Mrs. Green is going to hold a birthday party for Mary. Mary is her daughter. She is going to be thirteen years old. Mary's friends are going to come to the party. They are all girls.

    Mrs. Green is getting ready for the party. Mrs. White is helping her.

    "That's a nice cake," says Mrs. White.

    "Thank you very much," says Mrs. Green.

   Mrs. Green is going shopping now. She's buying fruit for the party. She buys a lot of pears, apples, oranges and bananas. Then she goes home.

    It's three o'clock in the afternoon. Now the first girl comes, then another. The party is going to start after thirty minutes.

    I was born in Mississippi, America in the 1960s. When I was a five year old boy, I was badly ill and became disabled. I grew up knowing I was different. The first time I felt hurt and left out was in Grade Five. The other fourth and fifth graders played together in gym class, while I was put in the second grade gym class. 'Mom called the school to say it was unfair, but the school scolded me for complaining too much.

    In the 1980s, when my mom was giving birth to my sister, she died. My dad became even more distant. I was very sad and began drinking wine to ease the pain.

    Dad got remarried in 1985. Everyone went to his wedding except me. He told me to stay at home and watch the house. When my high school bail came around, I wanted to go out but wasn't allowed. When I graduated, my dad and step-mom weren't willing to hold a party for me. They put me into a group home after graduation.

    However, my life changed when I became a local leader of the National Self-advocacy(自我辩护) Group. At first, I thought the group wasn't for me until I found out it was all about empowerment(授权) ! My goal is to be the voice for people who haven't been heard and to help them. Many families, like mine, don't believe their disabled family members have a voice of their own.

    Looking back over my 16 years of leadership experience, I'm proud that I've helped so many disabled people. They should be encouraged to never give up and to follow their own way.

Qu Juanru is the official inheritor(官方继承人) of Jiaxing City Tongxiang flower­drum opera. She began to be on the stage when she was a teenager. "My mother died when I was 14. I've lived with my father since then. In the old days, women were not allowed to perform opera. However, my father always supported me when I tried to sing," Qu said.

Qu started performing in the local troupe(剧团) called Aimin Flower­Drum Opera. Later, the troupe was disbanded(解散), and she went back to farming.

After that, the young girl tried to set up the troupe several times but failed. She really lived a hard life at that time. But she didn't give up.

In 2001, some developers planned to rebuild Wuzhen. They thought a place which has no culture is of little significance(意义). So they wanted to bring back local customs, including the Tongxiang flower­drum opera. Qu was their only hope.

Knowing she could sing again, Qu was so excited. Whether it's cold or hot, Qu always gives her everything on stage in Wuzhen. She has six rounds(场) of performing every day and each round lasts 30 minutes. In 2017, she was badly ill, yet it didn't stop her.

"I can still sing and perform. I'd love to be here," Qu said. In her opinion, opera life is a wonderful dream that can't be missed.

Alex goes to buy fruits. He asks the shopkeeper*, "What's the price of bananas and apples?" The Shopkeeper answers, "Banana is 2 dollars a kilo and apples are 4 dollars a kilo. At the same time, a woman comes to the shop and also asks the same question.

The shopkeeper says, "Banana is 

0.5 dollar a kilo and apples are 1 dollar a kilo." Hearing this, Alex just can't believe what he hears. "Why are the prices for the woman different?" he thinks. The shopkeeper finds this and asks Alex to wait here.

"Thank you, God, today my children will be very happy after eating fruits."The woman pays for fruits, and murmurs* excitedly leaving the shop.

After the woman leaves, the shopkeeper looks towards Alex and says, "In the name of god, I didn't deceive* you." After stopping for a moment, he goes on, "The woman you see just now is a poor widow, who looks after four kids alone. She lives in my neighborhood. I tried to help her, but she just didn't take any kind of help from anyone."

"Then I think of this way to help her. In this way, she doesn't have to feel that someone shows pity* for her. ____"

"In fact, whenever this lady comes, more people will come to my shop. Maybe she also brings luck to me."

After hearing all of this, Alex hugs the shopkeeper. "I will also be happy after eating the fruits." he says. Then he leaves with the fruits.