On February 12, 2019, Brendon Fontaine blew out five candles on a birthday cake. "He loved the cake so much," says his mother, Faith, who lives in Winnipeg with Brendon. "I had to hide it in the back of the fridge. 3

    Brendon's surprise came from Cakes for Kids, a group of home bakers(烘焙师)who know that a simple birthday cake can be uncommon for poor families like the Fontaines.

    The group was set up three years ago by Christy Rogowski, a 40-year-old who works in health care software, and her partner, Wendy Singleton. "Imagining a child who wasn't going to have a birthday cake was really upsetting," Rogowski says.

    A Facebook call-out for volunteers finally added 150 bakers to their name list. When volunteers first apply(申请), they're asked why they want to do so. "Some people have said that they didn't have a cake on their birthday growing up, and they know how important it is," says Singleton. More commonly, though, they say they want families in need to know that their neighbors care about them.

    The names of the cake receivers are provided by community organizations and Winnipeg Child and Family Services. A child might receive a cake because the family is poor. Sometimes a child is sick, leaving the family too busy to make the treat themselves. Cakes also go to children living in foster care（寄养). Jodi Korolyk, a worker with Winnipeg Child and Family Services, has so far ordered birthday cakes for five of the almost 800 kids in their system. "It shows the child they have a lot of people there to support them," she says.

    By the end of last year, Cakes for Kids had baked over 575 cakes to mark kids' birthdays, and the baking continues. Rogowski and Singleton are even considering developing the program nationally and also providing cakes for old people who live alone. After all, there's no age difference when it comes to the positive role of a well-timed cake.

Nature was Chen Rui's "childhood home". The 37-year-old researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Zoology was not able to talk until he was 4 years old because of the way his brain processes sensory (感官) information. 

This made him "strange" in some people's minds. So, he didn't have friends who were around his age, which led him to turn his attention to nonhuman things around him. He became enraptured by the world of insects. "The happiest time of my childhood was in the farm fields," says Chen. "I squatted there, observing the actions of insects. I had so many questions about their activities and was full of curiosity about this world." These experiences planted a seed in his heart. 

Many years later, he's an expert in life-science research. He has visited the Amazon rainforest several times, and has found around 100 new species (物种), many of which are named after him. 

"I was a child who was ‘cured (治愈)' by nature," he says. "I wanted to grow up to share the power of nature with more young people and to popularize understanding of animals, including insects. I wanted to start classes to bring children to learn in the open air and experience the gifts nature gives." These led him to recently publish the popular science book, Du Chong Ji (Reading About Insects) 

"Insects were the earliest creatures that could fly and feed themselves by farming. They have survived three mass extinctions (大规模灭绝). No other living things have won such victories." He hopes that people will learn and draw inspiration from the "superpowers" of insects and use it to improve their own lives. 

Sara comes from a big family and they live in a small flat. Sara's dad {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (work)hard, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} he doesn't make enough money to buy a house.

Sara has {#blank#}3{#/blank#} dream. She dreams that her family will have {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (they) own house. It seems difficult {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (make) her dream come true, but Sara's friend Jenny wants to help.

One day, Jenny reads about a program called"Houses for People". She tells Sara about it. Many people get together and help to build a house {#blank#}6{#/blank#} a family in need.They work for free. Local businesses(当地企业) buy things to build the house. Anyone can help. You don't have to be good at {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (build) houses because there is always something to do. Sara's family are {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (interest) in the program and wrote down the family name.

{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (Lucky), they get the result(结果) they want.

After a long winter of waiting, Sara's family are happy to know the work will begin on March 7th. It is a nice Saturday morning, and more than thirty people come to help.Over the next three {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (week), the new house is well under way.

The big day comes on March 30th. A new white house sits where once only a dream stands.

My best friend Marcela and I are schoolmates. If you ask me to 1 her, I will say she is very pretty. She has long black 2 , round eyes and a small nose. She is not very tall, but not short either. 

Marcela and I like 3  interesting things together. She is a funny person and always makes me 4 .

We are interested in the 5  things. We both enjoy listening to music, playing the 6 and singing. The guitar club is our favorite place. We also like going to the 7 to see movies. Sometimes during the summer holidays, we go to the beaches with our family. We usually 8 most of the day swimming or walking. Sometimes we go fishing, although we can hardly get any 9 .

Since I am better at math and science and she is better at English, we can always 10  each other with our homework. I can't imagine(想象)my life without her. I hope that our friendship will last forever(永远)，

Eddie loves playing football. It's his favourite sport. But there's a small problem. His shoes are very 1 . When he plays football at school, some of his classmates 2 when they see his shoes, "Are these shoes your grandpa's? Ha ha ..."

After school, Eddie goes back home and cries 3 . He doesn't want to play football anymore. He tells his 4 to Grandpa, "My shoes are too old! I can't play well with them." Grandpa listens carefully and has a good 5 . He says to Eddie, "Dear, I'm sorry to hear that, 6 I think I can help. Bring those shoes to my room and let me give you a 7 ."

His grandpa begins to colour the shoes in black and red. Slowly, the shape of a football and fireworks show on the shoes and the old shoes start to look 8 . When Grandpa finishes, he says with a smile, "You have amazing shoes now, but you should always remember: You can play well without beautiful shoes. The boy in the shoes 9 , not the shoes on the boy!" The next morning, Eddie wears the shoes and goes to school happily. After that day, Grandpa's words always 10 him when he plays with his "Grandpa's shoes".