family. Grandma was a kind, well—educated old lady. She was good at cooking. During “Fairtime”, relatives would come to live in her house and have meals there. Grandma was always happy to look after them.

    Year after year, many people moved to big cities. There was no longer “Fairtime”. Grandma became very old and was going a little blind. My parents and I did our best to make her life as comfortable as possible. I was at high school then. What I often did at home was to help Grandma with the daily newspaper's crossword puzzle. However, she didn't look happy. She often sat in her room for hours, without saying a word.

    To attract people to move back, the Town Hall decided to reopen the Fair. One day, when I came back from school, I saw Grandma wearing her glasses, washing the dishes in the kitchen. With a big smile on her face, she looked excited and a lot much younger. She told me that her two of her cousins would come. "They said they missed hometown and wanted to enjoy my food again."  Grandma said happily. "They will stay here for one week and we can have a big party. That must be the busiest week I've had in years!”

    I suddenly realized that Grandma didn't want to be looked after. She wanted to be “useful”, appreciated and helpful.

    A man in Pakistan is now working to help children get an education. When he was a child, he did not go to school because he was too poor.

    It is reported that Pakistan has 25 million children who do not go to school. That is the second ­highest number in the world. Only Nigeria has more. Many Pakistani children must work to support their families.

    Mohammad Ayub was once one of those children. He is now a firefighter. He also manages a small school. VOA recently visited the school in the capital Islamabad.

    Ayub started with just one student in 1982. He saw a boy cleaning cars for days. He asked him, "Why don't you go to school?" The boy answered that his parents were dead and he had to work to help support his five brothers and three sisters.

    Ayub was also an orphan and he, too, had to work to help support his five brothers and three sisters. He said, "When my father died, everyone who came to the funeral said they were sorry, but no one helped." He sold newspapers and did other work to earn enough money to pay school fees for his brothers and sisters.

    Ayub wanted to help the young boy who washed cars, but he did not have enough money to pay the boy's school fees.

    Today, Ayub teaches many children at his school in a public park. Some of the children attend other schools in the morning, but come to Ayub in the afternoon to get help with their homework.

    Ayub has helped a large number of poor children since he began teaching. Many of them come from very poor areas near the park.

    Ayub said," I used to argue with kids who worked ' Why are you washing someone's dishes or their clothes? Why don't you study? ' "

    One of the children he advised to attend classes was Farhat Abbas. Ayub found him working with his friends about 12 years ago. "He followed us back home. He told our parents he wanted to teach us and asked them to send us to his school, "Abbas said.

    Today, Abbas is taking classes at a college and is helping Ayub.

    Many children are out of school, and those who do attend classes often get a poor education. Information gathered by an organization shows half of all Pakistani children in the 5th grade do not understand basic mathematics and cannot read a story in their language.

    A group in Islamabad reports Pakistan spends less on education than any other country in South Asia.

    World famous physicist(物理学家) Stephen Hawking died peacefully at his home in Cambridge on March 14th, 2018.

    Hawking was born in Oxford, England on January 8th, 1942. He went to school in a small city near London. As he himself admitted, he wasn't very serious about studying. He did very little work, he was never top of his class. However, he still achieved good marks. After leaving school, Hawking first went to Oxford University to study physics. Then he went to Cambridge University to study cosmology(宇宙学).

    At the age of 21, Hawking noticed something wrong with him. He had a bad illness that stopped him from moving and talking. He couldn't communicate except by blinking(眨眼). He sat on a wheelchair with a computer by his side. To communicate with others, he moved two fingers to control the computer's mouse. He chose his words from the screen, which were then spoken by a voice synthesizer(音响合成器). "I've had the disease for most of my life," Hawking once said, "Yet it has not stopped me from being successful at my work."

    Although Hawking was a disabled man, he made great achievements. He received many awards and prizes for his work, including the Albert Einstein Award—the highest achievement in physics.

    Hawking worked at Cambridge University as a professor. His story shows that nobody, however bad their situation is, should lose hope. "Life is not fair." he once said, "You just have to do the best you can in your own situation."

    Many students have hobbies, such as reading, painting, growing vegetables and looking after animals. Some hobbies are relaxing and others are active. Hobbies can make you grow as a person, develop your interests and help you learn new skills.

    David Smith is a student, and one of his hobbies is writing. During the summer of 2010, he spent four weeks at a summer camp. Besides the usual activities, such as sailing and climbing, there was a writing class. " The teacher was a writer, and she asked us to talk about our lives and tell interesting stories. Then she encouraged us to write about our experiences at the camp," says David.

    Back at school, David wrote a story about the life of a sixteen-year-old boy, and it came out as a book in 2012. Many young people love his book, and as a result, David has become a successful young writer.

    David has been very lucky because his hobby has brought him pleasure and success. But writing is not his only hobby. He is also interested in many other things. "I like playing volleyball, too, "says David. "I spend some of my free time playing volleyball for my school team. Maybe I'll write about my volleyball team in my future books."