My mother was a nurse. She left at 5:45 a. m, so I had to wake myself up, fix breakfast, and walk to the 7:30 a.m. bus. I hated being left home alone in the1 , but I especially hated having to take the bus. Mom worked the day shift so she could pick me up after school.
One day, as we walked to our car, I saw an old man walking towards us. He2 broke into a wide smile, but I didn't know him.
"Leigh! Leigh!" he said, 3 my mother's name.
"Hello," she answered. "How are you feeling?"
"Couldn't be better! Thanks. Now who is this lovely young person?" he asked4 .
"This is my daughter," Mom replied, looking over to me."Jenny, can you say hello?"
I looked at him and smiled, unsure of my5 .
"Well, it is very nice to meet you. I hope you know how lucky you are!" he said.
I looked at him in6 as I had no idea what he was talking about and I didn't feel lucky at all.
"You have the most wonderful, caring and lovely mother," he said. "When I was in hospital last month she took the best care of me. She made every day better. Every day. In fact, young7 I shall never forget her."
I watched this stranger's joy in my mom. He kept thanking her and thanking her.
Right then I suddenly8 what it meant for my mom to be a nurse. She was caring for, serving, and loving those strangers, often during some of the9 times in their lives.
It wasn't the last time I witnessed someone thanking Mom or10 her on her bedside manner, but it was the first time I understood why I stood at the bus stop every morning.
THE CAMBERWELL NEWS |
The news you want - the way you want it Monday, 24 May 2021 CHILDREN IN NEED
On Friday 215 May, the children and staff at Camberwell Grammar School dressed up as heroes and superheroes to raise money for Children in Need. The money we raised will go to charities across the country to help and support children who are less fortunate than us. In total, more than $300 has been raised. |
Making friends at school can be a little tricky - but it doesn't have to be! Try out a few of these methods to talk to people in your class and hang out with them outside of school. Before you know it, you'll have a group of friends to have fun with every day!
■Be friendly.
Using proper body language will help, Stand up straight, make eye contact with people, and smile! Try to avoid crossing your arms over your chest and looking closed off. The more open and friendly you look, the more people will want to get to know you.
■Sit at a new table during ▲ .
Look for tables with an open seat. If you're feeling a little nervous, pick a table that only has one or two people sitting down. Head over and ask if you can sit there, then join in on the conversation. If you like the people you sit with, ask if you can join them again the next day.
■Try out for a sports team.
Pick a sport that you like (it could be soccer, basketball, softball, baseball, or anything in between), and try out for the team. Over time, you could become good friends with some of the other people on your team! If your school doesn't have a sports team, try looking for one at your local community center.
■Join an after-school club.
Meet friends who have the same hobby as you. Ask a teacher or your parents for a list of after school activities and pick 1 or 2 of them that you're the most excited about. Introduce yourself to everyone when you attended your first club meeting to meet new people and start a fun conversation.
One wet, rainy April afternoon Miss O' Shay, the principal, sent for Nancy Lee to stop by her office as school closed. Pupils without umbrellas or raincoats crowded in doorways hoping to make it home between showers. Outside the skies were grey. Nancy Lee's thoughts were suddenly grey, too.
She did not think she had done anything wrong, yet that tight (紧的) little knot came in her throat just the same as she came near Miss O' Shay's door. Perhaps she had banged her locker too often and too hard. Perhaps the note in French she had written to Sallie halfway across the study hall just for fun had never got to Sallie but into Miss O' Shay's hands instead.
She knocked on Miss O' Shay's door. That familiarly solid and competent voice said, "Come in."
Miss O' Shay had a way of making you feel welcome, even if you came to be punished.
"Sit down, Nancy Lee Johnson," said Miss O' Shay. "I have something to tell you." Nancy Lee sat down."But I must ask you to promise not to tell anyone yet."
"I won't, Miss O' Shay," Nancy Lee said, wondering what on earth the principal had to say to her.
"You are about to graduate," Miss O' Shay said. "And we shall miss you. You have been an excellent student, Nancy, and you will not be without honors (荣誉) on the senior list, as I am sure you know."
At that point there was a light knock on the door. Miss O' Shay called out, "Come in," and Miss Dietrich entered."May I be part of this, too?" she asked, tall and smiling.
