“And this is me kissing the Blarney Stone”, says Carrie, my seventeen-year-old daughter. She turns the pages of her new photo album, recounting her recent ten-day1 abroad, and my mind wanders back…way back to when she was only five.

    “Someday I'm going to Ireland”, she said, holding her Childcraft book in her lap. Her blue eyes 2 as she looked at the beautiful pictures. “Well, maybe you can!” I said. However, it was3 for our family to pay for the luxury of traveling. I was working as a secretary. My husband Charlie had to close his 4 last year due to his poor health…

    Ten years later, Carrie came home from school one day, hardly able to contain her5“Mama, you'll never 6where the class is going. To Ireland!” she smiled 7“You're kidding!” I said. “Ireland! Where you've always wanted to go!”

    “The trip is 8 for year after next, and the $2,100 can be paid in installments (分期付款).” Then she added, “But that's too much… isn't it?” Her voice was9 yet doubting. “Well,” I said slowly, “Daddy and I can't help much10 you have two years to earn the money.” “You think so?” Carrie's face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Well,” I11 “maybe you could use your father's bakery and sell baked goods.” Sell baked goods? We12 at each other. Carrie was an excellent 13! This would work!

    So the plan was14 Carrie began working, making a variety of baked goods. She used dried apples, cooked, seasoned and spiced to perfection. Soon, however, fried apple-pies became the customer favorite. All ingredients were 15—real shortening (起酥油), real butter—and the crust (皮) was handmade and hand-rolled. Finally the pies were fried to a beautiful, golden brown! The finished product was an extremely pleasant treat, winning16from even the little old ladies in these hills who have been making dried-apple pies for decades17 began rolling in, and the Ireland fund grew, and well 18 the given time the trip abroad was paid in full…

    Now I'm looking at her album as she proudly points out the19 she visited: castles of Ireland, historic bridges and churches, cobblestone (鹅卵石) streets of Dublin… so much like those in her Childcraft book. My daughter will forever remember this dream come true, a dream that began in the heart of a five-year-old girl and was completely made 20 by the delicious apple pie!

    The park bench was deserted as I sat down beneath an old tree. I was feeling 1  for the world was trying to drag me down. And if that weren't enough to ruin my day, a young boy out of breath 2me, all tired from play. He stood right before me and said with great 3, “Look what I found!”

    In his hand was a flower, and what a4sight, with its petals(花瓣) all worn. 5him to take his dead flower and go off to play, I forced a6smile and then turned away. But instead of leaving, he sat next to my side and placed the flower to his 7and declared with overacted(夸张的) surprise, “ It sure smells pretty and it's 8 , too. That's why I picked it; here, it's for you.”

    The flower before me was dying or dead. But I knew I9take it, or he might never leave. So I10for the flower, and replied, “Just what I need.” But11 placing the flower in my hand, he held it mid-air without reason or plan. It was then that I 12for the very first time that the boy could not 13.

    At that moment I heard my voice14; tears shone in the sun 15I thanked him for picking a very best one. “You're welcome,” he smiled, and then ran off to play, unaware of the16he'd had on my day.

    I sat there and wondered 17he managed to see a self-pitying woman beneath an old tree. Perhaps he'd been blessed with true 18from his heart. Through the eyes of a blind child, I19 could see the problem was not with the world; it was me. And for all of those times I myself had been blind, I20 to see the beauty in life and appreciate every second that's mine.

    It started four years ago. My wife would see a 1 man near where she worked. It was the week before Christmas and she said she wanted to purchase a new coat for him because his coat was 2. We don't have a lot of 3. We are really a step away from being homeless in rags most months but we try to 4 when we can.

    We talked and found a way to get some money together to 5 him a coat. I 6 that since we were giving a coat to him, we should look at what else he might 7. We decided to fill a 8 with some useful 9 things—a toothbrush, soap, clothes, a hat, gloves and some food. A small gift and Christmas card was put in it as well.

