After suffering through many months of unemployment  (失业). my wife and I moved this week from Colorado to Ohio. where she was starting a new job. Not knowing anybody there. we were pretty concerned about how we'd get our entire home unloaded (卸下) without killing ourselves.

    We made a phone call to hire (临时雇用) a couple of college students to help with all the heavy lifting once we got there. But one neighbor after another stopped by to help us. What ? Have we moved to some other country ? Maybe we've died and gone to heaven!     

    Unloading actually became fun and joy because there were so many wonderful new friends to help when we worked. The more people helped. the easier the work became. We were afraid the job might take days for the two of us alone. but it was finished in a few hours. Many total strangers would either walk by the sidewalk or drive by to ask us if we were moving in. Many were happy that this old house that had sat empty for so long was coming to life again. We were invited to an outdoor meal yesterday by neighbors on the same street.

    All the time. my brain was resting on this new sense of hope that people can be so friendly to strangers. Among all the conversation were lots of offers to help each other in all kinds of ways. It's wonderful to live in such a kind little town. I feel so grateful to be here. and wish the rest of the world could see how an entire community can model  (做榜样) what it's like to help each other.

    “I never wanted to come on this stupid hiking trip!” Jeff's voice was panicked. His father stopped and turned to look at the boy.

    “This is hard on you, son. But you've got to come through with your courage.”

    “But I am scared!” Jeff shouted.

    “Please have enough love for your brother to think this through!” His father replied, “We just don't have the time to stop. And I don't know if I can make it without stopping every so often. While you're only ten, you're strong and fast. Do you remember the way back from here to the road, if you had to go alone?”

    Jeff flashed back to the painful scene of his seventeen-year-old brother Mark at their campsite. He'd been bitten by a snake during a rough hike. He needed medical attention right away. Worse still, their cell phone was dead.

    “Jeff? Could you make it to Flint without me? You can get help there.”

    Jeff nodded, said goodbye to his father and continued climbing over the rocks. The rocks and branches threatened his footing and speed, but stone by stone, he made his way up the valley.

    Jeff turned and made the final climbing-up toward the road. When he reached it, he rested himself, breathless. “Can't stop,” he thought. “Mark's in big trouble Keep going.” Just as he pulled himself upright, a truck sped by, heading for Flint " Hey!” he shouted excitedly, waving both arms. The truck stopped, "Jump in, boy! What's up? "The driver asked, Jeff got in and explained. Immediately the driver reached for his cell phone. “Help! Help! Better get the helicopter in there,” he seemed to be shouting into his hand. But Jeff wasn't sure about that because everything got unclear and then went black and quiet.

    Hours later, Jeff opened his eyes to find himself in a hospital, with his father nearby. His father told him that the helicopter airlifted Mark to the hospital and he would be fine in a few days. His father hiked himself out of that valley and took a ride from someone to the town. “You're a hero, son,” his father finally said with a smile.“ You saved Mark.”

    A business executive（主管）was deep in debt and could see no way out. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company.

    Suddenly an old man appeared. “I can see that something is troubling you,” he said. After listening to the executive's words, the old man said, “I believe I can help you.” He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying, “Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time.” Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.

    The executive saw a check for $ 500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world! “I can settle all my debts immediately!” he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there would give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

    With renewed optimism, he made better deals and extended terms of payment. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again. Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the uncashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as he was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.

    “I'm so glad I caught him!” she cried.” hope he hasn't been bothering you. He's always escaping from the rest home and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller.” And she led the old man away. The astonished executive just stood there.

    Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined, that had turned him around. It was his newly found self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.

    My grandfather grew up in war-torn Europe. When German soldiers occupied his hometown, the thriving city of Tarow, Poland, he refused to obey them and eventually joined the Soviet army to fight for his country's freedom. “Stand straight, stand tall,” he told himself.

    After the war, in 1947, he boarded a boat for Manhattan. He was hungry and suffering from seasickness. All alone in a new country, he was frightened about his future. Still, he marched head-on into the hustle of the streets of New York. Soon he met other European immigrants, each of them trying to find his or her own way. If they could do it, why couldn't he? “Stand straight, stand tall,” he would remind himself.

