2 . When Chase Bailey was found to have autism (自闭症) at 2, his mother Mary Bailey feared he’d never enjoy a typical life. Indeed, he hasn’t. Occupied with appearances with famous people and hosting his own cooking show, Chase’s life is anything but typical. During the past years, the teenager has cooked noodles with food master Roy Choi and baked cookies for guests at a celebration in Los Angeles.

The days when Chase would eat nothing but pizza, chicken, French fries, and chocolate chip cookies almost seem like a distant memory. For him to go from that to cooking and eating all kinds of different things is pretty astonishing.

After the diagnosis (诊断) of Chase’s disease, friends prepared Mary for the worst: He’d never be able to have a job, never learn to socialize, and never be independent. Like many autistic patients, the sight, smell, feel and taste of almost everything on Chase’s plate tipped him over the edge.

However, when he watched cooking shows with his grandfather, he became addicted to seeing people enjoy what they were eating and started asking to try some of the food on the shows. Two years later, he recorded the first episode (集) of “Chase N Yur Face” with the help of his mother, which they posted on social media. The show quickly caught the attention of autism groups. Chase started reaching out to chefs he admired by email to invite them to tape episodes with him.

In the show which has more than 30 episodes, a confident Chase cooks everything from cupcakes to roasted meats. It has harvested tens of thousands of views. He dreams of one day seeing his show on television and wants to open his own restaurant. He hopes his experience can help others with autism. “Don’t be afraid to be yourself,” he said.

3 . While most people are doing their best to work multiple jobs in a day to earn honest money, some people still settle on scamming (诈骗) others just to have instant cash. However, one scammer called the wrong person when he dialed Jean Ebbert’s number. The 73-year-old woman from New York may be in her senior years, but she is surely one tough lady who used to be a 911 call operator.

Her previous line of work has trained her to be a fast thinker and quick on her toes. When she received that call from someone claiming to be her grandson, she knew instantly that she was talking to a scammer.

According to the caller who was even crying at the time, he was Jean’s grandson who had gotten arrested due to drunk driving and now needed money to get out of prison. Ridiculously, Jean had no grandson who drives. However, knowing that the man could easily find another person to trick if she dropped the call, Jean decided to play along so the person on the other end of the line could get what he deserves.

“So I played the game. And then I said to him, ‘Listen! Don’t call your mother, or she’s going to be mad. Let me handle this,’” Jean recalled.

Eventually, the scammer passed the phone to his “lawyer” who then told her that her grandson needed $8,000 to be set free. Jean knew better of the situation and continued with her act, instructing the caller to visit her home address to get the money he needed.

Moments later, the doorbell rang and Jean rose to her feet and opened the door. In front of her stood a tall young man, who claimed himself to be her grandson’s lawyer and asked for the cash that had been promised to him. Jean had already laid a trap for him. The instant the scammer came, he was greeted by the two policemen waiting inside Jean’s home.

4 . Ethan has always dreamed of becoming a firefighter. Recently, the 18-year-old got a ________ of what it really feels like to save lives!

It all ________ when Ethan and his two friends, Ryken and Jackson, both 17,were heading to a local basketball court. They looked up and saw ________ pouring from the Citadel Mews Retirement Home. Pulling over in their tracks, they ________ to the Retirement Home to see if they could help.

“We knew that the elderly people were struggling ________,” Jackson said.

The ________ teens first went to the rescue members. Learning that there were still people inside the building, they didn’t ________ to go in after them. Thinking nothing of their own ________ , they ran up to the fourth floor and began to carefully ________ the rooms.

“Knock on every door, say, ‘There’s a fire; everyone gets out,’” Jackson ________. “After that we’d open the door and take a ________ look through to make sure no one was in and go to the next ________.”

Smoke began to ________ the hallways, and the roof was in flames, but they were so focused on evacuating (疏散) everyone that they didn’t have time to be ________. “The only thing that was going through my mind was to get out all the people ________ in the building,” said Ethan. Soon he found an old lady ________ to make her way downstairs, and he picked her up and ________ her outside.

The three teens are receiving lots of ________, but they insist they were just raised to do what they thought was ________.

After this experience, Ethan said he is more convinced than ever that he wants to be a ________.

5 . Ethan Reynolds of Columbus, Indiana, has always been a helper.

The 11-year-old loves to ________ at a local nursing home and an animal shelter. ________ asking for toys or video games last Christmas, he wanted lawn mowing (割草) equipment so he could start his own ________!

When COVID-19 began, he ________ more people who were holding cardboard signs asking for food in his area. Thinking of his own $10, he ________ found a way to help. He ________ it by buying as much food as he could. ________ he put everything on a table in his family’s front lawn with a sign saying, “________ Food.”

When the neighbors ________ Ethan’s table, they started ________ their own donations, such as canned fruit and meat. Even better, his ________ was reported by a local news station, and soon, ________ were coming from all over the city to make donations of cash and goods! As Ethan’s table got larger, the ________ fifth-grader started up his lawn care service to bring in some extra ________ for his new charity. Of course, his neighbors were more than happy to ________ him to mow their lawns.

But Ethan’s mower kept ________ in the middle of jobs, so his community got together and decided to ________ him with a brand new push mower! When Ethan came home and saw it sitting in the driveway, he fell over with ________! We’ve never seen someone this ________ get so delighted over lawn equipment, but Ethan is no ordinary child. He’ll use it for a ________ he’s valued.

What a great kid! We know he’s going to put that mower to good use.

6 . 37-year-old Kyle Semrau wasn’t feeling well when he arrived home on Monday morning after his night job. Surprisingly, his 6-year-old daughter, Macie _______ to go to school that morning. Her parents eventually gave in and allowed her to _______ home that day with her 4-year-old brother Caleb and her dad. They didn’t expect that _______ would end up saving Kyle’s life.

