Some people live to climb the highest mountains. Some people live only dreaming about it while others live to avoid ever climbing at all. But one thing is certain — all people meet mountains in their life. 

When I was a little girl, my family moved to a tiny town at the bottom of a big mountain. One day after school, while exploring the green woods of this amazing mountain, I almost fell on a set of stairs. What could these steps lead to? Curiosity got the best of me as I knew it would be starting to get dark soon. I started climbing up those strangely mysterious (神秘的) steps. I climbed and climbed. There was nothing but just green bushes and these steps. I had to reach the top. But it was now getting real dark. If I kept going I might not be able to see my way back. My mom would be worried sick if I didn't come home soon. So I ran back home almost in the dark while trying not to get too scared.

Anxiously I went to bed dreaming about what I would find at the top of this magical mountain. Could there be a castle up there? Maybe I would find a monster (怪物) . Maybe I was taking the risk of never coming back home. Or, maybe all I would find was absolutely nothing! But something inside me was going to climb that mountain at all cost. I could hardly wait to try this adventure again. 

Now we live in a world surrounded by the "can't do" attitudes. We all fall down. We all have doubts and regrets. Still we must climb and dream about what's at the top of our mountain. Monsters may appear or the night will fall. But never ever give up on your dream! Never let anyone tell you, "You can't." Dream big and climb high!

It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.

My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I'm so glad I did.

On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big hums (脊背) in the distance.

On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn't believe it—there aren't any whales along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.

The little baby whale—actually as big as our boat—was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools (漩涡) and waves. "She's trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side," my father said. At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe—and to give us a trusting (信任的) look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.

In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.

When I first heard about the improv(即兴表演) classes, I was torn. As an introvert, I feared getting on stage and improvising in front of strangers. However, I knew I wanted to work as a science communicator after finishing my Ph.D. , so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to improve my speaking ability and gain confidence thinking on my feet.

During our first class, we learned a core concept of improv: "yes, and." It means that, as improvisers, we accept what fellow performers say. If someone says that rhinos(犀牛) are librarians, for example, then rhinos are librarians. We do not question the logic; we say "yes" and continue with the scene as if no him is wrong.

I got a taste of how difficult that was when acting out my first scene. My classmate turned to me and said, "Mom is going to be so mad." Mad about what? My mind spun out ideas, and my inner critic shot them all down. We broke the car? No, that's too easy. We failed a test? No, you don't want your classmates thinking you're stupid on the first day. I finally landed on an answer: "Yes, we're going to be late for dinner." The scene proceeded from there, and we eventually finished as two sisters who lost their way on a hiking trail.

The first few scenes were hard, but as weeks turned into months, I became more comfortable thinking on my feet and even started to enjoy our classes. I never silenced my inner critic entirely, but over time, I didn't police my words with quite so much effort. I also became better at listening, relating to my conversation partners, and communicating clearly in the moment.

That training proved useful 6 months ago, when my experiments generated unreasonable data. Early on in graduate school, I would get stuck when this happened; my inner critic would assume I had made a mistake. But then, after embracing the "yes, and" concept, instead of getting discouraged, I kept exploring the data and ended up identifying a new type of cell—one that wasn't behaving as expected. If I hadn't accepted the possibility that the results were real, I would have missed out on the most exciting finding of my Ph.D. so far.

All scientists can benefit from this lesson. If the data say rhinos are librarians, then it's worth investigating whether rhinos are, in fact, librarians. Our job as scientists isn't to generate data that support a preconceived(预想的) story. Our job is to say "yes, and."

Nick Torrance, a junior in high school, suffers from muscular dystrophy(肌肉萎缩症), and attends school in a specialized wheelchair. The muscle disease prevents him from accomplishing many everyday tasks, such as carrying his books and putting things away in his locker. So he had a fellow student assigned to help him. But Amy Smith, the school's occupational therapist(治疗师), thought that being able to do something simple like opening his locker on his own would be empowering.

Amy initially thought they would be able to buy a device to help. But searching online turned up nothing that could meet their needs—everything needed a keycode or some other physical action, things her disabled student couldn't do. After the outside search for a method came up short, she looked within the school itself for an answer. Amy turned to the school's robotics instructor.

The instructor, in turn, suggested that two of his most capable students take on the project: Micah Stuhldreher and Wyatt Smrcka. They took first place in a national robotics competition, so they were a natural choice to tackle the locker door problem with a robotics solution. Micah and Wyatt wasted no time getting down to work and for an hour each school day, the boys brainstormed, built, and rebuilt various versions of the device until they landed on the perfect solution one year later.

Like in any device development, it took a lot of trial and error for Micah and Wyatt to make something that would work for their target audience. For example, they initially built a locker-opening button, but Nick wasn't strong enough to push it, so they replaced it with a sensor.

Now, between classes Nick steers his electric wheelchair to his locker and waves his hand over a sensor on the arm of the wheelchair. A few seconds later, the locker door swings open. Another wave closes the door. Nick can make it with ease—it may be a small thing, but it gives him a sense of independence. 

There is {#blank#}1{#/blank#} lovely panda. She lives with her parents and they lead a happy life in the forest. One day the panda {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (pick) a huge pumpkin and wanted to take it home. But the pumpkin was too big for her {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (take) it home on her own. She could do nothing but sit beside the pumpkin. She thought {#blank#}4{#/blank#} if she waited there, she might turn to a passerby for help.

Suddenly, she saw a bear {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (ride) a bike towards her. She watched the bike and suddenly, she jumped and shouted {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (happy), "I know! I have a good idea—I can roll (滚动) the pumpkin. It's just like a wheel!" Therefore, she rolled the pumpkin to {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (she) house. When her mother saw the big pumpkin, which was {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (big) than her little daughter, she was {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (surprise), "Oh, my God! How can you get it home?" The little panda answered proudly, "I can't lift it, but I can roll it." Her mother smiled and said, "{#blank#}10{#/blank#} a clever girl you are!"

Last year I moved to a new city with my husband and daughter. So during the first months we were busy getting 1 . This place is very different from where I lived before and we had a lot of 2 .

Then things were running 3 due to our efforts. So we decided to conduct a small ceremony at home in 4 of our success in adjusting to the new life. After the simple ceremony, we still had some food 5 . Our daughter suggested that she go with her father and look for someone who 6 all these food.

Hearing the 7 of my daughter, my husband offered to take her in his car to the nearby areas. But after a long time, they 8 to find a suitable one. They were about to return home suddenly when my daughter 9 an old man sitting under a tree. He looked 10 , tired and anxious.

My husband stopped the car and my daughter 11 the man and handed him the food packets. The surprised person looked at my daughter and asked if those item s were for him. When he listened to the 12 answer, he smiled, thanked my daughter a lot and started eating. After a short chat with the man, they went back home happily. The 13 on my daughter's face made me feel 14 a hungry human was a correct thing. It added to our happiness — I had the 15 to conduct an act of kindness.