    Thanks to the help of a loyal and trusting friend, my grandfather gained a jewelry booth on Canal Street, New York City. He once told me how nervous he was on that first day of work. He was not only trying to learn this tough new business, but also a new language.

    To his surprise, the men in neighboring booths－who could have taken advantage of him－offered their help and advice. Within months, my grandfather was commanding his spot behind the counter, selling diamonds and cultured pearls as if he'd been doing it his whole life.

    Stand straight and stand tall.

    In later years, my grandfather would take both my mother and her sister down the aisle at their weddings. As he stood with each of them, he thought about their new beginnings, and of the adventures and journeys they would experience together. He also thought about the children who would one day carry on his family name.

    I am so proud to be one of those children. Listening to my grandfather's remarkable experiences has changed the way I view my own life.

    My parents and two older brothers arrived in Queens from Cuba in 1967, squeezing into a one-bedroom apartment that got even more cramped when I showed up two years later. Suspicious of everyone and unable to communicate in English, my parents weren't about to let their kids hang out in the streets. And since they both worked, we boys spent a lot of time at home.

    The main public library on Merrick Boulevard was the first place I was allowed to visit on my own. I started going there when I was eight. Everything I needed was located on what seemed to me an endless single floor. Wandering around that building aimlessly on a Saturday afternoon offered a sense of freedom I'd never experienced before.

    Once my father dropped me off, it didn't really matter what I did so long as I could explore. I find it interesting that people today say that libraries are no longer about books; they weren't really about books for me back in the 1970s, either. It was more about being around other people who looked like they were being productive-turning pages, making copies, patiently waiting for items. All this was attractive to me.

    I felt a certain level of dignity and self-respect at the library. I didn't borrow books from the library despite spending practically every Saturday of my childhood there. I certainly went over hundreds and hundreds of them during my walks around the building- sports, politics and the solar system were my favorite sections.

    But I felt no great need to bring books home. We had no room for books in our apartment anyway. I felt like a poor kid when I read books at home. I felt like everyone else when I read books at the library.

    Most people know that Marie Curie(居里夫人) was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, and the first person to win it twice. However, few people know that she was also the mother of a Nobel Prize winner.

    Born in September, 1887, Irene Curie was the first of the Curies' two daughters. Along with nine other children whose parents were also famous scholars, Irene studied in their own school, and her mother was one of the teachers. She finished her high school education at the College of Sévigné in Paris. Irene entered the University of Paris in 1914 to prepare for a degree in mathematics and physics. When World War I began, Irene went to help her mother, who was using X-ray facilities（设备） to help save the lives of wounded soldiers. Irene continued the work by developing X-ray facilities in military hospitals in France and Belgium. Her services were recognized in the form of a Military's Medal by the French government.

    In 1918, Irene became her mother's assistant at the Curie Institute. In December 1924, Frederic Joliot joined the Institute, and Irene taught him the techniques required for his work. They soon fell in love and were married in 1926. Their daughter Helene was born in 1927 and their son Pierre five years later.

    Like her mother, Irene combined family and career. Like her mother, Irene was awarded a Nobel Prize, along with her husband, in 1935. Unfortunately, also like her mother, she developed leukemia because of her work with radioactivity（辐射能）. Irene Joliot-Curie died from leukemia on March 17, 1956.

    A court battle between German and Israeli archives （档案馆） over Kafka's manuscripts （手稿）raised literary, not just legal, questions. At the time of his death, Kafka hardly seemed like a candidate for world fame. He had a minor reputation in German literary circles. He published a few stories in magazines, but they received little attention.

    After he died in 1924, his friend Max Brod collected, edited and published his works - despite Kafka's own instructions in his will ordering the manuscripts to be destroyed - thus making Kafka a household name after his death. When the Nazis invaded Prague, Brod escaped to Israel, bringing the manuscripts with him. When he died in 1968, his manuscripts, together with those of Kafka, were transferred to his secretary Esther Hoffe.

