Anne LaBastille was born in New York City and grew up in New Jersey. Her first experience with the wilderness was in the Adirondacks in the northeast of New York, where she worked at a summer resort to earn money for college tuition by caring for the horses, giving riding lessons, and working as a waitress. And she has many chances to begin her adventure in the Adirondack wilderness.

    Anne returned to school in the fall, but she continued to spend as much time as she could in the Adirondacks. She grew to love her time alone in the mountains. Anne graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in conservation of natural resources and began working for the National Audubon Society in Florida as a wildlife tour leader.

    Although Anne took great pleasure in showing people the animals living in the Florida Keys and the Everglades National Park, she longed for the mountains in the northern parts of New York. Eventually, she decided to build a cabin near Black Bear Lake. Over the years, however, more and more tourists began hiking near her cabin. As a result, Anne decided to build another cabin deeper in the woods at Lily Pad Lake.

    Anne lived in the woods for most of her life. She enjoyed living alone in the woods, and her life was far too busy for her to be lonely. When she was not writing books, she wrote articles for National Geographic, Reader's Digest, and other magazines. In her later years, Anne conducted research in Guatemala on an endangered bird called the grebe. She also lectured nationwide about ecology. Besides, Anne worked with a number of organizations dedicated to conservation.

    As a respected guide, author, and conservationist, Anne not only loved the land but also had found a way to become part of it.

    Yesterday I work up to the sound of music on my couch in my fifth floor apartment downtown. I couldn't possibly tell you what song was playing because my monologue of things to do that day had already begun. My thoughts ranged from what deals needed my attention today to what is the meaning of life. I felt as if it was going to be one of “those days”.

    After taking my son to school and glancing at my calendar, I noticed I was meeting my 85-year-old friend Harry. I remembered that we first met at a glass shop. I needed a new window and he was talking to the store clerk about his glass fireplace insert needing replacement. As I stood behind him in line, I found not how this old man funny and compassionate at the same time. By the end of his discussion I was so entertained that I decided to drum up a conversation with him. That was how our friendship began. I later learned this gentleman was originally from the mid-west and grew up on a farm. At 17, he joined the army and travelled the world until his late 40's. After the retirement, his wife passed away and now he lives alone in his three-bedroom home.

    We met at the appointed time. I promised to take him to lunch anywhere he wanted to go and he said, “I am a simple man; let's go to Taco Bell. Furthermore I don't need a pat on the back because it is only 18 inches away from a kick in the rear.” We both laughed as we got into the car.

    As we pulled into the parking lot of Taco Bell, Harry jumped out of the car and told me, “I have to go into the donut(甜甜圈) shop next door before going to Taco Bell.” Of course I agreed and in we went. He immediately walked in and began having a joke with the owner of the shop in his fashion. They bantered as she gave him a dozen donuts and off we went. I couldn't help but ask him, “What are the donuts for?” He quickly replied, “You will soon see.”

    As we opened the door to Taco Bell, the line was very long. It was lunch time. People were on their cell phones. Babies were crying and the waiters looked stressed and burnt out. Harry and I were waiting in line chatting about nothing until we reached the front of the line. As he walked to the counter, all the waiters began smiling. He placed the box of donuts on the counter and said, “These are for you and other staff.” Instantly, the mood in the restaurant changed. This single act of kindness made the customers, the waiters, the kids and even me take a look internally and ask: when was the last time we did something nice for a stranger?

    What was most amazing to me was earlier that morning I wasn't thrilled with my life. It felt like it was just another day. Watching this gentleman spend 6 dollars on donuts and provide them for the staff in a packed restaurant at the lunch rush hour changed my outlook on life. If you don't believe me, try it yourself. Take the approach in life that you make an effort to do the little things in order to make people feel appreciated on a daily basis. You will see that your life will be better and you will have less of “those days” I was talking about earlier in this article.

He was 50 years old when I was born, and a "Mr. Mom" long before anyone had a name for it. I didn't know why he was home instead of Mom, but I was young and the only one of my friends who had their dad around. I considered myself very lucky.

Dad did so many things for me during my grade-school years. He asked the school bus driver to pick me up at my house instead of the usual bus stop that was six blocks away. He always had my lunch ready for me when I came home—usually a peanut butter and sandwich that was shaped for the season. My favorite was at Christmas. The sandwiches would be covered with green sugar and cut in the shape of a tree.

