Imagine moving to a new country. There you know almost no one and you don't speak the language. Eighty years ago, my grandmother, Jean Rizzi, did just that.

    Like so many immigrants from Europe, her first stop in America was Ellis Island, in New York. The immigration station on Ellis Island opened 125 years ago. From 1892 to 1954, over 12 million foreigners entered America through Ellis Island.

    My grandmother's journey started near Naples, Italy. Her father got a job in New York years earlier. After he saved enough money, he sent for his family to join him. In November 1936, his wife and three kids got on a ship to New York. At just 8 years old, my grandmother didn't know what to expect. "I was nervous," she says. "But I was also excited about finally getting to see my new home in big city."

    For nearly two weeks, they were at sea and couldn't see any land. They all stayed in one small room on the boat.  When the boat arrived at Ellis Island, my grandmother thought the journey was over. But she and her family still had to be examined by doctors. Finally, they were off to their new home in Queens, New York. My grandmother still lives there.

    Ellis Island is now a popular tourist attraction in New York. More than 3 million people visit it each year. To immigrants like my grandmother, the island is a symbol of freedom and the American dream.

I was ten years old when my mother died. Ten years old on that very day, my mother organized a party for me at the hospital. She made sure everyone there brought me presents. 

Nurse Ms. Louise gave me a fountain pen. "Now you can write beautiful stories, Katie," She said. Then the twins in the same room gave me a pink diary. A little too cute for me. I mean, I read Stephen King, the novelist and wanted to write like him. There was one box they held out till the end. It was a large box, carefully wrapped (包裹) with exquisite paper and ribbons. "Who's it from?" I asked. 

"It's you," Mama mouthed, hard breathing, but she smiled a very small smile at me. I read her lips. She meant it was a present for me. 

"Of course, it is," I said happily. 

I took off the paper carefully. It was a beautiful box made of heavy cardboard. Then I opened it slowly and...

"It's empty," I said. "Is this a joke?" I turned to ask Mama, but she was gone, no breath. 

"Mama!" I cried. I screamed. 

I cried steadily for a week at night, and for about a year, I stopped writing and reading. I felt empty and angry. 

One night, I woke up remembering how she had said, "It's you." Not, "It's for you," just "It's you." Mama had been a writer herself. She didn't use words carelessly. But, why? 

I took the box out and opened it. It was as empty as the day I had put it away. 

 "It's you," I whispered to the box. Suddenly I knew. 

I was the box, solid and strong, maybe even beautiful on the outside. But I had to fill up the box to make it all it could be. I had to fill me up as well. 

Then ____. The first thing I put on paper was about that birthday. I kept it in the box, and pretty soon that box was overflowing with stories. And poems. And memories. 

And so was I.

Do you like doing some chores? Do you often help your parents cook a meal at home? If you're good at cooking, here's the good news for you! The 3rd Chinese Food Cooking Competition is coming! Come to join in and make your favourite Chinese food!

A strange way to get relaxed has become popular to cities across China. That is hugging trees. Young people feel comfortable after tree-hugging. 

Hundreds of people online share their tree-hugging experiences. They think they feel less stressed（有压力的）and worried. It is also a way of keeping a close relationship with the natural world. By hugging a tree, some of them feel the tree is hugging them back. 

Jenny gave up her job because of too much work stress. According to her, hugging trees helps her a lot. She enjoys herself in hugging trees. "Hugging trees helps me relax and lets me go back to a natural state（状态）. I feel so free and feel the world is so big. "

In fact, hugging trees is a kind of psychological therapy（心理治疗）. It first came from northern Europe. In northern Finland, there's even a tree-hugging competition every August. A study shows that hugging can lead people to give off hormone（荷尔蒙）. Hormone can give people feelings of love and make people less stressed. 

Though tree-hugging is helpful for people's body and mind, there are many things we should think about before we do that. 

Robots can help us in many ways. And Topeliffe Primary School is doing something new by helping autistic（患自闭症的）children through robot friends. These robots can dance，play games and tell stories. They can do Tai Chi as well!

Dr Guldberg，a teacher from University of Birmingham，said，"Studies show that autistic children often feel safe with computers and robots. So we wonder how robots can help the children to communicate with others. For example，robots can act as their friends and listen to them at school. "

Ian Lowe，a teacher from Topcliffe Primary School，teaches about 30 autistic children. He said，"The robots are very smart at helping autistic children with their learning. In the future we hope they can help with learning at home. "

And the students love them. Seven﹣year﹣old Joshua says he likes playing games with the robots. Daniel and Kevin say they like to watch the robots dancing. And Stephen says he likes Robert Max when it tells him stories. 

In a way，the robots are helpful for these autistic children to express（表达）their ideas.