There was a student named Lily who studied at high school. She had excellent grades and was considered as one of the top students in her school. However, Lily had a rather irritable (易怒的) personality. Because her parents gave her high pressure that she must keep her top place in her school. her mind was only focused on her grades, leaving little room for anything else.

One day, after receiving a lower grade than she expected on an important test. Lily was falling apart. Sad and overwhelmed, she even started considering her failure was due to her parents. She quarreled with her parents and kept them out of her room.

Lily’s parents turned to the school teacher Mr. Thompson for help. They poured out all the bad present situations to him. Mr. Thompson was a professional teacher with a deep understanding of the importance of a balanced lifestyle. He recognized that it was Lily’s too much worry about grades that was having a bad effect on her and the parent-child relationships.

Mr. Thompson advised Lily’s parents to calm down first. And after school, he approached Lily and gently suggested they go for a run together. At first, Lily refused, saying that it would take her too much time. Besides, she couldn’t understand how running could be beneficial to her academic success.

“Believe me, Lily,” Mr. Thompson said, and finally Lily agreed to give it a try.

Seeing Lily’s change. Mr. Thompson recommended her to give a speech to her classmates.

“Did you hear what I said?” The band director was looking right at me. So was everyone else. “Yes, ma’am. You want me to do the solo (独奏) at the concert.” I said, trying to hide my fear.

I play the jazz saxophone (萨克斯管). I’m the best player in the sax section of my middle school band; I even do concerts with the senior high band. So, what’s my problem? Stage fright. Performing with a group is no problem. Butraying solo? I will freeze like a water balloon in deep space.

The band director continued, “By the way, the director of the Youth Symphony will be there. You know, if he hears someone who’s really good, he invites them to audition (试演).” I tried to look calm as I headed to the door, but the rock in my stomach had just doubled in weight. I’d dreamed of playing in the Youth Symphony for a long time but never had the courage to audition. I could pretend to be sick and stay home. But there are only two concerts each year, and missing one would be really a great pity.

“What should I do?” I went back home and headed downstairs. I usually practice in the basement. The family calls it Kevin’s Dungeon (地牢). I play great in the dungeon. It’s comfortable down there—just me, my sax, and my music. “Why can’t the school auditorium feel like my dungeon?” I said to myself. Then an idea occurred to me—how about sticking a photo of my dungeon inside the bell of my sax? Looking at it while playing might work for me. I immediately took action and practised and practised.

The day finally came. Suddenly, the lights went down, the curtain went up, and we were off and running. Each song started and ended, but it was like somebody else was playing my sax, not me. Then it was time—my solo.

I stood up and walked to the front of the stage.

With the last long note ending, the audience burst into applause.

Rikki’s mom was preparing baked beans and mixing up potato salad to go with Saturday night barbecue when Rikki stormed in the front door and marched to her room. She glanced out the window and saw their neighbor Lexi walking back to her house across the road. Mother’s intuition told herself this situation might need some direction.

“Rikki, come in here. I need some help with dinner.” Rikki came out with an obstinate look on her face — the kind that kids have when they know they are wrong but have convinced themselves they are right.

“I noticed that Lexi came over but didn’t stay long. She is your age and in your class at school. Why doesn’t she stay longer?” Mom watched Rikki out of the corner of her eye as she continued to prepare food. “I don’t like her,” Rikki whined. “I wish she would stop coming over here all the time. She dresses terrible, and sometimes she doesn’t smell good. Her nose is always runny, and her hair is tangled. None of us like her.” Mom knew that “none of us” meant the popular crowd Rikki ran with.

“That’s not her fault, Rikki. I don’t know what her family is like, but maybe she doesn’t have anyone to help her. Some kids don’t have the extra things that you and your friends have. That doesn’t make them any less worthy than you.” Rikki replied that she knew that, and those things were not the real issue. “I just don’t like to play with her, Momma. She doesn’t like to do the same things that I do.”

Mom told Rikki to go on outside and play. What she didn’t know, however, was that Rikki’s dad had been watching while he was grilling. He didn’t like the fact that Rikki had ignored Lexi, so he decided to intervene. He wanted to know why Lexi was leaving with her head down and looking so sad.

