Diamonds are considered the most famous and valuable jewel in the world. The precious stone for its great value is believed to be the symbol of wealth. Diamonds were made as a result of great volcanic beat and pressure. When a volcano is active, it sometimes explodes and causes great damage to the nearby towns.

    However, at the same time of such a disaster, diamonds were pushed towards the surface of the earth by a number of great volcanic explosions millions of years ago. Thus, it may be very likely to find a diamond after a volcanic eruption. Besides, diamonds are also found among the sand and stones of certain river beds, and in a few places on the floor of the sea, for they were washed down the mountain sides by the rain.

    Diamonds are very rare. There are not many places that produce such precious things in the world. During the last century adventurers from Europe went to Brazil, because they had heard that there were diamonds in the River Amazon. Many of these early diamond miners died of illness or were lost forever in the great forests. But some returned home rich.

    The earliest known diamonds were found in India many centuries ago. The most recent and exciting discoveries have been made in eastern Russia. But most of the world's diamonds now come from the Congo, from Tanzania-which has the largest diamond mine in the world and also from South Africa.

    It is a cold and dry winter morning. When you wake up, you feel that your throat hurts. You begin to sneeze and later you may cough. You must have a cold! Wait a moment. Could it just be a common cold or the flu that's been going around?

    A cold gives you a runny nose and cough. But it's usually easy to deal with. Some take medicine while others drink herbal tea or chicken soup. Usually you feel better after a week.

    On the other hand, the flu can be much more dangerous. It usually gives you fever.

    Sometimes it can cause death. According to an American magazine, the worst flu killed about 50 million people from 1918 to 1919.

    Don't worry. If you get a flu vaccine（疫苗）, it can stop you from getting the virus. Flu vaccines work by giving the body a small amount of flu viruses. This causes your body to develop antibodies. So next time you get the flu, the antibodies should help you.

    The flu virus changes every few years. Therefore, there are so many types of flu, such as H1N1 and H5N1. The antibodies for one type of flu can't help us against all types of flu. That's why we need to get vaccine every year.

    However, good health habits may also help stop you developing a cold or flu. Washing your hands often helps stop you from getting viruses. It is also important to get regular exercise and eat healthy food. All these can help you strengthen your immune system.

    We are looking for a full-time nanny to help care for our young children. This position is suitable for people with 3 years or less teaching experience that are looking for a new direction or a break from teaching. It is also suitable for school leavers.
    Responsibilities will include:

    Helping us take care of our young children

    Handling small projects and light housework as needed

    Please apply by sending your resume(简历) to prudolph@architects.com.

    Pre Kindergarten(幼儿园) Teachers

    Are you energetic and believe that children learn best through play-based activities? We do, too. At Montgomery Child Care Association, we try hard to provide the best early care and education for children. Our salary(薪水) and benefits package is one of the best in the industry. An AA (a two-year college degree in the US) or higher in Early Childhood Education plus previous experience with children in a child care setting is preferred.

    Consider a career with us! E-mail: resumes@mccaedu.org.

    Learning Center Instructor

    School on Wheels is a non-profit(非盈利的) organization to support the educational needs of homeless children. We are now searching for an experienced teacher to instruct children during the after-school program at our Downtown Los Angeles Learning Center.

    You should have 3 + years teaching experience and excellent communication skills. Knowledge of the Spanish language is required.

    Please apply by e-mailing your resume to administration@schoolonwheels.org.

    Special Education Teacher

    An exciting teaching opportunity is offered by De LaSalle Academy, a non-profit school for 96 students with special learning needs. De LaSalle Academy has very high expectations for teacher performance, particularly in the areas of teacher-student-parent relationship, classroom management, high level of understanding of disabilities of the student and the ability to recognize student needs.

    If you are 25-35 and have experience in special education, you could be the person we are looking for.

    Please e-mail to imoreau@delasallefm.org.

    Two things changed my life: my mother and a white, plastic, daisy bike basket. I would be a different person if my mom hadn't turned a silly bicycle accessory(配件) into a life lesson I carry with me today.

    It was summer and, one day, my mother drove me to the bike shop to get a tire fixed — and there it was in the window. White, shiny, plastic and decorated with daisies, the basket seemed so appealing and I knew I had to have it.

