How are you? I’m 12 years old. After reading the passage of Crossing the River to School, I know there are many differences (区别) between you and me. I live in the city, but you live in the v    1    . It’s easy     2     me to go to school by bus, but your home     3     (离……远) school. It’s difficult for you to     4     (滑铁索) to     5     the river to school. I think I’m     6     [ə`freɪd] to do that. I hope your d    7     can     8     (实现) quickly. All of my classmates want to help you. And I think the government (政府) will build a bridge for you soon (不久). Does your teacher play with you after class? My teacher does. He is l    9     a friend to me. The teachers and the students in our school want to buy something for you. Do you need clothes     10     schoolbags? Do you like clocks or watches?

Joe

It was a beautiful fall day. I was out riding my bicycle. I guessed I rode over a hole in the road. All of a sudden, WHAM(砰)! I fell off my bicycle. My right side really h    1    !

My head hit the ground h    2    . I lay there for a few minutes. I tried to get up, b    3     I failed! “There must be s    4     wrong with me,” I thought. I felt so t    5     that I had to still lie there. Then I saw b    6     on my shoe. My hand and knee were bleeding.

As I lay there, I took off my helmet. There was a sharp rock sticking out of it. I looked at it in f    7    . Thank goodness I wore my helmet!

I shouted for help. At that time, a truck went by. The driver s    8     his truck and came to help me. He put my bicycle in the back of his truck and drove me to the hospital.

When my mother got to the hospital, she gave me a big hug(拥抱). “I’m so glad you were wearing your helmet. The helmet saved your life,” she said. She knew I was c    9     before and did not always wear my helmet. “Mum, it was not the helmet i    10     that saved my life, but safety awareness did. I’ll ride my bicycle with great care later on!”

You don’t need to wait until you’re an adult to take part in community service. You can develop good habits now. Community service is a great way to make     1     difference in your neighborhood. You also can enjoy     2     (spend) time with friends and meeting new people. Here are some ideas for you to start     3     (quick).

Do you play an instrument or love to draw? Offer to give free concerts at a senior center or spread your love of art by giving     4     (lesson) to younger children. You can never imagine     5     happy you will be after that.

Do you live near a public park? You can volunteer     6     (plant) or clean up the park. You’ll bring pleasure     7     everyone who uses the park.

Do you know any sick or disabled people in your neighborhood? Offer to do yard work for     8     (they). Sweep the floor and     9     (do) the dishes. Or just stop by for a friendly visit with some food.

Does your school encourage a buddy (伙伴) system? You can set up buddy systems which connect older children with     10     (young) ones. Buddies often spend time together reading books. Helping a young person grow into a smart reader is a gift that keeps on giving.

4 . “Hey, how are you doing? I’m Courtney. What grade are you in? What’s your favourite book? Elephant and Piggy? Yeah, I got it.”

If you think you have walked into a library with a _________ like that, you are exactly wrong. _________, you’ve entered the workplace of Courtney Holmes, known as the Storybook Barber (理发师).

Two years ago, his small town held its first yearly Back to School Party, offering needy families a _________ to learn about free resources in the community. Holmes, a warm-hearted barber agreed to take part. Though he was very busy, he chose to donate his _________ to give free haircuts to needy kids so that they’d look tidy on that first day of school. Suddenly, a(n) _________ went through his mind, “The kids should go on getting their free _________ by having to read a book to me.”

The idea was so _________ that he continued it for the next two years. Kids aged 5-10 would grab a favourite book, sit in the barber chair, and _________ while Holmes snipped (剪). If they stuttered (结结巴巴) over a word, Holmes was there to _________.

After the haircut, they’d __________ the books, from the characters and vocabulary to the themes — just like in school, only more fun. Holmes realized that not every __________ had the time to read with their kids. He had a talk with his neighbour Mr. Smith, “You have four kids, and you are so __________ that sitting down and listening to them read is the last thing you have time to do. Just bring in your kids and let them read to __________.”

Holmes added, “I, too, __________ the free snip-and-reads. Last month, there was a seven-year-old boy, Bob, who tried hard to read through his book, stuttering over words, and then I asked the boy to take the book home and practice. __________ the kid came back a few days later, he read it with no problems. That inspires (鼓舞) me,” said Holmes.

（A）

Last month. George and Sophie designed a community programme. After the activity, the community centre gave them a special     1     for what they had done.

The idea came to them one day as they were walking home from school through the park. They noticed that there was a lot of     2     on the grass and by the lake. The park didn't look clean or     3     , so they decided to plan a community clean-up day. They asked local people to come and help clear away all the rubbish. People in the community were very     4     to hear about the plan as it could make a cleaner neighbourhood.

（B）

In order to make it convenient for people to join them, they     5     a Sunday for the activity. Then they contacted the community centre to ask for rubbish bags for the work. After that. they     6     posters to the houses near the park. They also put up some posters in their school.

That day, more people came than expected-eighty-six volunteers     7     . Some were from the local community and others from the school. Even tourists came to help. One family was     8     in the area and they took part in the activity after seeing the posters. It was a successful day!

10 . Scientists who study happiness have evidence (证据) to show that being kind to others can result in happiness. Acts as simple as buying a cup of coffee for someone can lift a person’s mood, for example. Everyday life is full of chances for such actions, yet people do not always make the most of them.

In studies, behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley and I examined a possible explanation: people who do kind acts underestimate (低估) how much the ones receiving kindness value their behavior.

In the experiments (实验), about 1, 000 people were asked to do some actions to make someone else feel good. We asked both the person performing (执行) the kind act and the one receiving it to answer some questions. The performers were asked to report their own experience and to guess how the receivers might feel. We wanted to understand how valuable people considered these acts to be, so both the performer and receiver had to rate (评分) how “big” the act seemed. In all cases, we compared the performer’s expectations of the receiver’s mood with the receiver’s actual (实际的) experience.

For one, both performers and receivers experienced more positive (积极的) moods. For another, the receivers felt much better than the kind performers expected. The receivers also rated these acts as “bigger” than the people performing them did.

At first, we studied acts of the kindness done for familiar people, such as friends, classmates or family. But we found that performers underestimated their positive influences on strangers as well. In one experiment, performers in a public park gave away hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day to people that just happened to be nearby. Again, the kind act brought more happiness than the performers expected.

These findings suggest that what might seem small could matter a great deal to the person we do it for. Considering these warm actions can improve our own mood and brighten the day of another person, why not choose kindness when we can?