One day a lonely girl found two weak birds while she was walking in the woods (树林). She took them home and put them in a small cage. She fed them with love and the birds grew strong. Every morning they greeted her with a beautiful song. The girl loved them very much and wanted their singing to last forever.

One day the girl left the cage's door open. The 1arger and stronger of the two birds flew out of the cage. The girl watched worriedly as it circled (盘旋) high above her. She was afraid that it would fly away and she would never see it again. So when it flew close, she grasped (抓) at it wildly. She was very happy that she held it tightly within her hand! Suddenly, she felt something had happened to the bird. She opened her hand and was surprised to find the bird was dead. Her love for the bird killed it.
She noticed the other bird jumping in the cage. She could feel that it wanted to be free. It hoped to fly into the clear, blue sky. She lifted (举起) it from the cage and flew it into the air. The bird circled once, twice, three times …
When the bird was flying happily in the sky, she was so glad. Just then the bird flew closer and sat softly on her shoulder. It sang the sweetest song she had ever heard.
The fastest way to lose love is to hold it tight. The best way to keep love is to let it fly!

    Sharon Reasonover first started volunteering at the age of 16. She hadn't really understood the meaning behind doing something for others until that summer day.

    Sharon got to the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) in Dallas, Texas. RMH is a "home away-from-home" for families so they can spend little money or no money to stay close by their sick children.

    Sharon remembered her first time walking into RMH-nervous and afraid of doing something wrong. After only 5 minutes, she began to communicate with families. "That day, I played with kids, laughed with their parents, and heard so many stories," says Sharon.

    Now Sharon is a 21-year-old student at the University of North Texas. She is still volunteering with RMH. "I met so many people there, and they changed my life," she says.

    A smile that Sharon will always remember came from a girl named Caroline. Caroline was badly ill, and she had great difficulty in eating. One day, Caroline's mom was angry with her, because she refused to have dinner. To help, Sharon said to Caroline that if she ate 5 bites. Sharon would do whatever she wanted. Little Caroline ate dinner that day, and Sharon had to dance in front of everyone! Although Caroline has passed away (去世), Sharon will never forget her smile.

    Take a look at our library! Our library is open to everyone and the library card Is free.

    As more information comes out about 10-year-old Cindy Smith's death(死亡), worries about amusement park safety(游乐场安全性) grow.

Cindy is not the first child who died on an amusement park ride. 25 years ago, the mother of a 14-year-old girl waited to pick up her daughter outside Worlds of Fun. Laura Barry never saw her daughter Rosie alive again.

"My heart goes out to the Smith family more than they can ever possibly know," said Barry. She is one of the few people who truly know the hurt that family is feeling.

In 1995, Rosie's mom said that something went wrong on the Timber Wolf the night Rosie died. Police found no evidence(证据). Two men told the police that they saw Rosie standing before she fell out of the car.

"I couldn't believe that such a thing could happen still and again," said Barry. She believes Rosie's death should have been a wakeup call for amusement park safety.

She finds that not much has changed in the past years. Amusement parks race to build bigger, taller, faster rides. In her opinion, amusement parks just try to bring in visitors and give them the idea that riding is good, safe and fun. She believes that parks should have put safety first.

There is no exact number of amusement park deaths each year. It is quite low according to some websites. But Barry doesn't accept that. "My daughter was the only person that had ever been killed at Worlds of Fun in all of the years, among all of the thousands and thousands of people that went there. The number doesn't mean anything, you know, because when your child is the one, that's one too many," she said.

Leonardo da Vinci was a famous artist who was born in Italy. He was also a great inventor. Many of his inventions have become important in modern life. Although Leonardo hated war. he invented many different machines used for war. His most special invention was the machine gun, which was produced and used in war. Besides, Leonardo spent days thinking about how to save time. He developed ideas for something like cutting machines.

Leonardo was a strange man. He never ate meat. That was very unusual in those times. He never published(发表) discoveries about science. He usually used mirror writing, which looks like usual writing in a mirror, starting from the right side of the page and moving to the left side。

Only a few of his paintings are left today. Many paintings were not finished because he thought they were not perfect.

Leonardo was talented and creative. He was regarded as one of the most intelligent men in the world.