McElrah lost herfull-time job in January. Since then, she has spent her days doing what she loves-dancing in the street. Her message to people in hard times: do something that you enjoy, no matter what your circumstances. “ Life isn't that bad,” shesaid. “ If you're working 40 hours a week, you shouldn't be complaining.”

    McElrah graduated from parkway Central High School and has spent the past 21 years working as a nursing assistant, She began singing and dancing publicly on her days off a few years ago to help her through the pain of her second divorce.

    Her favorite spotis the northwest corner of Chouteau Avenue and South Grand Boulevard near St.Louis University. McElrah's mp3 player is loaded with hundreds of classic rockhits and 80's pop songs, including those by Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, NeilDiamond and Toto. But her favorite artist, by far, is Stevie Nicks.Videos of McElrah have appeared on YouTube, a video-sharing website on which users canupload, share, and view videos. “People think I'm crazy, but I don't care,” Shesaid. “ I can dance a little. I just go with the music.” Even a rude gesture from a passing motorist doesn't bother her either. “ I just smile and wave,”she said.

    McElrah's show of bravery recently earned her a job opportunity with Liberty Tax Service, which temporarily offered her a job as a dancer Statute of Liberty to promote a new place near Grand Center starting in January.

  “Just be happy anddo what you love,” she said. “The money will come.”

For only the second time in her life, actress Olivia Holt, 15, traveled to New York—this time to catch the award—winning Disney Broadway show Newises. Adriana Palmieri, the reporter from Time for Kids（TFK）,was there with Olivia and interviewed Olivia about the experience and her career. “I think the show is inspiring other people to make a big influence on the world today,” Olivia told TFK.

    Olivia is no stranger to the stage. This young star started acting at age three, and progressed from a small stage to a hit TV show, Disney XD's Kickin 'It. But even today she gets very nervous before each show. She overcame her nervousness by staying positive. “I end up just keeping my head up and seeing where it takes me and usually, it takes me to a good place where I'm not so nervous,” Olivia said.

    Olivia grew up in Mississippi but moved to Los Angeles recently to pursue her career. “It was a big transition for me because I grew up in a small town,” Olivia said. But now, she's living her dream as an actress. When asked about advice for other aspiring actors, the young performer said, “Just stay positive and stay confident. If you know that you're powerful enough to conquer your fears and stay happy, that will lead you in the right way.”

    Olivia regularly stars on a Disney XD show called Kickin'It. She plays the fearless black belt Kim. “I think she is such an incredible girl and I look up to her.” Olivia said about her character, “She is so powerful and confident.”

    As a Fulbright（富布莱特法案基金）scholar at Yale, I wanted very much to get some individual help from some famous professors, but their office-hours were only once a week and there were always students waiting outside. At first, I was too polite to get their help. Then I realized that Chinese politeness does not work in this society. I needed to be aggressive to get what I wanted. I also noticed that Chinese students or Asian students were very polite in class while American students often interrupted the professor, asking questions and dominating the discussion. The Chinese students were not as aggressive as American students.

    I was impressed by the role of the professor in the class. The professor didn't act as an authority, giving final conclusions, but as a researcher looking for answers to questions together with the students. One linguistic feature of his interacting with his students was that he used many modal verbs-far more than I did in Beiwai. When answering questions, he usually said: “this is my personal opinion and it could be wrong. It would be a good idea if you could read the book I mentioned the other day.” Or,“ You may find the book I recommended helpful.” Or,“You could be right, but you might find this point of view also interesting.” When making comments on students' performances, the professor usually said:” It might have been much clearer if you had taken in some of the ideas we discussed earlier this semester.”

    In China, authorities are always supposed to give wise decisions and correct directions. Therefore students always expect the professor to give an answer to the question. I still remember how annoyed they were when foreign teachers did not provide such an answer. Their expectations from authorities are much higher than those of American students. Once the Chinese students got the answer, they were sure about it. That is why they make far more certain statement than American students. That is why Chinese students find it difficult to use modal verbs because the function of modal verbs is to provide room for negotiation and different ideas.

