There is a saying that we should all just mind our own business and let the chips fall where they may, because no good comes from doing good. This, of course, is not necessarily true.

In Hawaiian culture, aloha has many meanings. First, it is a greeting. However, it is also an expression of love and friendship. One man was a living example of “aloha”, for he had a story to unfold.

Amanda was shopping with her young son, and she was absorbed in picking up their groceries for their family reunion. She was in such a hurry that she even forgot her wallet in the shopping cart, which contained her driver license, credit cards, plenty of cash, and even a gift card that could easily be redeemed (兑换) by anyone . It was not until she arrived home that she found her wallet gone. The woman returned to the supermarket, and started her search for the lost wallet by watching hours and hours of security footage in the supermarket. After turning to several different cameras around the store, but in vain, she completely gave up hope.

Andy Jose was a security guard at the World supermarket. He moved to Maui 5 years ago, and worked as a security guard at the grocery store to support the family and put himself through college. He rode his bike to work and school every day because he didn’t have a car.

Para .1: He was busy collecting the shopping carts when something caught his eyes.

Para.2: Amanda and her husband decided to do something big to show their gratitude .

Growing up in a coastal town in San Francisco, Christian had a special love for the ocean and its creatures. He had always found joy in the rhythmic tides and the ocean waves against the shore. The salty wind and the cries of the seagulls (海鸥) had been like a comforting song to him during his childhood.

However, all these changed over the years. Every time he wandered along the familiar stretch of sand, his heart sank. The once charming beach was now littered with plastic bags, bottles and other wastes, a distinctive contrast to the natural beauty that had always absorbed him.

The sight was a painful reminder of the harm the locals were bringing to the very land where he was growing up. Christian felt a deep sense of loss and responsibility. Previously, he had seen the news reports about the severe effects of plastic pollution on the oceans, and the images of sea creatures stuck in plastic wastes haunted (萦绕于脑际) him.

Determined to make a change, Christian decided to take action. He knew he couldn’t solve this problem alone, but he could start something that might grow into a powerful movement. With the passion and belief of a young man who loved his ocean and his land deeply, he founded an organization called Waves of Change. The early days presented challenges in calling on volunteers.

He began by reaching out to the students in his school. He shared the shocking reality of the polluted beaches and the urgent need to reduce plastic litter. To his delight, gradually more and more schoolmates started showing interest in the organization and many were eager to join in the cause. They were all too familiar with the beauty of the ocean and were equally saddened by the damage they had witnessed. As high school students, Christian and other members properly allocates (分配) time to balance the cause and their academic work.

Together, Christian and other members did a lot of things in their free time.

Their efforts finally paid off.

My husband Ralph and I were living in a house in Staten Island in a lovely country-lane area where we enjoyed taking walks. One evening, as we were passing the gardens of an ancient church, I saw a gray cat being followed by a tiny black-and-white kitten (小猫). As I looked at them, the kitten stopped and stared at me with large golden eyes.

About a month later, I ‘saw the kitten again. As I was passing a neighbor’s doorway, it sleepily lifted its head out of a large flowerpot. Clearly, this was where it slept every night, and I told Ralph about it when I got home.

From then on, whenever Ralph and I passed that house, we saw the tiny creature sitting in the flowerpot or sunbathing happily on the front steps.

One morning, I met Jim, the owner of the house, and asked about the kitten and why it seemed to be living in the flowerpot. He told me, “His name is Oreo, and he’s the only one not adopted from a local feral (流浪的) cats’ litter that I rescued.”

“But why does he have to sleep in a flowerpot?” I asked.

“We tried taking him into the house, but my wife and I already have three very large older cats, and they were not nice to him.”

That was the moment when I decided that perhaps Oreo would be a happy addition to our lives. So, the next time Ralph and I were walking by Oreo’s home, I called to him. “Oreo! Hey, Oreo!” His head popped up from the flowerpot. Ralph was charmed, and he joined my chorus and called, “Oreo! Hey, Oreo!” To our delight, the little cat hurried down from the doorway to greet us. However, as he limped (跛行) down the steps, I noticed for the first time that he had a missing back leg.

Jim explained, “He was born that way. That’s why nobody would adopt him. All the other kittens were taken right away. I kept the little guy because I didn’t care about his missing leg.”

