I'm an office worker and work in a downtown(闹市区) office. I live on a small island(岛), so take a boat from the island to the city center on weekdays. The boat leaves at 6:20 and① it takes about 35 minutes to get to the city. Then I have a short walk to my office. Sometimes when the weather is bad, I can't get to my office on time by boat.(Tina Brown)

    I'm a teacher. ②I take the train to work every day. The train is quick and cheap and there are hardly any delays(耽误). The trains run every half an hour. The train station is near my home. It takes only 35 minutes from my home to the school.(Ms Jackson)

    I'm a college ( 大学)  student. I live in a college. The college is very big, so I usually walk a lot. Sometimes ③it takes 15 minutes to get from one building to another. When I want to shop with my friends outside the college, we take a bus. The buses stop running after 10：00 pm. So if we get back after that time, we take the bus to our school. (Maria Black).

    I am a fifteen-year-old girl in a junior high school. I have a problem now. I hope you can give me advice. Three months ago, I knew a boy on the Internet. I found that he had the same hobbies as me, so we got on well soon. Two weeks ago we began to talk on the phone. We both felt comfortable when talking to each other, as if（好像）we had been good friends for a long time. Last week we met because he doesn't live far from my home. We talked a lot and enjoyed ourselves together in the gym.

    However, some of my friends said that I shouldn't make friends on the Internet. They also said that the boy might be dangerous. I don't know what I should do. I don't want a close relationship with him, but I'm really happy with him. Should I talk about this problem with my parents or teachers? I'm afraid that they would be angry and think I'm a bad girl. So I am turning to you for advice. Please help me.

    When he was nine years old, American boy Milo Cress had a question: How many plastic straws(吸管) do Americans use every day?

    He quickly learned there wasn't a simple answer. The boy tried to work it out himself. Through lots of research, Cress found out that Americans use about 500 million straws every day. In hopes of reducing plastic waste, he founded the Be Straw Free project in 2011.

    Cress started the project in his hometown – Burlington, Vermont. He asked a local restaurant to stop offering straws with every drink order. It was a simple change. However, it would save money. And by doing that, the restaurant would cut down on its straw use by 50 percent.

    For the years that followed, Cress tried to spread his project across the United States. More and more restaurants agreed to join. They stop providing the customer with a straw unless he or she asks for one. Last April, Seattle became the first American city to completely ban (禁止) plastic straws.

    Plastic pollution has been one of the most serious problems today. According to scientists, more than eight million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year. Plastic straws are especially terrible. They make it easy for people to get comfortable with single-use plastics.

    After his project became popular, Cress took his findings on the road. He has since spoken to tens of thousands of students around the world. He wants to encourage more people to say no to plastic straws.

    "Focusing(聚焦) on straws is one simple step we all could take," Cress says. "And it makes me feel that I, as a kid, could make a difference, too."

    Andrew Hollennan, a 12-year-old boy, loved playing in the open land near his home. The land was wet and forested, and made a home for birds, other animals and many different plants. It made the perfect place for him to study and get to know the nature. He had seen some red- tail hawks, red foxes, wood turtles and other animals. He also found special native flowers.

    Suddenly it was announced that the "empty" land would be improved by a lot of houses on it.

    The plants would be removed, the animals would run away and most would probably die. Then the wet soil would be covered with extra grounds. When he heard about the news, he was not happy. He was very worried that the land and water would be polluted.

    Andrew wrote down clearly all the researches he had down about the area, and how the houses would affect the local environment. He sent letters to members of local government and television reporters. He also called on his neighbors to oppose the building of the houses. Although he was only 12 years old, he had the courage and wisdom of a person much older. Andrew's teachers described him as gentle, shy and active. His classmates also admired how much he knew about local animals and plants, and the environment. Each day after school, Andrew went door-to-door, to ask the people to sign, who did not want the houses to be built. In only one month, he got the signatures of 250 people.

    In the end, the land remained a safe place for birds, animals and plants that belonged there.

    Andrew won many prizes for his brave and great work to stop the houses being built, and thus help save the environment.

A man noticed a woman in the grocery store with a three-year-old girt in her shopping cart. 

As they passed the cookie section, the little girl asked for some cookies but her mother r{#blank#}1{#/blank#} her. The little girl cried out at once. However, the mother said q{#blank#}2{#/blank#} , "Now Monica. we just have several passages to go through. Don't be upset. It won't be l{#blank#}3{#/blank#}." 

   Soon they came to the candy section, and the little girl began to shout for candy. When she was told she couldn't have any, she cried l{#blank#}4{#/blank#} again. The mother said. "There, there, Monica, don't cry--only two more passages to go and then we'll c{#blank#}5{#/blank#} out." 

   When they went to the cashier desk, the little girl once again began to ask for gum and burst into a terrible a{#blank#}6{#/blank#} when she found out that there had been no gum to buy. The mother said patiently, "Monica we'll be through this counter in 5 minutes and then you can go home and have a bath before having a s{#blank#}7{#/blank#} sleep." 

   The man f{#blank#}8{#/blank#} them out and stopped the woman to praise her. "I couldn't help n{#blank#}9{#/blank#} how kind you were with little Monica. You're such a good mother!" he said with an a{#blank#}10{#/blank#} voice. 

   "However," the mother replied, "I'm Monica--my little girl's name is Tammy."

Haili Smith, 16, says she and her sister, Brooke, "have very different tastes in books." Haili likes horror stories. Brooke, 13, prefers fantasy. What they share is the belief that kids are more likely to read if they are connected with a book's characters. That's why, in 2020, they started Books Like Me. The nonprofit group donates (捐赠) culturally different children's books to schools.

"We didn't really like reading a few years ago", Haili told TIME for Kids. "[Then] we started to look for books that had characters we saw ourselves in. It made us want to read more. We thought we could share that with students, because we knew that this wasn't something that changed us only."

Haili and Brooke started with an Amazon Wish List of books they liked. They shared the list on social media, asking for donations of these titles. Soon, they began receiving boxes of new books to give away to schools. As word about their organization has spread, requests have come in from schools nationwide. So far, Haili and Brooke have given away more than 16, 000 books.

Anitra Carter teaches fourth grade at a primary school in Florida. She says donations from Books Like Me have gotten her students more interested in reading. "It excites them when seeing a character that may represent (代表；象征) them or look similar to them," Carter says.

Over the years, Haili and Brooke have been invited to speak with educators about the importance of culturally diverse books. They've also taken books directly to students. At a book fair in Florida, "I was at a table showing kids the books and they were picking them out," Haili recalls. "They all looked so happy when they found a book that really resonated (共鸣) with them."

That, of course, is the goal. "I hope, and I think," Haili says, "that all kids should ____ so that they enjoy reading."