2 . Hundreds of dead migrating (迁徙) songbirds covered the ground like a carpet on Thursday in Chicago.

Nearly 1,000 songbirds died throughout the night after crashing into the glass of the McCormick Place Lakeside Center due to a deadly combination of excellent migratory conditions, rain, and the low building’s lighting and window-lined walls, according to bird experts.

Window hits are a problem in almost every major city in the United States. Birds cannot see transparent (透明的) or reflecting glass and are unaware that it is a dangerous block. They rush for plants or bushes they see through windows or reflected in them, killing themselves in the process.

Night-migrating birds depend on the stars for direction. Building lights both attract and confuse them, resulting in window hits or birds flying around the lights until they die of exhaustion, a phenomenon known as deadly light attraction.

According to Stan Temple, a retired bird expert from University of Wisconsin-Madison, conditions were ideal for a big wave of songbird southern migration over Chicago on Wednesday evening. “You had all these birds that were just eager to set out, but they’ve been held up with this unusual September and October with temperatures way above normal,” Temple said.

To avoid irregular air movements and predators (捕食者), little songbirds graze to absorb energy during the day and travel at night. They’ve been waiting for north winds to push them south, but September’s unusually warm south winds left the birds in a holding position here, according to Temple. A wind moved south on Wednesday evening, offering a good chance, and millions of birds took to the air.

“Pre-dawn rain forced the birds to fly low, and they found McCormick Place’s lights on,” said David Willard, a manager at the Chicago Field Museum.

According to Ann a Pidgeon, a bird biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, window hits and deadly light attraction are simply avoidable. Building managers can simply decrease their lights, and building designers can create windows with bird-friendly marks in the glass. People can also add screens, paint their windows, or put stickers on the glass.

3 . Best friends Tommy, 17, and Daniel, 15, decided to sign up for their school’s robotics team in their freshman year, and began their journey towards changing lives for the better.

They began their work with 3D printers to create parts for their robots, but they wanted their impact to be greater. “It started off with a team idea,” Tommy said. “We were trying to figure out how we could make a difference to society as a first-year robotics team. We later thought of the idea of using 3D printers to make prostheses (假肢), like hands.”

The team worked with IMAHelps, a nonprofit organization, and received help from the Science Robotics Initiative. Shortly after, they began working with their first person in need of a prosthesis.

“We started off with making an artificial (人造的) arm for Samantha, a 12-year-old little girl in Ecuador who lost her arm in a bus accident,” Tommy explains. “We got her measurements and then made the prosthesis. IMAHelps brought it to Samantha and it fit her perfectly and worked well.”

“Samantha had a dream to write, and we wanted to help with that,” adds Daniel.

It didn’t take long for other kids to see Samantha’s prosthesis. A young man named Ernest Priester, 13, asked to have an artificial foot. Later, the team offered to make him one for free. “He started tearing up. It brought so much joy to his eyes.” Tommy says.

This July, the team traveled to Ecuador to deliver four more prostheses to those in need. “We were so happy to help,” Tommy shares.

The team also plans on continuing to give away their 3D creations. “You can do whatever you want to do when it comes to helping people and changing the world,” Tommy says. “There are no age limits.”

“By offering a little bit,” adds Daniel. “We can change a lot.”

4 . A houseplant is pretty to look at and brings fresh air to your home. Besides, looking after a plant will give you something more to do and care about. Let’s look at the four best houseplants you can grow.

Australian Pine A perfect “living decoration” to add in your house, it is good to look at and has a comforting feel. It can also serve as the perfect Christmas tree. It grows around 10 feet tall indoors. Remember that it requires plenty of light and fresh air. Otherwise, it becomes weak and an easy target for mites (螨虫).	Dracaena The green and yellow pattern on its leaves looks great. It can grow to be around 10 feet tall. Just make sure you keep the soil surface dry between your watering periods because it gets influenced by too much water. Also, having this plant around a dog can be dangerous. It can be poisonous to dogs if they eat it.
Grape Ivy If you want something off the ceiling (天花板), this houseplant is the one for you. It’s a climbing plant, and it will make for a beautiful hanging basket decoration. The plant is full of life wherever it is hung. It needs to be kept wet in all its parts for good growth.	Peperomia It is little in size, with long leaves. It adds energy to your living room and creates a comforting environment. As it’s not a very tall plant, you needn’t worry about how much space it will take up. The plant likes a dry surface of the soil.

