1 . Rachael Blackmore walked along the track the evening before the Grand National. The jockey (赛马师) was determined, and she would fight to the last bit of her strength to win.

But the way for her to be a jockey was not easy. She grew up a farmer’s daughter. “Being a professional jockey was something I had never thought of,” she said. She studied science at university. But through all that time she was riding because “I just love riding. And I love winning too.” When finishing college at 25, she assumed her riding days were over because “I had to get a real job.”

However, fortune smiled on her because she was filled with talent and banging on the door. Her coach said he would turn her professional. It was harder for female to get rides and open doors, yet she did not tell her story as a victory over hardship. “Once you break down that initial barrier, then you are fine.” she said.

On the day of the Grand National, she thought her horse, Minella, would take well to the fences. But the race was dominated by Jett at first. Rachael did not give up. It was with the last two fences to jump when Jett was fading. “I was beside him and Minella seemed to grab the opportunity.”

They jumped the last with a lead. “I couldn’t hear or feel another horse behind me and Minella was still going forward for me. I tried to keep balance and we hit the line,” she said, “I definitely started crying.”

She became a history maker but she was not proud at all. “I am looking forward to next year, looking at my upcoming races. I know, my best race is certainly the next one!” she said.

Every Saturday afternoon, Jimmy and his dad would go to the park to play baseball. They always walked past a homeless man who always sat at the same street corner. Jimmy’s dad always gave the man some money. “Someday, I’ll pay you back, John!” the man said. “Sure, Wayne,” Jimmy’s dad replied.

One day, Jimmy held his dad’s hand, asking, “Dad, how does that man know your name?” John answered, “Oh, when I was in college, I knew Wayne. He was on the brink (边缘) of a big discovery that could bring him a patent. Anyway, things didn’t go well for him. So whenever I see him, I give him some money. And he tells me he’s using it for lab supplies. I don’t think it’s true, but I pretend I do. And when he tells me he’ll share the profits of his discovery, I tell him I believe it, too.”

Jimmy didn’t understand anything his dad was saying, but he felt the compassion(同情) in his voice. So he stopped his dad and gave him a big hug. Jimmy didn’t know it was his last hug. That night, while Jimmy’s dad was out for his evening run, his heart stopped beating.

The only person Jimmy was living with was his grandmother, Wendy. And they ended up living in an old small house. Life got very tough for them. Although Wendy was old, she found a cleaning job. But her health started to fail and Jimmy was very worried about her.

Jimmy became very quiet. To cheer him up, one Saturday, Wendy went to the park and threw the ball around with Jimmy. After that, they came out. And there at the corner, Jimmy saw his dad’s homeless friend, Wayne.

“Wait, Grandma!” Jimmy cried. “There’s something I have to do!” Jimmy walked up to Wayne and turned his pockets inside out. He said to Wayne, “Sorry, but I only have twenty cents.” “That’s okay. Every cent helps!” Wayne said. “How’s your dad? I haven’t seen him for a while.”

“He’s dead!” Jimmy cried.

On year later, Wayne drove to Jimmy’s house in a pretty car with a check for $5 million.

One day, an old man came inside a restaurant. The restaurant’s     1    (own) Annie noticed him and asked if someone was together     2     him, and how he got there. The old man could not give any answers. Annie then asked him if he knew his name, and     3    (unexpected), the old man said, “Of course, I know my name!” But unluckily, the old man could not give any name either.

Then Annie called the government, and     4     officer answered the phone. After ten minutes, the officer came and talked with the old man, from which the officer learned that the man had a son. Then he got in touch with the old man’s son,     5     came to pick the man up later. This heart-warming story     6    (post) online later by Mike. So far, many people     7    (express) their lovely comments, and thousands have “liked” it as well.

It is     8    (thought) of people like Annie and the officer to go out of their way     9    (help) the old man. Giving a hand to strangers is one of the best     10    (gift) at difficult times.

4 . Anna Chojnicka was quarantined (隔离) last year in her house because of COVID-19. She was so bored that she absent-mindedly picked up a banana on her kitchen table and started running her fork along the outside of the skin. The dark lines that appeared on the skin looked interesting to her, and she watched as the marks gradually got darker. She continued doodling and was soon interested.

