大学三年级的时候，在一堂“爱普”课程的（高中课程可在大学拿学分）美国历史课上，雅各布森老师曾说：“我打赌你们谁都没见过毒品交易”。他很肯定的看着教室里的所有学生，脸上露出诡异的笑。“我曾经看过”，我回答道。教室里的每一个人都转过身，用那种即好奇，又半信半疑的眼神看着我。我知道也许这些经历与大部分的优等生不同。尽管我有着与大家不同的经历，但我仍然有些非常棒的优等生朋友，优格特，耐婷，汉娜斯，威莎尔，尼克等，从八年级开始我们就在一起上课。我和耐婷都喜欢美食和购物。我们一起购物的时候，甚至会因对高营业税以及福利制度的作用的看法不同而争论不休。优格特和我总是一块去图书馆借书，然后去她家读。我喜欢和这些积极向上的朋友们一块儿完成我的学习任务。我也很喜欢我的那些“失败者”朋友们，因为她们更忠诚、更真实。
回首过去，九年级的经历是我永不想改变的。因为我从那些朋友身上、老师和家长们的偏见里领悟了很多人生哲理，朋友的危险经历也让我明白了什么事情不该做。在将来的时间里，除了学习我会继续帮助青少年。通过“改变”这个项目对更多青少年的接触以及不懈的努力，我获得了1998年度的“杰出青少年”奖。我对青少年情况的了解加强了我的认同度和影响力。我将会是一个成功的人，因为我很乐意和任何人合作，我愿意给每个人机会。我也希望有机会把其他孩子的生活变得更加美好。
Achieving Success 收获成功
Anonymous 佚名
We cannot travel every path.Success must be won along one line.We must make our business the one life purpose to which every other must be subordinate.
I hate a thing done by halves.If it be right，do it boldly.If it be wrong，leave it undone.
To live with a high ideal is a successful life.It is not what one does，but what one tries to do，that makes a man strong.
Unceasing effort is the price of success.If we do not work with our might，others will；and they will outstrip us in the race，and pluck the prize from our grasp.
Success grows less and less dependent on luck and chance.Self-distrust is the cause of most of our failures.
The great and indispensable help to success is character.Character is a crystallized habit，the result of training and conviction.Every characteris influenced by heredity，environment and education.But these apart，if every man were not to be a great extent the architect of his own character，he would be a fatalist，and irresponsible creature of circumstances.
Instead of saying that man is creature of circumstances，it would be nearer the mark to say that man is the architect of circumstances.From the same materials one man builds palaces，other hovels.Bricks and mortar are mortar and bricks，until the architect can make them something else.
The true way to gain much is never to desire to gain too much.Wise men don’t care for what they can’t have.
收获成功两大要素：一，努力。若怀有侥幸心理，成功只会渐行渐远。二，满足。不是因成功才满足，而是因满足才获得成功。
参考翻译（高昆）
我们不可能尝尽每一种方法。只有确定方向，并坚定地走下去才能获得成功。目标既定，其他一切都要围绕着这个目标进行。
我讨厌半途而废。如果是对的，就放手去做。如果不对，就干脆不要接触。
成功的生活取决于一个人是否怀揣一份崇高的理想。一个人是否坚强不是取决于他做了什么事，而是取决于他为了做什么事而去付出了多少努力。
成功需要不懈地努力。如果我们不尽心尽力地工作，别人就会超越你，并拿走本应属于你的成功。
若怀有侥幸心理，成功只会渐行渐远。气馁是失败的首要原因。高尚的品格是获取成功的得力助手，是一种确定的习性，是训练和信念的成果。每种品格都受遗传、环境和教育等诸多因素的影响。忽略这些影响因素，如果一个人不去优化自己的品格，那么他就是一个宿命论者，是环境失职的产物。
与其说人是环境的创造物，不如说人是环境的建造师。相同的材料，有的人可以用它建造宫殿，有的人却只能用它建造茅屋。砖头和水泥无法改变自身的本质，但是建造师们却可以将其塑造成各种各样的东西。
若想多收获，就要低期望。智者不会为了得不到的东西烦恼。
True Nobility 真正的高贵
Ernest Hemingway 海明威
In a calm sea every man is a pilot.
But all sunshine without shade，all pleasure without pain，is not life at all.Take the lot of the happiest—it is a tangled yarn.Bereavements and blessings，one following another，make us sad and blessed by turns.Even death itself makes life more loving.Men come closest to their true selves in the sober moments of life，under the shadows of sorrow and loss.
In the affair of life or of business，it is not intellect that tells so much as character，not brains so much as heart，not genius so much as self-control，patience，and discipline，regulated by judgement.
I have always believed that the man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without.In an age of extravagance and waste，I wish I could show to the world how few the real wants of humanity are.
To regret one’s errors to the point of not repeating them is true repentance.There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man.The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.
永远和自己看齐。一个人优于别人不是真正的高贵，优于以前的自己才是真正的高贵。
参考翻译（修立芬）
平静的海上易驶船。但是只有阳光没有倒影，只有欢乐没有痛苦的生活，不能称之为真正的生活。即使最快乐的人，他的生活也会有乱作一团的时候。失去与恩赐是相辅相成的。失去让我们伤心，而恩赐使我们快乐。也许死亡才会使人们更加热爱生活。也只有在人生伤心和失去的阴影下，人生才能得以沉淀，人们才可以更接近真实的自己。
有时候，在我们的日常生活、或者是职场生活中，才智不如品性，头脑不如内心，天资不如克制、耐心和自律。
我始终相信，内心开始精打细算的人，外在也会开始不张扬。在这个物欲横流的时代，我想告诉人们其实我们真正需要的很少很少。
一个人为犯了的错而后悔，不算是真正的悔悟，只有记住教训不再犯同样的错误才算真正的悔悟。一个人优于别人不是真正的高贵，优于以前的自己才是真正的高贵。
How To Grow Old 老之将至
Anonymous 佚名
Psychologically there are two dangers to be guarded against in old age.One of these is undue absorption in the past.It does not do to live in memories，in regrets for the good old days，or in sadness about friends who are dead.One’s thoughts must be directed to the future，and to things about which there is something to be done.
This is not always easy；one’s own past is a gradually increasing weight.It is easy to think to oneself that one’s emotions used to be more vivid than they are，and one’s mind more keen.If this is true it should be forgotten，and if it is forgotten it will probably not be true.
The other thing to be avoided is clinging to youth in the hope of sucking vigour from its vitality.When your children are grown up they want to live their own lives，and if you continue to be as interested in them as you were when they were young，you are likely to become a burden to them，unless they are unusually callous.I do not mean that one should be without interest in them，but one’s interest should be contemplative and，if possible，philanthropic，but not unduly emotional.Animals become indifferent to their young as soon as their young can look after themselves，but human beings，owing to the length of infancy，find this difficult.