It was a dark and stormy night. The ferocious wind shook the windows wildly, as though someone outside were beating on the glass. It was also New Year's Eve. We were having our annual party and had a house full of people just starting to celebrate.

Suddenly, we heard loud explosions. Looking outside and up into the hills, we saw sparks(火花) flying from electrical transformers(变压器). One area after another went dark up in those hills. Then there was the loudest explosion of them all and our house went dark too. I tried to find every candle we had and lit them. The candles made everything look lovely. But we had problems. We had fifteen people standing around and we still had to cook dinner. How would we do that without electricity?

The barbecue! Why not cook on the barbecue? We men went outside, some holding flashlights and others cooking. We did a wonderful job. The women stayed inside and got the salads ready. Everything was delicious. There were still a few hours to go before the beginning of the new year, so we all sat around the dining room table and sang up until a few minutes before midnight. We couldn't watch the ball drop in Times Square on television but that wouldn't stop us from celebrating. I stood on a chair and, with the help of someone's watch to tell us the time, we all counted down and I dropped a tennis ball! We all screamed Happy New Year. We didn't need electricity for that!

Nowadays, we still get together with the same group to celebrate the New Year and we still talk about that special night. I don't think we have ever laughed so much as we did on that New Year's Eve.

Tom, a 15-year-old inventor and entrepreneur (创业者), witnessed at his own school the widespread consumption of sugary drinks by kids. He knew there had to be a better portable drink solution and decided to innovate from something he saw in his own home. fruit infused (浸泡) water.

Tom watched his mum make healthy fruit infusions but then struggle for a take-along option. From observing his mum and from his desire to give kids better drink options, he came up with his original model for the Fun Bottle. "I wanted to come up with a healthy, natural way for people to drink when on the go. A big part of my mission is to get people of all ages off sugary drinks," Tom explains.

The bottle is made with a strainer (滤网) that allows the great tastes and natural sugars of the various fruits and vegetables you choose to come through the water, without any of the seeds or skins flowing through.

Tom is proud of his design and excited to be selling the Fun Bottle on his website and in stores, but this 15-year-old is most proud of the opportunities that Fun Bottle presents to others. It helps to provide healthy alternatives to sugary drinks; and also Tom donates part of the profits to the Organisation for a Healthier Generation (OHG).

Tom has been awarded several prizes, but this teenage innovator remains humble. When asked what advice he'd give other entrepreneurial youth, he says, "Prepare and have your family's support. It is important to know from the beginning that there are a lot of highs and lows, and there is no such thing as overnight success."

Today, the first thing you see when you drive into the small town of McFarland, California, is a welcome poster. "Home of the State Champions, it says proudly. Written across the bottom are the names of the members of the running teams that have brought McFarland nine state championships over the past twenty years. Today, this little farming town is the "home of champions", but things weren't always like this.

It all began with a group of seven young men, who were McFarland High Schools first running team. They were called "cloud runners" because it looked like they were floating on a brown cloud of dust as they carved paths through the surrounding fields.

They weren't a very good team. But the turning point came one hot summer afternoon when the young men were doing hill practice. As there were no hills in McFarland, their coach, Jim White, made them run up and down large piles of nut shells covered in white plastic sheets.

"Enough!" one of the young men cried. The sound of breaking shells could be heard as he beat his fists on the sheet. The plastic tore and a river of nut shells poured out. "Do you know what these are, Mr. White? They're almond shells. Do you know where they come from? My family has been working on farms picking almonds for forty years.

You and your family, living in your big comfortable home, eat these without giving a single thought to where they came from. And now you are making us run on them! I've had enough!"

"We're losers, Mr. White, not winners," another young man continued his face wet with tears and sweat. "Nothing has changed here for forty years and nothing's ever going to change! Running is for rich kids in private schools in the big city, not for us poor farm boys. We can't even afford real shoes for running. We're 'pickers'. I'm going home!"

Something in Jim White's heart changed that day. He went into the fields and worked with the 'pickers'. He bought running shoes for the boys. He spent evenings having dinner with the boys' families. His wife baked and sold cookies to raise money. One small act of kindness led to another. Other families began to take notice, and slowly, the entire town came to support Mr. White as he helped these young men change from farm workers to champions.