He's an old cobbler（修鞋匠）with a shop in the Marais,a historic area in Paris.When I took him my shoes,he at first told me: “I haven't time.Take them to the other fellow on the main street ; he'll fix them for you right away.”

    But I'd had my eye on his shop for a long time.Just looking at his bench loaded with tools and pieces of leather,I knew he was a skilled craftsman（手艺人）.“No,” I replied,“the other fellow can't do it well.”

     “The other fellow” was one of those shopkeepers who fix shoes and make keys “while-U-wait”-without knowing much about mending shoes or making keys.They work carelessly,and when they have finished sewing back a sandal strap（鞋带）you might as well just throw away the pair.

    The man saw I wouldn't give in,and he smiled.He wiped his hands on his blue apron（围裙）,looked at my shoes, had me write my name on one shoe with a piece of chalk and said,“Come back in a week.”

    I was about to leave when he took a pair of soft leather boots off a shelf.

     “See what I can do?” he said with pride.“Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work…”

    When I got back out into the street,the world seemed brand-new to me.He was something out of an ancient legend,this old craftsman with his way of speaking familiarly,his very strange,dusty felt hat,his funny accent from who-knows-where and,above all,his pride in his craft.

    There are times when nothing is important but the bottom line,when you can do things any old way as long as it “pays”,when,in short,people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption（消费）rather than a way to realize their own abilities.In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done.

    Navarathri, which is celebrated throughout India, falls in September or October. On the first three days, people pray (祈祷) to the goddess Durga, the protector who destroys all evil. The next three days they pray to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Then, also for three days, they look to Saraswathi, the goddess of wisdom and knowledge. The tenth and final day of the festival is for the goddess Durga. On this day many years ago, Durga killed the evil buffalo-headed monster, Mahishasura.

    My daughter and I took out the models of the gods and goddesses that we had stored away last year. Soon the room was littered with all kinds of dolls. We usually buy at least one new doll every year. On the tenth day, the dolls are carefully put away. If a doll is too damaged to be shown, it is never thrown away. Instead, it is put deep into the seas.

    In our hallway six long wooden steps are set up. First, we spread a thick white cloth over the steps. Now it's time to put the dolls on the steps carefully. Every year, the gollu is different. Sometimes — as the collection grows — there is no space to fit all of the dolls on the steps. Smaller dolls can also be placed on the floor.

    Every night there are prayers, music, dancing, and a large meal for many people. In northern India, the children sing songs while doing the dandiya raas, a traditional dance. Every dancer also has two wooden sticks — called dandiya — that he or she uses to make a sound in time to the lovely music. Dancing the dandiya raas helps people think of the true meaning of Navarathri — togetherness, laughter, and fun!

    When we talk about famous UK writer Agatha Christie, it seems that her famous detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple are must-reads. So, of course, are her best-selling novels Murder on the Orient Express (1934) and Death on the Nile (1937).

But when the readers around the world were asked to name their favorite Christie novel to mark her 125th birthday on Sept 15, And Then There Were None (1939) topped the list, reported The Guardian.

    It may surprise you to learn that it is a crime novel without a detective. What it does have is suspense (n.悬念) and a very sinister (adj.邪恶的) atmosphere. It is “on a knife edge”, as Mathew Prichard, Christie's grandson, told the newspaper.

    Ten people get an invitation to come to a house on a small island near Devon in South West England. Nobody refuses these invitations since each one promises something the person wants: a job, a holiday, a chance to meet up again with an old friend.

    These people are all responsible for deaths. Some are directly responsible, others are responsible because of what they did not do. Anthony James Marston, for instance, killed two children while driving dangerously. He did not feel guilty and actually complained when he was banned from driving. Another, Emily Caroline Brent, is a harsh person who threw out a young servant for becoming pregnant while unmarried. The servant later killed herself.

    When they arrive at the house they are played a recording. The voice gives details of the wrongdoing of each of the guests. Starting with Marston, each is killed in a way that fits their crime. The series of deaths is completed with a hanging, “and then there were none”, as the title suggests.

    Christie can be quite a predictable writer. Some of her stories are a little unoriginal. But this book is full of clever writing. Look it up to find out what this hugely successful mystery writer, the “Queen of Crime” as she was called, could do at her best.

