Macie Semrau, a 6-year-old girl from Eliot, Maine, seldom missed school. So, when she refused to even get dressed one day, her mother decided to allow her to stay home with her father Kyle and her 4-year-old brother Caleb. The family would later be extremely thankful that the little girl refused to leave after she found her father passed out in the basement.

After returning from his night work, Kyle was feeling light-headed. He told his wife Kate that he would be laying low for the day with their children. He finally made his way to the basement. Macie paid attention to her father’s condition when she heard him shouting, and she and Caleb went to have a look. Macie found her 37-year-old father was about to lose awareness (意识). She asked him for his phone’s passcode (密码) so she could unlock it. After successfully opening his phone, she found the local police department’s number and called the police.

Smith was floored by Macie’s decision-making and her ability to stay calm. The little girl listed the family’s Goodwin Road address while explaining that her father was in trouble. In the meantime, Caleb comforted his father. Thanks to Macie and Caleb, he was sent to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, where he required four liters of oxygen (氧气) and spent three days recovering.

“I’m very lucky, obviously because of my daughter and son and the police’s response” said Kate. “It was quick,” he added, mentioning that the police arrived just in two minutes thanks to Macie’s call. “It was unbelievable. I was in tears myself,” he said.   

The Eliot Police Department also praised the young girl for her quick thinking and strong awareness. Eliot Police Chief Elliot Moya praised the Semraus for teaching their children about awareness of their surroundings (环境) as well as communication skills. Can your child open your phone and call the police? If not, now’s the time for them to learn.

The summer I was ten, my mother decided to bring us to the world of art. My brother and I were not very excited when we realized what my mother meant. What she meant was not that we could take drawing classes or painting classes but that we would have to spend one afternoon a week with her at the Fine Arts Museum. That was not so bad; what really troubled me was that before each visit to the museum, she made us read about artists and painting styles.【小题1】Anyway, who wants to spend the summer thinking about artists when you could be with your friends at the swimming pool?

First we had to read about ancient Egyptians and their strange way of painting faces and then go to look at them at the museum.【小题2】Later we had to learn about artists in the Middle Ages who painted people wearing strange long clothing. We had to look at pictures of fat babies with wings and curly hair and with no clothes on flying around the edges of paintings.【小题3】

On our last visit to the museum, something happened when I saw a painting by a woman called Mary.【小题4】The colors were soft and gentle, and you could tell by the mother's expression how happy she was just to be with the child. I could hardly take my eyes away from that painting!【小题5】It was really worth looking at so many paintings to find a painter who could interest me so much.

I can’t count how many times people have complained, while shaking their heads in obvious disappointment,“just don’t know what is with teenagers today.”

The other day I was in my car on my way to the farmers market when I passed two teens standing by the side of the road with a car washing sign. My car wasfilthyand my heart was full, so I pulled over. There was a group directing the cars and another group spraying them down. As sponges(海绵) were wiped over every square inch of my dirty car, I sat enjoying the little water bottles. I was amazed at why forty to fifty teenagers had devoted their Saturday to washing cars.

After I handed them a twenty-dollar bill I asked what they were raising money for. They explained to me that a friend of theirs, C.T.Schmitz, had recently died of cancer. He was only fifteen years old. He had gone to school with a lot of the teenagers who were there that day and each of them had memories of a boy sweeter than any they had known. His friend Kevin had decided to put this car wash together because he wanted to honor his friend and also bring together his classmates with his boy scout troop(童子军). He told me that they wanted to plant a tree in front of their school and if they raised enough money they would put a plaque(纪念匾) there also. Both would be in memory of their friend C.T.

They handed me a bag of homemade cookies with my receipt(收据) saying“Thanks for helping us plant a tree of C.T.”

Yeah! I don’t know what is with teenagers today!