When I was young, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known. He never shouted at us for playing in his yard. I remembered him as a neighbor who was nicer than anyone else in the neighborhood. When Dr. Gibbs was happy, he was planting trees. And his life's goal was to make it a forest.

    Dr. Gibbs had some interesting theories about planting. He talked about trees that weren't watered would grow deep roots in search of water. So he never watered his trees. He planted an oak (橡树) and, instead of watering it every morning, he beat it with the rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention.

    Dr. Gibbs died a couple of years. Every now and then, I walk by his house and look at the trees that he planted twenty-five years ago. They're very strong now.

    I planted a couple of trees a few years later. I watered them regularly and took good care of them. Whenever a cold wind blows, they shake their leaves and branches.

    The funny thing about those trees of Dr. Gibbs was that difficulty seemed to help them in ways comfort and ease never could.

    Some of the most famous universities in America are urging students to consider the idea of putting off college for a year. It's called a “gap year.” And while it's been common and popular in Australia and the U.K. for decades, the concept is now starting to gain significant steam here in America.

    Why? A growing number of high school seniors are tired of riding the academic conveyor belt from preschool all the way to university. They're burnt out. Or not quite ready. Or they want to explore a few interests before deciding what to study in college, they're volunteering in New Orleans or teaching in Thailand. They're starting the great American novel, or working for a short time to help figure out what they want to do with their lives.

    Understandably, that makes a lot of parents nervous. But a gap year does not mean that a student will remain degree-less forever. While there are no formal studies on the number of students who don't finally go to college after the gap year, evidence from admissions officers across the country says very few actually leave college without finishing their courses. Taking a gap year can actually make kids more focused and ready for future academic life. In fact, Harvard University believes so much in the gap year that it encourages every student it admits to consider a year off before matriculation (入学).

    The reason behind higher education's support of the gap year is clear: Better-prepared students mean higher completion rates. And it's completion that matters. Parents should remember that getting a kid into college is only half the battle. According to the College Board, three out of five students who enter a public four-year college don't manage to obtain a degree within five years. And nearly 30 percent of all students who enter college don't return after the gap year. Considering the fact that this year's average price at a four-year private college is about $ 23,712 per year, it's a pretty expensive place to play around.

    Driving a car is not just handling controls and judging speed and distance. It requires you to predict what other road users will do and get ready to react to something unexpected. When alcohol is consumed, it enters your bloodstream and acts as a depressant (抑制药),damaging eyesight, judgment and co­ordination(协调),slowing down reaction time and greatly increasing the risk of accidents. Even below the drink driving limit, driving will be affected.

    Alcohol may take a few minutes to be absorbed into the bloodstream and start action on the brain. Absorption rate is increased when drinking on an empty stomach or when consuming drinks mixed with fruit juice. To get rid of alcohol from the body is a very slow process and it is not possible to speed it up with any measures like taking a shower or having a cup of tea or coffee.

    The present Road Traffic Ordinance states clearly that the limit of alcohol concentration is： 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 ml of blood； or 22 micrograms of alcohol per 100 ml of breath; or 67 milligrams of alcohol per 100 ml of urine (尿液)．

    Drivers who cause traffic accidents, or who commit a moving traffic offence or are being suspected of drink driving will be tested.

    Any driver found drinking beyond the limit will be charged. The driver declared guilty may be fined a maximum of HK $ 25000 and be sentenced to up to 3 years in prison and punished for 10 driving­offence points; or temporarily banned from driving.

    The same punishment applies to failing to provide specimens (样本)for breath, blood or urine tests without good excuse.

    Drink driving is a criminal offence. Be a responsible driver, think before you drink. For the safety of yourself and other road users, never drive after consuming alcohol.

    With at least a dozen wildfires going through western North Carolina in the fall of 2016, it would take more than one local fire department to fight the flames. In early November, the federal government sent over a team of firefighters from the Interagency Hotshot Crews.

