One day, when I finished raising money for a charity(慈善机构) and was on the train back home, I put down my phone and started writing thank-you notes to people who helped me.

When I got off the train, I felt really good. The next day, I wrote more thank-you notes and the same feeling of happiness hit me again. I suddenly had an idea: Why not keep on doing this for every day of the year?

To keep on this task, I decided to pick out a different theme for each month. January was charity. February would be neighbor. And many names came to my mind right away.

While writing the notes, I realized I spent too much time on the phone moving from app to app, enjoying other people's lives. Writing thank-you notes gave me the time to do something different, paying more attention to my own life.

In the following months, I wrote to my friends, doctors and teachers. In July, my "food" month came, so I wrote to Julie, who used to cook at my favorite restaurant. It went like this:

Dear Julie,

I find myself missing you lately. Thank you for hosting and cooking delicious food. Jake and I will never forget the cake you made for our wedding. We talk about it every year.

Thank you. We miss you.

Love,

Gina

I was happy to receive a note back from her. Julie replied, "I don't think I've ever received such a touching letter before. I'm going through a hard time right now, and this helps me a lot."

On December 31st, I wrote my last card —— to Jake, my husband and our two kids. And I took a picture of us, so that I could remember the feeling coming up inside me-gratitude (感恩).

"Hi, Mommy, what are you doing? "asked Susie. "I'm making a dinner for Mrs. Smith next door, "said her mother.

"Why? "asked Susie, who was only six years old.

"Because Mrs. Smith lost her 1 and she has a broken heart. We need to take care of her. "

"Why, Mommy? " "You see, Susie, when someone is sad, they have 2 doing the little things like making dinner or other housework. 3 Mrs. Smith is our neighbor(邻居), we need to do some things to help her. Mrs. Smith will 4 be able to talk with her child, hug(拥抱)her or do 5 wonderful that mommies and children do together. You are a very 6 girl, Susie. Maybe you'll 7 some ways to help Mrs. Smith. "

Susie thought 8 about it. A few minutes later, Susie knocked on Mrs. Smith's door. After a few moments, Mrs. Smith 9 the door with a "Hi, Susie. "

" 10 can I do for you, Susie? "asked Mrs. Smith.

"My mommy says that you lost your daughter and you're very, very sad, "Susie held her 11 out. In it was a Band-Aid(创可贴). "This can 12 your broken heart. "Mrs. Smith quickly dried the tears(眼泪) 13 her hands and hugged Susie. She understood the little girl and said,

"Thank you, darling. This will help a lot. "

Mrs. Smith 14  Susie's kindness. She bought a small picture frame (相框). Mrs. Smith put Susie's Band-Aid in the frame to remind 15 to keep strong and cheer up every time she saw it. She knew she would heal (治愈)with time and support. 

① Most people have dogs as pets. They are "man's best friends". But do you know that dogs can also do different jobs?

② On September 11, 2001, terrorists(恐怖分子)attacked (袭击)the US and nearly 3, 000 people died. At that time over 300 dogs were there to help to find and save people. Dogs can help us work better in many ways as working dogs. 

③ The most common jobs for working dogs are in search and rescue.  They can find lost people or bodies after a big disaster(灾难)or in the wild. 

④ Guide dogs can help blind people walk safely. To help blind people, dogs need to be trained in training schools for a long time and learn many skills, such as finding and following a clearway and moving around obstacles (障碍物) . They will stop when the traffic light is red and keep walking when it turns green. 

⑤ There are also dogs working with doctors. They can help autistic (自闭症的) children. These children sometimes don't talk and like to do the same things again and again. A study from Canada showed that dogs could make these children feel relaxed and safe. 

⑥ Herding dogs are important to sheep owners. They keep the sheep safe. They are common in Australia, New Zealand and some parts of China. Nowadays, many people have them as pets. 

Can one paper bag change the world? Sarah Murphy believes it can and she tries to do something about it. 

The seventh grader from the United States, decorates(装饰) lunch bags for the homeless. 

She wants to bring hope to those people. She fills each bag with a lunch and gives them away to homeless people in the town, through a charity program. 

Sarah Murphy has a great interest in charity. She used to donate money to charities at her school. Then she heard about the charity program from her friends. So she wanted to do something special, too. 

To attract the help of more children, she reached out to a local library and made a program. They set up a coloring station in the library. Children may take a bag, draw and write a message of hope. They can leave it on the front desk. They can also take it home and return it after coloring. 

In the past three months, Sarah Murphy has bought 100 brown lunch bags and put them in the library. Children at the library have colored them. She will happily buy more. She once joined a summer reading program with the theme "Build A Better World". Sarah Murphy believes what she does could make a difference. She also believes that love and kindness would make the world a better place.