    Bees in a colony work with each other to gather food, and they try to find the most nectar (花蜜)in the least amount of time possible. A small number of bees work as searchers, but when a good flower patch (花丛) is found, how do they tell other bees where to find it?

    Bees communicate flower location using special dances inside the hive, where bees live. One bee dances while the other bees watch. The dancing bee smells like the flower patch, and also gives the watching bees a taste of the nectar she has gathered. Smell and taste helps other bees find the correct flower patch. Bees use two different kinds of dances to communicate information: the waggle (摇摆) dance and the circle dance.

    Waggle dance

    The waggle dance tells the watching bees two things about a flower patch's location: the distance and the direction away from the hive.

A. Distance

    The dancing bee waggles back and forth as she moves forward in a straight line, then circlesaround to repeat the dance. The length of the middle line, called the waggle run, shows roughly how far it is to the flower patch.

B. Direction

    Bees know which way is up and which way is down inside their hive, and they use this to show direction. How? Bees dance with the waggle run at a specific angle away from straight up. Outside the hive, bees look at the position of the sun, and fly at the same angle away from the sun.

    Circle dance

    The circle dance tells the watching bees only one thing about the flower patch's location: that it is somewhere close to the hive.

    In this dance, the bee walks in a circle, turns around, then walks the same circle in the opposite direction. Sometimes, the bee includes a little waggle as she's turning around. The duration of this waggle is thought to indicate the quality of the flower patch.

    Facebook was running my life.

    But what killed Facebook for me was when I posted a photo, and five minutes later my son asked me how many "likes" it had got. His question was a wake-up call.

    "Likes" are signs of acceptance and approval(赞同). I had forgotten that acceptance and approval need to come from within and had unknowingly set him a bad example.

    Before absorbed in Facebook, I spent a lot more time reading books and magazines. I checked in with friends through texts, emails and phone calls.

    To set a healthier example to my son, I deactivated my Facebook account.

    I'd been in the habit of checking Facebook many times a day, so I had to come up with some new habits. I carried a novel and a crossword puzzle book around with me. I rediscovered knitting. I started taking yoga classes.

    I started to remember a few things. My body is fine just the way it is. I have friends who will help me out when I'm in trouble, and I will help them out. I do my best to be a good mother, and our son is happy and healthy. We are very lucky to be able to afford two vacations a year.

    I stopped looking at the world through my cellphone. I felt completely present in the moment. The break left me feeling better about myself, my family, my home and my life.

    After a few weeks, I returned to Facebook. Now I look at the photos of my friends' kids growing up and treasure how social media allows me to keep in touch with family. I no longer have the desire to post updates often.

    It is not an addiction(上瘾) any more.

    They still bite, but new research shows lab-grown mosquitoes are fighting dengue fever — a dangerous disease that they normally would spread. Dengue infections appear to be dropping fast in communities in Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil and Australia that are filled with the specially grown mosquitoes.

    Researchers first injected (注射)mosquito eggs with Wolbachia bacteria that's common in insects and harmless to people in a lab. Infected females then pass the bacteria on through their eggs. Releasing enough Wolbachia carriers, both the females that bite and the males that don't, allows mating(交配)to spread the bacteria through a local mosquito population.

    Rather than using chemicals to wipe out pests, "this is really about transforming the mosquito," said Cameron Simmons of the nonprofit World Mosquito Program, which is conducting the research.

    The first success came from Australia. Mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia were released in parts of North Queensland starting in 2011, and gradually spread through the local mosquito population. Dengue is spread when a mosquito bites someone who is infected, and then bites another person, but somehow Wolbachia blocks that — and local spread has nearly disappeared in those North Queensland Communities, Simmons said.

    The studies are continuing in other countries. But the findings, presented at a meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, suggest it's possible to turn at least some mosquitoes from a public health threat into annoying biters.

    The work marks "exciting progress," said Michigan State University professor Zhiyong Xi, who wasn't involved with the project but has long studied how Wolbachia can turn mosquitoes against themselves.

    More research is needed, specialists cautioned. "The results are pretty exciting — strong levels of reductions — but there clearly are going to be things to be learned from the areas where the reductions are not as great," said Penn State University professor Elizabeth McGraw.