Chojnicka started making pictures that were more and more complex (复杂的) using the same way—only pressure, no paint—until she drew an Ethiopian coffee pot and cup. Her new hobby was born. Since that first day she knew what she could do by drawing on a banana skin, Chojnicka has been posting her daily paintings online, where she has thousands of fans. “I haven’t missed a day, but I know I can’t keep that up forever,” she says, adding that she finishes her daily picture, takes a photo and then eats the banana because she doesn’t like waste.

Her art comes to life by oxidization (氧化). Just like apples, bananas oxidize or turn brown as their cells interact with oxygen in the air. Cells that are damaged brown faster. By varying the time when she applied the marks, Chojnicka discovered that she could create complex pictures.

While her banana drawings began as a way to overcome boredom, they have become something bigger. “I saw a chance to put it to something good,” says Chojnicka. With the help of her social media fans, she has collected about $1,600 for FareShare, an organization in the United Kingdom that provides food for people in need.

5 . On Friday night, Annika was swimming in Howe Sound off Bowyer Island in Canada. As she swam, she ran her hands through the dark water, admiring the beautiful sea. It was only when she was back on shore that she noticed her wedding ring was missing. “She turned the room inside out,” said Crockett, Annika’s husband, whose grandmother got the ring in 1944, and later passed it down to him.

The next morning, Annika contacted local diving schools, hoping someone would search for the ring. “I just sent a few emails,” she said. “But I didn’t think they’d be open or answering emails.” Fortunately, someone did. And they arrived an hour later.

The search was not easy, though. Crockett said the two divers searched the bottom of the ocean for an hour and a half. “They’d given up hope and they were actually swimming back, but then they spotted a baby octopus (章鱼),” he said, “They followed it for just a few seconds and then it led them to the ring.”

“Amazing,” said Annika. “Octopuses actually like bright things, from what I’ve heard.” This was confirmed by Chris Harley, who studies animals and their behavior. “Octopuses do like to collect various objects and leave them out in front of their homes,” he said.

The ring is now safely back on Annika’s finger, and she’s promised not to swim with it on again.But there was one other interesting moment in their engagement (订婚) story. When Crockett asked Annika to marry him, a whale showed up in the water near them. “I do think his grandma was part of this: a guardian angel (守护天使),” said Annika.

7 . A man has been tidying up his town by weeding the pavements around where he lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alex Russell, from Newquay in Cornwall, said, “I just want to keep the _________ looking nice and make it _________.”

His local police force said officers had spoken to him and were _________ that he was following social distancing advice. Mr Russell said he _________ wore a face mask and gloves and kept at least 2 meters away from other _________.

Mr Russell has been receiving lots of _________ from local people, including Lisa Paul who said he had a “heart of gold”.

“He’s doing a _________ job around our community tidying up the streets of weeds and rubbish on his own,” she said. “He’s only 21 years old; it’s a _________ that other young people aren’t like Alex.”

So far, Mr Russell has _________ four streets. He said he would like to finally clear up the whole town but was __________ one street at a time.

“When I’ m with my tools, I feel __________,” he said. “And people walking past don’t worry me any more, because I __________ that I’m doing good for the community. Everybody has been so __________. I haven’t had one negative comment. Complete strangers go __________ and say well done.”

A local organization said on the Internet: “__________, Alex, you are an inspiration to many.”

9 . The air is pleasantly dry and cold, the leaves are falling, and the rice is waiting to be harvested in the fields. It is harvest season in a(n) ________ Japanese village, where there are still families holding onto the old way of the rice harvest.

This year, I have been invited by Maki Hamanaga to help her family ________ rice in a mountainous village outside of Kyoto. It is an annual event which her entire ________ have to take part in: her brother, her aging parents, her uncle and even her grandmother.

The Hamanagas have kept their ________ harvesting that has come into existence for 400 years. In spring, the ________ fields are irrigated (灌溉) and the crops are ________ on the limited space of the hillsides. In autumn when the rice is ________ , the rice plants are cut and put onto bamboo poles to ________ . After the rice is dried and cleaned, the field is turned over, and the remains of the plants are buried underground to ________ the soil.

On the day I arrived, Maki’s father ________ the bamboo poles while her brother and I walked through the muddy field and ________ the rice plants onto the poles.

The harvest was an exciting new cultural ________ for me, but I wondered how long it would last. In Japan, the population is aging. The countryside is facing population ________ as the younger generations move to the big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. I asked Maki, “What will your parents do when they get too ________ to farm?”

She gave me a shrug, and said that her brother would come home one day if he really wants to ________ the business.