    Even though Brod asked in his will that the manuscripts be given to a public archive, Hoffe sold some of them abroad for a great deal of money. Many of them eventually made it to the German Literature Archive. In 2007, she died and left her properties to her daughters. Then the case about the manuscripts started after the death of one of her daughters. The court said Hoffe had no rights, and could not have any such rights for the documents Brod took from Kafka's apartment after his death.

    Ironically, Kafka's stubborn homelessness and non-belonging in his works were accurately what ensured his place at the center of 20^th-century literature. W. H. Auden proposed that Kafka was to the cold, absurd 20^th century what Dante or Shakespeare had been to their times - the writer who captured the spirit of the age. That is why, in the end, it hardly matters whether Kafka's manuscripts stay in Germany or Israel. What counts is that we are all living in Kafka's world.

    My First Marathon

    Three weeks before my first marathon, one of my ankles was injured and this meant not running for two weeks, leaving me only one week to train. Yet, I was determined to go ahead.

    I remember back to my 7th year in school. In my first P.E. class, the teacher required us to run laps and then hit a softball. My performance was really terrible. He later informed me that I was "not athletic".

    The idea that I was "not athletic" stuck with me for years. When I started running in my 30s, I realized running was a battle against myself, not about competition or whether or not I was athletic. It was all about the battle against my own body and mind. A test of wills!

    The night before my marathon, I dreamt that I couldn't even find the finish line. I woke up sweating and nervous, but I was ready to prove something to myself.

Shortly after crossing the start line, my shoe laces became untied. So I stopped to readjust. Not the start I wanted!

    At mile 3, I passed a sign: "GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!"

    By mile 17, I became out of breath and the once injured ankle hurt badly. Despite the pain, I stayed the course walking a bit and then running again.

    By mile 21, I was starving!

    As I approached mile 23, I could see my wife waving a sign. She is my biggest fan. She never minded the alarm clock sounding at 4 a.m. or questioned my expenses on running.

    I was one of the final runners to finish. But I finished! And I got a medal. In fact, I got the same medal as the one that the guy who came in first place had.

Determined to be myself and move forward, free of shame and worldly labels(世俗标签), I can now call myself a "marathon winner".

    Molly Burke was not born blind. She started losing her sight when she was four. Doctor said that she had a rare eye disease that would slowly take away her eyesight completely. In first grade, she learned to read Braille (the language used for the blind) although she could still see. Life was pretty normal for the next few years. However, in seventh grade, things got worse. Black turned to grey. Yellow turned to white. Soon, Molly couldn't see the blackboard.

    As her eyesight weakened, Molly began using stick to help her walk. This embarrassed her friends, and people stopped inviting her to do things. Then the bullying (欺凌) began.

    Molly once broke her ankle and had to use crutches (拐杖) to help her walk. A group of girls, who used to be her friends did something terrible. They were usually responsible for walking Molly to the classroom. Instead, they took the blind 14-year-old outside and down a hill. "I was alone," remembers Molly. " I couldn't see. Nor could I walk." Luckily, Molly had her cell phone and was able to call her mother for help.

    After she finished high school, Molly thought about what she wanted to do before going to college. Her brother was working in a children's home in Africa, and she wanted to do some things that would help others, too. Then, she found out about Me to We, an organization that has been helping people through volunteering and developing leadership skills. She joined the organization on a youth trip to Kenya to help build a school. While there, she spoke at a local girls' school. Molly now knew what she wanted to do next — to be one of the speakers at Me to We.

    Molly has been speaking to schools all over the USA and Canada about Bullying. Her advice? Be strong! During a speech in Toronto, she spoke to about 20,000 people. They stood up and applauded wildly after her speech. Her father said, "Molly has a real ability to inspire people and to help others who are going through something whether it's a disability, or bullying, or a different set of challenges."

    "She is a pretty girl, but I don't know why George stays friendly with her." This is what Maria Osborne, George's sister, said to her younger sister, Jane, about Amelia.

    "I can't agree more." Jane said.

    One day Dobbin came to the Osborne house to visit George, but he was not at home.

