Every year, thousands of young inventors show their ideas at NICEE. Some kids get invited to NICEE. The main goal of NICEE is to help kids know real problems and find ways to __________ them.

To support this __________, many schools now have invention clubs. Kids in the clubs work together. They look __________ ways to make life better. They might invent something to make a job __________ or make people safer.

For example, Lucca wanted to help people __________ his grandmother. She had to wear a breathing mask(面罩) in the hospital. That made it hard for others to hear her __________. So Lucca invented a new mask. It has a microphone. It __________ the person’s voice to a speaker(扬声器). Now users can talk with others.

Inventions can be simple. One winner, Maddox, made a new garden shovel (铁铲). The shovel has marks on __________ to help gardeners know how deep to dig their holes.

__________ kids choose an idea, they have to build a model that works. They cannot spend more than $50. The invention must be something new. It also must fit inside a certain space.

NICEE shows the best inventions from the states. Young inventors get to meet one another. They see others, great ideas. Some of them win prizes. They can __________ learn about ways to sell their inventions.

【推荐1】My son Sam is 16 and autistic (患自闭症的). There’s a lot going on in that beautiful and brilliant mind of his, but even on a good day he can be very _________ overwhelmed (不知所措的). If any unexpected changes are made to his daily routine, he might _________ have a very public meltdown (崩溃).

It was Sam’s very first day of high school. We’d _________ a plan for how he’d get home: I’d pick him up outside the shop near his school at 3:30 pm and I believed this was a _________ plan. Unknown to me, very bad weather was on its way and I was unable to warn him to take shelter (避雨).

_________ my car broke down and he didn’t take his mobile phone, I was running late and unable to communicate that to him. _________, he was left alone and very afraid.

That was when a beautiful older Vietnamese lady not only left her shop to check on him, but took him inside her shop, calmed him down, got my phone number from him and _________ me.

Sam graduates this year, and I’m increasingly feeling the need to visit the _________ to let this wonderful lady know that she saved Sam, and that she saved me. I’m not sure _________ I can communicate all of this, but at least I will get to thank her.

There are people I will not have a chance to thank, __________ the many kind strangers who have been there for Sam. And believe me, if you’re wondering if this world is a complete mess right now, I’m here to say that it is not.

One day, three brothers were talking about the good old days, sitting on their boat. By accident, they watched lots of rubbish moving slowly on the St. James River. _________ conversation soon turned to it.

“It didn’t use to be like this, ”said Manny. “Remember how freely we used to go swimming in this river? _________ now I wouldn’t even put my feet in this river as I might catch some _________. It is time for people to know that rubbish should be put into the right place. ”

It was all agreed that some lazy people were making this country so _________. Then Jack had an idea. “Since we’re all retired (退休的), _________ don’t we do something instead of just talking? We can’t clean up everything, but maybe we could clean up our _________. ”They all liked this idea, and Manny suggested a name for their effort—the Green Fleet, which aimed to turn the St. James River_________ again.

The three brothers went out on the river almost every day. In their boat, they _________ all the rubbish they could see moving on the river. Soon some friends _________ them. Then friends told other friends, and by the end of the first year there were more than 200 volunteers, and they cleaned off more than 10 tons of rubbish from the river. Their work was __________ a cleaner-looking and cleaner-smelling river.

Some companies__________ joined and donated money and materials. The Green Fleet got bigger and better every year. By the end of the second year, the Green Fleet had __________ to four boats. Some other volunteers began organizing their own Green Fleets.

Five years __________ its start, the three brothers were able to go swimming again on weekends in their river. __________ a year later, Manny died of an accident in their work. At Manny’s funeral (葬礼), his brothers promised to carry on the volunteer work __________ they were too sick to do it. To honor Manny, the local government renamed the city’s largest park after him.