    "Mom, please can I get it? I'll do extra chores for as long as you say. I'll do anything, but I need that basket. I love that basket. Please, Mom. Please?"

    "You know," she said, gently rubbing my back while we both stared at what I believed was the coolest thing ever, "If you save up, you could buy this yourself."

    "By the time I make enough it'll be gone!"

    "Maybe Roger here could hold it for you," she smiled at Roger, the bike guy.

    "For that long? He can't hold it for that long, Mom. Someone else will buy it. Please, Mom, please?"

    "There might be another choice," she said. My mother bought the beautiful basket and put it safely out of reach in some hiding place I couldn't find. Each week I eagerly counted my growing nest egg earned by extra work here and there (washing the car, helping my mother make dinner, delivering milk around the neighborhood). And then, weeks later maybe, I counted, re-counted and jumped for joy. Oh, I made it! I finally had the exact amount we'd agreed upon.

    Days later, the unthinkable happened. A neighborhood girl I'd played with appeared with the exact same basket fixed to her shiny, new bike. I rode my bike fast home to tell my mother about this disaster, this horrible turn of events.

    And then came the lesson I've taken with me through my life: "Honey, your basket is extra-special," Mom said, gently wiping away my hot tears. "Your basket is special because you paid for it yourself."

    Rosa Parks became famous in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. She was important in the movement for civil rights（民权） in the American South during the 1950s and 60s. At the time, blacks in the South were forced to sit in the back of public buses and to give up their seats to white people.

    Parks moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1957 to escape death threats. She continued living in Detroit until her death in 2005, at age 92. But the house in Detroit where Parks lived for many years was abandoned and scheduled to be torn down. Her niece, Rhea McCauley, bought it for $500 to stop it from being destroyed. She then gave it to American artist, Ryan Mendoza.

    Mendoza and others took it apart and then sent it across the Atlantic Ocean to the German capital of Berlin. There, he led efforts to rebuild the house. It now is behind his own house in Berlin. It gets daily visitors, although it is difficult to find, Mendoza said.

    But less than a year after the house was rebuilt in Berlin, Mendoza decided it should be returned to the United States. He made the decision after deadly violence took place at a recent white nationalist event in Charlottesville, Virginia. That incident increased calls for removing statues of Confederate（美国南部联邦的） leaders from the Civil War in the U.S.

    Mendoza said there are not enough civil rights monuments "to balance things out" with the Confederate statues. He said the Rosa Parks house belongs back in America "Imagine if the house were on a public setting in a prominent city in the U.S.," Mendoza said. "That's an education tool that shouldn't be denied by the American people. They have to know their past."

    The house would be welcomed back in Detroit. Detroit has failed to protect historical homes in the past. Such houses include the former home of Ralph Bunche, the first African-American to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Detroit's failure to protect history also is shown by the loss of the Rosa Parks house, Hammer said.

    Engineers have put a huge garbage collector to gather plastic material in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii, the world's largest spread of garbage, twice the size of the state of Texas.

    The Ocean Cleanup organization created the collector. The group's founder, Boyan Slat, an inventor born in 1994, was just 16 when he was moved to clean up the oceans when he was on a dive and saw more plastic bags than fish

    Last Saturday, a ship pulling the pipe-shaped floating barrier left San Francisco. Attached to it is a screening skirt that hangs three meters down in the water. The screen is designed to collect the plastic as it moves through the water. Sea animals can safely swim under the barrier.

    The cleanup system also comes with lights powered by the sun, cameras, and other special devices, so the system can communicate its position at all times. That way a support ship can find it every few months to remove the plastic that has been collected.

    Shipping containers will hold all the plastic gathered, including bottles and fishing equipment and are expected to be back on land within a year. Then the plastic will be recycled. The free-floating barriers are made to survive extreme weather conditions and damage from continual use. They will stay in the water for twenty years, thus collecting 90% of the garbage in the area.

    The Ocean Cleanup has received $ 35 million in donations to pay for the project, hoping to put 60 free-floating barriers in the Pacific Ocean by 2020. "It's important to turn off the taps on plastic entering the ocean, but I also think people can do more than one thing at a time to deal with this problem," Slat said.