    Most of the Hotshots stayed at Hinton Rural Life Center in Hayesville, North Carolina. The center reached out to the media and community groups, hoping to get four volunteers per day to help things run smoothly for their firefighting guests. They didn't expect a response quite so unbelievable.

    Within two days, over 200 people—about a third of the town's population—reached out to offer help, according to the center's website. Meals and accommodation were already being taken care of, so they went above and beyond the basic things. Community members donated over 1,000 goods, including sports drinks, snacks, eye drops and so on.

    Even the kids in Hayesville participated, sending thank-you cards, pictures and signs to motivate the Hotshots. The team received over 2,000 thank-you notes. After the fires were put out and the firefighters were preparing to go home, the town threw a parade（游行）to thank them and wish them well.

    The firefighters were at a loss by the generosity from Hayesville. They put together their own thank-you in a YouTube video.

    “You guys don't know how much you mean, all the support you guys give us, '' says Ron, a firefighter from Oregon, in the video. “Out of four years when I've been fighting fire, this is about the most hospitable（好客的）state and county I've ever been in. And it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.”

    A lifetime of active exercise will let you keep the body of a 20-year-old well into your 70s, scientists have found.

    The physical decline (衰退) thought to be an unavoidable part of ageing is actually the result of not exercising enough, according to the research, which found that regular cyclists kept the muscles, lungs, and even the immune system (免疫系统) of people years younger. Besides, many serious health problems could be prevented if people became more active, researchers insist.

    Janet Lord, a leading researcher, said, “Our findings prove the false belief that ageing automatically makes us weaker. We now have strong evidence that encouraging people to do regular exercise throughout their lives can solve the problem that we are living longer but not healthier.”

    She looked at 125 cyclists aged 55 to 79 who had been exercising regularly for 25 years and compared them with 75 ordinary people of a similar age and 55 people aged 20 to 36. On a series of physical measures, the cyclists showed no difference from people much younger in their immune systems and making T cells.

    Now Professor Lord aims to discover how much exercise people need to do to stay young. “You needn't work out a lot. It may be intensity (强度) that helps—like going up and down the stairs ten times a day.”

    While there is no magic method of staying mentally and physically fit in later life, the benefits of keeping active can never be ignored, whatever your age or state of health.

    Losing a wallet is one of those careless acts most of us have come across, at some point or the other in our lives. While most of us tend to move on after mourning over the lost necessities, there are a few lucky ones who get them back, with the help of the police or the generosity of the person who finds it.

    And then there is Hunter Shamatt, who not only got back his wallet but with some added happiness that was tagged along!

    Hunter was on his way to attend his sister's wedding on a Las Vegas-bound flight when he realized that he has misplaced his wallet, sometime during the journey. Hunter's family reached out to the Frontier flight to enquire if someone had handed it over to them. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the missing wallet.

    But wait. The story was far from over. Just a week after Hunter's sister's wedding, he received a package in his mail. And guess what? There was his wallet! Surprisingly, the wallet was not the only thing that was inside the package. It also had a handwritten note for Hunter which turned out to be a bonus! The piece of paper read,

"Hunter, Found this on a Frontier flight from Omaha to Denver — row 12, seat F wedged between the seat and wall. Thought you might want it back. All the best.

P.S. I rounded your cash up to an even $100, so you could celebrate getting your wallet back. HAVE FUN!!!"

    Moved by the touching gesture, Hunter's mom, Jeannie Shamatt, decided to write a post on Facebook giving a detailed description of the incident. She also urged everyone to share the post as she would like to meet and greet the person behind the act of kindness, personally.

    Now, thanks to the astonishing power of social media, the post finally reached the man behind the note. The man was identified as Todd Brown and it was one of his co-workers who made sure Jeannie Shamatt's post reaches his colleague. Jeannie turned to Facebook again to thank Brown and his family for restoring her faith in humanity.

    "I try to teach my children to do the right things in life, help people when you can regardless of the outcome. This story is more about restoring faith in people than anything. We hear a lot of bad news but not enough good news. I personally want to thank Todd Brown and his wife for restoring faith that there are amazing people out there."