It was a village in India. The people were poor. However, they were happy. After all, their forefathers (祖先) had lived in the same way for centuries (世纪).

    Then one day, some visitors from the city arrived. They told the villagers there were some people who liked to eat frogs' legs. However, they did not have enough frogs of their own, so they wanted to buy frogs from other places.

    This seemed like money for nothing. There were millions of frogs in the fields around, and they were no use to the villagers. All they had to do was to catch them. They reached an agreement and people sent their children into the fields to catch frogs. Every week a truck (卡车) arrived to collect the frogs and give them the money. For the first time, the people could dream of a better future, but the dream didn't last (持续) long.

    It was not easy to notice (觉察到) the change at first, but it seemed like the crops (庄稼) were not doing so well. It was more worrying that the children fell ill more often, and there seemed to be more insects (虫) around lately.

    The villagers decided that they couldn't just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak. They would have to use the money got to buy pesticides (杀虫剂) and medicines. Soon there was no money left.

    Then the people found out the problem. It was the frog. They were not useless. They had been doing an important job—eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were increasing (增加) more quickly. They were eating the crops and spreading diseases (传播疾病).

    Now, the people are still poor. But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs. These sounds of the night now have a much deeper meaning.

    Mike is a factory worker. He is often very tired after a day's work. His wife, Jenny, has no job, so she stays at home to cook the meals. Every day he can have his dinner when he gets home from his factory.  

    One day, Mike came home very late because he was very busy in the factory. He was very hungry when he got home. He was not happy when he found his dinner was not ready. He was very angry with his wife. He shouted at her, "I'm going out to eat in a restaurant." "Wait for five minutes，" said his wife. "Why? Do you think that dinner will be ready in five minutes?" asked Mike. "Of course not," she answered. "But I can be ready to go with you in five minutes."    

    I taught high school for years and had the joy of knowing many wonderful kids. One student, Scott Wood, was especially close to my heart. What I taught was Creative Writing. Scott wrote quite well His talent is beyond the teacher's ability to teach. He was able to express through his written words well and it enabled me to light his way a little.

    Scott and other students were often in my home, at my kitchen table, sharing supper .It was amazing to me that what I said to them about life and love, and making time for the important things influenced them in their daily life. I watched them use these lessons they learnt in their lives as I followed their lives after graduation. Scott, especially, did this, and still does this today.

    Recently I told him I feel particularly down these days. I couldn't stop thinking about the sad and unpleasant things in the life. Here is what he emailed back to me.

    I remember you coming into the class one day late .You continued to tell all of us hat you were late because of very special reason. It had snowed the night before but instead of cleaning the ice off your windows in the car, you let the car heater lake cane of t and you sat and watched in wonder as he water slowly started flowing down your window. I think about this a lot when the weather begins getting cold, how most of us miss the simple treasure-ice melting. Life is full happiness and sadness. But every day is a gift, right? Life is not a lack of beauty, but lack of the find the beauty .Is that not what you always told us? That is how you lived and that is how you toll t to live.

    Ice melting. I do not remember his thing but, thinking back, it seems very true. That is what I believed, that is what I taught.

    You know, just to make it clean, an "ice -melting moment "to me is that moment you stop time for-you stop everything for -because it is too precious to miss .Scott, my student long ago, made me remember to never be too busy to stop the world, stop the clock for the magical moments in our daily lives.

    When I saw Ronny for the first time, he looked like other kids in the first-grade classroom where I volunteered as a Reading Mom. However, he usually arrived at school wearing old clothes.

    On the day when it was Ronny's turn to read. He sat very close to me. I watched his fingers move slowly under each letter as "he tried to speak out "Bud the Sub". It sounded more like "Baw Daw Saw" when he said it because of his difficulty with the alphabet (字母).

    The year passed quickly and Ronny had made some progress but he was still below the level of grade. A few weeks before the school year ended, I held an award(颁奖) ceremony. I had gifts and certificates(证书) for everyone. It took me a while to think about which Ronny fit; I believed the gift could cheer him up. I finally decided on "The Most Progressive Reader". I showed his certificate and a book.

    A few days later, I saw Ronny reading the book when I went back to the school. His teacher said, "He hasn't put that book down. That's the first book he's ever owned. "

    Fighting back tears(眼泪) I came near Ronny and asked, "Will you read me your book, Ronny?" He nodded.

    And then, for the next few minutes, he read to me more smoothly than I'd ever thought. When he finished reading, Ronny closed his book and said, "Good book."

    At that moment, I knew I should do what an author(作家) had done-care children and make them excellent.

    Kaitlin Riffle's dream of ending poverty (贫困) started when she was visiting her father, who worked for the homeless.

    "I never realized there were people in the world who didn't have a house or food before," said Kaitlin, who is now seventeen. "I knew there was something I had to do about that.

    At age eight, she started raising money to build a playground. "It took me two years," Kaitlin said. "We started small. We wanted to do something to make a difference. "

    In 2014, when Kaitlin was thirteen, she visited Central America, and saw people going hungry and families living in houses made of cardboard. That year, she set up Kids on a Mission, which has helped hundreds of people there.

    "The rooms were smaller than my bedroom, but there would be eight people living in each one," Kaitlin said. "We also got to see the dirty rivers that those people were drinking out of."

    Providing clean drinking water, food and clothes for people living in poverty is now an important task for Kids on a Mission. "This young lady is changing the hearts of people, and also changing the world,"" said the headmaster of Kaitlin's school.