Ronny looked like every other child in the first-grade classroom where I volunteered as the Reading Mom. But he was different from his classmates in other ways. He had a speech problem so he couldn’t ______ like other children.

I worked with every student in Ronny’s class to improve their reading skills. On the days when it was Ronny’s ______, I’d give him a smile, and he’d fly out of his chair. He opened the book as if he was opening a treasure ______ had ever seen.

I watched his ______ move slowly under each word when he tried to read out. Every time he managed to read a word with a strange ______, the biggest smile would appear ______ his face and his eyes would shine brightly.

Several weeks ______ I left, I held an awards ceremony (典礼). I gave Ronny a book called Little Golden Books. Tears ran down his ______ as he held the book close to him and went back to his seat. Ronny ______ let go of (放开) the book, not once. It never left his hands.

A few days later, I returned to the school. I ______ Ronny on a chair near the playground, the book open in his hands. His teacher said, “He hasn’t put that book down since you gave it to him. Do you know that’s his ______ book he has ever owned?”

I walked to Ronny and asked, “Will you read me your book, Ronny?” For the next few minutes, he read to me more ______ than I’d ever thought possible from him. When he finished reading, Ronny ______ his book and said satisfyingly “Good book!”

What a powerful ______ the writer of Little Golden Book had made to the life of a child with problems. At that moment, I knew I would become serious about my own writing and do ______ that writer had done, care enough to write a story that changes a child’s life, care enough to make a difference.

Jacob was a driver. He was sent to pick me up for a three—hour drive to my working place.

As we were driving, he started to tell me his story. His hometown was “Nah Bok”. Because of the pandemic (疫情), he had to spend six days a week in another town for more work. On his only day off, to have time with his family, he took three different buses for a total of five hours there and back.

My father worked away when I was young. Sometimes he was away for weeks or months at a time. I remember at that time, we kids were all waiting for our turns to have just a couple of minutes on the phone to talk with him.

After two hours’ drive, I saw a sign saying Nah Bok. I asked, “Why don’t we stop and say hello?” He looked at me like I was crazy or joking. I repeated it seriously. He was hesitant (犹豫的). He asked if I was sure. I certainly was. It was OK for me to spare thirty minutes out of my day while this man had to spend more than two hours getting home each time.

Everyone of his family was excited to see him. All the children jumped out, screaming.

Slow down and listen to people’s stories. Take time when you can to give a gift to somebody else, even if it’s just your time.

Do you still remember the lesson from China’s Tiangong space station last year? On March 23, astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu gave another one! It was live-streamed worldwide. What fun experiments did they do this time?

A bridge of water

How do you build a “bridge” with water? It’s hard to do it on Earth. But in the space station, with little gravity, it’s quite easy!

In the lesson, Wang Yaping first made two water balls on two plates, then let them touch each other. Next, Wang pulled the two plates away, and the water between them didn’t break. It became a “bridge”! This is because the surface tension (张力) of water is not affected by gravity in space. The surface tension keeps the “skin” of the water strong so that the bridge doesn’t break.

Separate water and oil

If we mix oil and water in a bottle on Earth, we can separate them quickly because they have different densities (密度). Gravity brings the water down while the oil stays on top. However, if you do this in the space station, with no gravity, oil and water will mix together.

How can we separate them, then? In the lesson, Ye Guangfu rotated the bottle to create centrifugal force. With this man-made gravity, the heavier water and the lighter oil are separated.