Kyle was soon feeling _______. Macie recalled hearing her father _______ start shouting. She and brother Caleb _______ to find him lying on the ground in the basement unconscious. “I don’t want to say this, but I thought he was going to _______,” said Macie. “I immediately Googled the Eliot Police for its number and _______ the police department.” Meanwhile, Caleb did what he could to comfort his dad until _______ arrived.

6-year-old Macie was able to ________ give the police their address, her dad’s name and age. After first responders arrived and ________, Kyle was rushed to hospital.

Kyle has now fully ________ and is grateful for all the help he received. “Just incredible all around. It’s ________ for children to look up to their fathers as heroes, but Macie is, and will always be my hero,” said Kyle.

The Eliot Police Department was also ________ with the little heroine’s actions. “Great job, Macie!!! It was her ________ thinking and swift action that saved her dad’s life,” said a police officer.

7 . It was the day of the big cross-country run. Students from seven different primary schools in and around the small town were warming up. I looked around and ______spotted David. I walked over and asked him why he wasn’t with the other______. He hesitated and then said he had decided not to______.

What was wrong? He had worked so hard for this event! I quickly searched for the school’s ______ and asked him what had happened. He said that kids from other schools would ______David. After making sure that David could run if he ______ to, I decided to have a talk with David.

David had a brain ______ which prevented him from walking or running like other children, but he always participated to the ______of his ability in whatever they were doing. That was why none of the children thought it ______ that David had decided to join the cross-country team. It just took him ______— that’s all. As a special education teacher at the school, I was familiar with the ______ David faced and was proud of his strong ______.

I came up to David and ______ him. Finally, he was determined to______ the race. Half an hour later, the race ______, but he had only gone a few meters before he tripped and ______on the ground. My heart ______. As I started to shout encouragement, other voices around me took up the ______. “Come on David, you can do it!” David picked himself up and started again. Needless to say, David ______ last. And he raised his arms high as he ______ the finish line to wild cheers and applause.

8 . Ever since Jaden Hunter was a little boy growing up in South Los Angeles, he’s always been focused on his education. This year he graduated at the top of his class from Crenshaw Arts Tech Charter High with 4.7 grade point average and was named co-valedictorian (致告别辞的最优秀毕业生).

“I felt good because my hard work paid off. All the long sleepless nights I took in, stuff like that, it finally paid off,” Hunter said. His accolades (嘉奖) and achievements don’t stop there. The 18-year-old is one of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s scholarship recipients. Also, he was accepted not just into one, two or even three universities. He was accepted to 39 schools and received $3.5 million in scholarships. Eventually, he got accepted into his childhood dream school, USC.

After weighing his options, Hunter made a decision and is set to start college this week.”Math has been my favorite subject. So that’s why I’ll be studying mechanical engineering at Berkeley,” he said.

His mother, Rodkeisha Polian, said her son’s schedule was always filled with a variety of activities.” I kept him in sports, I kept him in church and I kept him in community events,” Polian said. “I always kept him busy, so he didn’t have time to wander out in the streets and get into any trouble.”

Although Hunter was busy enough, he’s also launched his own clothing brand called The Legit Way. The young entrepreneur said he’s most inspired by his community and wants to give back.

“In my community, just all low-income communities, we don’t know what it is to build credit, how to buy a home, how to obtain a loan from the bank, anything in that sort. So I just want to teach the community that and empower my community, promote them, help us get further than where we were,” Jaden said.

He said the success he’s been able to achieve is just the beginning. Once he graduates from college, he said he wants to work for NASA or Space X.

9 . A flat tire (爆胎) on the road. It’s certainly ______, especially if you have kids with you. For Courtney Potts, a mother of two kids in Tennessee, her flat tire experience was about to turn into something she had never ______.

Potts was driving home on Sunday when one of her tires blew out! ______, she realized she was in trouble. She had her ______ with her and leaving them in the car to change a tire wasn’t a ______ for her. Then a SUV stopped behind her car. A man got out and walked over to her, saying, “God, I almost ______ you! Can I help you?”

Potts was ______! Little did she know her luck was about to ______ even more than she imagined. Immediately she heard the man’s voice and saw his face, she knew this was no ______ man!

“The man offering to help wasn’t some ______. It was Luke Bryan!” said Potts.

If you aren’t a country ______, you might not know Luke, but he’s one of the most successful country music artists of the 2010s and 2020s.

According to Potts, Bryan finished ______ the tire with her extra in 30 minutes. Bryan also took a photo with Potts and her daughter, Ellie. Later, Potts shared a video online showing Bryan ______ on the ground, changing her flat tire, saying he deserved all the praise for ______ to help her. Her video received over 4 million ______ in two days.

10 . Last week my four-year-old son Basti and I went for a walk in a park. _________ a beautiful tree off the road, he _________ a lovely toy dugong (儒艮) on the ground. Basti was so excited by this _________ discovery that he held it all day, and even took it to the _________ with him that night.

That evening, I came across a community post from a (n) _________ mum trying to find a _________ dugong, her son’s favourite toy. Although _________ about my son’s sadness, I immediately _________ her and told her we had found it!

The next morning, I had to break the _________ to Basti, who was still __________ the lovely toy. I told him it was another little boy’s. Tears ran down his face. However, he gave me the dugong and cried, “I’m just so sad. I __________ the dugong, Mum. But it’s the right thing to __________ it”.

The lovely toy was returned. Feeling unhappy, yet I thought we had made a good __________ . A week later, on my door hung a card and a new dugong as a big thank-you from that mum. It’s __________ a wonderful surprise! It was the kindest of kind things, which not only __________ my son but also made our week!