    "You are at the wrong house," laughed Maria, and pointed to the Sedley's house on the other side of the street. "That's where he is."

    Dobbin smiled strangely and went away. He knew that George had not been there. Amelia was there alone, hoping that George would come to visit her. Day after day, she waited. Day after day, he didn't come. He was busy playing billiards with his friends in the army.

    A lot of people thought that the army would soon join in the war against Napoleon. and Amelia was worried that her George would have to go and fight. Perhaps, he would be injured or killed！Then the war in Europe ended, and Amelia were very happy. However, George told her that he had to travel to some other parts of England with his troops. While he was away, he sometimes wrote her a short note. She wrote him very long letters every day.

    George was tired of reading these long letters and sometimes used them to light his cigars. His friends Stubble and Spooney wondered who was sending all those long letters to Captain Osborne, but he would not tell them. Dobbin heard Stubble and Spooney speaking about it one day.

    "She's probably an actress or singer and just wants his money, "said Spooney.

    "Miss Sedley is one of the nicest young women that ever lived." said Dobbin, annoyed. "and Lieutenant Osborne has been engaged（订婚）to her for a long time. "

    Soon, everybody in the army knew about it, and George was angry with Dobbin. Then he remembered that Dobbin often helped him by giving him money. He did not want to lose such a good friend. Dobbin told him that he should write to Amelia and try to make her happier. The next day George decided to go to London and visit Amelia. He borrowed some money from Dobbin, so that he could buy her a present. When he arrived in London, he saw a lovely shirt in a shop and bought it for himself. He had no money left to buy a present for Amelia.

    "Never mind, "he said to himself. "She doesn't care about presents. She just wants to see me. "

    She was, indeed, very happy to see him, and admired his new shirt. He talked to her about his plans to retire from the army because the war in Europe had ended and was going to live somewhere in the country with her. She was very happy.

    "I will take you to visit your sisters-in-law, "said George. "I have some important business in the city, but I will be back in time for dinner. "

    George took her to the Osborne house, and then he went into the city and played billiards with his friends. He was late for dinner.

    After dinner, his father talked to him about his plans. He wanted him to stop gambling and playing billiards with his friends, and George promised that he would.

    "Can't you find another girl to marry?" asked Mr. Osborne suddenly.

    "But she loves me, and you arranged it many years ago with Mr. Sedley,"replied George.

    "Yes, I know. Sedley was my friend once and helped me in business. Now his business does not look good. I think he has lost a lot of money. I don't want a poor man's daughter in my family!"

    George was not upset to hear this, and he did not tell Amelia what his father had said. He made Amelia very happy, and that night she wrote him another long letter. He read it and sighed.

    "Poor Amelia,"he said. "She loves me so much! This wine has given me a headache!"

I was standing in the checkout line behind a woman who looked to be in her 60s. When it was her turn to pay, the cashier greeted her by name and asked her how she was doing.

The woman looked down, shook her head and said: "Not so good. My husband just lost his job. The truth is, I don't know how I'm going to get through these days." Then she gave the cashier food stamps (食品券).

My heart ached. I wanted to help but didn't know how. Should I offer to pay for her groceries, or ask for her husband's resume (简历)?

Walking into the parking lot, I spotted the woman returning her shopping cart. I remembered something in my purse that I thought could help her. It wasn't a handful of cash or an offer of a job for her husband, but maybe it would make her life better.

"Excuse me," I said, my voice trembling a bit. "I couldn't help overhearing what you said to the cashier. It sounds like you're going through a really hard time right now. I'm so sorry. I'd like to give you something."

I handed her the small card from my purse. When the woman read the two words "You Matter" on the card, she began to cry. And through her tears, she said: "You have no idea how much this means to me."

I was a little startled by her reply. Having never done anything like this before, I didn't know what kind of reaction I might receive. All I could think to say was: "Would it be OK to give you a hug?"

A few days earlier, one of my workmates gave a similar card to me as encouragement for a project I was working on. When I read the card, I felt a warm glow spread inside of me. Deeply touched, I ordered my own box of "You Matter" cards and started sharing them.

