Every evening, 15-year-old Rashida returns home from school,changes out of her uniform, and rushes to a neighboring farm to help her motherharvest vegetables. Her father is disabled, so the modest profit the two ofthem earn must cover food, clothing and other necessities for all sevenchildren and their parents. Despite having precious little time to study,Rashida is one of the top students at her junior secondary school. But with somuch responsibility on her small shoulders, she admits that it is sometimeshard for her to imagine a more promising future.

Last year, Rashida was invited to join 155 other girls at CamfedGhana's first Girls' Career Camp, a program designed to inspire girls growingup in the country's Northern Region to dream big, and to support them to pursuethose dreams. “We organized this camp because we wanted to let girls know thateven if they are struggling with poverty, their lives will not be defined bylimitations,” says Dolores Dickson, Camfed Ghana's Executive Director.

    Over the course of five days, the camp led the junior andsecondary school students through a range of experiences and career opportunities that were entirely new to them. Dr. Agnes Apusiga, a lecturer from the University of DevelopmentStudies, ran the workshop on goal-setting and career choices, describing theuniversities and training colleges in Ghana that could help them achieve theirdreams. Participants then visited the University for Development Studies, wherethey toured the medical school and science labs. Another highlight was aworkshop at the computer lab at Tamale Secondary School. Many of the girls hadstudied information technology from a book but had never before seen acomputer.

   “When the girls arrived at camp, they were not ambitious,because they didn't have any idea what the world held for them,” says EugeniaAyagiba, Project Officer with Camfed Ghana. “Many had scarcely traveled beyondtheir own villages.”

“I think the most important thing that happened at the camp isthat we opened a window of hope for a group of girls coming from backgrounds ofpoverty,” says Eugenia. For Rashida, who has been laughed at in the past by herschoolmates because of her father's disability, the experience was important.“She told one of the camp mentors(辅导员) that whenshe is at school, she often feels like a misfit, and she prefers to keep toherself,” says Eugenia. “But at the camp, it was different. She made friendswith girls who have similar struggles. She took part in every single activity,every single game. On the last day, she said to her mentor, ‘The camp haschallenged me to study hard. Now I see that there is light at the end of thetunnel.'

Forgiveness(宽恕)

    Forgiveness is a quality that is difficult to possess. When someone has deeply hurt you, it can be extremely difficult to let go of your hate. However, forgiveness is possible, and it can be surprisingly beneficial to your physical and mental health. People who forgive show less sadness, anger and stress and more hopefulness, according to a recent research. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Try the following steps：

    Calm yourself. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}You can take a couple of breaths and think of something that gives you pleasure: a beautiful scene in nature, or someone you love.

    Don't wait for an apology. Many times the person who hurt you does not intend to apologize. They may have wanted to hurt you or they just don't see things the same way. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Keep in mind that forgiveness does not necessarily mean becoming friends again with the person who upset you.

    Take the control away from your offender(冒犯者). Rethinking about your hurt gives power to the person who caused you pain. Instead of focusing on your wounded feelings, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}If you understand your offender, you may realize that he or she was acting out of unawareness, fear, and even love. You may want to write a letter to yourself from your offender's point of view.

    Don't forget to forgive yourself. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}But it can rob you of your self-confidence if you don't do it.

A. How should you start to forgive?

B. Why should you forgive?

C. Try to see things from your offender's angle.

D. Recognize the benefits of forgiveness.

E. For some people, forgiving themselves is the biggest challenge.

F. If you wait for people to apologize, you could be waiting an awfully long time.

G. To make your anger die away, try a simple stress management technique(技能).

    Having experienced a shocking electrical accident, which caused him to become both blind and deaf, James Franco's world became completely dark and quiet for almost ten years. The loss of sight and hearing threw him into such sorrow that he tried a few times to put an end to his life. His family, especially his wife, did their best to tend and comfort him and finally he regained the will to live.

    One hot summer afternoon, he was taking a walk with a stick near his house when a thunderstorm started all at once. He stood under a large tree to avoid getting wet, but he was struck by lightning. Witnesses (目击者) thought he was dead but he woke up 20 minutes later, lying face down in muddy water. He was trembling badly, but when he opened his eyes, he could hardly believe what he saw: a tree and a muddy road. When Mrs. Franco came running up to him, shouting to their neighbors to call for help, he could see her and hear her voice for the first time in nearly ten years.

