Lita CabEllut is one of Spain's most successful artists, “My 1 was like that of thousands of street kids around the world.” says Lita. She used to 2 the streets of Barcelona with other homeless children and 3 in the open air.

    Lita was 4 in a village in Aragon, north-east Spain, in 1961.While she was a baby, her mother 5 Barcelona. She was left with her grandmother—but 6 she spent most of her time out on the 7 .

8 , she says that “art was there because art is 9 around us”, but she didn't think about it in a 10 sense —she was focused on 11 .

    Lita's grandmother 12 when she was about 10 years old and she 13 a Barcelona orphanage（孤儿院）before being 14 by “a beautiful Catalan family” two years later.

She didn't 15 much about them, except that they 16 her to art. They took her to Madrid's Prado museum, and showed Goya's works to her. Her adopted family 17 Lita to keep painting—they 18 paid for private teachers to make up for 19 time. She slowly made progress at school, started to listen to the “voice of art” and 20 to study hard.

    Many people think that babysitting is one of the1jobs for young people. They imagine a teenager putting a few well-behaved children to bed and then continuing to watch television until the parents return home to hand over some money. Well, I can tell you how2that thought is.

    I now work all3on Wednesdays for a Ukrainian family with three young boys. In the early morning, I go there to 4the older two while their mother does her jobs or takes care of her six-month-old baby. However, I am also there to5their English by teaching them songs and games in my native language.

    Now, four months later, I get home at the end of the day6exhausted！Babysitting is not a job for the7or the weak. I expected8children who would behave well and listen to me all the time. 9,I don't think those kind of children exist at all. While my two boys are usually polite and calm, they are10children and also like to fight, scream and lose their temper for no real11. I often have no idea why they cry together.

Being a babysitter requires you to play a hundred different12throughout the day. I have to be a friend when I play with the boys, but their 13when I tell them to do something. When they hurt themselves, I have to be their14, and when they fight over15 things like sharing their crayons(彩笔)，I have to be a negotiator(调停者)。 When lunchtime rolls around, I am a(n) 16to prepare the meal and then a maid as I clean up after lunch. Finally, in English, if someone is very17, we say they have the "Patience of God". I think I embody(体现) this 18sometimes!

    Despite the19involved in my job, I usually do enjoy it. Working with children is so tiring that I always feel20after leaving them with their parents at the end of the day！

    After a decade at the publishing company, I was fired. I had worked so hard for so long. I was always doing my job 1 , clawing my way up the ladder. And 2 ? Doing these things had 3 me in the end, very little of lasting value. I wondered what would happen if I let it all go—didn't look for a job, didn't keep my 4 ambition.

    My husband thought it was a great idea. “Just 5 .” he said. As a serious windsurfer, he suggested I try the sport as a path to clarity. I had windsurfed before , but only in 6 water. I didn't like high winds. I didn't like going fast—that was 7. But I wanted to abandon the past. My 8 was to do nothing but read and windsurf every day. I wanted to feel the fear and do it anyway. I wanted to learn how to ride the currents, and I couldn't think of a better way than to 9 myself to the invisible, ever-shifting wind.

    I decided to sail at Swell City, a favorite outpost on the Washington side of the Columbia. That July 10 to be one of the windiest months on record. I grew to find that what I was doing did 11 for my standing in the world. It won me no friends.Then again, I was 12 .

    One day, a friend and her l5-year-old son came, and after I explained my 13 , he said the simplest but most profound thing: “It's all in the 14 . ” This kid had windsurfed only three times , 15 he knew the secret. “If you go out there knowing you're going to 16 it, you will, ”he continued. “But if you go out there afraid you'll get hurt , you will. ” I smiled at him. Wasn't that 17 the same problem I'd encountered in life? I'd always been terrified l wouldn't reach the goal or 18 the job. I knew I had to let that fear go. And slowly I did.

    The wind wanted nothing from me. It cared not at all about my ambition or accomplishments. It 19 me that the beauty of life is in the trying. And that's where I am: still trying for the turnaround in life and in the 20 .

    “How did you do it, Dad? How have you 1 not to take a drink for almost 20 years？” It took me almost 20 years to have the2to even ask my father this very 3question. When Dad first4drinking, the whole family was on pins and needles5 he got into a situation that, in the past, would have started him drinking again. For a few years we were6to bring it up for fear that the drinking would begin again.

    “I had this little7 that I would recite to myself8four to five times a day.” was Dad's9to my 18 year old unasked question. “The10 were an instant relief and constant reminder to me that things were never so 11that I could not handle them，” Dad said. And then he 12the poem with me. The poem's simple, yet profound (深奥的) words13became part of my daily routine as well.

    About a month after this talk with my father, I14a gift in the mail from a friend of mine. It was a book of affirmations (断言)with one affirmation listed for each15of the year.

    I16opened the book to the page of my birthday to see what words of wisdom this book had in store for me.17of disbelief and appreciation rolled down my face. There, on my birthday, was the18poem that had helped my19for all these years! It is called The Serenity Prayer.

    God, give me the serenity (平静) to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to20the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

    Tim, my seven-year-old son, is learning to play the drums. It is an 1 that has always caught his attention 2 he hears them played. Before I3 his first lessons, drums were all he wanted. At the age of 3 he 4 his mini drum set during a show. Using that same drum set he perfected the timing and rhythm of a popular church song 5enough for his mom to sing along to. My son had found his passion at a young age and Had a natural 6 to catch on quickly. Wanting to act quickly to 7 his talent, I immediately signed him up for drum lessons. No sooner had my first payment cleared than his passion 8. He did not want to take instructions. He wanted to play the drums 9. To him the drums were a way of 10. Ian wanted to "play the beat of his own drum."

    The challenge was that music has more than one 11. Rock doesn't sound like smooth jazz and smooth jazz doesn't sound like 12 You can't play every 13 that exists to the same beat .If14 were a series of songs, the melodies 15could be calming and peaceful, or violent and chaotic, Each event we face has its16own sound, so we have to learn 17 to play the tune of the moment. You should understand that even with all the natural talent in the world there is always 18for improvement. You can't do it all without 19'You won't know how to play every beat life throws at you without practice. You can't 20talent forever.

Sharing Hope with Refugees(难民)

    The night before she had a test at school, eight-year-old Trisha Rao was worried. To give herself 1 , she wrote a poem about believing in herself. Her words gave her courage, and she 2 the test.

    One day while listening to the news with her father, Trisha learned about the war in Syria. Conditions in the country were tough, and many people were leaving for safer regions. "I was 3 that they lost their homes and some of them lost their family," Trisha said. "They didn't have enough money to buy lunch even."

    It made Trisha think. If the poem she had written the night before her test had given her 4 , maybe it could do the same for the refugee children.

    Trisha worked on her poem and turned it into a book called Believe in Yourself. It's the story of a puppy named sunshine and his father, Papa Dog. The dogs travel around the jungle. From fellow animals, they learn 5 about persistence, teamwork, loyalty, hard work, courage, and kindness.

    Trisha illustrated (加插图) the book, too. With the help of her mother and a family friend, she 6 the book in English and Arabic.

    For a family vacation, Trisha asked 7 she and her family could go to Turkey. Many Syrian children who lost their homes in the war were living there now, and Trisha wanted to 8 their spirits up.

    Her family got in touch with Support to Life, an agency that provides emergency relief after a disaster. 9 the group's assistance, Trisha was able to meet refugee children and read her book to them.

    For every book she sells, Trisha gives away a free copy of Believe in Yourself to children around the world. Her purpose is simple but 10: "I hope it will give them hope and that they will learn many lessons from the book and believe in themselves."