Aerial performer Jennifer Bricker was born without legs, but she never let it stop her.

    Wrapped in a loop of red silk hung from the ceiling Jennifer Bricker climbs and twists to the music. Her head hangs down and her strong arms let go as she balances on her back, high above the ground a move that's all the more daring because she has no legs.

    Jennifer was a few months old when she was adopted by Sharon and Gerald Bricker. She had big brown eyes, a bright smile, and huge amounts of energy. When a doctor advised her adoptive parents to carry her around in a kind of bucket, they refused.

    Jennifer soon learned to walk — and run — on her hands and bottom, and grew up fearlessly climbing trees and bouncing on the trampoline（蹦床） with her three older brothers. “My parents didn't treat me differently so I didn't grasp the concept that I was different. I knew I didn't have legs but that wasn't stopping me from doing the things I wanted to do.”

    At the age of three she was fitted with artificial legs, but she never really took to them — she moved more freely without.

    In 1996 the Olympic Games took place in Atlanta. Jennifer loved to watch the women's gymnastics team, and especially adored the 14-year-old Dominique Moceanu who competed for the US. When Moceanu and the women's team won gold, Jennifer decided she was going to be a gymnast, too. She took up power tumbling, which involves performing floor exercises down a runway. But Jennifer did not want any allowances to be made for her disability.

    At the age of 10 she took part in the Junior Olympics and by age 11 she was tumbling champion for the state of Illinois.

    Jennifer now travels the world as an inspirational speaker and acts as an aerial performer.

    Growing up in one of the poorest communities with most crimes in Los Angeles, US, being raised by a poorly-educated single mother and attending the worst-quality public school, not many people expected much of me, so I chose to expect something of myself.

    On my 12th birthday, I bought a poster of Harvard University to hang in my room. Being at Harvard became my dream: I saw myself attending class in Sanders Theater, studying in Widener Library and eating in Annenberg Hall. Driven by this dream, I kept studying hard. I'd begin my day by asking myself these two questions: “What do I want in my life?” and “Are the things I am doing today going to get me closer to that life?”

    Asking myself the questions gave me the courage to ask over 50 Harvard, students for advice on my application essays; it gave me the energy to study just one more hour on my SATs when others were asleep; and it gave me the determination to apply for just one more scholarship when already refused many times. Moreover, reminding myself of my goal each day made it easy to say no to the same choices my friends made, because they would never get me closer to my goal. I found that even being poor could not take away my power to decide what I choose to do with my life.

    Every day I could feel myself getting closer and closer to my goal as my writing got better, my SAT score increased, and my scholarship offers started coming in. On March 31st, 2011, an email arrived from Harvard. The first word was “Congratulations!”. Tears of joy filled my eyes.

    Who you are today is the result of the decisions you made yesterday, and who you will be tomorrow will be the result of the choices you make today. Who do you want to be tomorrow?

    Most of us have friends as close as family, who, when necessary, we'd call at 3 a.m. for comfort or congratulations because we know they won't get angry about us. They're almost part of us, and we share with them with our troubles and successes. But although I love these Pour Your Heart Out friends, I also need the energy of my Let's Party friends. These friends care on a different level—less stressful, less deep—but they still care.

    And such friendships are important. 'With some friends, you want to be playful rather than deeply opening your heart,' says psychotherapist (心理治疗师) Susie Orbach. 'They feel relaxed and easy that you won't keep talking about your problems or stories, and you also feel the same way. It's healthy to have lots of different friends at different levels of closeness because not only is it impossible to be close to everyone, it's also unnecessary. You need to look at yourself from different angles (角度). This is the only way you can experiment with different parts of yourself.'

    Of course, it's upsetting to be with friends who can't-or-won't -allow you to open up your heart when you really need to find someone to listen to. But if we accept our Let's Party friends for what they want to offer us—fun, laughter, full stop—then we enrich our lives greatly.

    A crew of six teenage girls completed a nine-day sailing trip in the US recently, after braving seasickness and strong winds.

    For the past three years, the Sea Cadet teenagers who set sail were all male. Roger Noakes, who captained the boat, said this was the first time he'd taken out an all-female crew.

    The girls asked for an all-girls trip in August this year. The crew set sail along with three adults, Noakes and two Sea Cadet representatives. The original plan was for the girls to sail 24 hours a day in rotating shifts(轮流换班)along the coast and then return. Things turned out differently, however. “The first night was rough because the wind was really hard. The waves were going up and down,” said Abby Fairchild, 16. “Everybody got seasick.” Noakes gave the girls the option of just sailing in the bay and not going into open water. “But they decided they were going.”

    The teenagers then sailed a long way overnight and slept in shifts. “We've learned everything from steering(掌舵)the boat itself to putting up the sails to cooking while we have rough seas, ” said 15-year-old Olivia Wilcox.

    The teenagers stopped on land in Massachusetts. They didn't make it to their original destination in Maine, where they were supposed to have a celebratory dinner, due to the weather and winds. They said they weren't disappointed, however, as they'd learned a lot. “They learned about boating, and above all, they built confidence and character,” said Noakes.

    Your next car could have two seats, three wheels—two in front and one in the back and a top speed of more than 100 miles per hour. Elio Motors plans to make such a tiny car named the Elio. Its two seats sit front and back instead of side by side. The driver is positioned in the center with the passenger directly behind.

    The starting price for the car is just $6,800. It has only one door, on the left side, which cuts a few hundred dollars off the manufacturing costs. Having three wheels also makes it cheaper. It has air conditioning, power windows and door locks and an AM/FM radio. More features can be ordered through Elio's long list of suppliers. Elio will also sell the cars directly through its own stores and not through franchised dealers (特约经销商).

    Paul Elio dreamed as a kid that he would one day own a car company called Elio Motors. In 2008, tired of high gas prices, he started working on a car that burns gas in a more effective way. Equally important to him was creating US manufacturing jobs and making the car inexpensive enough to attract buyers who might otherwise be stuck in their old, unreliable cars. "Whatever matters to you, this can move the needle on it, he said.

    Already, more than 27,000 people have reserved one. Paul hopes to make 250,000 cars a year by 2020. So far, reservation holders are those who will use the Elio as a second or third car for work. Paul Elio believes the car will interest college students as well as used-car drivers who want something newer and more reliable, though.

    A student is learning to speak British English. He wonders: Can I communicate with Americans? Can they understand me? Learners of English often ask: What are the differences between British and American English? How important are these differences?

    Certainly, there are some differences between British and American English. There are a few differences in grammar. For example, speakers of British English say "in hospital" and "Have you a pen?" Americans say "in the hospital" and 'Do you have a pen?' Pronunciation is sometimes different. Americans usually sound theirs in words like "bird" and "hurt". Speakers of British English do not sound theirs in these words. There are differences between British and American English in spelling and vocabulary. For example, "colour" and "honour" are British, "color" and "honor" are American.

    These differences in grammar, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary are not important, however. For the most part, British and American English are the same language.