There were many problems when people first moved into the cities in the US and UK. Many lived in bad conditions in poor housing. The governments on {#blank#}1{#/blank#} sides of the Atlantic, worked to improve the living conditions of city dwellers (居民). For a while, especially in the U.S., city life came to be seen as the best and most exciting way to live. Living in the rural areas was regarded as boring. Who wanted to be struggling to {#blank#}2{#/blank#} a living in the country doing hard agricultural labor?

    Many in the UK believed that they had a much better chance of improving themselves in the city. It would be {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (easy) to move from the ranks of manual laborers to the middle classes {#blank#}4{#/blank#} they could get better jobs and education. However, Britain has always had a deep love of the beauty and peacefulness of the countryside. The upper classes have always liked to have a {#blank#}5{#/blank#} both in London and in the country. They still wanted to go to the country {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the summer.

    Over the last two generations in the UK and US, industrialization has slowed down and more people have become {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (dissatisfy) with life in urban areas. They are concerned about overcrowding, too much traffic and pollution. What most people want now is a life in the country. They want to move to a village, small town or small holding outside of the city {#blank#}8{#/blank#} they can have more space and some peace and quiet. Developments in transportation {#blank#}9{#/blank#} that people can continue longer distance, so more people are living as far as they can from urban centers.

People also believe that village and small town life is better for children. Many say that the schools,

{#blank#}10{#/blank#} the primary schools, are better in smaller villages. The classes are smaller and some say there will be more positive influence on their children and that their social life will be more fulfilling and nurturing.

    Last summer holiday, I took part in a teaching project and volunteered{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(teach) in a countryside primary school for two weeks.

    When we arrived at the school, though shocked by the poor living conditions, we quickly adapted {#blank#}2{#/blank#} to the life there. My good friend Tom and I were in charge of the third year students, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(consist) of just 18 boys and girls. We not only taught them English and maths, but also organized some after-school {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(activity) for them. Gradually, I found that many of the students were actually quite 6{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(talent). But some had to leave school early, which is{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(large) because their families were under heavy financial pressure, and they had to find a job to support the family.

    As well as giving lessons, we also helped set up a reading room in the school {#blank#}7{#/blank#} students hardly had any access{#blank#}8{#/blank#} good reading materials except textbooks. With the help of school staff and students, we cleaned out an abandoned classroom. When we placed the books students and teachers in my high school {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(donate) onto the shelves, I found the students were more than excited and {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(dive) into reading there.

    Two weeks quickly passed and we had to leave. I did not know how much we had actually taught them, but for me I learned a great deal—cherish what I possess and study harder.

    Nowadays, there are a lot of reminding days in the world. World Read Aloud Day is celebrated each year on the first Wednesday of March. It{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(start) by the LitWorld.org website in 2010 and has now reached 65 countries.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}aim is to encourage people worldwide who cannot read to enjoy the benefits of a book. The website asks everyone{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(celebrate) the day by taking a book, finding an audience and reading out aloud. It is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(belong) to all people. The website asks visitors to join in the movement to reduce the number of illiterate(不识字的) people in the world. It is{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(absolute) necessary to help those{#blank#}6{#/blank#}cannot read. The website says, “It's time to start by reading aloud to{#blank#}7{#/blank#}might like it. Share a book with a child who might need it, share a story with someone who would treasure it, listen patiently{#blank#}8{#/blank#}someone else's story as they share with you.” The United Nations says, ”Literacy involves a{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(vary) of learning in{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(enable) individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and to participate fully in society.” In that way, World Read Aloud Day does help make a difference.

Photographers Turn Their Cameras on Pets

In 2019 photographers Kendrick Brinson and David Walter Banks visited 14 countries on assignment. When the couple described the adventures {#blank#}1{#/blank#}they had experienced when photographing, people invariably asked, "But who takes care of your four cats and dogs?" They joked that the pet siter made a lot of money.

But 2020 couldn't have been {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(different). Due to COVID-19, Brinson and Banks never left the United States. Often, they didn't even leave their Los Angeles neighborhood. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} {#blank#}4{#/blank#}spending long hours in airport security lines and waiting-for the perfect lighting, the pair stayed along with dogs Tux and Tia and cats Rex and Kudzu. "Our pets became emotional therapy animals, and our only friends we could safely hug in a world {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(strike) by a deadly pandemic," Banks said.

As COVID-19 lockdowns swept across the world in March of 2020, the change made an especially great impact on photographers, who are accustomed to {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(spend) long periods abroad. And so many cameras {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(turn) on a domestic subject: the pet.

Research suggests that pets have offered emotional support during the pandemic, helping {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(make) the long days of isolation more bearable, says Emily MeCobb, a clinical associate professor at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. In fact, the pandemic has sped up a trend, according to McCobb's and other scientists' observation, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the pet is becoming a member of the family. "In the past 20 to 30 years, the role of the pet in the family {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(take) on a whole new role," says MeCobb." It really hasn't been that long {#blank#}11{#/blank#}these furry child substitutes gained this kind of importance in American society."