The boys at the back of the school bus were restless. Stevie did his best to ignore the others. “”Settled own!”Mr Taylor said. “We’ll be there soon. Wait till you see the climbing walls. You’ll be very happy.” Stevie hadn’t liked this “Boys Rulz” club from the start. They were troublemakers. Mom had made him join because she was worried that he didn’t seem to be fitting in. It was n this fault, thought Stevie, school was boring. None of the teachers trusted him, and no special boy’s group was to change that.

All the boys stared up in wonder at the huge climbing walls. Stevie looked down at his thin arms and wondered how he could climb up that. Mr Taylor and a man called Rick helped the boys get into their harnesses (保护带) and showed them how to climb up. “Now find a partner and get them to check all your straps (带子) and everything,” said Mr Taylor. The boys quickly paired off, leaving Stevie standing there alone. “Cool, you’re with me,” said Rick, holding up his hand for a high-five. Stevie high-five d him back weakly. Stevie was on a tiny wall which the others had called the “baby wall”. He gritted his teeth (咬紧牙关), his face pressed against the rough surface and reached for the next, hold. “Done!” he called down from the top. “Now let go of the rock and walk down as I showed you,” said Rick. “It’s perfectly safe.” Stevie did as instructed, and Rick started to let him down slowly. “Well done,” said Rick when Stevie got to the bottom.

Then someone pointed out that Mr Taylor hadn’t done any climbing himself.” I plan to, “said Mr Taylor.” But I’ll need a partner, someone I can really trust. “The boys volunteered actively, but Mr Taylor pretended he hadn’t heard. He looked around the group. “How about you, Stevie?” he said at last. “Fancy being my belayer?” A be layer is somebody who controls how you come down, the one that stops you from falling.

Stevie looked up, greatly surprised.

“Ready to let me down?” Mr Taylor called down to Stevie.

One day a friend invited me to join gymnastics class that she had belonged to for many years. My mom got the needed information and within a few days I was ready to start!

When I got there, I was extremely nervous. The group wasn’t very welcoming so I was regretting signing up. It seemed they were comfortable with the team they had, and they didn’t want anyone to be added to it. But after working together for a few days, we all soon became friends. A month passed and I learned to do many things. I was excited and ready to learn back handsprings(手翻). Back handsprings are one of the main things you need to know for gymnastics because they are done so often. In my opinion, they are the hardest to do, but I was ready to try.

My friend was the queen of back handsprings, so she helped me understand each and every step. Our coach pulled out a handspring machine to help the kids who were learning how to do them for the first time. This machine is a block that has cushion(垫子) all around it. You basically sit in the mouth of the machine and push off with your feet and go backwards until you land on your hands, then feet.

Even with the handspring machine, I couldn’t get my feet right, so I had to try again and again. Impatient, some of the girls seemed to get angry. I was feeling like the new kid in the group again. The new kid that didn’t know what she was doing but everyone else knew it!

Luckily, my friend, the queen of back handsprings, kept encouraging me.

One day, I finally got it right.

In a distant village surrounded by rolling hills and large fields, there lived a young boy named Lei. At the age of 15, Lei stood out with excellent study performance. His journey to this point, however, was full of challenges and struggles.

Lei was born in a happy family. His parents, hardworking farmers, grew crops from the land to support their family’s life. Lei grew up, surrounded by the love and care of his family, with his days filled with laughter and the simple joys of childhood. However, his life took a sudden turn when his parents decided to move to the city in search of greater opportunities to support their family. Therefore, Lei had to be left behind and taken care of by his grandparents. Although Lei was taken good care of, he felt lonely and sad without his parents around. The house was once filled with his parents’ voices, but now only he and his grandparents were at home. He missed his parents and the happy time he spent with them.

This emotional struggle began to affect Lei’s schoolwork. Once as a curious and eager student, Lei found himself losing interest in his studies. He even didn’t want to go to school from time to time and his grades began to fall greatly. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, his parents made a difficult decision to send Lei to a boarding (寄宿制) school, hoping it would provide him with a fresh start.

However, adjusting to the boarding school life was not easy for Lei. His shy nature made it difficult for him to connect with his classmates and he often felt like an outsider. The pressure and loneliness increased until one day Lei told his teacher about his feeling and thoughts. Concerned about Lei’s health, the teacher immediately reached out to his parents, expecting them to have a heart-to-heart conversation with their son. Taking the teacher’s advice to heart, Lei’s parents took on a long journey, traveling by train and bus for almost a day to reach him.

Then Lei’s parents had a heart-to-heart conversation with Lei.

The conversation was a turning point for Lei.