Jack Ma is the founder and CEO of Alibaba Group. He was one of the 100 global "future leaders" of the 2001 World Economic Forum and the "commercial leader" of 2001 elected by US Commercial Association of Asia.

    Born in the city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, Ma graduated from Hangzhou Teachers Institute in 1988 (he failed the entrance exam twice) and became a lecturer in English and International Trade.

    In 1985, a one-month visit to see an Australian pen pal he had met in Hangzhou changed his life. "Everything I'd learned in China was that China was the richest country in the world," he said. "When I arrived in Australia, I realized it's totally different. I started to think you have to use your own mind to judge, to think." After his return, Ma became the chairman of the Students' Union of the whole city.

    Jack Ma founded Alibaba.com in 1999, a China based business to business marketplace site. In 2003, Alibaba launched Taobao.com, a consumer to consumer auction (消费者拍卖) website similar to eBay.

    Ma said that he got most of his ideas while taking very long, hot showers. He likes to spend time walking his four dogs and playing chess and poker. He said, "I've learned a lot of business philosophy by playing poker."

    Looking ahead, Ma said that he dreamed of using his group's resources to improve the lives of all Chinese people, especially the 900 million farmers. "There must be some way of using our experience, our know-how, and make their life easier," he said.

    Cities usually have a good reason for being where they are, like a nearby port or river. People settle in these places because they are easy to get to and naturally suited to communications and trade. New York City, for example, is near a large harbour at the mouth of the Hudson River. Over 300 years its population grew gradually from 800 people to 8 million. But not all cities develop slowly over a long period of time. Boom towns grow from nothing almost overnight. In 1896, Dawson, Canada, was unmapped wilderness(荒野). But gold was discovered there in 1897, and two years later, it was one of the largest cities in the West, with a population of 30,000.

    Dawson did not have any of the natural conveniences of cities like London or Paris. People went there for gold. They travelled over snow-covered mountains and sailed hundreds of miles up icy rivers. The path to Dawson was covered with thirty feet of wet snow that could fall without warming. An avalanche(雪崩) once closed the path, killing 63 people. For many who made it to Dawson, however, the rewards were worth the difficult trip. Of the first 20,000 people who dug for gold, 4,000 got rich. About 100 of these stayed rich men for the rest of their lives.

    But no matter how rich they were, Dawson was never comfortable. Necessities like food and wood were very expensive. But soon, the gold that Dawson depended on had all been found. The city was crowded with disappointed people with no interest in settling down, and when they heard there were new gold discoveries in Alaska, they left Dawson City as quickly as they had come. Today, people still come and go — to see where the Canadian gold rush happened. Tourism is now the chief industry of Dawson City — its present population is 762.

    As a college student, I have planned my future career goals. I would like to work as a sales assistant in a computer company, then a sales manager and finally boss of my own company.

    At the very beginning, I plan to find a job in a famous company producing computers, in which all the staff are fully happy at work and I can experience job satisfaction most of the time. Only such kind of company can provide me with good working atmosphere and eagerness to learn more so as to get well prepared for my future profession.

    At first I want to be a sales assistant and always keep myself busy working in and out of the company, such as, answering telephones, doing repair work, even cleaning the rooms. Although the salary may be low, I will seize every chance to learn from other staff. In my spare time, I will take some courses so as to get more qualifications and experience in this field. In three or five years, I am determined to become a sales manager who is responsible for the selling of the computers. I will interview as many customers as possible and do market research and improve our products. Meanwhile I will take care of my staff to make them eager to work to the best of their abilities.

    As is known to us, it is hard to manage a company, but I will make every effort to achieve my goal step by step, and I am sure "There is nothing difficult in the world if you put your heart into it."

    Columbus made four voyages to the west between 1492 and 1504 in his vain（徒劳的）search for a sea route to Asia. The mystery of why he failed to find it haunted（萦绕心头的,耿耿于怀的） him and filled him with sadness.

    Wherever he went to Cuba（古巴）,Puerto Rico（波多黎各）,Jamaica（牙买加）,South America, Panama（巴拿马）,down the coast of Central America—it was always the same story. Instead of golden palaces, there were grass huts and palm-leaf tents. Instead of silk-robed merchant princes, he found "Indians" who did not have so much as a shirt on their backs.

    When Columbus explored the West Indies in 1493,he heard tales of a fierce Indian tribe（凶狠的印第安部落） who literally devoured（吞食） its defeated enemies after a battle. These people were called by many names in the area, including Calina, Canima, Carib, and Caniba. Columbus recorded the name of the American natives as Canibales in Spanish, a word which came to refer, within a few years, to any eater of human flesh（食人部落,食人族）.In the similar fashion, the word Caribbean, a title for the sea as well as for the region, came into English.

    At times Columbus knew that this new land was not China, not Japan, not the Spice Islands. He seemed to accept it as a part of the earth that the geographers of Europe had never heard of before. It was another world—and he called it exactly that—but Columbus also insisted until he died that land he had reached was an unknown part of Asia.

    A friend is better than fortune. A friend is worse than poison in some cases.

    The two sentences above have opposite meanings and seem to be unreasonable  but they can be explained as follows: the first refers to all good friends who drive us towards good while the second all bad ones who lead us into bad ways.

    My ideal friend is of course a good friend whose goodness is shown below — he has no bad habits  such as smoking and drinking. He lives in frugality (节俭). He studies hard so as not to waste his golden time. At home he honors his parents and loves his brothers; at school he respects his teachers and shares the feelings of his classmates. He treats those truly who are true to him. In a word, he has all the good characteristics that I don't have. I can follow him as a model. With his help I can be free from all difficulties.

    Indeed, if I have such a person as my friend, I shall never fear difficulty and I shall never know the existence of the word "failure".

Racing is nothing new for Sebastian Rosado. He was born with cerebral palsy (脑瘫), which affects a person's ability to move. Though most of his life has been limited to a wheel-chair, he has done at least one race a year since 2011.

It was about a decade ago that his mother, Jaime, was training for a race in Puerto Rico, and Sebastian asked if he could accompany her. She'd have to push him in the wheelchair because his arm functions are limited, and she was okay with that. However, the race wouldn't allow it. Then, Sebastian's family decided to make a special race for children like Sebastian. The race gives them a chance to prove that despite being told from a young age that they might not be able to do some things in their lives, they can also become what they wish to be in life.

Sebastian has run it every year using a special walker. Each year, he tries to outdo his previous goal. Instead of just 5 km in 2020, he wanted to attempt to run 21 km over 30 days. Sebastian's plan is to complete the distance by May 9, accounting for completing 1 km, at most, in a day.

Sebastian used to train in a track and field facility close to home, and it's amazing to hear runners telling him things like, "Wow , sometimes I don't have the strength to train but when I see you doing this, I feel that I have no excuse," 62 swimmers are joining Sebastian's challenge this month by swimming 800 meters each one.

Sebastian has a saying that your disability is not in your body, but in your mind. It's really powerful. If you promise yourself you'll do something, you can achieve it by using your mind.