On a rainy day, about 150 volunteers worked for eight hours to clean up Carson Creek that is near a river. About nine tons of trash (垃圾) was taken out from there.

         "We did a good job," said Alan Specter, the organizer of the event. "We've planned to come back here one more time, three years from now. Of course, we hope that there won't be so much trash next time."

         The trash came in all shapes, sizes and colors: bottles, bicycles, batteries, furniture, clothing, plastic bags, dolls and even a golf bag with a full set of golf clubs (高尔夫球杆).  

         The dirty and tiring work was done by two volunteering groups - Save the Bay and Watch the Whales. Most of the volunteers came from a local police station and a fire station. And some of them were old people who had already got retired.

         That day, it rained a little. All of them wore boots and raincoats. The work took place along a two-mile river with over 500 big yellow trash bags everywhere.

         No one found anything that cost much. A five-year-old boy found an earring which he thought might be worth a million dollars. He said he'd sell it. Then he'd donate half of the money to Watch the Whales, and use the other half to buy his favourite ice cream every day.

         Many people laughed at the boy's story. However, it was easily found that the environment there did become better.

    The children were having their class. Miss Wang was telling them what water was like. After that she asked her students, "What is water?" No one answered. Miss Wang asked them again, "Why don't you answer my question?" "Didn't I tell you what water was like?"

    Just then a boy put up his hand and said, "Miss Wang, you told us that water has no color and no smell. But where shall we find this kind of water? The water in the river behind my house is always black. And it has a terrible smell." Most of the students agreed with him.

    "I'm sorry, children," Miss Wang said. "Our water is becoming dirtier and dirtier. That is quite an important problem for us to solve."

    Long ago there was a man with the name Smith. He made a living on making caps. One day he went to sell his caps. He went through a forest. There were many monkeys in it. It was very hot and the man wanted to rest a little. He came up to a large tree, put his caps on the ground, took one of them and put it on his head. Then he lay down and soon fell asleep.

    "Where are my caps?" Smith cried when he woke up. He looked up and saw many monkeys in the trees and each monkey had a cap on its head.

    "Give me back my caps!" The man shouted at the monkeys. But the monkeys didn't understand him. They only laughed. The man got very angry, took off his own cap, threw it on the ground and cried, "If you want all my caps, you may take this one, too!"

    And what do you think happened? The little animals did the same. Each monkey took off its cap and threw it on the ground. The man was very glad. He quickly collected all his caps and went on his way.

    Joseph has written a letter to his cousins, James and Susan. Here is the letter.

    Dear James and Susan,

    I am writing to you again because I am at home in bed. I have a cold recently and I am unable to go to school. I've got a fever and a bad headache as well. In addition, I'm always thirsty, probably as a result of the fever. But, with a lot of effort, I'm writing a letter to you.

    The weather here in Toronto is horrible. I am sure the weather is much better in Hong Kong. Do you agree? The snow came a bit early this year and it was freezing cold. It's surprising to see kids playing in the snow happily and building "castles" and snowmen this morning. A few of them made snowballs by pressing snow together and threw them at each other.

    I am going to have my examination soon, I'm worried about it because I'm too sick to get out of bed to hold my text-books. What's more, I haven't attended school for nearly one week. I have to work hard to catch up with my classmates.

    I have got a new mate recently. That is Bobby, our cat. Uncle Tom gave him to me as my birthday present. He is rather disobedient and he runs here and there from time to time. However, I'm glad to have him as my friend at the moment.

    Please write to me if you have time.

Yours,

Joseph

    Nearly 7,000 medical workers in the team supporting Central China's Hubei province left the capital, Wuhan, the hardest-hit city in the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, and went back to their hometowns on Tuesday, March 31, marking the largest scale departure (离开) of medics (医学工作者)since the first group left on March 17. The Civil Aviation Administration of China has organized 51 planes to support the departure.

    More than 42,000 medics from other parts of the country have joined the battle with local medics to fight against COVID-19. The support teams came from 21 provinces, cities and autonomous regions(自治区) and some of them worked on several battlefields during the past months. The support team from the First Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang, was among those in the group. Sixty members were in charge of treating COVID-19 patients in 100 beds in the Union Hospital and treated 174 patients who have been seriously ill since they arrived on Feb 10.

    Wang Zhenning, the leader of its support team, expressed his thanks to the Wuhan people who offered great help to them. "I am proud towitness and play a role in history. We've been here, seen it happen and become better. Wuhan is our second hometown. We will forever care about the city and the people fighting with us." he said.

    Wuhan city government showed great thanks to all medics in a letter, expressing their gratefulness of the medics' efforts to save lives in the battle. "Thanks to your arrival, Wuhan welcomes today's peace and stability. We will always remember your kindness!" the letter said. In it, the city government also invited the medics to visit Wuhan in the future for sightseeing. Local people volunteered to line up and see medics off as the medics left for home after finishing their mission(使命) in Wuhan. Wuhan traffic police led the way for medics to the airport.

With a birthday usually comes a party, as well as a cake, presents and wishes from friends. But beyond these, what does a birthday 1 mean?

One year I spent my birthday alone in a completely new place. Calls and messages poured in as usual.2 , I was uncertain what to do. I had nowhere to go, nor did I know anyone with whom I could go out and share the 3 of the event.

At that moment, my mother called me, asking, "What are you 4 for your birthday?"

"I'm not sure, Mum. There's 5 here," I said in a low voice.

"You don't always need a lot of people for your birthday. Just follow your heart and make this day yours." What Mum said made me feel less 6 .

Then I picked up a book and lost myself in it, with music on. I did exactly as my mother told me and 7 "my own day". Unexpectedly, I got connected with my inner self. It was a 8 but satisfying day. I realized for the first time that I had fully grown-from the preschool child who shared chocolate with the whole class on my birthday to someone who could now 9 it with myself.

When I lay in bed that night, I remembered my mother's words. "You came into our lives this day," she said. Her voice was filled with joy and 10 for the coming of my life. And indeed, that is the true 11 of birthday celebrations-the valuable gift of life itself.

I spent a birthday 12 a party. It made me realize the spirit of birthday itself.