Jadav Payeng is a forestry worker from Jorhat, India. Over the past 38 years, he has planted trees on a sandbar (沙洲) of the Brahmaputra River and has1 it into a forest. One day in 1979, 16-year-old Payeng was walking

    2 the bank of the Brahmaputra River. He saw many snakes on the sandbars. These snakes died in a few days' time

    3the heat and the absence (缺失) of trees. Payeng felt very4when he saw this. He decided to plant some trees. Single-handedly, he started planting bamboo trees, as only bamboo trees could survive (存活) in the sandbars.

    To water the trees was a difficult5for one man. With his hard work and great effort, day by day the6 bamboo trees grew into a forest. His tree planting has changed the soil (土壤). Now the sandbar is a thick forest and7 to thousands of plants and animals. A large group of around 100 elephants visit the forest every year and8 there for a few months.

    Payeng is now in9ifties. He has planted close to 1,400 acres (英亩) of forests and is 10 as the Forest Man of India. In 2015, he was honored with Padma Shri, one of the top awards (奖) in India.

    Everyone in our school knows Jerry, the Bike Boy. He is a lovely and warm-hearted guy. He often collects broken bikes that people don't use any more1and then gives them to people who need them.

    Last week he was down because he spent all his money buying old bikes. We really wanted to cheer up Jerry. 2Monday we told a radio interviewer that Jerry3money to buy old bikes. We also put up signs4old bikes and called up all our friends and told them5the problem. We even6advertisements at a local supermarket. Then we informed（告知） the teachers at school about his problem7they set up a call-in center for parents. The strategies that we came up with8fine. He now has sixteen bikes to fix up and9to children10don't have bikes.

    I was doing some last-minute Christmas shopping in a toy store. A nicely dressed little girl was 1 the teddy bears beside her father 2 she saw a little boy walk in and stop in front of the Pokemon toys. His jacket was obviously too small. He had money in his hand. However, it looked no more than five dollars at most. He was with his father, and kept picking up the Pokemon video games. Each time he showed 3 to his father, his father shook his head, "No".

    Rather disappointed, the boy gave up the video games and chose a book of stickers 4. After they walked away, the little girl ran over to the Pokemon video games. She excitedly picked up one 5 on top of the others, and ran toward the check-out. I picked up my purchases（购买物）and 6 the girl and her father.

    Then, much to the little girl's satisfactory（满意）, the little boy and his father got in line 7 her and me. After the video was paid for and bagged, the little girl handed it back to the cashier（收银员）and said something to her in a low voice. The cashier smiled and put the 8 under the counter（柜台）. I was putting things in my bag when the little boy came up to the cashier. The cashier said, "Congratulations, you're my hundredth customer today, and you win a prize!" and she handed the boy the Pokemon game. The boy could hardly believe his ears. It was, he said, 9 what he had wanted! The little girl and her father had been standing at the doorway, and I saw the biggest and prettiest smile on that little girl I have seen in my life.

    I suddenly understood that the world is not 10 into the strong who care and the weak who are cared for. We must each in turn care and be cared.

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!

At the beginning of the school year, each student would be given a special job for which they would be responsible (负责任的) for the whole term. Rita, a quiet and hardworking girl, hoped for an exciting task, like taking care of the class plants. Instead, she received a small box with sand and a small ant. 

Even though the teacher explained that this task was very special, Rita could not help feeling disappointed. However, she decided to do her best with her new job. She began to study and care for the ant, learning about its habitat (栖息地) and needs. She made the box a comfortable home for the ant, and it grew much bigger than anyone expected. 

Rita's efforts caught the attention of her science teacher, Mr. Thompson. He turned her work into a class project, and Rita became the class expert (专家) on ants. Her hard work helped the whole class learn about ant behavior and habitats. They even built a small ant farm in the classroom to observe the ant closely. 

Gradually, Rita's classmates became more and more interested in the ant project. They started asking her questions and observing the ant's behavior themselves. Rita organized a presentation where she shared her findings with the whole school during the science fair. 

At the end of the year, Rita's class was recognized as the best of the year. Rita was as well praised for her hard work and how she turned a small task into something big. Rita learned that every task, no matter how small, could make a big difference. She also learned that sometimes the most unexpected things can lead to great success.