【推荐1】The reference desk staff at Louisiana’s public libraries pride themselves on answering their customers’ questions.

Then came the flooding of 2016. Suddenly the questions became more urgent. People wanted to know how to contact Federal Emergency Management Agency for assistance, where to get help paying bills and even where to find a homeless shelter. Some visitors seemed to need much more than what the library’s reference sources could give them. They needed someone who could spend more time with them, advise them on who to call for assistance and what documents they’d need.

The library turned to Volunteers of America Greater Baton Rouge (VOAGBR), a nonprofit organization it had worked with before. Then three evenings a week, VOAGBR would send social workers to three library branches.

Melissa Peeler, a benefits specialist at VOAGBR, taped her sign — with its red, white and blue Volunteers of America logo (标识) — up in the reference section. But other than a poorly-dressed man in the comer, no one made eye contact all evening. Finally, the man walked to Melissa and asked her what she was doing.

“I’m here to talk to folks who need social service help,” she said.

“I need a place to sleep,” he said.

Melissa gave him a list of shelters. “VOAGBR runs the Drop-in Center near this shelter,” she said, pointing to an address. “There are showers and computers you can use. You can even get a photo ID.”

“Really?” the man said. “Thanks!”

Word got out. People began to take notice of Melissa and come to her with questions that the librarians weren’t generally equipped to handle.

Most people had never heard of VOAGBR. But one day, a man came in and, seeing Melissa’s sign, made a beeline for her. “Hey, I’m with you guys,” the man said, proudly pulling out an ID with the VOAGBR logo he’d gotten at the Drop-in Center. “I don’t know what I would have done without you!”

【推荐1】In front of a camera, a 30-year-old lawyer (律师), Tan Ting is giving an online class about legal (法律的) knowledge, with full energy and confidence. The only unusual thing is that there is no sound throughout the whole class.

Tan Ting was born in the 1990s in Daliang Mountains, Sichuan. She had a difficult childhood before becoming the first deaf (聋的) lawyer in China. When she was 8, she lost her hearing because of a wrong kind of medicine. She later went to a special school to continue studying. At first, she wanted to be a teacher at a special school, but as growing up and studying, Tan met many people like her. They live a really hard life because of being deaf, and when some legal problems happened, there was little help they can get. That made Tan decide to take the first step to be a lawyer to help these people.

After a long time of study, Tan passed the Legal Exam. She is now working on both legal knowledge education and legal aid (援助) for people like her and is trying her best to help them live and study. The classes she gives are free and she usually has to answer more than 10 video calls in a day to help deaf people solve legal problems. Because they can only talk through sign languages (手语), a call often takes more than 30 minutes.

Tan’s hard work made more people understand deaf people’s problems with law. There are more people in Tan’s team now. “Before me, there were also many lawyers leaning sign languages, but as one of the deaf I believe I shine their feelings and can help them better.” Tan told people, “I will keep trying my best to let justice (正义) be beard by the silent world.”

【推荐3】“I’ve been beat up by wildlife my whole life,” Dean Newman, a wildlife photographer, told the media. A large bird once charged at Dean in Brazil, knocking him to the ground. In South Africa not long ago, a lion sent him running back into his jeep. Dean doesn’t take it personally.

And when the time came to save one particular member of the wild kingdom, the 68-year-old photographer from Southern Maryland sprang into action. He stepped into Beltway traffic to rescue an osprey (鱼鹰) that lay on the road, helpless.

This was on Friday afternoon. Dean and his wife Sandy were driving home when they spotted the osprey. Dean said, “Right there in the middle of the traffic, this osprey was just sitting. Thank goodness he hadn’t been run over.”

Dean pulled his pickup truck to the side of the busy road and tried to make eye contact with other drivers, signaling that he wanted to walk in front of them. “Luckily this guy in a VW Passat, he caught my eye and stopped,” Dean said.

Dean ran over, reached down, grabbed the osprey, then ran back to his truck. Sandy searched for wildlife rehabilitators (复健员). Then they called Molly Moore, the president of Southern Maryland Audubon. She suggested calling the Owl Moon Raptor Centre in Boyds, in Montgomery County. It was a bit out of their way, but Owl Moon’s director, Suzanne Shoemaker, said she’d send someone to meet the Newmans. They met with volunteer Bill Lamoureux in the parking lot of the College Park Ikea and the transfer (转交) was made.

Dean has photographed plenty of mammals — lions and jaguars, bison and bears — but he has a special fondness for birds. “I like birds because they show up well in most cases,” he said. As close as he was to that osprey, surely he got some great photos?

“Unfortunately, it never even crossed my mind to do that, believe it or not,” Dean said. “I’m embarrassed to say that. I was too busy avoiding traffic. But I was lucky to have the experience.”

【推荐3】Mariam was five years old the first time she heard the word harami.

It happened on a Thursday. It must have, because Mariam remembered that she had been restless (坐立不安的) that day, the way she was only on Thursdays, the day when Jalil visited her.

To pass the time until the moment that she would see him at last, Mariam had climbed a chair and taken down her mother's Chinese tea set. It was the only thing that Mariam's mother, Nana, had of her own mother, who had died when Nana was two. It was this last piece that slipped from Mariam's fingers, that fell to the ground and shattered.

When Nana saw the bowl, her face flushed red, her upper lip shivered, and her eyes settled on Mariam unblinkingly. Nana grabbed Mariam by the wrists, pulled her close, and, through gritted teeth, said, “You are a clumsy little harami.”

At the time, Mariam didn't know what this word meant. Nor was she old enough to appreciate the injustice, to see that it is the creators of the harami who are guilty, not the harami, whose only sin (罪过) is being born.

It was the way Nana uttered the word — not so much saying it as spitting it at her — that made Mariam feel the full sting of it. She understood then that a harami was an unwanted thing.

Jalil never called Mariam this name.

Jalil had three wives and nine children, all of whom were strangers to Mariam. He was one of Herat's wealthiest and best-connected men. He had a cook, a driver, and three housekeepers. Nana had been one of the housekeepers. Until her belly began to swell.

When Nana said something bad about Jail, Mariam never dared tell her how much she disliked it. But the truth was that around Jail Mariam didn't feel at all like a harami. When Jalil came to see her, all smiles and gifts, Mariam felt deserving of all the beauty and bounty that life had to give. For this, Mariam loved Jalil.

EVEN IF SHE had to share him.