Arriving in Sydney on his own from India, my husband, Rashid, stayed in a hotel for a short time while looking for a house for me and our children.

    During the first week of his stay, he went out one day to do some shopping. He came back in the late afternoon to discover that his suitcase was gone. He was extremely worried as the suitcase had all his important papers, including his passport（护照）.

    He reported the case to the police and then sat there, lost and lonely in strange city, thinking of the terrible troubles of getting all the paperwork organized again from a distant country while trying to settle down in a new one.

    Late in the evening, the phone rang. It was a stranger. He was trying to pronounce my husband's name and was asking him a lot of questions. Then he said they had found a pile of papers in their trash can（垃圾桶） that had been left out on the footpath.

    My husband rushed to their home to find a kind family holding all his papers and documents（文件）. Their young daughter had gone to the trash can and found a pile of unfamiliar papers. Her parents had carefully sorted them out, although they had found mainly foreign addresses on most of the documents. At last they had seen a half-written letter in the pile in which my husband had given his new telephone number to a friend.

    That family not only restored the important documents to us that day but also restored our faith and trust in people. We still remember their kindness and often send a warm wish their way.

    If a woman has an extra piece of cake, don't blame it on greed, blame it on her brain.

    Scientists have found that women's brains react to food very differently—and much more strongly—than men's. Academics found that decades of dieting pressure on women and advertising have programmed certain parts of the female brain to react strongly when faced with any kind of food. Men, on the other hand, are not usually as obsessive (着迷的) about what they eat.

    Dr. Rudolf Uher and his colleagues at the Institute of Psychiatry in King's College London used brain scanning technology, known as functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), to look at the brains of eighteen men and women.

The volunteers were given images of food to look at, as well as food to taste. Their brain reactions were observed by the scientists.

    They found that the female brains reacted much more strongly than those of males.

    The same reaction did not happen when they were shown non-food images. The team believe this means women think more about food than men tend to do.

    Dr. Uher said, “This could be related to biological differences between men and women. But the more likely explanation is that women have a more complicated reaction to food because of social pressure.

    Professor Carey Cooper, psychology and health professor at Lancaster University, said, “For centuries women have had a providing role — preparing and cooking food for their families. And it is part of that rule to make sure the food is safe. They will therefore be much more sensitive to food than men are, and I would not be surprised if that was now built into their DNA. If the female brain reacts to food because it historically has developed neural (神经的) pathways to do this, then food will be the way they express their stress. Food actually, is a comfort for women.”

    But other experts have said that more research must be done before the results can be proved. American scientist Angelo del Parigi of the John B. Pierce Laboratory in New Haven, Connecticut, said, “Looking at an FMRI alone cannot make sure whether the stronger reaction in women is due to innate (天生的) differences or a learned process.

    Most people would say the sea is blue and green. But the people who live near the coast of Zhejiang may say it is red. It is not people who caused the colour change, but very small living thing in the sea. They are algae(藻类)and protozoa(原生动物). They come in many different colours; red, yellow or brown. Red is the easiest of those to see so when this happens people call it a “red tide.”

    Red tides only happen when conditions in the sea are right. In the past few years, factories and people have been putting more chemicals into the sea. These chemicals help algae and protozoa to grow very quickly. The temperature of the sea is also important. Red tides usually happen at 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. Red tides often happen in dry, warm areas where there is little wind. Living things grow easily in these places. Sometimes fishermen help red tides by mistake. They put small sea animals into the water for food to help fish grow.

    Those living things do more than change the colour of the water-they also put poison and mucus(黏液)into the sea. This is had for fish. The poison is bad for their brains. And too much mucus in the sea fills up fish's gills(鳃) so they can't breathe. Lots of dead fish and other sea animals are now washed up on Chinese beaches.

    Red tides can be bad for people too. We shouldn't eat fish from red-tide waters. The algae gets inside of fish and it smells bad. It can make your eyes water. If people eat fish with too much algae inside they could die.

    Fishermen in Zhejiang are having a hard time right now. Because of the red tide, they are selling 30% less fresh seafood than usual.