    We haven't had money to exchange 10 for birthdays or Christmas for many years, too. It feels wonderful to have someone 11 you at Christmas but I've always been a little 12 when friends ask "What did you get for Christmas?" It always makes my wife feel bad that she can't 13 to give me anything and I feel the same. So I would 14 and say she bought me this thing or that. But that year we could say we 15 something to others instead and that's 16 what happened.

    People asked and we said what we did. They also wanted to help the following 17 and we made ten more backpacks the following Christmas, and this year we really 18 the gifts.

    I still can't afford to buy my wife some gifts to 19 on Christmas day, but the 20 we feel makes up for it ten times!

I still remember that busy fall evening as I hurried with my eldest daughter, Athena, to get to her classroom on time for a parent-teacher night. We walked in and all 1 were on me. A few adults quickly quieted their kids' 2 . A classmate 3 my daughter, "What's wrong with your mom's 4 ?" Shocked, I started to explain my 5 , but my six-year-old daughter looked at him and said, "It's my mom's birthmark! Don't be rude!" I was extremely 6 of how she handled that situation. 

I was quite young when I realized I looked 7 . I always thought I would be alone because of birthmark, but I was lucky enough to meet my 8 who saw me for who I am inside. When I had my first daughter, I was overjoyed, but I began to 9 if the world would judge my children. 10 , my facial difference has 11 my children. My daughters get disinvited from birthday parties or certain kids are no longer friends with mine. 

When my kids were 12 , I explained how my special purple skin was rare, and we talked about acceptance and never 13 others on how they look. With time, both my daughters have become my strongest 14 : we see the world a little differently and with a kinder, more 15 heart.

Heman Bekele was not a typical high school student. 1 . spending his free time playing video games, this 14-year-old was conducting experiments. His goal was to create a 2 . that could treat skin cancer, and make it affordable for everyone who 3 . it.

Growing up in Ethiopia, Africa, Heman 4 . saw people getting sunburned by the hot sun working outside. He didn't 5 much of it when he was really little, but as he 6 . he realized how serious skin cancer really was.

Skin cancer does have cures and it is 7 in most cases. However, the average 8 of skin cancer treatment is almost $40,000. When hearing the shocking 9 , Heman planned to create a more 10 and accessible solution. He started doing experiments and working on different things, which turned into his bar of soap as a project.

His 11 won him the prize in this year's 3M Young Scientis's Challenge, a competition that 12 kids to think of unique ways to solve everyday problems. Heman was so surprised and 13 when he first heard the news of his award. "It's 14 to see that my ideas can be 15 and seen by the science community." he said.

Year-12 student Noah Little has already sat his first Chinese-speaking exam and said it was "the easiest exam I've ever done". That view is not surprising given that the Wagga Wagga High School student loves language—so much that he has built a Chinese translation app.

Noah said his love of language was encouraged by his community. "Wagga Wagga is a place full of people from different cultures, and sometimes when I meet new people who have trouble speaking English, I like to talk to them in their own language," he said. "I also have a few Chinese friends so I think it will be cool to talk to them in their language."

The 17-year-old started teaching himself Chinese around five years ago, before taking distance education courses at the start of Year 11. His language ability was also useful in his part-time job at a local Chinese restaurant, where he translated orders for the cooks and customers.

Noah said he also had a basic knowledge of seven other languages. It was while teaching himself the languages that Noah got the idea of the translation tool. "I decided to make my own app because there weren't many around—all the other apps were full of advertisements (广告) and the translation feature (专题节目) wasn't powerful enough," he said.

His app also includes a word of the day feature, lessons on how to write Chinese characters (汉字) and a news feed of important Chinese news.

He said learning computer programming to build the app had been like studying another language. With the end of school around the corner, Noah said he would like to pursue (追求) both his interest in computer programming and languages. "I'm planning to work for a year and save so I can go on to university as I really want to make a career (事业) out of one of these two topics."