April is Financial Literacy Month，when Americans of all ages are encouraged to learn how to be smart about money.And this year，fifth­grade Rachel Kelly from Naperville，Illinois，is already at the head of her class.Kelly,11, won a nationwide contest called the Stock Market Game.

    Students who take part in the Stock Market Game，run by the SIFMA Foundation，a financial­education organization，pretend to buy stocks (股票) worth $100,000.Then they have to read financial news over several days to see if their investments would have gained money or lost money and write an article explaining their choices.

    “I  wanted  to  choose  a  company  that was well­known，” writes Kelly.“I thought about products that I see every day，so cars came to my mind.” Kelly picked the Japanese car company Honda Motors.“Honda Motor Company is the No.1 producer of motorcycles in the world and the fifth­largest producer of automobiles behind Toyota，Volkswagen，General Motors and Hyundai，” says Kelly.

    Honda makes many different kinds of cars，which Kelly thinks makes the company a safe investment.She explains that even if the cost of gas goes up，Honda has a good chance of staying in business because of the company's fuel­efficient cars，which run on less gas than most cars made today.

    “If one of their departments is not doing so well，it won't affect the overall company sales，” she writes.

    Because the stock Kelly picked performed well and her article was persuasive，Kelly won this year's contest.About 600,000 students from 4th to 12th grade competed.

    At the end of every year, Time picks the best 25 inventions that are “making the world better and smarter”. Here we have picked three of this year's inventions that could be a part of your life in the near future.

The levitating(悬浮的) lightbulb

    This special lightbulb was invented by US artist and scientist Simon Morris. He got the idea of making a lightbulb float from hoverboards(悬浮滑板)，which he used to dream of having as a kid.

    But the floating is not the most amazing part. The rejection force between the opposite ends of the magnets(磁铁)，which were put in the bottom of the bulb and in the wooden base, does the job. What's new here is a technology called induction (电磁感应). It allows the lightbulb to get power from the base even they are not in contact.

Shoes that tie themselves

    They're not what you think-shoelaces that tie themselves in the way we tie them. Instead, the new shoes have small motors that control their laces. When you step in them, your feet will hit a sensor（传感器）in the shoes and the motor will automatically tighten the laces.

    But the shoes weren't just designed for lazy people's needs. They could actually give athletes an advantage during competition. They are also useful for people who cannot move their arms or fingers easily.

The no-touch thermometer

    Taking your body temperature usually means putting a thermometer (体温计) in your armpits (腋窝) and staying still for minutes. It may be easy for you, but it's an impossible task for little kids.

    Now, with the new thermometer, users can simply put it 2.5 centimeters from a patient's forechead and press the button, and it can get the reading in two seconds.

    If you are a fruit grower—or would like to become one—take advantage of Apple Day to see what's around. It's called Apple Day but in practice it's more like Apple Month. The day itself is on October 21, but since it has caught on, events now spread out over most of October around Britain.

    Visiting an apple event is a good chance to see, and often taste，a wide variety of apples. To people who are used to the limited choice of apples such as Golden Delicious and Royal Gala in supermarkets, it can be quite an eye opener to see the range of classical apples still in existence, such as Decio which was grown by the Romans. Although it doesn't taste of anything special，it's still worth a try，as is the knobbly(多疙瘩的) Cat's Head which is more of a curiosity than anything else.

    There are also varieties developed to suit specific local conditions. One of the very best varieties for eating quality is Orleans Reinette, but you'll need a warm, sheltered place with perfect soil to grow it, so it's a pipe dream for most apple lovers who fall for it.

    At the events, you can meet expert growers and discuss which ones will best suit your conditions, and because these are family affairs, children are well catered for with apple­themed fun and games.

    Apple Days are being held at all sorts of places with an interest in fruit, including stately gardens and commercial orchards(果园)．If you want to have a real orchard experience, try visiting the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale，near Faversham in Kent.