    In China red tides usually happen in May and June around places like Fujian Guangdong and Hong Kong.

    Many other countries sometimes also have red tides. But it seems that we have few ways to stop red tides. They can last as long as 16 months.

    Most people will answer a ringing phone. Usually you don't know who is phoning or how urgent their business is, so a ringing phone is difficult to ignore. In one experiment, a researcher wrote down the numbers of several public phones in stations and airports. Then he called the numbers. Someone nearly always answered. When he asked why, people usually said, "Because it rang."

    A few years ago in New Jersey, a man with a rifle killed 13 people. Armed police surrounded his house but he refused to come out. A reporter found out the phone number of the house and called.

    The man put down his rifle(步枪) and answered the phone. "What do you want?" he said, "I'm really busy right now."

    Imagine you're at work and the phone is ringing in someone else's office. Do you answer it or not?

    In one survey on telephone use, 51% of participants told researches that they did. We can't ignore the phone and for the reason, it forces its way into our lives. It interrupts what we are doing and on top of that, the caller is often someone we don't really want to talk to. However, in the survey, 58% said they never took the phone off the hook, and 67% didn't mind if someone called during a television programme. For 44% it wasn't a problem if someone rang during a meal, while only 28% were annoyed or upset.

    If someone phoned in the middle of the night, 40% told researchers that they got nervous or frightened, while around 30% got angry.

    Of course, when someone is really annoying, you can choose to hang up on him/her. This is in fact one of the rudest things you can do on the phone, but 79% said they were prepared to do it in some cases. Only 6% told researchers they never hung up on people.

    At times my mom has been uncomfortable seeing these qualities in me. For example, when I was 12, I went to Puerto Rico all by myself to stay with my grandmother for the summer. My mom was extremely nervous about it. She kept telling me how things were different in Puerto Rico, to always put on sunscreen， not to wander away from my grandmother, and other warnings. She helped me pack and did not leave the airport until she saw my plane take off.

    But despite her worries, she let me go on my own. As I moved into my teens, she continued to give me space to grow and learn, even when it might have been difficult for her. When I reached my senior year, I decided to move away for college. Once again I found that I differed from my peers. While many of them wanted to stay close to home, I couldn't wait to be out in the world on my own. While my mom may not have been happy at the thought of my going away, she was supportive and excited for me.

    One big thing I realized during my senior year, as my mom granted me more freedom, was that she actually believes in me and trusts me. That means a lot. Most of my life, and especially when I was little, the main person I tried to impress in my schoolwork or other things was my mother. I knew she expected nothing but the best from me. Sometimes it was hard to live up to her standards: getting a single B on my report card would make me feel bad because I knew she wanted me to have all As.

    I know that her high standards have helped me stay focused on what's important, like education, and made me who I am. I am thankful for her support and involvement in my life. Most of all I respect her. She is the strongest woman I know and that's why I have turned out so strong and independent.

The Master Gardener Foundation

Aim

The Master Gardener Foundation provides free information to the public on environmentally safe gardening practices and water conservation. The information is research-based and encourages limited use of farm chemicals and fertilizers.

Donation Activities

The master gardeners here did much donation work. They donated over 35,000 volunteer hours, serving 40,000 adults and more than 5,200 children. They did this through about 35 plant clinics, 6 demonstration gardens, 4 youth gardens, as well as a classroom program and dozens of workshops. The Master Gardener Foundation provides roughly two-thirds of the financial support for all these valuable activities.

Washington State University currently provides the salary and benefits of the Master Gardener Program. The foundation funds office space and supplies, as well as a part-time program assistant.

The Master Gardener Program

Safe and green gardening and water use practices are vital to preserving our environment. The Master Gardener Program seeks to provide this kind of education and information to the citizens for free. It is a highly successful example of cooperation between a foundation and volunteers.

Waiting for Your Donations

The Master Gardener Foundation is a non-profit organization, and all donations are allowed by law and support the Master Gardener Program and activities.

Please consider a donation to the Master Gardener Foundation and help keep our environment green!