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.

    As a kid， I read a story of a bird. It described a male bird which takes a lot of pain to build a house and the female bird takes care of the baby in it. When the baby bird learns to fly， the whole family flies off to a different place leaving behind the beautiful nest for other birds to grow their family in it. It made me confused(困惑的)： How could they so easily give up their house built with so much effort?

    One night， I got this dream. I was walking on the endless road with beautiful trees on the either side. Attracted by the greenery， I went on， then I saw a wonderful house. I explored the house. There was a sloping(斜的) roof which matched with the greenery around； the large central open yard reminded me of the activities that might have taken place there which felt lively even now. The small water body that kept the house cool added to the beauty of the house — of course， it was all dried up now. Such liveliness turns the house into a home. People say “THE HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS”， and now I felt it and was attracted deeply.

    When I woke up from the dream， I was clear about everything. I realized what message my dream wanted to convey(传递) me. And years later， when I chose my career， I thought of the story of the bird and my dream， then I was sure what to do. I decided to choose architecture as my career. I wanted to do the same thing that the male bird in the story did， to take pain in building a beautiful house and let others stay in it. My dream comes true and the happiness that I gain now from this career is great.

    Alisa was walking around the swimming pool. Her friend Maria was waiting for her. "Come on, Alisa!" Maria said. "Let's jump off the diving board (跳水版)."

    "No way! I can never go that high," said Alisa.

    "Don't be scared," Maria said. "It's really fun."

    Alisa walked away and sat on a bench.

    "You go. I'll watch you," said Alisa.

    "You don't know what you're missing," said Maria. Then she climbed up the tall ladder (梯子). It made Alisa scared just thinking of being up there.

    Maria jumped off the board and then climbed out of the pool. She walled to Alisa. "Come on, Alisa; just try it. It's wonderful!" she said.

    Alisa looked up at the board. Maybe it was time to try something new. OK, she said. Alisa climbed up the ladder for the diving board. The water looked far, far away. She wanted to turn back to climb down the ladder， but that would be too embarrassing. There was only one thing to do.

    Alisa walked to the edge (边缘) of the board. Then she closed (闭上) her eyes and jumped. She got into the water in no time. "Wow, so wonderful! I like it!" she shouted.

    Each of us makes mistakes from time to time. In fact, we can get a lot from our mistakes.

    Donnie was a shy student and never answered questions in class. He was afraid to make mistakes. He never finished his homework because he didn't want to make any mistakes. Nothing changed till Marry Anne, a teacher, came to our class.

    One morning, Marry Anne asked Donnie to answer some questions. After a while Donnie was in tears because he made a mistake. Suddenly Marry Anne got a box full of erasers from the desk.

    "Look, Donnie," she said standing beside him. "I have something to show you." She took out the erasers, one at a time, and put them on the desk.

    "See these erasers, Donnie?" she asked. "Do you know why the erasers become smaller and smaller? That's because we make mistakes. But we erase the mistakes and try again. That's what you must learn."

    "Here," she said, "I'll leave one eraser on your desk, so you will remember that everyone may make mistakes." Donnie looked at Marry Anne and smiled.

    Donnie changed a lot from then on. He knew that everyone had the permission(许可) to make mistakes as long as you learned them and tried again.

    As far back as he could remember, Larry had wanted to go to Hollywood and become a film star. The young man's hopes for success were broken again and again. However, Hollywood was just everything to him. When he first came to California? Larry had decided never to give up and return home without success. Therefore, he kept on trying. "Some day," he told himself, "my big chance would come."

    Larry found a job—parking cars at one of Hollywood's big restaurants. His pay was low, but since the guests were kind enough to give him more money, he managed to make a living. One day he recognized an important film director driving into the parking lot and getting out of his car. Larry had recently heard that the man was ready to make a new picture.

    Larry got into the car and prepared to drive it on into the lot and park it. Then he stopped, jumped out, and ran over to the director. "Excuse me, sir, but I think it's only fair to tell you that it's now or never if you want me in your next picture. A lot of big companies are after me."

Instead of pushing away the boy, the director laughed, then wrote something on a card and handed it to the young man. "Come and see me tomorrow."

    Larry got a small part in the director's next film. He was on his way!