Recently some articles claims the word "selfie" as one of the most annoying words. But I'd like to offer that maybe it is not so bad.

    The “selfie” is used to describe the self-taken photo, often from a smart phone. Women and men decorate their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts with these pictures, sometimes with puckered (翘起) lips or large smiles. In fact, the selfie has become so widely known that over 31 million photos on Instagram are taken with the selfie.

    Let's think about it. Someone takes about 10 selfies each time they do, and they only end up posting one or two of those. They pick the one that they feel makes them look the best. Isn't that beautiful? In that one picture, someone has given himself or herself confidence. Self-image is important. In society today, we are often so consumed with the feeling that what society tells us is perfect. But maybe, with that one selfie, we feel that we fit that bill. We feel handsome, beautiful, confident, smart, happy and content. For that moment, everything bad or terrible that has ever happened to us is erased (消除), because that smile or that pucker is what gives us the determination to love ourselves.

    I saw a spoken word poem recently and the young man said: If I ask you what you love, the answers will most likely roll off your tongue. You love to read. You love to write. You love birds, music, your mom, your brother, your sister, your daughter, your best friend, your dog. How long do you think you can go on and on before you say “I love myself”.

    That statement hit me like a ton of bricks. I've struggled with confidence all of my life. I still do. And in no way am I saying that taking a selfie is a gateway to that confidence. However, the selfie does deserve some credit for allowing individuals to express themselves. Pamela Rutledge agrees, stating, “There are many more photographs available now of real people than models.”

    Jayson McCarthy, 12, was born without fingers on his left hand. That didn't stop him from being able to do many tasks. But Jayson could not grasp more than one object at a time. So Jayson 's father, Paul, created a Prosthesis(假肢), using a 3D printer. Now Jayson has fingers that open and close. “It was a do－it－yourself, father－and－son adventure，” says Paul.

    When Jayson was a baby, his doctor advised his parents not to give him a prosthetic hand until he was in his early teens. “The doctor said Jayson should first learn to get full use out of the hand he was born with，” says Paul. As Jayson got older, his father looked into purchasing a prosthetic hand, which can cost as much as $30，000. Paul found a more affordable solution.

    One day, Paul discovered a video on the Internet about Robohand, a prosthesis created with a 3D printer. He downloaded the free instructions and called Robohand's creators for advice. They told him all he needed was a 3D printer—which costs around $2，000—and some materials.

    Luckily, Jayson 's school had recently purchased a 3D printer and it offered to help Paul build the hand for Jayson n. “We used a soccer shinguard(护胫), cardboard(硬纸板), and tape. They cost about $10，” says paul.

    With his new hand, Jayson can do things better. “I can help my mom more, because now I can carry two grocery bags，” he says.

    Jayson 's father has already built several hands for Jayson. Jayson helps design each one. He says there's one thing in particular that he wants to do with a future prosthesis. “The goal，” he says, “is to be able to tie my shoelaces(鞋带)．”

    We always knew our daughter Kendall was going to be a performer of some sort. She entertained people in our small town by putting on shows on our front porch when she was only three or four. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and beautiful, she sang like a little angel.

    When Kendall was five, we began to notice that she was blinking a lot and clearing her throat frequently. We took her to our local children's hospital where she was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome.

    It was pretty devastating（毁灭性的）because other children constantly made fun of her, and sadly, even a teacher teased her. Through all this, Kendall continued to sing and entertain. Remarkably, her tics disappeared when she sang.

    In 2005 when Kendall was sixteen, we thought she was pretty much out of the woods -- or at least heading in that direction. However, a freak accident happened.

    At a birthday party, Kendall hopped on a friend for a piggyback ride. Kendall flew over his back and landed on the cement floor -- on her neck. An ambulance rushed her to the hospital where she spent the next week, paralyzed from the neck down. Ironically, her biggest concern wasn't whether she would walk again, but whether she would be able to audition（试唱）for American Idol.

    Doctors said Kendall had central cord syndrome. Sometimes the pain was so unbearable that she had to bite down on a toothbrush to take her mind off it. As the days dragged on, we didn't know for sure how much of her movement would ever come back.

