All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Play time is important to children, and playing outdoors is really good for them. But today more and more children spend their free time indoors. They watch TV, play computer games, play with their smart phones, etc.

American father Mike Lanza doesn’t think it’s good for children to spend too much time indoors. So he turned his yard into a playground.

Now on the open playground, there is a zip line (飞索) and a large playhouse with a trampoline (蹦床) and a slide. His three sons and other children from the neighborhood like to have fun there.

Mike and his wife live in Menlo Park, California with their three boys Marco, Nico and Leo. They began building their playground in 2020 after they moved into their Menlo Park house. “To let our kids go outside and play on their own, we think it’s a good idea to turn our yard into a ‘playhouse’,” said Mike.

Unlike many other “helicopter parents”, Mike encourages (鼓励) his three boys to take risks (冒险) when they play on the playground. They also welcome three to four children from the neighborhood every day to play there. “Usually within about half an hour, every kid becomes excited and they play, run and laugh. It’s just so wonderful for me to see,” said Mike.

Rick went home from school by bus one day. When an old woman got on the bus, Rick gave her his seat. The old woman thanked him and gave him three apples. She said to him in a whisper, “Tell the apple what you want to be. Eat it and then wait and see.”

Rick thanked her and went to the park with the apples. There were some tall boys, “I want to be tall and strong.” Rick said and ate the first apple. Suddenly he grew into a big boy. But all the boys ran away in panic (恐慌) when they saw him.

Rick was sad. He took out another apple and said, “I want to be famous and have lots of friends.” With these words, he ate the second apple. But when hundreds of people wanted to interview him, he ran away.

When he saw a sports car, Rick wanted to be rich and ate the third apple. But when his wish came true, he was unhappy at all.

The other day, Rick met the old lady again. She told him, “Go to the garden, find a small yellow flower and tell the flower what you want to be.”

Rick went to the garden and picked up the flower. Then he said, “I want to be me.” Suddenly he was at the park again and one of the boys said to him, “Come on and play with us!”

It was a beautiful day with a clear, blue sky. Everything was quiet and the book in my hands was interesting.     12     At that moment, I thought to myself, “It is an earthquake (地震).” I was scared and I ran to tell my parents. But when they reached home, the earthquake stopped.

Nothing happened in the rest few hours. My family and I were not in danger.     13    We watched the news about the earthquake. The epicenter (震中) was very close to Muzaffarabad. We watched the situation in Muzaffarabad on TV. People there were in great need.     14    

I arrived in the city of Muzaffarabad with a few other volunteers.     15     After hours of digging, we found a few survivors (幸存者). We quickly sent for doctors to make sure they were all right. When they met their families, they cried for joy. They made me very happy.