Marco Polo was born in Italy in 1254. When he was 17, he travelled across Europe and Asia with his father, who wanted to do trade with the Chinese. Finally they arrived in Beijing. They were guests at the Emperor^ Palace. Although Marco Polo was young, he was very clever and could speak some foreign languages. The Emperor was impressed by him. He asked Marco Polo to serve in his court (宫廷) and sent him to do many important tasks across the country.

    Marco Polo was amazed by the beautiful China. He was impressed by Beijing and the Emperor's Palace, especially the Summer Palace which he described as "The greatest palace that ever was..." The walls were covered with gold and silver and the hall was so large that it could easily seat 6,000 people for dinner.

    There were inventions and developments in China which were not used in Europe at that time. He was puzzled (困惑的) by the black stones people used to bum to produce heat. The black stones were coal, but Marco Polo had never seen coal before!

In 1295, after 17 years of service to the Emperor, Marco Polo returned to Italy. He was then a very wealthy man. A writer wrote down the stories that Marco Polo told him in a book called The Travels of Marco Polo.

    Although people enjoyed reading the book, many of them thought that Marco Polo's stories about China were too fantastic to be true. But Marco Polo always stood by his tales. Just before he died in 1324, Marco Polo was asked the question, "Were they all true?" And this was his answer, "I have only told half of what I saw!"

Haili Smith, 16, says she and her sister, Brooke, "have very different tastes in books." Haili likes horror stories. Brooke, 13, prefers fantasy. What they share is the belief that kids are more likely to read if they are connected with a book's characters. That's why, in 2020, they started Books Like Me. The nonprofit group donates (捐赠) culturally different children's books to schools.

"We didn't really like reading a few years ago", Haili told TIME for Kids. "[Then] we started to look for books that had characters we saw ourselves in. It made us want to read more. We thought we could share that with students, because we knew that this wasn't something that changed us only."

Haili and Brooke started with an Amazon Wish List of books they liked. They shared the list on social media, asking for donations of these titles. Soon, they began receiving boxes of new books to give away to schools. As word about their organization has spread, requests have come in from schools nationwide. So far, Haili and Brooke have given away more than 16, 000 books.

Anitra Carter teaches fourth grade at a primary school in Florida. She says donations from Books Like Me have gotten her students more interested in reading. "It excites them when seeing a character that may represent (代表；象征) them or look similar to them," Carter says.

Over the years, Haili and Brooke have been invited to speak with educators about the importance of culturally diverse books. They've also taken books directly to students. At a book fair in Florida, "I was at a table showing kids the books and they were picking them out," Haili recalls. "They all looked so happy when they found a book that really resonated (共鸣) with them."

That, of course, is the goal. "I hope, and I think," Haili says, "that all kids should ____ so that they enjoy reading."

Life is full of unexpected surprises. Paul was 71 years old and came from England. He liked using a 3D printer to make models.

One day, while Paul was searching for something online, he saw a red car on a website. It was his father's favorite car made in the 1950s. He felt so shocked!

The car brought Paul back to the "good old days". When he was a child, his dad always drove him around London. He sat in the back seat of the red car excitedly. When he went abroad to work, this car took him away from home to say goodbye to his father. To his surprise, many years later, the car showed up online!

Paul decided to buy the car. With his son's help, he bought it. It was a really difficult job to repair the car because it was old and broken. But Paul didn't give up. He spent a long time repairing it. After he tried many times, he finally made the car as good as it used to be with the 3D printer. Paul drove it here and there.

Paul said driving the old car reminded him of his father. The car was seen as a connection between his father and him. It was a treasure for him from the past.

Hi, boys and girls! Please look at this 1 . Do you know the 2 in the photo? 3 name is Mary Brown. She is from England. She is 4 English teacher. She likes to help us with 5 . We like her very much.

Miss Brown 6 China is great (伟大的). She likes China very much, 7 she can't speak Chinese. She 8 to study Chinese. She lets us help her and we are very 9 to do that.

What does she look 10 ? She has big eyes and long brown 11 . Look! She is 12 a yellow dress. Her favorite color is yellow. She 13 very nice in yellow. This is a red jacket. It's not 14 . I see it in my class this morning. It is new. Whose is it? Can you help me 15 the owner (主人)?