Mrs. Moore was an old artist. Her husband passed away years ago and she lived alone with her cat Taffy. She did three things every day—painting, baking and petting her beloved cat, among which baking was the part my sister Jennifer and I liked best. Whenever the mouth-watering smell got over the fence, we could expect a paper bag containing delicious cookies to be passed over the fence. To return this favor, Dad would cut the grass in her front yard and help repair the water pipes.

One day, Dad eventually put his idea of building a tree house for us in our back yard into action. Dad got everything in place within two weeks. It was a yellow tree house with a beautiful red roof. It was a great place for Jennifer and me to get out of the sight of Mom and Dad to have fun and talk about our girlish matters.

One morning, we went there only to find Taffy messing up everything there. Both of us were unwilling to talk about such a problem to our nice neighbor, but we had no other choice. So we begged Dad to talk about the issue with Mrs. Moore.

After the talk, Mrs. Moore immediately went to the tree house. She was shocked to see the mess. She said she had never expected Taffy could be so fascinated with a tree house and promised to deal with the problem immediately. But to our disappointment, the cat could still find ways to climb over the fence and get into our tree house.

In despair, Mrs. Moore bought a ready-made tree house from an on-line store and had it fixed up in her garden. The tree house was bigger than ours. It was in the shape of a bird nest with bright colors of purple and orange. Mrs. Moore put Taffy’s toys and food in it to make sure the cat would be happy to move in and return our tree house to us.

However, what happened next was totally out of the expectation of all of us.

Mrs. Moore thought very hard and finally worked out a plan.

I used to be very shy and often felt lonely. Although I did well in all academic subjects, I was afraid of physical education. Even kids in the neighborhood would laugh at me that my feet couldn’t leave the ground when I ran. Their words embarrassed me. At school, whenever the teacher organized some competitive games, no one in the class would choose me as their partner or teammate. As a result, I often ended up looking at others enjoy their games.

Things would go on like that if it was not for a sports meet in my middle school. By mistake, my name was put on the list of women’s 1,500 meters race. By the time I knew it, it was too late to change.

In despair, I asked Mary, my deskmate who just moved to our neighborhood with her parents and was assigned to our class, whether she could help me. She declined, “Sorry, I couldn’t run that race in your place. I have already signed up for the same event.”

I nearly broke down. 1,500 meters! Running against the best runners in front of the whole school! It would be the worst thing I’d ever dreamed of!

“Don’t worry,” Mary said, patting me on my shoulder. “You still have time to catch up because there is about one month before the sports meet starts. Besides, it is cool to run for our class!”

I knew this was not just for myself, but for my class. But to me, running 1,500 meters was like climbing Mount Everest for an inexperienced climber. I even had no idea how to start my preparation.

“I have an idea,” she said as if she could read my mind. “We can do training together each afternoon after class.”

During the training, whenever I wanted to give up, I would see Mary running right beside me or cheering for me by the tracks. Her kindness never failed to give me the strength to go ahead.

Time flew by and the big day arrived.

Just then, I heard Mary calling my name.

On a sunny early spring morning, Anna, together with her grandchildren Julie, Fred and Erik, was playing happily in the backyard. While playing, Anna said to the kids, “I am going to plant something in the garden. Who would like to help me?”

“What are you going to plant, Grandma?” asked Julie. “I like pleasant, bright-colored roses.”

“But I like lively, big, yellow sunflowers!” said Fred.

“Well, I’m going to plant some vegetables so that we can have fresh vegetables to eat when they are ready,” said Anna.

“How long does that take?” asked Erik. He liked vegetables sometimes, especially tomatoes.

“It will take several months before anything is ready to eat,” answered Anna. The kids were surprised.

“Several months? Why would you do all that work and then have to wait so long?” asked Julie. “Why not just go to the store and buy them?”

“Patience, my sweeties! Don’t you know food always tastes best when you grow it yourself?” replied Anna. “And if all of you come to help, it won’t be too much work.”

“I’ll help you, Grandma,” offered Erik. He put down the basketball and went to look at the gardening tools Anna had laid out. “What should we do first?” Fred and Julie came over to have a look, too.