At Piedmont Middle School, a kid could run track or play tennis, but everyone wanted to be on the soccer team. Piedmont and the surrounding towns were pretty small, so instead of having separate girls and boys teams, each school had one team made up of both girls and boys. Laura had dreamed of earning glory for the team Los Halcones ever since the first grade when her older brother Toni won in the county middle school championship. Now he was away at college on a soccer scholarship. The day she joined the team as a sixth-grader, she felt like she could fly.

But, unfortunately, her joy didn’t last. She spent most of the season on the bench.

Walking to the car after the last game of the season, Laura tried to smile at her mother. Having spent yet another game sitting on the bench, Laura hadn’t even broken a sweat. “Well, at least you don’t have to wash my uniform,” she joked, but she could feel tears in her eyes. Her mother said, “You still have chances. Don’t lose heart. Toni once made the same mistake. And now you can watch soccer videos to learn more skills when sitting there.” Laura could only shake her head.

Lying in bed that night, Laura thought back to her first game, the day of her huge mistake.

“Pass, pass, pass!”

“Clear that ball!”

Voices yelled from every side. Laura ran nervously in front of the goal (球门) as both teams rushed down the field. She knew the children in green were her teammates. Those in blue were on the other team. At that time, a boy on the opposing team had the ball when a battle for that ball broke out a few feet from her. Green and blue uniforms swirled (打转) around her, and Laura could barely keep track of the ball. Then, suddenly, it came her way!

“Laura, I’m open!” one of her teammates called from near the sideline. Then Laura kicked the ball.

But the ball went in the completely wrong direction!

Sitting on the bench for game after game, Laura decided to tell Toni that she wanted to quit.

My family had only recently moved into a new neighborhood. All of my neighbors have been very friendly and helpful since we moved in.

However, Mrs Davis, an elderly lady living in the last house on the other side of the road, escaped associating with us, or anyone else. When I asked around the neighborhood why, they warned me not to go after her because they thought she was insane (精神失常的) and preferred staying alone after losing her husband and only daughter in an aircraft crash. After that, she stayed isolated (孤立的) from all the neighbors, refusing all the care and help.

I often saw her on the streets during the evening, but she was always by herself. She appeared weak and I always wanted to help her, but after hearing what my neighbors had said about her, I wasn’t sure whether I should.

One day, when I was on my way to the supermarket, our paths crossed. I was walking past her and overheard her singing a tune. It immediately drew my attention because my parents used to sing the same song with me. I began to sing along with her, and she smiled at me for the first time. But when I smiled back, she quickly hurried her pace and went home.

She seemed very different to me that day. I refused to trust my neighbors’ claims that she had cut herself off from the rest of society because she was insane, so the next day, I knocked on her door. Mrs Davis was home, and instead of letting me in, she just looked at me silently through the window. I noticed her staring at me and was about to walk to the window when she quickly closed the curtains.

The next day, I revisited her house. “Hello, I brought you something,” I called out to her. “It’s the record of the music you were singing yesterday.”

The door opened and Mrs Davis’ eyes widened in surprise at the sight of me standing there.

Several days later in the morning, the doorbell rang at my house.

It was Mr. Morgan’s first day as a new history teacher. He was giving the students a lecture on the Great Depression and World War II, when the door suddenly opened. A boy walked in with his eyes fixed on the floor and took his seat without speaking a word or looking up at the teacher. “Good morning, young man,” said Mr. Morgan, his voice was strict. “It’s 9:15, and you’re 20 minutes late for class. Do you have a good reason?” But the boy just sat without responding. “Could you please stand up and introduce yourself?” Mr. Morgan added. “I’m Archie,” replied the boy as he rose and looked up, rubbing his tired eyes. Archie looked very untidy and dizzy (头晕目眩的), as though he hadn’t slept at all the previous nights. “Nice to meet you, Archie. I’m your new history teacher. You’re late for class. Do you mind telling me why? You just walked in without excusing yourself, and I won’t entertain such behavior.” Archie hesitated for a while. “I’m sorry, sir. I overslept. I didn’t mean to come in late. I was just tired, sir,”   he finished, unable to control his yawn, and the whole class laughed. “Silence!” Mr. Morgan demanded. “Archie, you cannot be late for class like this. Can I see your homework? I heard your previous history teacher gave you assignments every weekend. Show it to me, will you?” Archie handed over his notebook, and Mr. Morgan’s expression turned uneasy. “Umm, looks like you didn’t do your homework at all.” “I didn’t do it, sir,” the boy said sheepishly as the teacher looked through the rest of the pages. “Archie, what is this? You haven’t done any of your homework this whole term,” Mr. Morgan scolded. “I want to meet your parents tomorrow, alright? Or I’m taking you straightto the principal’s office. Is that clear?” “Yes, sir,” Archie murmured and sat on his seat.

