1 . Though you may not know it, about half a billion people worldwide depend on the ecosystems created and supported by corals. And with climate change threatening their survival, marine scientist Enric Sala had an idea that might have seemed impossible.

“We wanted to get into a time machine, go back hundreds of years and actually see a coral reef like they used to be everywhere, before we started exploiting (开发) them, polluting them and killing them all over the world,” Sala said.

The idea was made possible during an expedition that Sala led in 2009. The team travelled to a corner of the South Pacific Ocean and found some untouched reefs.

His team presented their findings to officials in the island country of Kiribati. Then the Kiribati government took steps to protect the waters from fishing and other human activities, but between 2015 and 2016, record levels of ocean warming killed half the coral reefs the team had found.

After hearing that news, they lost hope for the health of coral reefs. But the study continued, and last year, they went in for another dive. Despite the reported conditions, Sala and his team found that the reefs had somehow restored themselves, filled with life and color once more. This resurrection is something that Sala says can be traced to two key factors.

The first is, thankfully, half of the corals had not died, as was previously thought. Despite the rise in temperatures, there were enough surviving corals left behind to help reproduce the reefs.

The second factor is the Kiribati government’s decision to fully protect those waters. “There’s abundant fish species. They eat all the algae (海藻) that would smother (窒息) the corals, making it possible for the corals to come back,” Sala explained.

For him and his team, the rebirth if the coral reefs in Kiribati is a beacon of hope among so much pessimism (悲观主义) surrounding the future of reefs.

2 . Sammie Vance, 14, knows there’s nothing worse than feeling left out. For years, she’s been helping kids who feel lonely make friends. What she was doing was running the Buddy Bench program. The idea was that anyone at school who was feeling lonely could sit on the “buddy bench.” That let other kids know someone needed a friend. “It’s really helpful to have other people be able to notice you,” Sammie says.

The idea quickly caught on. The bench brought kids together. Since then, Sammie has helped communities all over the country set up buddy benches. “It means a lot to me,” she says, “that this is making a difference in people’s lives.”

Sammie got the idea for the Buddy Bench program at summer camp in 2017. She thought it would be cool to have a buddy bench in her school, so when she got home, she presented the idea to her principal, her teachers, and her parents.

Getting approval for the project was just the first step. “There have been a lot of small challenges, like money,” Sammie says.

To reduce costs and be eco-friendly, Sammie decided to make the bench out of recycled material. So she called on her community to gather bottle caps.

Word of the project got out, and soon Sammie was getting caps from people in all 50 states. She even got them from people in Germany, the Netherlands, and other countries. In the end, she collected more than 1,200 pounds of bottle caps. A company called GreenTree Plastics was able to upcycle these into three benches.

In addition to all the kids her project has helped, Sammie is grateful for how it has changed her. “It just helped me grow in so many different aspects of my life,” she says.

Before long, Sammie was helping other schools acquire benches. She has donated more than 200 benches to schools and parks all around the country, and in Mexico and Australia. Her work continues to spread kindness far and wide.

Even small acts of kindness can be powerful. “It can make someone’s day and lead to a chain reaction,” she says. “You never know. Just be kind, in general.”

5 . The world is full of opportunities. Ignoring them or seizing one depends on one’s attitude. Mike seized the chance and did what he wanted to do.

Mike used to be a janitor (看门人) at an elementary school. He collected and cleared away the ________ for the school too. This school has a ________ place in Mike’s heart. He went to this school as a young boy and was a teacher there for 19 years. However, before his career in teaching, he ________ in the same school as a janitor. He has always been good at ________ with students.

Seeing this the teachers ________ him to pursue a teaching career. After years of hard work and fierce ________, Mike finished his degree in 2003 and ________ a teaching job at the elementary school. Since then he has become a constant ________ in the school.

Mike found teaching a very rewarding job. For him it was important that the students grow up not just remembering the ________ but also how a teacher made them feel. Mike was excited to teach the children at the school and was ________ to teach the fifth grade. He was shocked when the directors offered him the ________ of principal a week before the school year started.

“I am ________ grateful. I don’t do anything special. I just ________ and try my best.” said Mike. He was also very excited to take on the challenges of being the new ________ of the school, assume new responsibilities and help ________ the school.

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8 . For people suffering from depression, there’s an all-natural treatment they should use — getting more exercise. It could help fight depression, even if people have a genetic risk, new research shows.

For the study, researchers collected information from nearly 8,000 people and found those with related genes were more likely to have depression over the next two years after examining them. But that was less likely for people who were more active at the study’s start, even if they had a family history of depression. Higher levels of physical activity helped protect even those with the highest genetic risk of depression.

Both high-intensity (高强度) exercise and low-intensity activities were associated with a reduced risk of depression. Adding four hours of exercise a week could lower the risk of a new episode (一段经历) of depression by 17%, according to the study. “Our findings strongly suggest that, when it comes to depression, being physically active has the potential to remove the added risk of future episodes in individuals who are genetically risky,” said lead author Karmel Choi. “On average, about 35 additional minutes of physical activity each day may help people to reduce their risk and protect against future depression episodes.”

Depression is a common mental illness globally, with more than 264 million people affected. “Depression is so ubiquitous, and that underlines the need for effective approaches that can impact as many people as possible,” Choi said. And mental health and primary care providers can use the findings to advise patients that there’s something meaningful they can do to lower their risk of depression.