Whenever there's a terrible storm, there are plenty of sad stories. Many people lost their houses, their cars and their pets. But sometimes these stories have happy endings too.

    A family in New Jersey, US, had a cat named Vivien. She is very smart. She could even draw with her wet paws on the floor. They all love her very much. When hurricane (飓风) Sandy hit America in October, they moved to a safer place-13km away from home. Sadly Vivien went missing. The whole family were worried about her. They put up posters on the Internet to look for her. All the nine family members searched wherever they thought she could stay, but they didn't find it. The family thought Vivien was gone forever.

    But six months later, Vivien showed up at their house, according to Yahoo News. They considered her return as a wonder. No one can be sure where Vivien was for all that time.

    Many animals are good at finding their way home. People usually say that dogs and cats find their way home through using their sense of smell.

    But that doesn't explain how Vivien found her way back. Hurricane Sandy blew away the normal smells of home.

    "I wish she could talk," said her owner.

    Jeff Corwin is a scientist and author. He does these jobs with one life goal: to help save animals and their habitats. His latest book, 100 Heartbeats: The Race to Save Earth's Most Endangered Species, is a collection of stories about animals on the edge(边缘) of extinction. Corwin recently talked to TFK kid reporter Sarah Horbacewicz.

Reporter: How would you describe your job?

Corwin: My job is to travel around, look at animals and tell their stories.

Reporter: When did you know this is what you wanted to do?

Corwin: I knew that when I was 6 years old. My dad was a police officer, and we lived in the city. I really enjoyed the time when I could go to the quiet countryside. The day that I saw my very first wild snake, I knew that's what I would do for the rest of my life. I didn't know if I would be a teacher or a zookeeper, but I know I would have a life connected with (与……有关) nature.

Reporter: Why did you write the book?

Corwin: We're losing species(物种) very fast. I wanted to show people that while we are in a very serious situation, we are not at the point of no return. If we make big changes, we may have the chance to save what remains.

Reporter: Is it true that humans are the reason that many of these animals are in danger?

Corwin: Human beings have a powerful effect on every other living thing. The challenge is to make that effect a positive one.

A Special Day

 One day when I was seven years old, I went to a park with my parents and sisters. We played on the grass and sat on the see-saw(跷跷板). It was a wonderful day. 

 Now, as a parent, I often think of how my words and actions might influence my children. Something ordinary might just become a special memory for them. 

 Last year, when my son turned four, we had a special day. In the morning, we drove to the train station and bought two tickets. We stood on the platform, enjoyed the sunshine and watched the trains come and go. Soon afterwards, we caught our train. We took two window seats and watched houses, bikers and cars whiz by(呼啸而过). 

 After getting off the train, we walked to a restaurant. We sat, looked through the menu and asked each other what we would like to eat. We waited patiently for our food and tried everything we had ordered. The foods were all our favorite. 

 Then, we walked around the city center. We visited a toy shop and ended up buying a train. After all, it was the little man's birthday. We also enjoyed some hot chocolate at a coffee shop. Finally, we made our way back to the train station and returned home. 

 Every so often, my son will look at me with dreamy eyes and ask, "Mama, when can we have a special day again?"

 Sometimes, we go to a park; sometimes, we try out a new restaurant. We don't do this too often, or it won't be special. But we don't do it too rarely, either, or we might forget how much we both love having them. 

 Chinese writer Hai Ya's The Space-Time Painter won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette(中短篇小说) on Oct. 21st. He became the third Chinese writer to win a Hugo Award after Liu Cixin and Hao Jingfang.

 When creating The Space-Time Painter, Hai Ya drew his idea from a famous painting, A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains(《千里江山图》). It was created by Wang Ximeng from the Song Dynasty. Based on Wang, Hai created a painter named Zhao Ximeng. After many hard times, Zhao's mind leaves his body and enters a space where a modern policeman is trying to solve a case(案件)about an ancient painting.

 Hai Ya's story with science fiction began in his childhood. "When I was a child, the bookstore in my hometown helped create a beautiful garden in my mind that belonged to me only. In it, science fiction offered the most beautiful‘flowers'; it opened a new world for me as a kid," Hai Ya told Beijing Youth Daily.

 Hai Ya's works feature a mix of history and science fiction. These two styles seem opposite: One looks back at the past, and the other faces the future. However, in Hai Ya's works, they find a perfect balance(平衡).

"If we can only imagine the future and things in space like rockets, it will only limit (限制) our imagination," Hai Ya told Shenzhen Special Zone Daily. "I don't think history is something completely in the past. It is flowing(流动的), and we can make predictions(预言) about the future by looking back at history.▲ ," he added.

 More Chinese writers today are trying to mix traditional culture with modern stories. Hai Ya believes that it is not a choice but a natural process." Our history and culture have universal values(普世价值) that can touch everyone," he said to Xinhua.

 When Sammie was just 8, she thought about a question: What breaks your heart?"For me, it's seeing people who need a friend," the seventh grader from Indiaga, the US, told People magazine.

"I' ve been lonely {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(我自己). I don't want others to feel that way."

D{#blank#}2{#/blank#}a summer camp, Sammi e learned about buddy benches(伙伴长椅). These benches are {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(座位) at a school playground. A lonely child can sit on it, which shows that he or she is in need of a friend.

"It would be {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(有创造力的) and really cool to have one at my school," Sammie said. "And I got the idea of making benches from bottle caps(瓶盖)." She got into action as soon as she came up with the idea. She picked h{#blank#}5{#/blank#} of bottle caps and found a factory to turn them into benches. "These benches can be used again and are {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(真正) good for the environment." She {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(添加).

 To ask more people to join her, she s{#blank#}8{#/blank#} her idea online. It soon got popular around the world. She was so surprised when she even got bottle caps from other countries.

 Today, Sammie has helped to {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(建造)200 benches in schools and neighborhoods.B{#blank#}10{#/blank#} she has no plans of stopping. "I just look forward to making a difference," she said.