As I went home, my heart was filled with excitement. I had earned a perfect score of 100 on my math test! Mom had promised that a big cream cake would be my reward for such a performance. Bursting through the door, I couldn’t wait to share my great news.

“Mom, Mom!” I waved the test paper. “I did it! I got a perfect score!”Mom’s face beamed (发光) with pride as she took the test paper. To my surprise, her expression darkened, but she quickly regained her smile. With a gentle smile, she said, “Oh, that’s wonderful, honey! I’m so proud of you.” “Can we get the cake now?” I asked eagerly. “Of course,” Mom said. “I’ll just go to the store and pick one up.”

As Mom left, I couldn’t contain my excitement. I switched on the TV, watching my favorite cartoons. Time seemed to fly by as I eagerly awaited Mom’s return. When she finally arrived, we divided the cake, enjoying every bite. The sweet cream melted (融化) in our mouths. It was so delicious.

The following day in class, as we exchanged answers with classmates, I noticed something was wrong between my paper and the answer key. Puzzled, I went to Miss Johnson after class. “Excuse me, Miss Johnson,” I said. “I think there might be a mistake. My answer to question number 15 doesn’t match the answer key.”

Miss Johnson took my test paper and examined it carefully. Her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, my goodness, you’re right!” she said. Miss Johnson compared my answer with the correct answer key and discovered that I had made an error on question number 15. My actual score was 95. A wave of embarrassment washed over me. “I’m so sorry, Miss Johnson,” I lowered my head. “I didn’t realize that I had made a mistake.” Miss Johnson smiled gently. “Don’t worry about it, honey. Mistakes happen.”

Though Miss Johnson decided that she wouldn’t change my grade, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I should tell Mom the truth.

Later that evening, as I got home, Mom was preparing dinner.

To my surprise, Mom burst out laughing, saying, “Oh, honey, I already knew that.”

A tracking camera set up by a team of dog tracking experts in Colorado has caught the incredible journey of a missing dog named Ullr. He managed to survive 11 months alone in the wilderness, following a snow crash that separated him from his owner.

Jacob Dalbey, Ullr’s owner, received the long-awaited confirmation of his beloved dog’s survival through photos taken by the tracking experts he had employed. Dalbey expressed his great joy and gratitude on a GoFundMe page, launched by his friend, Deborah Wieker. “After 341 days, 11 months to the day of setting up tracking cameras and food and moving them around in the hope of attracting Ullr into one to finally get confirmation of what I have known all along, it happened,” Dalbey shared. “To all of you. friends and supporters of Ullr and me, I want to thank you so much. Knowing you believe in us really means a lot, even when I don’t say it. It has been extremely difficult to say the least. Your support has made it possible to keep searching for Ullr over the last 11 months,” he added.

The separation between Dalbey and Ullr occurred on March 17, 2023, when they were caught in a snow crash near Chair Mountain while backcountry skiing with friends. Despite being seriously injured and hospitalized, Dalbey displayed incredible resilience (韧性), recalling, “I was fully buried with my right arm sticking out of the snow. I was able to clear my airway immediately and then dug myself out over three hours with a broken hand and frozen fingers.”

Deborah Wieker explained that Dalbey, unable to work due to injuries during the snow crash, faced a significant financial burden with unplanned medical bills. At the same time, he needed to cover the expense of the tracker that played an important role in Ullr’s discovery.

The story of Jacob Dalbey and his dog moved people online.

Jacob Dalbey finally recovered, leaving the hospital to pick up his dog.

What We Should Know about Honey

The process that produces honey may have helped form humans too. Scientists believe that wild hives full of honey provided the calories that early humans such as Homo erectus (直立人), walking in Africa , needed to develop their brains into those of modern humans. That puts honey in a class with fire, tool use, and hunting as a key ingredient in the evolution of human beings.

With time, those evolved brains learned to domesticate bees to produce honey in a farmed setting. Today’s beekeepers support large-scale industrial farms, which would be unable to grow their crops without hiring traveling groups of bees to come pollinate (授粉) their vast, single-species fields. The bees will endlessly fill the towers of combs put onto their hives by the beekeeper, who then collects the extra honey for human consumption while still leaving the bees all they need to eat.

Today, the average American consumes nearly a pound and a half of honey every year, in tea, on toast, and beyond. Honey is a timeless treasure. Literally—it never goes bad. Samples nearly 3,000 years old found in the Egyptian pyramids are as eatable as the day they were entombed. Its anti-microbial nature also makes honey an excellent cure for wounds, keeping infection out while holding in the moisture that skin needs to heal.

However, bees’ good health is not guaranteed. U.S. beekeepers lose about 40 percent of their hives annually to colony collapse disorder. The problem lies in the growth of industrial agriculture and pesticide use, as well as changes in weather patterns, all of which reduce the number of flowers bees have to visit. If bees continue to die, apples and peaches (along with any crop that relies on their pollination) will become scarcer and pricier. As will honey.

Beyond the Horizon

Oshima was sitting at the sea side but the beautiful site did not make her feel good. Her face was dull and gloomy. She was staring at the setting sun without an expression on her face.

But she was not an unhappy child like this always. Six months before, Oshima was a happy child who loved playing at the beach with her brother and sister. Her brother Mittsu used to make sandcastle and Oshima and her sister Osheen collected the sea shells. Her father always shouted, “Come home, it's late”, but they would not listen. The seaside was like their second home. At house also, they were a happy family who always laughed and played and had no problems to bother for.