    People say that one man can't make a difference, but Abdul Samad Sheikh, a 60-year-old rickshaw(人力车)driver from Bangladesh, has proved that doing a small thing over a long period of time can mean very much. He has planted at least one tree every day since he was 12 years old, which means that he has so far planted a small forest of over 17,500 trees. Imagine if everyone followed his example.

    Abdul has worked as a rickshaw driver for most of his life. He makes a little money from his job, which is only enough to put food on the table for his family, but he somehow tries to also buy at least one tree everyday. He considers it his duty to the world. Mostly he plants them on government land so nobody can cut them down later. He also them, and if he sees anyone cutting a tree, he blames them.

    Abdul, this wife Jorna, and four of their children live in two old houses, on a piece of land that is owned by the Faridpur deputy commissioner's office. They have no land of their own.

    Sometimes, she commands him not to plant trees but he doesn't listen. Abdul's 30-year-old son, Kutub Uddin, has never told his father not to plant trees, because he thinks his father does a good thing for society.

    Abdul's neighbors all know about his daily habit, and praise his work. Whoever can ask of him anything, he will do his best to help. Therefore, Abdul is loved by neighbors.

    For his efforts, Abdul Samad Sheikh was recently honored by The Daily Star, and given $1, 253 to help him build a better home for his family. The Daily Star hoped everyone to follow his example, and protect the environment.

     “I can't do it alone. I need the help of you all,” Abdul said in his speech.

    In the fall of 1985, I was a bright-eyed girl heading off to Howard University, aiming at a legal career and dreaming of sitting on a Supreme Court bench somewhere. Twenty-one years later I am still a bright-eyed dreamer and one with quite a different tale to tell.

    My grandma, an amazing woman, graduated from college at the age of 65. She was the first in our family to reach that goal. But one year after I started college, she developed cancer. I made the choice to withdraw from college to care for her. It meant that school and my personal dream would have to wait.

    Then I got married with another dream: building my family with a combination of adopted and biological children. In 1999, we adopted our first son. To lay eyes on him was fantastic－and very emotional. A year later came our second adopted boy. Then followed son No,3. In 2003, I gave birth to another boy.

    You can imagine how fully occupied I became, raising four boys under the age of 8! Our home was a complete zoo — a joyous zoo. Not surprising, I never did make it back to college fulltime. But I never gave up on the dream either. I had only one choice: to find a way. That meant taking as few as one class each semester.

    The hardest part was feeling guilty about the time I spent away from the boys. They often wanted me to stay home with them. There certainly were times I wanted to quit, but I knew I should set an example for them to follow through the rest of their lives.

    In 2007, I graduated from the University of North Carolina. It took me over 21 years to get my college degree!

    I am not special, just single-minded. It always struck me that when you're looking at a big challenge from the outside, it looks huge, but when you're in the midst of it, it just seems normal Everything you want won't arrive in your life on one day. It's a process. Remember: little steps add up to big dreams.

    Inside Out is one of my favorite Disney / Pixar movies. The story is about a young girl named Riley who moves from Minnesota to San Francisco with her family and how she deals with her emotions (情感) through the move. These five emotions in Riley's brain are Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust (厌恶) and Sadness. These emotions play a very important role in her life. I can understand because I am an 11-year-old girl and I am very in touch with my emotions and pre-teen feelings.

    The film is extremely beautiful and you couldn't ask for better direction from Pete Doctor. The use of the right colors for the characters is great. For example, Joy is yellow, Sadness is blue, Disgust is green, Fear is purple and Anger of course is red. Sadness plays a main role in the story and it makes me wonder why we are told not to be sad. I think it's important to be sad when the time comes. The end of the movie pretty much got me and the whole audience (观众) (families, couples and even elderly people) in tears and I cried very hard.

    I recommend (推荐) this movie for anyone from 8 to 18 because it has enough joy in it for younger kids to like it even though it does have some sad moments. I believe that adults will like it too. And I give it 4 out of 5 stars because it connects to an older audience even though it is designed for a younger audience. I think younger children can see this, but a parent would have to explain some things to them after the movie.