    The news of James regaining his sight and hearing quickly spread and many doctors came to examine him. Most of them said that he regained his sight and hearing from the shock he got from lightning. However, none of them could give a compelling answer as to why this should happen. The only reasonable explanation given by one doctor was that, since James lost his sight and hearing as a result of a sudden shock, perhaps, the only way for him to regain them was by another sudden shock.

    It's such a happy-looking library, painted yellow, decorated with palm-tree stickers and sheltered from the Florida sun by its own roof. About the size of a microwave oven, it's pedestrian-friendly, too, waiting for book lovers next to a sidewalk in Palm Beach country Estates, along the northern boundary of Palm Beach Gardens.

    It's a library built with love.

  A year ago, shortly after Janey Henriksen saw a Brian Williams report about the Little Free Library organization, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit that aims to promote literacy and build a sense of community in a neighborhood by making books freely available, she announced to her family of four, “That's what we're going to do for our spring break!”

    Son Austin, now a 10th-grader, didn't see the point of building a library that resembles a mailbox. But Janey insisted, and husband Peter unwillingly got to work. The 51-year-old owner of a ship supply company modified a small wooden house that he'd built years earlier for daughter Abbie's toy horses, and made a door of glass.

    After adding the library's final touches (装点), the family hung a signboard on the front, instructing users to “take a book, return a book,” and making the Henriksen library, now one of several hundred like it nationwide and among more than 2,500 in the world, the only Little Free Library in Palm Beach County.

    They stocked it with 20 or so books they'd already read, a mix of science fiction, reference titles, novels and kids' favorites. “I told them, keep in mind that you might not see it again,” said Janey, a stay-at-home mom.

    Since then, the collection keeps replenishing (补充) itself, thanks to ongoing donations from borrowers. The library now gets an average of five visits a day.

    The project's best payoff, says Peter, are the thank-you notes left behind. “We had no idea in the beginning that it would be so popular.”  (317 words)

    Science has a lot of uses. It can uncover laws of nature, cure diseases, make bombs, and help bridges to stand up. Indeed science is so good at what it does that there's always a temptation(诱惑) to drag it into problems where it may not be helpful. David Brooks, author of The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character,and Achievement, appears to be the latest in a long line of writers who have failed to resist the temptation.

    Brooks gained fame for several books. His latest book The Social Animal, however, is more ambitious and serious than his earlier books. It is an attempt to deal with a set of weighty topics. The book focuses on big questions: What has science revealed about human nature? What are the sources of character? And why are some people happy and successful while others aren't?

    To answer these questions, Brooks surveys a wide range of disciplines（学科）. Considering this, you might expect the book to be a dry recitation of facts. But Brooks has structured his book in an unorthodox(非常规的), and perhaps unfortunate, way. Instead of introducing scientific theories, he tells a story, within which he tries to make his points, perhaps in order to keep the reader's attention.So as Harold and Erica, the hero and heroine in his story, live through childhood, we hear about the science of child development and as they begin to date we hear about the theory of sexual attraction. Brooks carries this through to the death of one of his characters.

    On the whole, Brooks' story is acceptable if uninspired. As one would expect, his writing is mostly clear and, to be fair, some chapters stand out above the rest. I enjoyed, for instance, the chapter in which Harold discovers how to think on his own. While Harold and Erica are certainly not strong or memorable characters, the more serious problems with The Social Animal lie elsewhere. These problems partly involve Brooks' attempt to translate his tale into science.

    It can be a real struggle trying to learn a new language. I had always enjoyed learning languages in school, but only recently did I start learning German. I found that I could understand and learn individual words easily, but when it came to literature, I really struggled. That was when my tutor at university suggested reading some children's books printed in the target language.

    At first, I felt a bit silly going on a hunt for a book designed for someone half my age, lout then I realised that everyone has to start somewhere. As children, we are given these basic texts to familiarise our brains with certain vocabulary and writing structures, and from there, we can learn and develop. I started with books which are taught to us as children in the UK. I managed to find Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

    The beauty of reading books that were introduced to you as a child is that you are already familiar with the plot. As a result, you can work out some of the definitions of words with your prior knowledge of the story. At first, I used to read with the book in one hand and a dictionary in the other, but this method did not work well for me. The method I would recommend is to read a chapter of your chosen children's book and at the end of that chapter, highlight the words you do not know and then look up the definitions. If you can wait a bit before you use a dictionary, you may be surprised what you can get merely from the context of the sentence in the story. Additionally, a lot of children's books have pictures which may give you a clue as to what or to whom the passage is referring.