When my daughter. Rachel was 6 years old, we went to the local shelter, looking for a perfect cat. We liked all the cats we saw there, but we especially loved one that was black with a small white tip to her tail, like a bright star in the night sky. We brought her home and called her Starry.

Starry was lovely. At night when we watched TV, she would come into Rachel’s lap and comfortably stay there. Starry always got her face close to Rachel’s, ending her love with a gentle touch on Rachel’s nose. Sometimes I felt so jealous (忌妒的) of their love. Although I was the one who tank care of the cat, feeding and cleaning it, Starry was clearly Rachel’s cat. Finally, I came to love watching their close relationship

My little girl grew up and went to senior high school. Starry and Rachel were still close, though Rachel spent less and less time at home. starry spent most of her day sitting on the sideboard in the dining room, looking out of the window into the backyard. I loved seeing her as I passed by her, for her shiny black coat almost sparkled (闪烁) in the sunlight and the white tip of her tail looked bright against the shining black of her body.

One Sunday morning, early in November, Starry got out of, the room before we could stop her. When Rachel came home from school, she went into the room with a worried expression. “Where’s Starry?” she asked. When we told her we didn’t know, she led us outside with her. There was a black cat lying on the street.

It was Starry.

Days without Starry went by, but one Christmas recalled us of Starry.

I was in about 40 feet of water all by myself. I knew I should not have gone alone, but I was rather competent and just took a chance. There was not much current, and the water was so warm, clear and attractive. When I got a cramp (抽筋), I realized at once how foolish I was. I was not too alarmed, but was completely doubled up with stomach cramps. I tried to remove my weight belt, but I was so doubled up I could not get to the catch. I was sinking and began to feel more frightened, unable to move. I could see my watch and knew there was only a little more time on the tank before I would be out of air. I tried to massage (按摩) my stomach. I wasn’t wearing a wet suit, but couldn’t straighten out and couldn’t get to the cramped muscles with my hands. I thought, “I can’t go like this! I have things to do!” I just couldn’t die this way with no one to even know what happened to me. I called out in my mind, “Somebody, something, help me!”

I was not prepared for what happened. Suddenly I felt a push from behind me under the arm. I thought, “Oh no, sharks!” I felt real fear and desperate. But my arm was being lifted forcefully. Around into my field of vision came an eye — the most extraordinary eye I could ever imagine. It was smiling. It was the eye of a big dolphin. Looking into that eye, I knew I was safe. I was flooded with relief. I felt that the animal was comforting me as well as lifting me toward the surface. My stomach cramps went away and I relaxed with security.

At the surface it drew me all the way into shore. It took me into water so shallow that I began to be concerned that it might be beached, and I pushed it back a little deeper, where it waited, watching me, I guess to see if I was all right.

3 . Something was wrong. Something was wonderfully wrong. I knew in my mind that my old dog, Snoopy and my daughter’s Saint Bernard mix, Lemmy passed away last year. Yet, they both were playing and running in my back yard. They seemed younger too. Snoopy had been ill for the last years of her life and Lemmy had lost one of his legs in a car accident before he died. But here they were playing and running like other healthy dogs. It felt so good watching them. My spirit felt so alive. My heart felt so full and I was laughing with joy.

“Beep! Beep! Beep!” My alarm clock went off and I opened my eyes. It was a dream but like an actual happening. My eyes filled with tears while my face was still smiling. As I woke up, a thought came to my mind: “All is well!” I reached down and felt my rescue (搜救) dog, Sweetie. I got up, got dressed and took her out for morning walk just in time to greet (迎接) the sunrise. As I watched those beautiful colors paint the sky, the thought remained with me: “All is well!”

Yes, this world can be in disorder at times. It has wars, hunger, climate change, illness, and even death. But this is also a world shared by all. We should learn to live in peace, and love each other on the planet. Some of our best teachers are four-legged friends.

Don’t let life’s pains and problems steal your happiness then. Instead, follow the wisdom (智慧) of our four-legged friends and enjoy every day. When you wake up every morning, be thankful for the gift of this life. And always remember: “All is well!”

4 . Snowy was a little cat. He lived with a little old lady who loved Snowy very much. Sometimes the old lady would sit in her rocking chair, rocking backwards and forwards until she fell asleep or sometimes she would play little tunes (曲子) on her piano.

One sunny day, Snowy jumped up on the window sill (窗台), Snowy wanted to go out and play with the pretty butterflies, but the window was shut and the old lady had fallen asleep in her rocking chair.

He ran to the door but that was shut, too. He sat down near the old lady’s feet and said, “Miaow?” That was his way of saying, “May I go out to play, please?” The old lady didn’t hear him but stayed fast asleep.

He rubbed his soft head against the old lady’s legs. Still the old lady slept. So Snowy sat down and thought hard. Then he had an idea. He would jump up on the piano and play a tune. That might wake her up. So Snowy jumped up onto the piano and was a little scared of the loud, big, deep drum sound he made as he landed.

He took another little step. It wasn't quite such a loud note (调子). Up and down the notes he walked until he reached the very high notes which sounded like lots of bells. But still the old lady slept. Snowy kept dancing about on them and made quite a pretty tune. At last the old lady woke up.

“What are you doing, Snowy?” She asked but she wasn’t angry. “Miaow,” said Snowy, running to the closed door. “How clever you are to wake me up!” said the old lady as she let Snowy out into the sunshine.

5 . “Human activity has wiped out two-thirds of the world’s wildlife since 1970,” CNN reported on September 10, 2020. Later that month, the Guardian reported that “40 percent of the world’s plant species are at risk of extinction”. Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich and his colleagues argued that “the ongoing sixth mass extinction may be the most serious environmental threat to the persistence of civilization”. Around the same time, the Daily Mail warned that “human civilization stands a 90 percent chance of collapse within decades due to deforestation”.

These horrible calculations and projections come from authoritative-sounding reports issued by international agencies, conservation groups, and peer-reviewed scientific journals. But is the future of wild nature and human civilization really so poor?

Data from uncontroversial mainstream sources strongly indicate that both humanity and the natural world are likely to be flourishing rather than collapsing at the end of this century. Humanity is becoming an urban species, and that’s good for the environment, since urban dwellers generally use less electricity, produce less globe-warming carbon dioxide, and have smaller land footprints than people living in the countryside. By 2100, it is estimated that 85 percent of people will be city dwellers, which would leave only 1.2 billion still living in the countryside. That means more space for the wildlife and less pollution from the agriculture.

The global tree-covering area increased by 865,000 square miles between 1982 and 2016. The researchers found that gains in forest area in the mild, subtropical and northern climatic zones are offsetting declines in the tropics. The Maryland researchers owe much of that increase to “natural afforestation on abandoned agricultural land”. “Furthermore, forests in mountainous regions are expanding as climate warming enables trees to grow at higher altitudes,” they added.

Humanity does face big environmental challenges in the coming century. But the scientific and economic evidence shows that most of the trends are positive or can be turned in positive direction by human wisdom. Rather than an age of extinction, the 21st century promises to be an era of environmental renewal.