I was sitting at the dinner table with my family. Without warning, my brother smiled and turned down the kitchen lights so we all were sitting in darkness. Then my mom walked over, carrying a big, chocolate cake decorated with red icing. The cake was lit up with ten birthday candles, and everyone started singing to me!

My favorite part of birthdays is getting the chance to make a wish. Sometimes wishes come true, and sometimes they don’t, but the fun of waiting and hoping makes me happy. It’s like magic is in the air or something. Maybe I’m too old to believe in magic and wishes, but I don’t care. I still do it.

I closed my eyes, made a wish, and blew. My grandparents clapped and my little sister stuck her finger into the clouds of icing. She’s always doing stupid things like that. Mom took the cake away to cut it into slices. She gave me the first piece, and it was awesome. Chocolate with vanilla (香草味的)cream in the middle-delicious.

Ding-dong! The doorbell rang. We weren’t expecting anybody else. "Why don’t you go answer the door, kiddo?" suggested Dad. He likes calling me kiddo. Mom says it’s because he’s always calling us kids by the wrong names. I frowned (皱眉) trying to think. Was this a trick? Was I about to be made fun of?

"Okay," I said slowly and headed for the door. I couldn’t see anybody through the glass window. Cautiously I opened the door. There was a large box on the doorstep decorated with a note on it that read, "Happy Birthday! Open me!"

"What’s this?"Now I was confused, but excited. The box wasn’t very heavy, so I bought it inside. My family crowded all around me. "What is it? "asked my grandma.

"Open it!" My brother was impatient, as usual. "Box ,box!" yelled my little sister, trying to get her hands on it.

“Hold on, everybody,” I said.

My heart melted as I picked it up.

I am a proud mother of three children, my last little one being delivered in the middle of this pandemic (疫情). She was born in August and her name is Aida.

Shortly after having Aida, my mother-in-law Ann showed me something she learned from her friend’s mother in an art class she attended weekly, She had showed me how to knit (编织) a scarf.

I spent a lot of time breastfeeding my sweet little girl, so I had some extra time to do something with my hands throughout the day. I enjoyed making the scarf so I purchased tons of yarn (线) since it was winter. I wanted to make scarves for my three children as Christmas gifts.

There was a new family that moved in down the street. The only daughter of the family was Jane, a shy girl, aged 14, the same age of my oldest son David. It seemed that she came from a financially disadvantaged family, for she always wore old clothes. Worse still, in such cold days, she had no more clothes to wear and trembled with cold.

Due to the pandemic, society was thrown into crisis mode. Schools were closed, food supplies and deliveries were suspended and children were stuck at home. In such discouraging time, however, they became good companions, talking and playing at home or around the houses.

It was dreadfully cold this winter. Every time David came back from outside, with red face, he always cried, “Mum, it is freezing outside!” Then, he came over to see whether I finished the scarf. I could tell how impatient he was to wear my scarf sooner! I had to speed the project to satisfy his expectation. But David comforted me by saying he could wait a few days. What a kind and considerate boy he was! Then my great art project finally was accomplished on the morning ahead of Christmas.

High level of deforestation continues

We are all aware of the threats our planet is facing. Experts agree that it’s mainly us humans who are responsible for the destruction of the environment. One of the most destructive activities we are carrying out is cutting down forests - deforestation. This is done for many reasons, such as providing wood for fuel, making land available for housing or for crating space for more cattle to graze(吃草) on. This has been most noticeable in Brazil, which is home to the world’s largest rainforest. Deforestation there has hit its highest rate in a decade, according to official data. Over the course of a year, an area about five times the size of London has been destroyed.

The amount of deforestation in the Amazon and in other tropical(热带的) regions has actually seen a decline but the figures are still large. Global Forest Watch say that in 2018, an area equivalent to 30 football fields were cut down every minute. Frances Seymour from the World Resources Institute says that “If you look back over the last 18 years, it is clear that the overall trend is still upwards. We are nowhere near winning this battle.”

What’s special about places like the Amazon is that they are primary forests which exist in their original condition with some species of trees dating back thousands of years. This habitat is home to unique and rare animals and is critical for sustaining biodiversity(生物多样性). The BBC’s environment correspondent, Matt McGrath, says “These old forests really matter as stores of carbon dioxide, which is way the loss of 3.6 million hectares in 2018 is concerning.”

Brazil has taken some steps to try and decrease deforestation by introducing government policies including fines for breaking land use regulations and illegal logging. And International campaigns to stop the trade of soy and beef farmed on deforested parts of the Amazon have also had a significant impact.

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