Firstly, Anna taught Erik how to use a travel (小铲子) to dig rows of small holes for the seeds. Next, she showed Julie how to pour the seeds into each hole carefully. And then it was Fred’s job to cover up the holes with soil little by little. Finally, Julie wrote the vegetable names on sticks that Erik pushed into the ground. “This way we can remember which vegetable seeds we have planted,” said Anna.

After planting everything, the kids took turns in filling up the watering pot so that Anna could make the soil nice and wet for the seeds to start to grow.

“From now on, we just water them a little each day, and with some time and sunshine, we’ll have some delicious things to eat in the summer,” said Anna.

Every time the kids came to visit, they would rush into the garden as fast as possible.

Eventually, Anna said, “It was about time for the first harvest.”

Austin Riley is a race car driver. He has been drawing crowds to the race track for years. But his rise to fame isn’t just being fast on the speedway. He’s breaking barriers on the track for those with disabilities. Riley has autism (自闭症). Simple tasks like tying his shoes are extremely complicated for him, but when you put him in a race car — a complex, delicate piece of machinery — he’ll blow your mind.

I first met Riley and his father Jason at the local karting (卡丁车运动) track in 2014. I still remember how excited Riley was to have me and my cameraman there filming his every move. He was a karting car racer back then. He could barely talk to me, let alone look at me. However, even though Riley was quiet and shy, I knew he was going to be something big.

The karting track is where Riley’s racing care er began. His dad just wanted to give him something to focus his energy on. Riley has always loved cars. He has been enthusiastic about them since he started to learn to walk. So why not try karting? The minute Riley hit the gas, he was attracted. Little did Riley and his father realize this was going to change their lives forever.

In Riley’s mind, everything moves fast. Slowing things down makes things difficult and frustrating. But the minute Riley slid into that karting car, everything went well. He’d found his calling and it put him on the podium (领奖台), so many times that he would need a separate room just for his trophies (奖杯).

Riley’s journey on the track soon took him from fast karting cars to really fast cars. He became the first person with autism in Canada to get his race car licence. It opened up the track for Riley to drive in the big leagues. Riley was now racing across North America, making the podium almost every time. He was an impressive force on the track, but an even more impressive person off the track.

When Riley started winning race after race, people wanted to know who this kid was.

Riley’s story brought a ray of hope to families having children with autism.

Mama was weaving a mat (织垫子) with wild-grass stalks (茎秆) when she called to Achenyo, “Will you do me a favor and fetch me some water for the paints, Achenyo?” In the corner were pots of coloring matter she’d use to paint the finished mats. “Of course, Mama!” Achenyo picked up a clay pot as she slipped outside.

She didn’t like mat-weaving, although it was a tradition for a mother to pass on the skills to her daughter. Achenyo would rather be playing outdoors with her friends. Outside, Achenyo called to Ajuma, whose house was across from hers.

Both girls, with clay pots balanced on their heads, made their way to the Niger River. When they arrived at the water’s edge, what they found was shocking. The river was gone! In its place was a blanket of dark green leaves dotted by colored flowers.

“Oh no!” Achenyo cried. “The river is gone! There’s no water for drinking, cooking, or bathing! Mama won’t have water to mix the paints for her mats.

Last year, the rainy season brought an invasion of water hyacinths (水葫芦).The plants covered the river and left no room to put in a pot to fetch water. There was no room to bathe or swim. Fishermen couldn’t cast their nets for fish. And now the water hyacinths were back

“How could such a pretty plant cause such harm?” Achenyo wondered

The adults jumped into the water among the broad, green leaves, They began throwing them onto the riverbank. Achenyo and Ajuma joined them. When they’d cleared enough plants, the girls filled their pots with water. A pile of water hyacinths lay on the riverbank What a pity to waste such pretty flowers, Achenyo thought. She picked some for Mama, and then the girls headed home.

Each day, they found the river covered by water hyacinths as if no one had cleared the waterfront the day before. One day, as Achenyo moved an armful of dried water hyacinths out of her way, she had an idea. Carrying the plants under her arm, she ran home. “Mama, will you teach me to weave?

Mama was too glad to pass on the mat-weaving skills to her daughter.

Mama and Achenyo then taught their neighbors.