More than 25 years ago, Saroo Brierley lived in rural（农村）India. One day, he played with his brother along the rail line and fell asleep. When he woke up and found himself alone, the 4-year-old decided his brother might be on the train he saw in front of him-so he got on.

That train took him a thousand miles across the country to a totally strange city. He lived on the streets, and then in an orphanage（孤儿院）. There, he was adopted by an Australian family and flown to Tasmania.

As he writes in his new book, A Long Way Home, Brierley couldn't help but wonder about his hometown back in India. He remembered landmarks, but since he didn't know his town's name, finding a small neighborhood in a vast country proved to be impossible.

Then he found a digital mapping program. He spent years searching for his hometown in the program's satellite pictures. In 2011, he came across something familiar. He studied it and realized he was looking at a town's central business district from a bird's-eye view. He thought,  “On the right-hand side you should see the three-platform train station”—and there it was. "And on the left-hand side you should see a big fountain"-and there it was. Everything just started to match.

When he stood in front of the house where he grew up as a child, he saw a lady standing in the entrance. "There's something about me, " he thought—and it took him a few seconds but he finally remembered what she used to look like.

In an interview Brierley says, "My mother looked so much shorter than I remembered. But she came forth and walked forward, and I walked forward, and my feelings and tears and the chemical in my brain, you know, it was like a nuclear fusion（核聚变）. I just didn't know what to say, because I never thought seeing my mother would ever come true. And here I am, standing in front of her. ”

Ieoh Ming Pei, one of the last great modernist architects, has died aged 102. Although he worked mostly in the United States, Pei will always be remembered for a European project: his redevelopment of the Louvre Museum in Paris in the 1980s.

Pei was the first foreign architect to work on the Louvre in its long history, and initially his designs were fiercely opposed. But in the end, the French — and everyone else — were won over. His glass pyramid outside the Louvre, completed in 1989, is now one of Paris' most famous landmarks.

Pei was born in China in 1917 into a wealthy family. His father was a banker. His artistic mother—a calligrapher and musician—had the greater influence on him. Despite not speaking English, he moved to the US at the age of 18 to study at Pennsylvania, MIT and Harvard. He worked as a research scientist for the US government during World War Two, and went on to work as an architect, founding his own firm in 1955. He carried on working well into old age, creating one of his most famous masterpieces—the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar—in his 80s.

He has designed buildings, hotels, schools and other structures across North America, Asia and Europe. His other work includes Dallas City Hall and Japan's Miho Museum. His style was influenced by his love of Islamic architecture. His favoured building materials were glass and steel, with a combination of concrete.

He won a variety of awards and prizes for his buildings, including the AIA Gold Medal, the Praemium Imperiale for Architecture. In 1983 Pei was given the fifth Pritzker Architecture Prize for giving the 20th century some of its most beautiful interior spaces and exterior forms. He used his $100,000 prize money to start a scholarship fund for Chinese students to study architecture in America. In person, Pei was always neatly dressed, good-tempered, charming and unusually modest.

I suppose it started when a private message appeared in my Facebook Messenger inbox. It was from a woman I met briefly through a friend. It said: "Hey, girlfriend. Want to invite you to join my next challenge group—we'll be focusing on fitting in 30 minutes of exercise, balanced nutrition and motivation. Let me help you reach your goals!"

I laughed it off and closed my browser(浏览器)but the meaning behind the message stuck with me all day. The more the days went on, the heavier her message weighed on me. The insecurity about my body was brought to life by one little Facebook message. That got me thinking about social media in general and how it took up too much of my time.

I tried to remember what life was like without Facebook. Surfing the Internet was an occasional distraction(消遣)and I spent a lot more time reading. I printed out photos and put them in albums. Checking in with friends happened through texts, e-mails or phone calls. Was life easier then than it is now? In an effort to both recreate the simplicity of those days and set a healthier example for my son, I closed my Facebook account.

I felt lost at first. However, leaving Facebook left my mind quiet enough to remember a few important things. My body is fine just the way it is: Though fat, I am healthy. My close friends will text or call me if they are struggling. Our happy moments as a family were strengthened because I was completely present and the break left me feeling better about myself, my family and my life.

