Enter Nick Spigler’s room and you’ll find the delicate ________ of a tree swallow and rows of book about birds. Actually, this 16-year-old was not having his head in the clouds or his feet off the ________. Twice a week, Ellie Andreen, 15, visits a park near her home to ________ her little family. The bird boxes she placed there have ________ several families of youngsters, which Ellie fusses over like a mother hen.

These two are not the only youngsters who ________ birding in Harford, Maryland of the US. Several local schools offer ________ in ornithology (鸟类学), even if some kids cant’ yet spell the word. Both Nick and Ellie ________ birding early on. They call themselves the Early Birds or Bird Buddies. Once a month, they join groups of 20 to 30 students to walk through ________ fields before class, hoping to spot a parrot or woodpecker.

“Being part of the bird club since second grade made it seem more common than just some ________ hobby,” Nick said. “I had to get up at 7:00 am for the walks. That was for the birds, so didn’t ________.” ________, he has attended bird camps, studied bird habits and migratory patterns, and at the last count ________ seen 190 of the more than 400 species in Maryland.

Raising youth awareness is a(n) ________, longtime birders say. Mary Murray, 65, a ________ member of the Harford Bird Club, said, “These children are going to inherit (继承) Earth, and we need to teach them early how to ________ it. Birds are an indicator species, and if kids pay attention to what birds are doing, they will understand the health of their environment.”

I sat in my seat, as my new grade six classmates found theirs. “OK, class. Welcome to a new school year. I’m Mr. Stevens and I’m sure I will learn all your names in no time.” He walked around the class _______ math books. When he had done it, he _______ to the front of the class and looked at us. We stared (注视) back. “What are you _______ for? Get started!” He said.

We looked at him —_______. Wasn’t he going to teach us?

“Is there something wrong with your ______? You are not all deaf, are you?”

One ______ boy at the back of the class asked what we all wanted to know. “Mr. Stevens, aren’t you going to teach us?”

“Rubbish!” Mr. Stevens ______. “You are smart kids. Open your books and get down to it. If you have any ______, raise your hands and I will help you.”

Mr. Stevens helped anyone who was ______ in a problem. He would stop us to teach all the students ______ when we all had the same question. It was a ______ method of teaching, but it was very useful.

It was a ______ point in my life. Mr. Stevens made me ______ I was good at math and also able to reach the ______ of any class I attended. I studied with his help until I graduated from middle school.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus was a popular television show back then. Mr. Stevens would often act out one of their plays in front of the class. Some ______ he was strange, and I guessed he was, ______ he knew how to make a math lesson interesting.

I’ve carried his ______ with me all my life. Whenever I’m faced with a new ______, I think of my first day in grade six math. ______ sitting and staring at the challenge, I just get started. ______ I know it, the challenge has been settled.

Alia found herself disappointed in the drawing studio after missing out on picking her classes due to illness. She had hoped for Biology, but it was ___________ by the time she got to choose. She loved everything about science, from the way it used facts to how it revealed the basic nature of things. But ___________ was so... un-scientific.

The first class project was self-portraits (肖像). Some students were drawing self-portraits using___________. Others were working from photographs. Alia___________the incomplete outlines, feeling like a cat in a dog show.

The teacher ___________ her. “Every portrait begins with a circle,” he said. “Then you create a series of lines.” To ___________, he drew a group of small, quick portraits. He began each one with a ___________ , some straight lines, and a triangle (三角形) to determine ___________ the eyes, nose, and chin (下巴) should go.

___________, Alia began her own self-portrait. She ____________ the basic form of a head, the way she had been shown. From there, she used lines to plot the ____________ of her face. The process took patience and ____________ . She had to take note of each detail. One wrong measurement could throw off the whole ____________.

Alia was surprised by the structure and discipline involved in drawing a portrait. Measuring, studying details and ____________ the basic nature of something ______________ her of what she loved about science.