My name is Tim. Daddy didn't know how to show love. He went to work every day and blamed(责备)me for the mistakes I had made when he came home.

    Once I broke my leg and it was Mum who held me in her arms all the way to the hospital.

    Later Dad pulled the car right up to the door of the hospital.

    They asked him to move it, saying the place was saved for the ambulances(救护车), for an emergency. Dad shouted, "What do you think this is? A tour bus?"

    At my birthday parties, Dad always seemed out of place. He just kept himself busy blowing up balloons, setting up tables, and welcoming the guests. It was Mum who carried the cake with the candles on it for me to blow out.  

    When I learned to ride a bike, I asked him not to leave me alone, but he said it was time. I fell and Mum ran to pick me up, but he stopped her. I was so mad that I showed him that I could ride it myself. He just smiled.

    When I went to college, Mum did all the writing. He just sent money and a little note about how great his garden looked now just because I wasn't playing football on it.

    Whenever I called home, he acted like he wanted to talk but always said," Wait, Tim. I'll get your mother."

    When I got married, Mum cried.

    He just blew his nose loudly and left the room.

    Daddy just didn't know how to show love, unless.

    Was it possible he showed it and I didn't recognize it?

Over the past 6 years, Zhang Chaofan has given away 1.35 million yuan and raised 5.2 million yuan from the public to help more than 400 people with health problems—including teachers with cancer (癌症) and disabled children in poor families—learn traditional Chinese culture.

Zhang, 29, was born without a left arm in Changchun, Jilin, but her hard work to become stronger has encouraged many people. She was chosen along with 67 other honorees (领奖人) to receive the Eighth National Ethical Role Model award (第八届全国道德模范提名奖) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 5th, 2021.

In 2015, Zhang set up a handwriting and painting school in Changchun. When she found that some parents were unable to pay for their children's education, she made the lessons free and began providing 300, 000yuan every year to help them.

In early 2020, her school was made to suspend all courses because of COVID-19 (新冠肺炎) but it didn't stop her from helping the poor families. She raised more than 8.9 millionyuan and gave them away to Hubei hospitals.

"Women in the new times should have the courage to create value and also have a sense of social duty," she said. "It is my great honor to be chosen as a model. This will become a driving force for me to move ahead and keep helping the poor and the disabled."

Taking Root.

How many kinds of plants are there in the world? Lucy Braun wondered that as a child. She showed great interest in plants at a young age. She often had energetic walks with her family through the nearby woods. Some plants and wildflowers seemed to shout at her with their wildcolours. Others hid behind rocks.

Lucy looked at the shapes of leaves as she walked in the woods. She kept a record of what she saw. She also learnt to draw what she saw. Then she could compare all kinds of plants. Later, Lucy grew more and more interested in botany, the study of plants.

Branching Out

At university, Lucy took classes in geology, or the study of rocks and minerals. Her work with geologists changed how she looked at the natural world. She continued her studies in botany as well. Lucy also took classes in ecology (生态学). Lucy believed that plant life in some are as was able to move to other places over time.

In Full Bloom

In 1917, Lucy began to teach botany at a university. She lived in a house near the woods. Lucy collected plants from all around the country. She took many photos of them, too. Colour photography was still new then. Because of that, people enjoyed her lessons and photos a lot.

The    ▲     of Labour (劳动)

Later in her life, Lucy wrote many field guides. In 1950, she published her most important guide. It describes the plants in the forests across the country. Ecologists still use it to study changes in the forests over time.

Today, Lucy has a few plants named after her. One of them is Lucy Braun's snakeroot, which is now in danger. Lucy's work in the protection of nature may help prevent its disappearance.

Lucy Braun lived to be 81. In her years as a botanist, Lucy collected nearly 12,000 plants!

Amy and Susan both live an ordinary （普通的） life. They have an ordinary house, an ordinary job and an ordinary family. There is really nothing 1 about their lives. 

Amy and Susan are both satisfied （满意的） with their lives, 2 it seems that Amy is happier than Susan. Whenever Susan comes to visit Amy, Amy seems carefree（无忧无虑的） and happy. She looks like3 can make her unhappy. She is always wearing a big 4 on her face. 

Susan can't stop 5 that. Why does Amy look much happier than her when they both lead such6 lives. How can Amy be so carefree when life is so stressful? There are always a million things in her life— work, shopping, housework and kids. But every time Susan asks Amy, Amy says, "I just take life as it comes. It seems pretty 7 then. "

So what is the8 between the two friends? Why does Amy's life seem so much better most of the time? The 9 with Susan is that she tries to do so many different things at the same time that she doesn't do any of them well. However, Amy takes everything one step at a time. She stays present in the moment and tells 10 to do just one thing at a time. 

One day, I happened to meet an Englishman in a store and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be very surprised, gently shaking his head and saying, "You don't say! You don't say!"

I was puzzled（困惑的）, and I thought, "Perhaps this is not a right thing to talk about."So I said to him,"Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? Have you ever been there?" "Certainly. When I'm back home, everyone will laugh at me if I leave here without seeing it. The Great Wall is wonderful!" he answered. "Yes, it is one of the wonders in the world. And people from all over the world have come to visit it," I added. As I was telling him more about it, he said again, "You don't say!" I couldn't help asking, "Why do you ask me not to talk about it?" "Well, I didn't ask you to do so,"he answered, greatly surprised. "Didn't you say ‘You don't say!'?" I asked again. Hearing this, the foreigner laughed loudly. He began to explain. " ‘You don't say!' means‘Really?'. Perhaps you know little about English idioms（习惯用语）."

Wow! How foolish I was! Since then I have been careful with English idioms.