"Of course," Miss O' Shay said."I was just telling Nancy Lee what we thought of her. But I hadn't got around to giving her the news. Perhaps, Miss Dietrich, you'd like to tell her yourself."
Miss Dietrich was always direct."Nancy Lee," she said, "your picture has won the Artist Club scholarship."
The brown girl's eyes widened, her heart jumped, then her throat tightened again. She tried to smile, but instead tears came to her eyes.
"Dear Nancy Lee," Miss O' Shay said, "we are so happy for you." The elderly white woman took her hand and shook it warmly while Miss Dietrich smiled with pride.
Nancy Lee must have danced all the way home. She never remembered quite how she got there through the rain. She hoped she had been calm. But certainly she hadn't stopped to tell anybody her secret on the way. Raindrops, smiles, and tears mingled on her brown face. She hoped her mother hadn't yet got home and that the house was empty.
Many of us stayed at home in January because ofCOVID-19, but a special mom and her two babies took a trip. They were driven a few miles from a breeding center in northeastern Argentina to a 1.7 million-acre nature reserve called Gran Ibera Park. There the three jaguars were released into the wild.
Their release was the first reintroduction of jaguars in that part of Argentina since the species (物种) almost died out there 70 years ago. Scientists hope they can turn things around for this important apex predator, meaning one that is on top of the food chain (链). Only 200 to 300 jaguars remain in the country.
"That is the highest level of protection that can be given in Argentina," says Sebastian Di Martino. He's the conservation director for Rewilding Argentina, which is one of the organizations helping to restore jaguar populations.
The jaguars' journey started in 2018 when the park was built in the Ibera Wetlands. Several thousand jaguars once lived there, along with other important species. But the jaguars' fur was valuable, so people hunted them. Then farmers cleared the land they lived on. With the jaguars gone, the ecosystem was out of balance.
"In the absence of this species, ecosystems stop working well and may even collapse," Di Martino says. "The main prey (猎物) of the jaguar is the capybara and the caiman. They are very abundant because of the absence of the jaguar, which causes imbalances in the ecosystem."
The park was the first step to give jaguars a place to live. Then they needed to breed. A female named Mariua mated with a male jaguar from Brazil. Mariua then gave birth to the two baby jaguars.
It sounds simple, but the reality is more complicated. Di Martino said that jaguars born at breeding centers have to learn how to hunt and must not become used to humans. Otherwise, they will not have success in the wild.
The people who work at the breeding center stay out of sight. They use video cameras to watch the jaguars from several miles away."We provide live prey for them, without them realizing it comes from people," Di Martino said.
Mariua wears a radio collar so researchers can track her and her babies, Karai and Pord. "So far, so good. She's been hunting capybaras and wild pigs and is raising her babies very well," Di Martino says.
When things around the house stop working, what do you usually do with them? If you're like a lot of people, you probably just throw them away.
In some areas, it's difficult to find people who can make repairs, and fixing things can be quite expensive. Also, some small objects are so inexpensive that it's often easier to just buy a new one.
In 2009, Martine Postma from the Netherlands decided there must be a better way. Her solution was Repair Cafes: places where people can take broken items. There they will find tools, resources and volunteer experts who are ready to help with repairs.
Postma's first Repair Cafe opened on Oct. 18, 2009, in Amsterdam, and was a huge success. News of the cafe spread, and people began asking how they could start their own. In 2011, Postma set up the Repair Cafe Foundation. This nonprofit organization provides guidance to those hoping to begin their own neighbourhood repair group.
Today, there are about 2,000 Repair Cafes around the world with meetings usually taking place once a month. Around 25 objects are repaired during each meeting. Everything is free, but donations are greatly welcome.
The cafes not only provide help with repairs, they also strengthen community ties. Neighbours get to know one another as they work together on projects. Moreover, valuable knowledge is passed along and preserved. Items are kept rather than thrown away, meaning less rubbish in landfills.
Title: Repair Cafes
Basic information | ➢The first one wasby Martine Postma in Amsterdam in 2009. ➢About 2,000 of them have been set up all over the world so far. ➢Repairing things at such a cafe nothing but donations are welcome. |
➢They help improve the between neighbours. ➢They help pass along and preserve valuable knowledge. ➢They helpthe environment. |
