3 . 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.

4 . 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.

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 . 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.

7 . 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.

8 . 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!

It was Saturday. My daughter was showing me something in the backyard when I heard my name called out. I turned around and saw a little boy. “William!” I cried in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m helping my daddy lay turf,” he answered proudly.

“I’m sure he appreciates that,” I said. “This is William,” I told my daughter. “One of my students. He’s a joy to have in class.”

It was true. Little William was a delight. And even though he struggled with his reading, he never once complained. There was a brightness he brought with him wherever he went.

I’d never forget the day in class when another student was having trouble understanding the lesson. “Don’t worry,” William had told her, “Sometimes, second grade is really hard.” He was a gentle soul, wise beyond his years.

Still, I couldn’t help but worry. Despite his firm determination, William’s grades were poor. Some days, I wondered if he’d be able to pass.

Back at school, William’s grades showed no sign of improvement until the last few weeks of the year. As a class project, each child planted a sunflower seed in one of those containers small plant beds came in. I did this every year, with varying results. Planting the seeds was exciting for many of the students, the growing part much less so. It took too long to see results from daily watering, and most kids had little patience for it. They lost interest and forgot to care for their sunflowers-to-be.

But not William. Every afternoon, William made sure all the containers were watered and nurtured (培育). By the last week of school, the shoots were about four inches tall. I was amazed. In years past, few seeds successfully sprouted (发芽). And those that did had never gotten so tall. But these were different. These were William’s sunflowers.

The head caretaker maintained the flower beds on the school grounds. Before summer, I asked if he’d mind planting our seedlings (幼苗). We picked out the perfect spot behind the library. It could clearly be seen from the street. We transferred (转移) all 20 seedlings and hoped for the best.

William managed to enter third grade.

But when I saw them, I had to stop the car.