A girl who graduated from a world famous university wanted to do translation work for authority leaders. She was so happy when she entered the British Embassy (大使馆). She thought it was the greatest happiness in her life as many graduates wanted to get that job and she was one of the few people who got it!

But when she started her new job, she realized that it was just a job of answering calls and recording staff members'arriving and leaving times. It was supposed to have no future. For some time, she felt disappointed and didn't know what to do. However, she didn't want to give up this job. She thought about it for one or two days and finally she decided that she would try her best to do this job. From then on, she learnt to appreciate her own job. She wrote down the names and phone numbers of the staff members on a notebook so that she could remember them. She found great pleasure in dealing with the daily chores. When a phone call came in, she picked up the phone as soon as possible. When someone asked her about who was not in the office, she would give the right name and even the time when he or she left. Nobody could do that except her.

Her excellent work received praise not only from the embassy's members, but also from people in the local government. A leader of a famous company in Britain was deeply impressed by her, so he invited her to work for him. After that she became the leader's personal translator and she was appreciated by the foreigners.

      We cannot choose our destiny(命运), but we can choose the attitude with which we face our life. Maybe the attitude could change our destiny.

      More and more people think it necessary to study in an English-speaking country and it didn't take long at all for me to decide to come and study in UK.

      I have been used to school life since I came here two months ago, and I am starting to enjoy most of my time in here. School starts at 9 o'clock every morning, and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we have long days, in which we have 9 lessons and school finishes at 4 o'clock. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday we have short days, in which we have only 6 lessons and finish at 1 o'clock. After lessons, we have  hours of activity time, when you can choose from a number of activities, including many sports, such as rugby(英式橄榄球) , football, basketball and tennis.

As a boarder(寄宿者), the quality of food is something I consider very important, and Merchiston has not let me down. The school kitchens are run by a professional company, and the quality of food is excellent, and they are always trying to make the diet healthy. One of the obvious advantages of being a boarder is that we can have breakfast in the school, which means we don't have to pull ourselves out of bed as early as the day pupils!

    One day in a restaurant, the American writer Anne Herbert wrote this sentence on a piece of paper: "Random(任意的) actions of kindness." Later she repeated it in an interview on a TV show, and it soon caught people's eyes and made people think about how small "kind" actions could make our daily lives better.

    One rainy night, a woman was standing at a bus stop waiting for the bus. A man came by on a motorcycle and offered to give her a ride. Of course, the woman said no. It would be crazy to accept a ride from a stranger on a motorcycle. Suddenly the man reached out and put a 50-dollar bill in her hand. He said, "Please take a taxi. It hurts me to see you standing here in the rain." Before she could refuse, he left quickly on his motorcycle.

    Kind actions can be contagious. Once, a woman was going through a toll station(收费站) on a highway. Instead of paying for one ticket, she asked for two. She said to the toll collector, "The second ticket is for the car behind me." She didn't know the person in that car. She just did it without thinking more. So when the next car came up, the toll collector said to the driver, "You don't have to pay. The woman in the blue car just paid for you." The driver was so surprised that he decided to pay for the person behind him. This continued with 14 drivers that day.

    So just imagine what the world will be like if we all practice random actions of kindness from time to time?

    Old George bought the black gloves for just ＄35 ten years ago. They were made of leather skin, soft and warm and very strong. Until then, he had worn cheaper manmade material. Those gloves never lasted longer than three years. He first decided to buy the expensive gloves, because they would make him feel nice in front of others.

    George never let a drop of water or rain touch his expensive gloves, so they looked new. Losing this favorite thing was almost like losing a child to him. Bad luck! Geogorge lost his expensive gloves on New Year's Day.

    Back home, George was at a loss. In deep winter, he could not do without a pair of gloves. If he bought cheap ones again, he would have to replace(更换) them vey soon. If he bought a new leather pair, it would cost ＄50 now. He was upset that people no longer returned things they found on the road.

    After the holiday, poor George decided to buy another leather pair. Before boarding the subway, he went into Value Mart again to see if his gloves had been returned to the Lost and Found Office(失物招领处).

    "What color are they?" the woman in the office asked again.

    "Black," he gave the same answer. She looked onto her drawer and drew out a pair of men's leather gloves. "Are they?"

    Most people who work in the office have a boss (老板). So do I. But my boss is a little unusual. What's unusual about him? It's a big dog. Many men have dogs, but few men bring their dogs to the office every day. My boss's dog, Robinson, is big and brown. My boss brings him to work every day. He takes the dog to meetings and he takes the dog to lunch. When there is telephone call for my boss, I always know if he is in the office. I only look under his desk. If I see something brown and hairy (毛绒绒的) under it, I know my boss is somewhere in the office. If there is no dog, I know my boss is out.