One day all of a sudden something terrible happened. A violent tsunami came and took the entire country in its grip. It was a huge natural disaster. Most of the houses were washed away. The cities and towns were flooded with water. Oshima’s town was near the sea and so the tsunami flooded her town as well. Her house was washed and they lost all their belongings.

Her grandmother Midori cried and cried and was totally shocked. She has not seen such destruction in her whole life. They were homeless. Oshima wept and wept and complained that why a violent tsunami hit her city. She was very angry.

The government shifted them to a refugee (难民) camp where many families shared the living space. Helicopters dropped food packets and they had to stand in long queues even for drinking water. Their life had turned upside down. Oshima could see the sadness visible in her parents' eyes. Now she did not like the sea at all and always felt that the sea had broken her trust and was very disappointed with the waves. For her the sea was very cruel who had taken her beautiful house away.

One day Oshima saw two little children playing in the camp without any trace of sadness on their face.

A new ray of hope filled her spirits, making her cheer up.

David’s parents left him forever in a car accident. He was brought up by his dear grandma, who was now in her eighties and in poor health. David was so excellent at his studies that he was admitted into his ideal college. He developed friendship with Christ when they were seated next to each other on the first college day. They were like brothers.

Whenever Christ was challenged with those difficult courses, David was always there to help Christ. Christ showed his thanks to David from the bottom of his heart, saying, “Without your help, I couldn’t get on well with my studies. I really don’t know how to repay your help.” David responded, “We are good friends. It’s natural for us to help each other.”

It was the early morning of Saturday. David had a fever and couldn’t get out of bed. Christ took good care of him. He cooked David some soup and then gave him some medicine. He thought a sound sleep would help David get better. David felt comforted with the care of his friend. Then he fell asleep.

David didn’t know how long it had been before he woke up. He saw some food which was newly cooked on the table and there was also a note, which read, “Take the food and you will get better. I need to be away for several days. Take good care of yourself. Christ.” He didn’t detail David about what he was going to do. Later someone told David that Christ bought a bus ticket to David’s hometown. David felt confused. But he thought that maybe Christ had something personal to attend to and it was not suitable to tell him.

On Monday, David got better and went to classes. Obviously, Christ was not there. He missed the classes.

In the evening, Christ came back and meanwhile David received a call from his grandma, requesting whether Christ had returned to the college safely.

On learning about this, David suddenly realized the truth.

In class, I am sitting next to Mareena. We both have a good laugh. And when we laugh, it’s not small laughs. It’s more like big hair, we twist (扭曲) in laughter on our chairs and we end up under the table so much we are folded (折叠) in two. Sometimes, too, she annoys me a bit, especially when she uses my eraser or my pink pen that writes magic words. But best friends always fight a bit, that’s normal, Mum often tells me.

One morning, I found myself alone at my table. Mareena was ill. I found the day long, but I still laughed a bit. Because when Baptiste meant to say Madagascar (马达加斯加岛), he mistakenly said Madame Gaskal.

The next day, when I saw that Mareena was still away, I asked Mum if I could go to see her at her place. I wanted to bring her homework, but also make her laugh a little, so that she would feel better. Mum made a funny face and told me it was better to wait a few days. I thought maybe Mareena had a contagious (传染性的) disease. But still, it bothered me not to see my best friend. So I asked again. This time mum sat down with me on my bed and held my hands very tight. I realized that something was wrong.

Mum explained to me that Mareena was going to have to stay in the hospital for a while, because of an illness that I didn’t understand. Well, yes, what I understood was that my best friend wasn’t going to be back to school for a long time, and that we wouldn’t be laughing like whales anytime soon because of stupid things.

I still asked to go to see Mareena once at the hospital.

Mareena eventually recovered.

As I approached my fortieth birthday, I realized that my life was quite meaningless in the larger scheme of things. I had friends and a loving husband and yet something was missing. With no children, I felt that I hadn’t done anything that would help mankind or change the world. I would have no legacy to leave.

One day I was watching TV and I thought of my desire. It was to be someone who mattered. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of people and in the lives of animals. After all, dogs had always been a large part of my life, from the time when I was a little girl growing up in central Oklahoma. I thought that my “purpose” would somehow include my love of singing, writing, travel, and of course, working with animals.

Then, something happened that shook my entire core. The “love of my life” dog, my Nicholas, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died thirteen months later. I became quite concerned for Bear, our remaining dog, who was six years old. Bear had been Nicholas’s shadow and now that Nicholas was gone, Bear wouldn’t even eat. Our vet suggested that we get another dog to see if that would encourage Bear to eat.

I found an online advertisement for a Bichon Frise （卷毛比熊犬） and when we arrived at the place, it was a nightmare, like one of those puppy mills （工厂） you read about or see on the television news. I decided to delay my search for my “purpose” as I needed to tell the world about the horror I had discovered right in my own backyard.

I had even a bigger fight ahead of me than Nicholas’s cancer. This was a fight that would take years. I did research and then I spread the word on the Internet. People began to listen and we formed a small group of Bichon Frise lovers called Small Paws Rescue.

I started out sending the latest news on our rescue efforts to about twenty-five people.\

My achievement made me reflect on the past.