Jane grew up in Chengdu. When she was really young and before she was old enough to go to school, her grandparents used to take her to the big park next to her house. Her grandparents took her because her parents had to work for long hours. She used to play on the swings, walk around the lake or feed the ducks. Jane remembered the ducks most. She remembered how they would fight over the food.

Jane now lives in Beijing with her daughter, Millie. Few days ago, they went on a special trip together. Jane and Millie travelled by train from Beijing to Chengdu to see where Jane grew up. Millie was very excited to see where her mom used to live because she had heard so many great stories about it. After 24 hours on the train, they arrived in Chengdu and went to visit Jane's old school: It was still on the same spot when she was young，but Jane told Millie how much bigger the playground was, “They have built many more classrooms.”

After they visited her old school, they took a bus to the park that Jane loved so much as a child. Jane became very confused when they got off the bus. She looked around all the tall blocks of flats and could not find the park.

Jane asked an old man nearby，“Where is the park that used to be here？”

“Oh, that park was replaced by these blocks years ago. There are so many people living in Chengdu now that they need more land for houses，” the man said. Jane and Millie became very sad.

“What about the ducks？” Millie asked her mum，but Jane did not know what to say.

Things changed for Ben Southall when the Australian state of Queensland advertised a job for someone to look after Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef. They knew it sounded like the best job in the world, but they were surprised when over 35, 000 people applied for the job. Then they had to make a difficult decision—which person to choose from so many candidates? After a lot of testing and interviewing, they announced 34-year-old Ben Southall from England as the winner. Ben now works for the Queensland Tourist Board and his job is to look after the island and to promote tourism there. Because of the unique nature of the job, the Tourist Board wanted a unique person, with a range of skills and qualities. It was a long interview process, involving a variety of tasks to find out about each candidate.

Fitness was very important; swimming ability was particularly essential. Ben can swim very well and he also likes running, climbing, diving and mountain biking. It is clear that, physically, he can do almost anything. The ability to communicate was as important as fitness. For the last part of interview process, the final sixteen candidates did various tests and tasks, including talking to TV and radio reporters. The competition was tough and the candidates needed to show what they could do. The interviewers were interested in how the candidates performed in the tasks, how they handled the press attention and their ability to write about their adventures in a daily log. The candidates did their best to impress the interviewers and they knew they couldn't make any mistakes at this final stage.

Before he went, Ben was confident about his abilities to handle the challenge. He couldn’t do everything they asked him in the interview, as he can’t speak any other language but he felt that his other skills and his personality were impressive. He made a huge effort during the interview process and he was able to convince the interviewers that he was the best person for the job. Even so, he says he was amazed when he got the job; he couldn’t believe it! He hopes to do a good job and promote the island successfully: he has to get to know every part of the island and tell the world about it in numerous media interviews. When you read Ben's blogs from his interview tasks, it is easy to see why they chose him. He is funny and easy-going and he will certainly get the attention of any potential tourist to this beautiful place.