After a few weeks, I returned to Facebook. I looked in on a daily basis, but only once with little desire to post as much as I once did. Facebook is not an addiction any more.

Tabichi's father, uncle, and cousins have all worked as teachers. He could see that his relatives were making a real difference to people's lives and wanted to do the same. So for the past 12 years, Tabichi has worked as a math and science teacher in the hope that his lessons will give students a chance to improve their situations.

However, working at a remote village school in Kenya hasn't been easy. The unique challenges and obstacles have forced Tahiat to find unique solutions for his students. The school only has one computer and unreliable Internet access. The school also has no library or laboratory. To make matters worse, there are not enough books for all the students and the school is desperately in need of more teachers. Most of the students are not able to concentrate, because they haven't had enough meals at home.

One of the other major challenges that Tahichi faces is keeping kids in school as long as possible. So Tabichi spends most of his time outside of the classroom working on ways to keep kids in school. When the 36­year­old gets the feeling that a student is at risk of dropping out, he works to persuade families to put more value in education. To help those in poverty afford food, uniforms, and books, Tabichi also gives away 80 percent of his salary. Despite all the obstacles he faces, Tabichi is credited for improving the school and keeping much of the village's youth in school. He has also managed to set up science clubs and addressed food insecurity issues.

Thanks to his tireless work, his students have excelled. In recent years, students have won national and international science competitions. In March of 2019, Tabichi was voted the best teacher in the world and won the prize of $1 million.

In 1990, Hal Donaldson was 23 years old, fresh out of college and found himself in Calcutta, India, where he was asked to interview Mother Teresa.

Donaldson says about the great woman famed for feeding the hungry," She wasn't wearing shoes and her ankles were swollen. She sat down with me and was very polite." After the interview, Mother Teresa asked him," What are you doing to help the poor?" Donaldson admitted that he was young and wasn't focused on helping others. With a smile on her face, Mother Teresa said," Everyone can do something."  

Those words deeply struck Donaldson and forced him to face some hard truths about himself.

Hal Donaldson grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. When he was 12 years old, his parents were hit by a drunk driver; his father died, and his mother was seriously injured. To make ends meet, they went on welfare. Donaldson says ," I had holes in my shoes and clothes, When you're teased at school for that, you just want to escape."

He managed to do just that. Donaldson got into college and turned his focus to making money for himself. He says ," I was just trying to find my way out of insignificance. However, it's easy to overlook others along the way. I was the guy that would see a homeless person and cross the street, so I didn't have to confront him. My focus was on climbing to the lop instead of helping those trying to climb with me."

Donaldson returned home from India with a different thought. He traveled to eight cities in America and stayed on the streets and listened to stories of the homeless. " My heart broke ," he says," I knew I could no longer just live for myself."

Inspired by Mother Teresa's words and the stories he'd heard across America, Donaldson loaded a pick—up truck with $300 worth of groceries and handed them out to anyone who needed help. In 1994, Donaldson created the nonprofit organization, Convoy for Hope, which works with communities across America and around the world. Their work focuses on feeding children, women's empowerment, helping farmers and disaster services.

The boy sat on his chair, with his hands above the keyboard. He thought about what to write.

He recalled that the competition deadline was merely a week away. But he still had not even started on his piece. He looked at the brochure again. "WRITING COMPETITION!" the title read. His mum had encouraged him to enter the writing competition, and now he was taking it on as his personal task for the holidays.

As the boy reflected on his previous writing efforts, he realised how hopeless his task of winning was. Every story he ever wrote was based on other stories. He had little imagination, and unfortunately, imagination was the key to writing.

Suddenly, he had a brainwave. This time, he came up with an original and imaginative story.

The words shot towards him like a storm of leaves. Words were coming easily, flowing through him, faster than he could type. He typed faster than he ever had before. He continued to type, amazed how easy writing this story was. The boy could not stop writing. He looked at the word count and saw the number "248" starting right back at him. He was not even halfway yet.

