【推荐1】A 3-year-old boy who was lost in the forest for two days is now safe at home with his family. But Casey Hathaway told reporters that he was not alone in the rainy, freezing cold forest. He said he was with a friend — a bear.

The child went missing on January 22, 2019 while playing with friends at his grandmother’s house in the southern state of North Carolina. When the other children returned to the house and Casey did not, the family searched the area for almost an hour before calling the police. The police organized a search team to search the nearby forest for the little boy. But two days went by and Casey was still not found.

Then on January 24, someone called the police saying he heard a child crying in the forest. The police followed up the information and found Casey at about 9:30 that night. They pulled him out of some briar (荆棘). He was in good health.

Casey told the police that he had hung out with a black bear for two days, a bear he called his “friend.” The police told reporters that Casey did not say how he was able to survive (活下来，幸存) in the forest for two days in the cold, rainy weather. However, the police said, “He did say he had a friend in the forest that was a bear that was with him.”

Hundreds of people helped in the search, including some 600 volunteers, policemen and soldiers. An officer told reporters that at no point did he think Casey had been kidnapped (绑架). Casey’s mother Brittany Hathaway told reporters she thanked everyone who joined the search for her son. “We just want to tell everybody that we really thank you for taking the time out to come to search for Casey,” said his mother.

【推荐2】Did you ever notice your shadow at different times of the day? Shadows change as the day goes on.

In the morning the sun makes long shadows. In the middle of the day, the sun seems to be right over your head and your shadow is very, very small. As the sun goes down in the afternoon, shadows grow very long again. But the long afternoon shadows fall in a different direction from the long morning shadows.

Long, long ago people told time by the shadows. Put a piece of paper in the sunlight. Stand a pencil in a spool in the middle of the paper. The shadow of the pencil will fall on the paper and move as the day goes on. Use a watch and every hour marks the place where the shadow falls. Now your paper is a sundial（通过太阳辨别时间的日规）and you can tell every sunny day. Just look at your paper sundial and see where the shadow falls.

【推荐1】Once there were two mice. They were friends. One mouse lived in the country; the other mouse lived in the city. After many years the Country mouse saw the City mouse; he said, "Do come and see me at my house in the country.” So the City mouse went. The City mouse said, "This food is not good, and your house is not good. Why do you live in a hole in the field? You should come and live in the city. You would live in a nice house made of stone. You would have nice food to eat You must come and see me at my house in the city." The Country mouse went to the house of the City mouse. It was a very good house. Nice food was set ready for them to eat. But just as they began to eat they heard a great noise. The City mouse cried," Run! Run! The cat is coming!" They ran away quickly and hid. After some time they came out. When they came out, the Country mouse said. “I do not like living in the city. I like living in my hole in the field. For it is nicer to be poor and happy, than to be rich and afraid."

【推荐3】Jessica Long, from Baltimore, Maryland, USA is a champion by all definitions of the word. She is one of the world’s most decorated swimmers. Jessica was the youngest athlete to win a Paralympics (残奥会) medal. But her path to becoming a champion has been anything but easy.

Jessica was born in Irkutsk, Russia with a severe and rare disease — fibular hemimelia (腓侧半肢畸形). This means that part of her leg bones was missing or abnormal. Because of that, her young mother placed her in a Russian orphanage (孤儿院), fearing she could not care for Jessica.

Fortunately, she was adopted by an American family when she was 13 months old. She required 25 different surgeries to help her leg condition. But unfortunately, both of her legs had to be removed when she was just 18 months old. Jessica learned to walk with artificial legs. As a child, she took to sports including gymnastics, cheerleading, ice skating, biking and rock climbing.

She began swimming at her grandparents’ house when she was 6. She started competitive swimming about 4 years later. She did really well in swimming. Shortly after she started competing, Jessica was selected as Maryland’s Female Swimmer of the Year with a Disability. Even though Jessica was annoyed with her physical limitations, she was encouraged to enter her first Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. She won three gold medals in swimming at 12! But she did not rest on her success.

Jessica has gone on to win 23 medals for Team USA at the Paralympics! While she began her career out of anger and annoyance, she now has a positive force on a mission to inspire the next generation of Paralympians! Her attitude and growth have been keys to her success. Jessica always believed she could do anything. As she says, “The only disability in life is a negative attitude.”

【推荐1】Powerful storms had rocked Columbia, Missouri, leaving behind deep floodwaters that continued to rise. Monica Viet’s 16-year-old son Dominic Viet and his 17-year-old friend, Joseph Diener, had gone out to ride bikes and check out the storm damage. With more storms on the way, Monica thought it was best for children to stay home in this situation. Then, she texted him. However, she needn’t have worried. Dominic sent her a reply saying, “Mom, we just saved a girl’s life.”

Here’s what happened. The teens were riding past a basketball court that was deeply flooded when they spotted a girl holding on to a pole and calling out for help. They realized she was seriously in trouble. Fortunately, in school, they had both earned lifesaving medals that included water rescues, and as they glanced around at the other concerned bystanders, they knew they needed to take action. Together, they jumped into the water and fought the fast-flowing water to push the drowning 18-year-old girl to shore. Ten minutes later, they made it.

Once on dry land, the girl began to throw up water. First responders quickly arrived and took her to the hospital, where she is recovering.

The boys’ headmaster said being prepared for emergency situations is attached great importance to in the daily training of our school. He hopes the teens will get special medals for their extraordinary actions that day!

The two boys are now regarded as heroes for risking their own lives to help a stranger. “I feel like if you’re able to save somebody like that,” Joseph said. “You certainly will, because that’s what every one of us will do.” “We didn’t think much about it, and we just had to get her out. That’s it! Besides, we’re trained for this!” Dominic added.