So what are you for? Choose the one that attracts you most, and give your home a wonderful addition.

5 . One bus driver for the North Elementary School can now add lifesaver to her experiences after a student started choking (窒息) on her bus last month.

On Sept.29, bus driver Raquel Baker began her work just like any other drivers and was about to drop off students at the school gate when something went wrong. Video from the school bus showed 7-year-old Preston putting something in his ________ and then dropping down between the seats, clearly in ________ .

It was hard for the boy to ________ a word but he managed to mention something about a coin. Baker ________ stood up, took hold of him and ran out of the ________ .“On my way to the sidewalk, I was actually performing the Heimlich maneuver (海姆利克氏操作法),” she said.

Preston hardly ________ and Baker didn’t waste any time to jump into action. The whole time she was saying, “Baby, breathe, baby, breathe.”

Preston was blue in the face. Baker saw a parent and asked her to call 911. “All I could think of was I had to ________ this boy,” Baker said. She had never performed the Heimlich before, but her ________ on the first aid given by the school one month ago worked. “I was ________ at the time, but I just couldn’t be scared,” she said. She didn’t even realize when the ________ flew out of Preston’s mouth until Preston said, “Miss Baker, I’m OK. I can breathe.”

Preston’s mum was ________ for Baker’s help. The school’s headmaster was also touched and ________ her for her life-saving work. “As of today, I’m still in shock. I really can’t believe that this actually happened. I didn’t really realize what a big ________ I had,” Baker said.

Until today Bake r still doesn’t know how she got the ________ to do what she did that day, ________ she knows this, “If I wasn’t there, other drivers may have done it as well,” Bake r said.

9 . Climate activist Henry Emson told Euronews that when he became a father seven years ago, he was worried about his family’s effect on the environment. After doing some research, he found the best way to eliminate their carbon footprint was by planting giant sequoia trees(巨型红杉树).

Giant sequoias are ideal for capturing carbon dioxide because they continue to grow consistently for centuries, storing CO2 over time. General Sherman, the world’s largest sequoia tree, has stored an estimated 1,500 tons of CO2 in its trunk over the last 2,200 years and could live another 800 years. The average human could generate close to 1,000 tons of CO2 over their lifetime, so planting one giant sequoia could effectively reduce the carbon footprint of more than one person.

After realizing the power giant sequoias have to fight climate change, Emson devoted his life to planting thousands in the UK by creating the One Life One Tree project. Its final goal is to plant 100,000 giant sequoias in the UK by 2030, and according to The Mirror, as of March 2022, it has already planted 700. Trees are currently being planted near Abergavenny in Wales and the project is expanding to Devon, the Lake District and Scotland.

While the common assumption is that these giant trees can only be grown in Northern California, they actually do well in the UK at a time when the sequoia population is threatened back home.

According to One Tree One Life, 95% of the old-growth sequoia population has been logged over the past two centuries and what remains is under threat from climate change. “A 10 year＋ drought and temperature increase have greatly damaged the health of the trees. A secondary impact of the drought is making them increasingly susceptible(易受影响的)to insect attack and fire,” the site says.

Considering the danger that climate change is causing giant sequoias in California, Emson’s work also benefits these trees. “They’re like climate refugees(难民)—we help them with assisted migration,” he told Euronews.

10 . I’d been staying at home all week suffering from a severe case of flu. Early one morning, suddenly, a loud _________ awakened me. Looking through the window, I saw two young ladies in working clothes holding _________ . “This is the _________ thing I needed today,” I said to myself. With _________, I opened the door.

Coughing, I poked (伸出) my head out and _________ them that I wasn’t the slightest bit interested in any products on their leaflets and that I was feeling quite unwell. I breathed a sigh of _________ and then shut the door hard. The ladies _________ in silence.

A few hours later, another knock. There at the door were the same two ladies, back again. Extremely _________ this time, I opened the door ready to give them a piece of my mind. Before I could speak, with _________ looks on their faces, these women handed me what looked to be a dish and said, “We’re so sorry we __________ you earlier. We thought you may like this homemade chicken soup. __________ , it will make you feel a little better.”

Being new to the area, I didn’t know many people who could help, so I was all the more __________ that they came to my aid. I could only smile sheepishly (尴尬地) and sincerely thanked them. With that, they left.

These two ladies __________ my viewpoint on strangers .who came knocking to promote products. They truly __________ my appreciation for their __________ towards a stranger.