I still remember my ninth birthday. In the early morning, my family were busy preparing the gifts with _______ on them. My parents promised me that we would _______ to school together to give the gifts to my classmates.

We were preparing to start when we felt our house shaking. We quickly _______ that it was an earthquake（地震）. At once, my father carried me in his arms and ran out of our house _______ my mother.

However, we still drove to my school, _______ the area was in a mess. “_______ can we do?” I asked my parents. “Let’s go to the hospital,” answered my father. “We can _______ the gifts to the injured（受伤的）children.”

In the _______, I was completely stunned（震惊的）when I saw hundreds of injured people lying there. A boy came up with a bandage on his head. I gave _______ a gift. “Wow! There’s a beautiful flower on it!” he said. His eyes were so bright. I can never forget those bright eyes! It was my ________ birthday gift ever. Then, I continued to give my gifts to other children.

Most kids spend their weekends playing or watching TV — but for an 11-year-old boy, Thiago, in Brazil, Saturdays are ________ helping street dogs. Thiago has always loved animals. He wished he could do something for the 30 million homeless dogs and cats in Brazil. So he decided to give them ________ to help them live better.

At the end of 2020, Thiago ________ the project “I’m homeless but I’m clean” with his father and started to change the lives of the street dogs around him. “While talking to my father, I told him about my idea of bathing street dogs so they could stay clean and people would look at them ________ on the street,” Thiago told The Dodo.

The project got off to a difficult start. “Catching dogs on the street is very difficult, since they are always ________ and many suffer from abuse (虐待),” Thiago said. “So we couldn’t really start the work ________ my father spoke to Noah’s Ark — an animal protection organization. We started to bathe the dogs they had just found.” After the dogs have their baths, they each take a ________ with Thiago. Thiago’s father posts the pictures on social media to highlight (突出) each one. “The project has really born fruit, because most of the dogs are adopted (领养),” Thiago said. “This is really encouraging.”

Thiago hopes that his efforts will change the way people ________ the homeless animals, and will convince (说服) more people to open their homes to them. And for those who don’t have the space or ability to adopt a dog, Thiago encourages ________ to help in other ways — such as donating, volunteering at a shelter or putting out small bowls of food and water on their sidewalk. Even the ________ effort can make a difference.

When she was very young, Severn Cullis-Suzuki learned that the United Nations Assembly (大会) was going to meet in Brazil. Severn _______ that she wanted not only to go there but also to say something. She started to raise money for the _______. When she was 12, she had enough for the 11,000-kilometre journey.

Severn was sure that she had _______ to say. When she made her five-minute speech to the UN Assembly, she tried very _______ to make a difference. She talked about environmental problems like _______ and the hunting of animals. She also talked about the situation of children in many parts of the world, especially _______ children who don’t have enough to eat. She compared them with children in richer countries who have more than they need and throw things _______. Severn’s questions were a challenge to the world’s leaders — questions about why the grown-ups who _______ the world don’t take more care of it and of the people who live in it. Many people who heard her speech were crying at the end, and everyone _______ with thunderous applause (掌声) when she finished.

Severn showed that young people can make a difference ______ they’re brave enough to believe in themselves. Who knows? Perhaps you could be another Severn.