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.

    One year, a college in the United States announced that it would offer a lot of money for the pure white marigold(金盏花). The high reward attracted so many people, but in the nature, besides golden, the marigold is brown, and it is not easy to get the white one. So after they were excited for a time, many people had forgotten the announcement.

    One normal day after 20 years, the college received a letter and 100 seeds of pure white marigold. It was an old woman of over 70 years old. Some experts in the college doubted it, but in order not to let her down, those seeds finally took root (根）in the earth. The miracle appeared after one year; the field was covered by pure white marigold.

    Therefore, the old woman who was always unknown to the public became a new focus.

    The old woman was a flower-lover. When she read the announcement 20 years ago, she got very excited like others. But her eight children were totally against her decision. After all, a woman who never knew the seed genetics(遗传学) couldn't complete what the experts could never do, so her thought was only a day dream.

    Still, the old woman didn't change her mind and went on working. She planted some of the most common seeds and took good care of them. A year later, when the marigold came out, she chose one faintest(最暗淡的) from those golden and brown flowers and got the best seed. The next year, she again grew them and chose...Day after day, year after year, through many seasons, the old woman's husband died, her children flew far, a lot of things happened in her life, but only the wish to grow the pure white marigold took root in her heart.

    Finally, after 20 years on the day we all know, in the garden she saw a marigold, which was nearly white, but as white as silver or snow.

    A problem even experts couldn't deal with was solved by an old woman who didn't understand genetics. Was it a miracle  (奇迹）?

To take root in the heart, even the most common seed, can grow into a miracle!

    Mary is a girl. She is a middle school student. She is thirteen. She is in Class Three, Grade Two.

    There is a big picture in Mary's bedroom. It's the picture of the family. Mary's mother is a teacher of Chinese. She is a very good teacher. Mary's father is a worker. There is a big red flower on his black coat. He is at work from Tuesday to Sunday. Mary's brother is near her mother. He is a middle school student, too. He is fourteen. He is in Grade Three.

    Mary and her brother like books. They like school. They study hard. They are good students.

    Billy Dengler, a 14-year-old boy, is in the eighth grade. When he was born a month later, Billy's mother, Terri, noticed that his eyes weren't quite as big as a normal baby's. She took Billy to the hospital, and the doctor said Billy would never be able to see.

    Although Billy can't see, he has never let that hold him back or make him different. Billy began teaching himself computer programming by using a screen reader when he was just seven years old. He is a certified Google developer (谷歌认证开发者) now. Google even tried to offer him a job last year when he discovered a problem in one of its systems, but Billy wasn't old enough.

    Billy's dream school would be Stanford University or MIT, where he could get a very good education in computer science. After he leaves school, whether he will go to work at a company like Google or design a software company of his own is still to be decided. However, he says he will definitely (绝对地) do something great.

    "It's a sighted world," Billy said. "You can't let anything get in the way of your dreams, and if you do that, you can't move forward and make your dreams come true."

I stood by the window, looking at the gray sky and snowy ground. A woman crossed the street, with a thick scarf, looking cold and unhappy.

The morning was ideal for reading, so I turned on the light and lay in bed with a book. The phone rang, and I heard my mum agree to something, mentioning my name. Curious, I wondered what was happening.

Mum entered and told me Uncle Sam was taking me to Sparrow Hills. Unwilling to leave on such a cold day, I hesitated(犹豫) but didn't want to disappoint Mum, so I put on my blue sweater. The doorbell rang, and Uncle Sam asked if I was ready.

"I suppose," I replied, grabbing a warm wool hat. We headed to the station, catching the train to Sparrow Hills. The train was warm, and my body started to relax.

" Can we just stay on the train?" I said as the train stopped. Uncle Sam softly pulled me up and said," You will miss all the fun."

Outside, the wind was blowing strongly. The trees were shining and they s wung in the wind.

"I don't know how long I can stay out here," I said as we started to walk uphill. He pulled me closer to the trees and said," Listen!"

At first, I heard only the wind. Then came a jingling and chiming(叮叮当当)." That's the music in winter," my uncle said. I pulled my hat up to free my ears. The branches(树枝) sounded like hundreds of bells ringing, jingling and chiming. I was surprised and I stood still, looking at the icy branches hitting each other and leaves swinging in the wind. Then we climbed to the top of Sparrow Hills and looked down. The snow- covered trees made buildings appear brighter. Then the sun broke through the clouds.

" The sun is shining!" I shouted. Uncle Sam smiled and said," The sun is always shining. You just need to climb high enough to see it."