As I got a little older and tried to gain my independence, I wanted to move away from those "childish" signs of his love. But he wasn't going to give up. In high school and no longer able to go home for lunch, I began taking my own. Dad would get up a little earlier and make it for me. I never knew what to expect. The outside of the bag might be covered with his way of a mountain scene (it became his trademark or a heart with the word "Dad-n-Angel" in its center. Inside there would be a note with that same heart or an "I love you". Many times he would write a joke or a riddle. He always had some silly saying to make me smile and let me know that he loved me.

    I used to hide my lunch so no one would see the bag or read the note, but that didn't last long. One of my friends saw the note one day, grabbed it, and passed it around the lunch room. My face burned. To my astonishment, the next day all my friends were waiting to see the note. From the way they acted, I think they all wished they had someone who showed them that kind of love. I was so proud to have him as my father. Throughout the rest of my high school years, I received those notes, and still have a majority of them.

    And still it didn't end. When I left home for college (the last one to leave), I thought the messages would stop. But my friends and I were glad that his action continued.

I began getting letters almost every Friday. The front-desk worker always knew who the letters were from—the return address said, "The Hunk." Many times the envelopes were addressed in crayon and along with the enclosed letters were usually drawings of our cat and dog, stick figures of him and mom and if I had been home the weekend before, of me racing around town with friends and using the house as a pit stop. He also had his mountain scene and the hearten-cased inscription, "Dad-n-Angle".

    If you ask most people what water tastes like, they'll probably tell you that water has no taste and they may give you a funny look. But if you were a fruit fly, asking another fruit fly, that question might have a different answer.

    To a fruit fly, water has a taste. Scientists want to know how the fruit fly knows water because this information may help in learning how other animals — or even individual cells — manage to use water in the right way. Water is vital to life, but too much or too little can be deadly to a living creature. So by understanding how the fruit fly tastes water, researchers may learn more about other living things.

    According to the new study, a protein(蛋白质) called PPK28 makes it possible for a fly to taste water. Proteins build cells and tissues, fight disease and carry messages between cells. It's not surprising that a protein is responsible for the fruit fly's ability to taste water.

    The PPK28 protein is part of a larger family of similar proteins. One of these related proteins is used by mammals (including humans) to taste salt. Scientists have not found a protein that enables humans to "taste" water.

    In the experiment, Cameron and his team compared normal fruit flies with fruit flies whose taste cells had been disabled. The fruit flies were given a special chemical that would glow(发光) when the fly used the PPK28 protein. Then the scientists led the flies to water. When the normal flies tasted the water, the PPK28 protein lit up — showing that it was in use.

    The fruit fly in particular is so interesting that some scientists are hard at work creating a complete map of the fruit fly brain. This map will show all of a fly's neurons and help scientists understand how the neurons work together.

    It doesn't matter when or how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That's what all doctors thought, until they heard about AI Herpin. AI Herpin, it was said, never slept, Could this be true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.

    AI Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw Herpin sleeping, In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.

    The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. They found only one answer that might explain his condition. Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real reason? No one could be sure.

    Herpin died at the age of 94.

    It is rightly said one can share any secret with a true friend. He may know your deepest fears and weaknesses and yet will never take advantage of you. However, keeping a friend's secrets to yourself and not telling the world is what makes the bond grow strong and last forever. You need to develop trust and mutual (互相的) understanding before you start sharing secrets with each other. With friends, secret talks never seem to end and it can get really amusing to know what has been going on in your friend's mind.

    There is a certain time in life especially from the teenage years when one starts having a personal periphery (界限) in life and parents are excluded (排斥) from it. It is because there are certain things that they can't understand and we can't discuss with them. That is when friends become the best secret sharers. They are the ones to whom one reveals one's feelings and best kept secrets.

    It is a general belief that only girls share secrets. But boys have their own secrets that they discuss with only closest friends. The secret talks can range (变化) from relationships, talks about fights with parents, secret activities and anything that is not supposed to be known to others! If you think secrets are limited to only teenagers, get your facts right! Secrets can be shared at any age and there is no hard and fast rule that secrets are shared only among youngsters.

    Sharing secrets with a friend is not just fun, but it also helps to develop a lasting trust in one another. Sometimes, sharing secrets will tell you more about the person. You will come to know whether your friend is reliable and trustworthy and whether it is worth sharing your secrets with them. You can call it a test of friendship.