Then he heard his mother's call of saying time for bed. He continued writing the piece, ignoring her. He had to make up for the time he had lost in thinking about a topic to write.

Finally, he finished. The word count now read "498".

"Perfect," he thought, "just under the word limit." He knew this was the story that would win.

He went to the website and searched for the competition. He found the page but there was no "Enter" button.

Confused, he then re-read the page again. It read COMPETITION CLOSED.

Although Adrian Wood had already sent her three oldest children off to White Oak Elementary School in Edenton, North Carolina, she was anxious when it was her youngest son Amos's turn to start classes. Adrian said, "Sending Amos to school was such a different path. He was 3 when he started school. He had autism（自闭症）and he didn't speak."

Amos struggled to make friends and fit in, but there was always one person there who was very happy to see him. Raymond Brown has worked at the school as a guard for the past 15 years. All of the students know and love him, and he's truly a friend to all. He started calling Adrian's son "Famous Amos" on day one. To the mom's surprise, Amos quickly began responding with a cheerful "Hey, Brown" whenever he saw him. "He wasn't even saying 'daddy' at home, so it was really something, "Adrian said.

"Amos is a hard friend to have," Adrian explained, "He takes a lot more than he gives and that's tough for children. But those kids saw that he was popular and loved, and they started fighting over who would get to hold Amos' hand on the way to the classroom. It meant so much to me that he was favored by the other children at school, and Mr. Brown had a big hand in that."

About a year ago, school officials nominated Mr. Brown for North Carolina's School Hero, a $20,000 prize. When the results came out and he didn't win, Adrian was heartbroken. She couldn't let the disappointing results stand, so she took to Facebook and created an annual "Famous Amos" prize for Mr. Brown in their community. Her neighbors answered the call, donating $35,000 in just one week! Townspeople and school officials gathered in March to celebrate Mr. Brown and give him the money they'd raised. Principal Michelle handed him a giant check and thanked him for everything he does to help kids like Amos find their way.

The waterfall was coming. Curtis Newman, his wife Krystal Ramirez and his 13-year-old son Hunter thought they would jump out of their small boat into the water. But this year was different. Heavy snow and spring rains had turned the usually controllable waterfall into something fierce (凶猛的). As they approached the waterfall late on the afternoon of the third day of their camping trip, Newman could tell from the increasing roar of water in the narrow canyon (峡谷) that they were in trouble. There was no way they'd be able to move down the rocks on either side of the waterfall.

There was no cell phone service, and they hadn't seen a single person in the past three days. As he wondered what to do, Newman heard voices coming from the other side of the waterfall. "We have to get those people a message", he thought. He picked up a stick and pulled out his pocketknife to carve "Help" on it. He tried tossing it over the waterfall, but it floated away in the wrong directions. Krystal reminded him that he had a pen and paper in his backpack (背包). Newman knew it was an impossible attempt, but he wrote "6-15-19 We are stuck here at the waterfall. Help please" and put the note into a bottle. This time, he threw the bottle over the waterfall successfully.

It took them about 30 minutes to go back to the beach where they had lunch. By about 10: 30 pm, they pulled out their sleeping bags. Then, just after midnight, they heard a helicopter hovering (盘旋) above them. Newman turned to his son and started shaking him.

They got rescued. "The rescuers said that they had been performing these kinds of rescues, but no one had ever been rescued by a message in a bottle," Newman said.

Once upon a time, there lived a rich man. He had a servant（仆人）. He and the servant loved wine and good food very much. Each time the rich man left his home, the servant would drink the wine and eat up all the nice food in the house. The rich man knew what his servant did, but he had never caught his servant doing that.

One morning, when he left home, he said to the servant, "Here are two bottles of poison（毒药）and some nice food in the house. You must take care of them." With these words, he went out.

But the servant knew what the rich man said was untrue. After the rich man was away from his home, he enjoyed a nice meal. Because he drank too much, he was drunk and fell to the ground. When the rich man came back, he couldn't find his food and his wine. He became very angry. He woke the servant up. But the servant told his story very well. He said a cat had eaten up everything. He was afraid to be punished, so he drank the poison to kill himself.