    I believe Kendall wanted the American Idol audition so much that she willed herself to move again. One of her friends brought a microphone to the hospital and put it on her bed. Every day, Kendall tried hard to pick it up with her right hand. It was more important for her to pick up that microphone than a spoon or fork.

    Sometimes we all cried because of the pain we witnessed. But on the day Kendall walked into the stadium to audition for American Idol – a mere three months after her accident -- we cried tears of joy. And our tears turned into shouts when she was given a golden ticket to Hollywood.

    Kendall is eighteen now, living every day to its fullest. She's recorded a CD with some of John Mellencamp's band members. I'm absolutely sure she's going to make it big some day. Kendall just puts it all in God's hands.

    When she was a little girl trying hard to be strong, she looked up at me, her big eyes brimming with tears, and asked me why she had to have Tourette's Syndrome. My heart ached to make the word right for my child. But I looked right back at her and told her the truth as I see it.

    “Kendall, God gave you a pure heart, an angelic voice, a strong mind, and a beautiful presence. With all of that, he had to make it fair for everyone else.”

    BBC SHOP

    Entertaining. Informing. Inspiring.

    WHAT A RELIEF!

    Delight everyone on your holiday gift list with great gifts from the BBC.

You'll earn heartfelt thanks from nature lovers for Planet Earth I&II The Complete Collection(page 41)—inspiring look at our planet's wildest, most mysterious creatures and their breathtaking home. from mystery lovers for Sherlock: Complete Seasons 1-4 and The Abominable Bride Giftset (page13)—entertaining proof that Holmes can be difficult, dangerous, accurate, and absolute funny...and from those who appreciate all things British. Delight Charles Dickens fans with Dickensian (page 7), and the new drama series with more adventures for Dickens' characters... Dinner with Dickens Cookbook (page9) with procedures for his favorite dishes... and Tom BakerReads “A Christmas poem”(page 8) for a wonderful new holiday tradition.

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    Do you know of anyone who uses the truth to deceive(欺骗)?When someone tells you something that is true, but leaves out important information that should be included, he can give you a false picture.

    For example, someone might say,“I just won a hundred dollars on the lottery(彩票).It was great. I took that dollar ticket back to the store and turned it in for one hundred dollars!”

    This guy's a winner, right? Maybe, maybe not. We then discover that he bought $200 worth of tickets, and only one was a winner. He's really a big loser!

    He didn't say anything that was false, but he left out important information on purpose. That's called a half-truth. Half-truths are not technically lies, but they are just as dishonest.

    Some politicians often use this trick. Let's say that during Governor Smith's last term, her state lost one million jobs and gained three million jobs. Then she seeks another term. One of her opponents(对手) says,“During Governor Smith's term, the state lost one million jobs!”That's true. However, an honest statement would have been,“During Governor Smith's term ,the state had a net gain of two million jobs.”

    Advertisers will sometimes use half-truths. It's against the law to make false statements so they try to mislead you with the truth. An advertisement might say,“Nine out of ten doctors advised their patients to take Yucky Pills to cure toothache.”It fails to mention that they only asked ten doctors and nine of them work for the Yucky Company.

    This kind of deception happens too often. It's a sad fact of life: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well.

    Honey from the African forest is not only a kind of natural sugar, it is also delicious. Most people, and many animals, like eating it. However, the only way for them to get that honey is to find a wild bees' nest and take the honey from it. Often, these nests are high up in trees, and it is difficult to find them. In parts of Africa, though, people and animals looking for honey have a strange and unexpected helper-a little bird called a honey guide.

    The honey guide does not actually like honey, but it does like the wax in the beehives(蜂房). The little bird cannot reach this wax, which is deep inside the bees' nest. So, when it finds a suitable nest, it looks for someone to help it. The honey guide gives a loud cry that attracts the attention of both passing animals and people. Once it has their attention, it flies through the forest, waiting from time to time for the curious animal or person as it leads them to the nest. When they finally arrive at the nest, the follower reaches in to get at the delicious honey as the bird patiently waits and watches. Some of the honey, and the wax(蜂蜡), always falls to the ground, and this is when the honey guide takes its share.

    Scientists do not know why the honey guide likes eating the wax, but it is very distance away. They will quickly arrive whenever a beekeeper is taking honey from his beehives, and will even enter churches when beeswax candles are being lit.