I have two brothers and two sisters. We are all students. We all love our parents very much!

My brother Tom likes to work with numbers. He is good at math. My brother Nick likes sports. He is interested in baseball. My sister Janet likes music. She plays the trumpet very well. My sister Cindy loves to study plants and animals. She gets good grades (分数) in biology. And she likes to study different languages, and her favorite class is English. I, Jack, really enjoy learning history. But I always get B in the history exam. I will do better in history.

These are my brothers and sisters. Do you have brothers or sisters? Tell me something about them.

When Leon Martin asked for his parents’ advice on how to become a UX (User Experience) designer (设计师), they both went silent. “In fact, I had no idea what he was talking about,” said Anne, his mother. “I don’t know whether he was talking about designing clothes, computer programs of a fancy brand of bike.”

Even when her 18-year-old son explained that it was something about “behind the scenes” online design, his mother was still a bit lost. “I felt like I had totally failed as a parent,” she said. “My job as a parent is to open doors so my children can achieve their potential (潜力), but now can I do that when I don’t even understand what their dreams are?”

________ Research has found that more than 2/3 of parents in England are now facing the problem that, when their children express interest in new education and job choices, they may know nothing about them. More than 75% of parents feel it is almost impossible to offer their children good advice in such a fast-changing job market.

Micheal Rea did a survey of over 2,000 parents of secondary school students in England. She found that many parents were afraid their children hardly follow them. “We all know that parents’ opinions and suggestions play an important role in shaping and influencing their children’s career dreams,” she said. “But we usually spend much on our own experiences. And things have changed so much since most of us were at school.”

Bryony Mathew, writer of the Awesome Career Books, said the world was changing so rapidly that parents should not try to decide on certain careers for their children.

My great-grandmother Eileen who is now 92 years old is a bit of a legend(传奇) in her own lifetime. I should add we’re not allowed to call her Gran, because she says it makes her feel old.

That summer, I lost my job and felt hopeless. One day, I paid a visit to her. She gave me a box with a new phone in it and asked me to take it home and get it all set up, then teach her how to use the new phone.

I grabbed the box and stood up. Setting up the phone would be easy. Teaching her how to use it may be challenging. The following day I headed back to my great-grandmother’s with the phone.

For the next hour, I was busy setting up her passcode and fingerprint recognition (指纹识别). She chose a picture for her screen and it was all going so well until I tried to show her how to swipe (滑动屏幕). She pressed at the up arrow and got angry when nothing happened. When I finally got her to swipe, she didn’t put the right amount of pressure on and the menu slipped away. After what seemed like hours, she threw the phone across the room and it landed on the sofa. “Take it away!” she shouted. “I want my old phone back!”

I picked up the phone and was about to leave to give her time to cool down when I realized I didn’t want to go home when she was angry and upset.

“Come on, Eileen. One more try,” I said. I went over to her quietly, stretched her new phone before her, and took a photo with her. She took the phone immediately before I could do something. “Let me have a look at the photo!” she said curiously as if nothing had happened. “Wow! Great! It indeed works better than the old one!” It seemed that “curiosity” drove Eileen to learn to use a new phone fast and perfectly. And her “thanks” brought me warmth and strength. ________. Meanwhile, I thought to myself that nothing could defeat (打败) someone if he had a willing heart. “Thanks again, my dear! Surely, I’m eager to learn something new, though it may bring difficulties to me. It really brought me benefits to think of something from different angles. So it is with you!” My great-grandmothers’ words really got me lost in thought and inspired me to go forward.