【推荐1】According to a survey, there is one autistic kid(自闭症儿童) in every 54 children. Autism influences(影响) the way children feel and hear, and how they see the world. They need much help in daily lives.

A special helper came to Mendip School, a school for autistic students in England, in late June, 2021. It’s a friendly robot called Pepper. Pepper joined the students between 12 and 19 years old at the school for three weeks.

Every time Pepper met students in the school’s hallway, the robot said hello and asked them how they felt. Pepper could do a lot of things like dancing and telling stories. “Because of Pepper, there was a lot of dancing in school. And children loved the robot’s jokes,” said a teacher called Conley. “Some children didn’t like to talk or play with others in the past. But now, it’s not so difficult for them to start up new friendships with others.”

Using robots to help autistic children is not new. However, most robots only teach skills(技能）to children. That’s not what autistic children really need. Pepper is different. It works to get autistic children happy.

【推荐2】Xie Xiaohua is a special education teacher. She has won the hearts of hundreds of children and is called Mum Xiaohua by many of them.

“It is my greatest happiness to care for them,” said 49-year-old Xie. She has been working at Yiyuan County Special Education School in Zibo, Shandong Province for 27 years.

Xie knows the difference between special education and general education. She takes care of each student according to their physical conditions. And she also helps them with learning and their daily life. She used to help carry a student to restrooms, the dining hall, classrooms and the dormitory (宿舍) for nine years until the student graduated (毕业) from the school.

In 2003, the school set up a rehabilitation (康复) centre and Xie worked harder. To make sure every child received the best training, she made special plans for them. Then she began to teach them patiently the basic skills of taking care of themselves. She also spent lots of time training the children with hearing and speech problems. That often made her throat ache.

In 2015, the school started offering door-to-door education to students with physical problems. Besides Xie, there are over 3 teachers teaching and helping those students. The teachers have walked over 60,000 kilometres over the past seven years because many students live in mountain villages.

“Although we feel tired sometimes, we feel our work is valuable after seeing the students’ progress, even just a little bit,” Xie said.

【推荐1】Hamsters（仓鼠）are animals. They look very cute. Lots of people like to keep them as pets. They are very popular especially among children.

Hamsters have beautiful fur（软毛）. Their fur can be black, white, brown, red or a mix of these colors.

Hamsters have tails, but their tails are very short. A hamster’s tail is only about one centimeter long. Its tail is short, but it can help the hamster to keep balance.

Hamsters generally eat fruit and nuts. Some people buy hamster mix at the pet store. Hamsters have a funny eating habit. They like to store food in their cheeks（脸颊）. Please remember to give them much food. Then they can have enough food to store.

Hamsters are good pets because they are easy to be taken care of. They do not need a lot of space. Hamsters usually live in cages. They can do many things in the cages, such as eating and exercising.

【推荐2】Ben Jones was walking home from school one day when he saw a black cat. It was walking across the street in front of him. Ben stopped, turned around, and walked down a different street to go home. Why did he do that?

“It’s unlucky when a black cat crosses the street in front of you,” says Ben. “I did not want to walk down that street!”

Many people think that some things bring bad luck. For example, some people think that 13 is an unlucky number. They never invite 13 people to a party.

“I never walk under a ladder（梯子）, ” says Ben. “And I never open an umbrella inside the house. They both bring bad luck.”

And what brings good luck?

“We have a horseshoe over the front door of our house for good luck,” says Ben.

“And when I find a penny on the ground, I always pick it up. That brings me good luck all day!”