Zhang Daping turned on her new house heater (加热器) and got the meals ready. Then she waited for children to arrive at her home after school. She was a little tired, _______ she felt happy.

Of the 180 students at Lingsha Central School in Pingluo, Ningxia, half are left-behind (留守的) children. To stay with the children and help them with their homework, some people _______ after-class schools. Zhang’s home is one of them. “Teachers give free lessons, and I just _______ space. It is not difficult for _______,” the 65-year-old woman says.

Teachers take turns going to Zhang’s home to help the children. Now Mrs. Yang is helping them study for a _______. One of the students says _______ he will get a good grade because he has studied really hard.

Zhang’s home is a(n) _______ school in Pingluo. After-class schools can be found in 22 different places there. A few parents and people _______ Zhang Daping take care of the children.

Students call Zhang’s place Granny’s desk. There they can _______ with each other and learn to be friendly. They don’t feel lonely. The headmaster says the schools are good for children’s ________.

3 . On the afternoon of July 20, 2021, a heavy ________ swept Zhengzhou. Streets and grounds were full of water and people hurried to the higher places. Looking outside, Feng Jinchao was very ________.

Suddenly, a woman ran to him and shouted. “Help! Help! Some ________ in a car are deep in the water!” “Kids…”, hearing the words, Feng felt really anxious（焦急的）. He passed the help message to his work group right away. ________ his colleague Wang Shenzhen saw it, he rushed to Feng.

Feng and Wang took a safety rope and ________ their way to the car. Only then did they know that two children and a woman were trapped（困）in it. What a(n) ________ situation! The two wanted to open the car doors but failed. They wanted to break a window but it was strong. However, they didn’t ________ !

Soon, more and more people came to help. With a hammer（铁锤）, they ________ the window. Quickly, they pulled the children out and carried them with a bucket（水桶）to safety. ________ , they rescued（营救）the woman from the car.

When they finished the rescue and ________ to the roadside, Feng found that the water had risen to his mouth and nose.

How brave they are! They are truly heroes!

5 . The bus stopped at the farm gate (大门口). Mary, Adam and Lisa got off and ran to the big farm. They saw many interesting ___________ around the farm.

“Welcome to my farm. You can look at these animals first. One of our sheep (羊) was _________! I must look for it now!” said the farmer.

“We’ll help you find it,” said Gus.

“Just look for it near the _________. Don’t go too far.” the farmer called.

Mary, Lisa and Adam looked for the lost sheep around the farm. But _________ didn’t find it anywhere.

Next, the children went into the fields (田地). They also _________ a big tree, but they still couldn’t see it from the tree. It was getting _________ in the evening so they had to go back.

“We can have another look for it _________,” said Adam. “Sometimes, sheep sleeps in funny places.”

The next day, the ___________ came to the farm again. They _________ the farmer about the lost sheep.

“Look!” said the farmer. “The sheep is home, with a new family member—a little baby sheep!”

“It’s so lovely!” said Mary. The children were very __________.

8 . When Ariella Pacheco of California was still a little girl, her parents let her pick out an American Girl doll（娃娃）. She _______ one that had the same hair color and style as her. “She _______ me and I felt there was a piece of me in her,” Pacheco said. “You see _______ in a doll and it’s really special to have that connection（联系）.”

But what about the children with special illnesses who don’t look like _______ else? One day in January this year, Pacheco read a story about doll designer（设计师）Amy Jandrisevits. Her   “A Doll Like Me” _______ makes look-alike dolls for children with disabilities. Pacheco wanted to make similar dolls.

Over the past several months, Pacheco has designed and made cloth dolls for four local kids who have birthmarks, surgical scars ( 手术疤痕), or other special physical features. Pacheco asked the kids about     _______ favorite sports and hobbies. She also watched doll-making videos.

After she got her own sewing（缝纫）machine, she taught herself to sew clothes for the dolls.

She designed her own patterns and figured out how to recreate the children’s different appearances. It was _______ to her that the children knew themselves in the dolls. _______, their differences were not the clearest feature.

“I really _______ the beauty in little things,” Pacheco said. “Each of these kids is so special. I hope ________ these dolls they can see themselves in a new light and really appreciate their beauty. This is really what I want to do.”