But the boy didn’t show up the following day. The principal told him, “We’ve given Archie chances, but there’s no improvement. His presence is affecting our academic statistics.” Mr. Morgan started to worry.

Mr. Morgan paid a visit to Archie’s home, only to discover the boy’s life was far more difficult than he thought.

Fifteen years later, successful Archie returned to his old school to thank Mr. Morgan.

As Valentine’s Day, a time for expressing affection through the exchange of presents, drew near, Kendra found herself seated at the kitchen table, carefully penning her name on Valentine’s cards for her classmates. She recognized her own hesitation; words didn’t come easily to her. While she envied the ease with which her peers talked and laughed, her shyness often kept her quiet.

Kendra grabbed another card. . Her eyes lit up at the phrase “You’re dynamite (引起轰动的人或物)!”—a term that would undoubtedly delight her Grammy, who frequently used the expression to praise their festive decorations. “Well, that looks dynamite!” Grammy would exclaim, her approval filling Kendra with warmth.

Just as Kendra was signing the cards, her mother came in, sharing the sad news of Elise, their neighbor, and her recent accident that led to a broken leg, restricting her to home schooling for the coming weeks. Kendra felt sorry for Elise, and quickly picked the most splendid valentine, hurrying to Elise’s home.

Upon arrival, Kendra’s look fell upon the life-sized deer statue decorating the front yard. She studied it, saying to herself, “Wouldn’t this deer look cool with a big heart around his neck? Elise could look out of the window and see it decorated for Valentine’s day.”

With this idea, Kendra got the sizable red heart her Grammy had given her, tied it with string, and hung it around the statue’s neck like a festive chain. The next day, she decorated the antlers (鹿角) with a variety of smaller hearts. It was during this act of kindness that Colin and Amy, Elise’s fellow classmates, happened upon the scene. “Are you decorating Elise’s deer for Valentine’s Day?” they asked. Kendra confirmed with a nod, explaining her intention to cheer up Elise. Despite her uncertainty about what to add next, Colin proposed adding some color, while Amy suggested putting decorations on the deer’s back and forehead. United by a shared purpose, they agreed to meet later.

That afternoon, they met to decorate the deer with the materials they had sourced.

Just then, Elise’s front door opened, and Elise stuck her head out.

Spotted lanternflies (斑点灯笼蝇) are an invasive species. Since 2014, they have been seen all across the eastern United States. The insects are harmful to many plants, and can disturb entire ecosystems. State officials have urged people to kill spotted lanternflies wherever they see them.

When Joy saw the pests in her school courtyard, she thought she had to do something. “I’ve always wanted to take environmental action,” she says, “and show people that no one is ever too small to make a difference.”

So she started a club called Squash (压扁). Its mission is to kill spotted lanternflies around the school. More than 20 students have joined. At first, they trapped the pests in empty water bottles and then squashed them. In a single day, the club managed to kill more than a hundred spotted lanternflies.

Joy wanted to do more. With research, she discovered a plant called milkweed. It’s nutritious for pollinators (传粉昆虫) such as monarch butterflies but poisonous to spotted lanternflies. Joy thought that using milkweed along with the traps made specifically for spotted lanternflies would be a better way to kill them. The issue was that they didn’t have enough money to buy milkweed and the traps.

The kids were hoping to raise money for their school to address the big problem. Their goal was to raise $200, the cost of the equipment needed to kill spotted lanternflies around their school. They got part of the way there, with about $75. They decided to attract more fundraisers. “We discovered that if you find your voice,” Joy says, “you can do much more.”

In May, Joy and other students from Squash gathered in Columbus Park, in New York City. They set up a table with lemonade, cookies, and origami figures for sale. The money will be used to buy milkweed and the traps.

To attract more attention, the students divided their work into various roles.

As the day progressed, the students’ efforts paid off.