Wang Xiaojun is 12 years old. He lives in the country in Hubei Province. Today is his ________. His parents prepare (准备) a nice ________ for him, but the boy tells the reporter, “I don’t want to have the dinner. ________ after the dinner, today is over, and parents are going ________ Shenzhen tomorrow. I don’t want to let ________ go.”

It is the first birthday that Wang Xiaojun ________ with his parents in three years. In the past years, his parents stayed in Shenzhen and worked to make ________. They aren’t at home ________ a long time. Tomorrow they ________ leave home to go to Shenzhen.

Wang is not the only stay-at-home child (留守儿童). In the country of China, there are more than 20 million children ________ at home without their parents. Stay-at-home children face a lot of ________. Many of them stay with their ________. They get less care (关心) from ________. They often ________ sad. Some of them don’t study well because their parents can’t help them ________ the study.

The Chinese government (政府) now cares about the children very much and is trying to solve their problems (问题).

This is my first day in our new school. In the morning, I help my new teacher Mr. Wang put some new English textbooks into a big box. And then I carry it to the classroom. The box is very heavy.

I walk very slowly (慢) with the big heavy box in my arms. A boy runs very fast to me. He can’t stop (停止). Oh, dear! My box drops (掉下) on the floor and there are books everywhere (到处) on the floor. “I’m very sorry.” The boy says again and again. He helps me pick up (捡起) all the books. He then helps me to carry the books to our classroom.

Who is he? He is my classmate. His name is Jim. He comes to China with his father. He comes from England.

What do we do when we go camping? First, we think of a plan. We take food, clothes, a knife, and the things for cooking and eating. We take things to keep us away from insects (昆虫) and the sun. Then we put everything into the car and we drive to the woods. We look for a good place for campers (露营者) and our tent (帐篷). The place should have a lot of air. This will keep some insects away. High land with water on both sides of it is good. Then we put up our tent. We put everything into the tent, and we are ready for fun. We can swim in the lake, walk in the woods, climb a mountain, row a boat, or go fishing. In the evening we come back to the tent. We build a big fire because it can keep the insects away. We sit around the fire and talk. We may tell interesting stories or we may sing songs. At night we lie down on the grass. We can look up at the stars. It is a busy day, so we try to go to sleep early. Everything is dark. Everything is quiet. We hope we won’t hear music from the radio in the next tent. We hope it won’t rain.

Just like many other parts of Australia, the Lake Tyers region (泰尔斯湖地区) suffers (遭受) from wildfires (野火). But this part is different from others because of its fire team—the firefighters (消防队员) are all women.

Charmaine is the leader of the team. About twenty years ago, a house in Lake Tyers caught fire (着火). It was burned down because there was no fire team nearby. Charmaine and her two friends hope to protect (保护) their own land by themselves. They start knocking on their neighbors’ doors to look for teammates (队友). Five other women join them. Together they ask the government (政府) to give them firefighter training.

After their fire team is set up (建立), this well-trained team put out many fires. Their job is not only to protect people and houses, but also to save (拯救) their own history. They help to find hundreds of old artifacts (文物) on their land.

“When we first set up the team, some people call us the Banana Women,” Charmaine said, “Because we wear bright yellow uniforms (制服).” They like the name so much that they keep calling themselves this name. They are the bravest (勇敢) “Banana Women” in Australia!