It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.

My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I'm so glad I did.

On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big hums (脊背) in the distance.

On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn't believe it—there aren't any whales along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.

The little baby whale—actually as big as our boat—was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools (漩涡) and waves. "She's trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side," my father said. At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe—and to give us a trusting (信任的) look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.

In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.

Barrington Irving made his historic flight and founded an educational non-profit-making organization.The secret,he believes,is having a dream in the first place,and that starts with learning experiences that inspire kids to build careers.

The moment of inspiration for Irving came in his parents' bookstore.One customer,a professional pilot,asked Irving if he'd thought about becoming a pilot."I told him I didn't think I was smart enough;but the next day he took me to the cockpit(驾驶舱)of the commercial airplane he flew,and just like that I was hooked."

To follow his dream,Irving turned down a football scholarship to the University of Florida.He washed airplanes to earn money and increased his flying skills by practising at home on a $40 flight simulator(模拟) video game.Then another dream took hold:flying alone around the world.He faced more than 50 rejections for sponsorship before convincing some companies to donate aircraft components.He took off with no weather radar,no de-icing system(除冰系统),and just $30 in his pocket.

After 97 days,26 stops and dozens of thunderstorms,he touched down to a cheering crowd in Miami."It was seeing so many young people watching and listening that pushed me into giving back with my knowledge and experience." Irving has been doing it ever since.He set up his non-profit-making organization,Experience Aviation(航空),aiming to increase the numbers of youth in aviation and science-related careers."We want to create chances for students to accomplish something amazing,"he notes.The most powerful educational tool is the example his own life provides.

No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own 1 .  

I learned this lesson from a(n) 2 many years ago. I took the head coaching job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football programme.  

 It was a tradition for the school's old team to play against the new team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn't even practice to 3 the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment, we were defeated. I couldn't 4 I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to 5 that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were depending on me. I had to change my 6 about their ability and potential.  

I started doing anything I could to help them build a little 7 . Most importantly, I began to treat them like 8 . That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their vacations, we met every day and 9

passing and kicking the football.  

Six months after suffering our 10 on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to improve. Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a

11 for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn't what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest

12 of my life! 

From the experience I learned a lot about how the attitude of the leader can 13 the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and 14 them. I helped them to see themselves15 , and they built themselves into winners.  

Winners are made, not born. 

In 2019, after retiring from her career as a social worker, Ane Freed-Kernis decided to build a home workshop and devote all of her free time to stone carving. "I might be covered head to toe in dust but I'm happy—it was something I needed more of in my life when I hit 60," she says.

This appeal has its origins in Freed-Kernis' childhood. Growing up on her father's farm in Denmark, she used to wander through the fields with her eyes fixed on the ground, looking for stones to add to her collection. "I've always been drawn to the shapes and textures（质地）of stones," she says.

After moving to England in 1977 and training as a social worker, Freed-Kernis soon became occupied with her busy career and the demands of raising her son. Stones were the last thing on her mind, until her father died in 2005. "He took a stone carving course in his retirement, and I always thought stone seemed so fun but never had the time to look into it myself," she says. "After he died, I became determined to learn in his honour."

Signing up for a week-long stone carving course at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Freed-Kernis began to learn how to turn a block of rock into well-designed shapes. "It was really scary at the start because you would spend hours just hammering（锤打）."

Now 65, Freed-Kernis has a thriving small business built largely through word of mouth. She creates 12 to 15 pieces a year that can take anywhere from a few days to three weeks to complete, while her prices range from £200 to £3, 000. "I'm making smaller ones," she says. "I don't have to depend on the money much, so I want to keep prices in the range that people can afford, mainly just covering costs and labour（劳动力）."

Fourteen-year-old Harini Logan won the Scripps National Spelling Bee last Thursday, defeating 12-year-old Vikram Raju in a tie-breaker. It's the first time the con test has ever been decided by a tie-breaking round of spelling.

A spelling bee is a contest where players take turns spelling words. Players who spell a word wrong are out of the contest. As the con test goes on, the words get more difficult. Normally, the contest ends when there's only one player left who hasn't made a mistake. Though the bee is mainly about spelling, since 2021 it has changed slightly to also focus on the meaning of the words. During parts of the contest, students were asked to choose the correct meaning of a word.

That caused trouble for Harini. She was asked about the meaning of the word "pullulation". She said the word described the nesting of birds. The con test organizers had expected the answer the "swarming of bees". Harini was removed from the contest. But soon she was back in—the judges double checked and learned that Harini's definition was also correct. One by one, the other students spelled a word wrong and got out. Finally, only Harini and Vikram were left.

The Scripps bee has been running for over 90 years. Many times it ended in a tie. As a result, the contest organizers changed the rules. They added a "spell-off" to the contest to make future ties much less likely. In the spell-off, Vikram and Harini each took turns trying to spell the words they were asked, but both made mistakes. At one point, Harini could have won by spelling the word "drimys"（a kind of plant）correctly. But she missed It.

That put the two into a super tie-breaking event, where they were each given 10 second s to correctly spell as many words as they could. In 90 seconds, Vikram had spelled 13 words correctly. Harini had 21 correct spellings, making her the new winner.

Last year I moved to a new city with my husband and daughter. So during the first months we were busy getting 1 . This place is very different from where I lived before and we had a lot of 2 .

Then things were running 3 due to our efforts. So we decided to conduct a small ceremony at home in 4 of our success in adjusting to the new life. After the simple ceremony, we still had some food 5 . Our daughter suggested that she go with her father and look for someone who 6 all these food.

Hearing the 7 of my daughter, my husband offered to take her in his car to the nearby areas. But after a long time, they 8 to find a suitable one. They were about to return home suddenly when my daughter 9 an old man sitting under a tree. He looked 10 , tired and anxious.

My husband stopped the car and my daughter 11 the man and handed him the food packets. The surprised person looked at my daughter and asked if those item s were for him. When he listened to the 12 answer, he smiled, thanked my daughter a lot and started eating. After a short chat with the man, they went back home happily. The 13 on my daughter's face made me feel 14 a hungry human was a correct thing. It added to our happiness — I had the 15 to conduct an act of kindness.