As a volunteer teacher, I traveled a long way to a small village school in Longzhou, Guangxi. On my way there, I thought about the village, the school, and the children there. However, I felt sad when I arrived there. It wasn’t what I expected. It didn’t look like a school at all! The school had only three rooms, one for Grades 1, 2, and 3, and another one for Grades 4, 5 and 6. There was a third one for me.

The children welcomed me warmly on my first day. They asked me a lot of questions, and I told them stories about myself and my life in Shanghai. The next day, I gave them a test to find out their levels. To my surprise, though the test was very easy, over half of the students failed it, yet they all wanted to learn new things. I knew they needed me.

I was busy preparing lessons and reading test papers every night. I enjoyed teaching these lovely and hard-working children, and I could see that they were making progress with my help.

I have worked in Longzhou for a year now. I’m very happy, and the experience has been very useful for me. I love the small village school and the children. In fact, I would like to continue working here.

A small boy was trying to move a heavy wooden box out of his yard. The box was much bigger than the boy. He tried his best to move it, but the box would not move at all. After resting for a short time, the boy tried to move it again. He pushed it with every muscle (肌肉) in his body, but he couldn’t even move the box a little. He was very tired and upset.

The boy’s father was coming home from work around this time. He stopped to watch his son’s fruitless efforts (努力). The father didn’t help him, but instead asked, “Son, have you tried your best and are you doing everything you can?”

“Yes, I am!” the boy cried.

“No,” his father said calmly, “you’re not. You have not asked me to help you.”

Asking for help is not a weakness. At some point, even the best of us need help. It is important to know when to ask for help and understand why you need it. Never be afraid to ask others for help when you’re in trouble.

Did you know that a seed (种子) can have its own “identity card (身份证)”? The “card” shows that the seed is at the national crop germplasm bank (国家作物种质库) in Beijing, known as China’s seed bank.

A seed’s journey to the seed bank starts with a census (普查). China’s latest census of agricultural seeds started in 2021 and ended in January this year, reported CCTV News. Workers collected more than 139,000 new seeds from all over the country. They then arrived at the seed bank.

When seeds first come in, they each get a number for their “physical examination” (检测). For example, workers put all kinds of Job’s tears (薏米) from different farms together. Then they put them into groups according to the seeds’ look or taste.

Next, workers check the seeds to make sure they’re healthy and all the unhealthy ones are given up. A worker at the seed bank showed CCTV News a seed that had a large insect (虫子) inside it. “A seed like this should not be saved,” he said.

With the bad seeds gone, researchers then test the good ones to see how likely they are to grow. The seed bank has a quick, smart way of doing this: Workers test the seeds and use the information they get to predict (预测) their growth. Workers dry and weigh the best seeds after several tests. Then, they’re stored in a super cold freezer (冰箱) at -18 ℃.

China’s seed bank keeps all the seed information safe and helps people learn about them. This can help develop new plants that can grow better and deal well with hard environments, ensuring the food security (安全) of the country.

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

There was a young woman who took great pride in her flower garden. She was raised by her grandmother who taught her to love and care for flowers.     21    

One day, while she was looking through a flower list she often ordered from, a picture of a plant caught her eyes.     22    

“I have to have it,” she said to herself, and she ordered it at once.

When it arrived, she already had a place prepared to plant it. She planted it at the back of her yard. It grew well, with beautiful green leaves all over it, but there were no blooms. Day after day she continued to water it, feed it, and she even talked to it trying to make it bloom.     23    

One morning weeks later, when standing before the vine, she felt very sad that her plant had not bloomed.     24    

It was at this point that her neighbor, whose yard joined hers, called over to her. “Thank you so much! You can’t imagine how much I have enjoyed the blooms of that vine you planted.” The young woman walked through the gate into her neighbor’s yard, and sure enough, she saw that on the other side of the wall the vine was filled with blooms.

    25     The vine had grown through the crevices (缝隙) and it had not flowered on her side of the wall, but it had flowered on the other side.

Sometimes one may not see the good result of his effort, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t successful.