    At 2:30 on December 5,1945, five US Navy training planes took off in clear weather from the base Lauderdale, Florida. The planes flew cast over the coast...and disappeared. The group was Flight 19, on a run between Florida and Bahamas. Tailor was the group leader. At about 3:40, Tailor reported that his compasses were not reading properly. The other planes followed their leaders aimlessly, first east, then west, then northeast over the ocean, as Tailor tried to make sure of the direction by radio. Then, suddenly Tailor was heard to give orders to dive...

    Quickly, two giant Martin seaplanes were sent up to search for Flight 19. Several hours later, the wind became strong and visibility (能见度) dropped. A return to base was ordered. But only one of the Martin seaplanes landed. Four days later, the Navy and Coast Guard combed a 100,000 square miles area with more than 100 planes and ships. No sign was ever shown of the missing planes.

Today, people have noted the disappearance of many ships and planes in the southwest part of the North Atlantic and began to call this area the Bermuda Triangle(百慕大三角区).

    The points of the triangle are Bermuda, Puerto Rico and a spot in the Gulf of Mexico, west of Florida. It is a two-faced water world of tiny islands, bright beaches and beautiful waters. Yet thick fogs, powerful currents(激流) and sudden storms are hidden behind this smiling surface.

    The introduction of the iPad, with its touch screen technology, has allowed even very young children to take advantage of a computer. So what if all children in a school were given an iPad to use in class and take home with them?

    Anne Laure Bazin works in a school where every child, teacher and teaching assistant is given a free iPad to use in and out of lessons. For her, the main advantage of everyone having an iPad had been the improvement in communication. Documents can be emailed straight over to workmates during a meeting. Children submit their homework by email, or through the school's learning environment. Teachers now take the register (点名) using their iPad, which means that there is a record of which children are in school, and which classroom they are in.

    The use of iPad has encouraged greater sharing of resources among teacher. All communication with parents is now done by email. Working as a group in class is much easier as children can share documents. The whole class can look at one child's work by attaching (连接) the iPad to the whiteboard. If a child has forgotten the textbook, the teacher can take a photograph of the relevant (相关的) page and send it to the student in class.

    While the use of the iPad in schools has revolutionized (变革) the way children are taught, it hasn't completely replaced more traditional methods of teaching. Worksheets are still used in class as some children prefer the contact with paper. The children all have a textbook and exercise books. In Anne Laure's school, parents feared that the iPads would replace exercise books and children would lose handwriting skills. Anne Laure says, "The teacher are not ready to let go of the traditional style of teaching. We have welcomed the iPads in so much as they help communication and widen the resources available but we are not ready to let go of paper yet. The children themselves still value their exercise books and depend on them for review."

    In my mind, there is a moving story about a skinny young boy who loved football with all his heart.

    Practice after practice, he eagerly gave everything he had. But being half the size of the other boys, he got absolutely nowhere. Despite his hard training at all the games, this hopeful athlete sat on the bench and hardly ever played.

    This teenager lived alone with his father, and the relationship between the two of them was very special. Even though the son was always on the bench, his father was always in the stands cheering. He never missed a game. This young man was still the smallest of the class when he entered high school. But his father continued to encourage him.

    The young man loved football and was determined to try his best at every practice, and perhaps he'd get to play when he became a senior. All through high school he never missed a practice nor a game but remained a benchwarmer. Besides, his faithful father was always in the stands, always with words of encouragement for him. When the young man went to college, he decided to try out for the football team as a "walk-on". Everyone firmly believed that he could never make the cut, but he did.

    The news that he had survived the cut thrilled him so much that he rushed to the nearest phone and called his father. His father shared his excitement and was sent season tickets for all the college games. This persistent young athlete never missed practice during his four years at college, but actually he never got the real chance to play in a game.

    It was at the end of his senior football season that the coach met him with a telegram. The young man read the telegram and he became totally silent. Swallowing hard, he mumbled to the coach, "My father died this morning. Is it all right if I miss practice today? "The coach put his arm gently around his should and said, "Take the rest of the week off, son. And don't even plan to come back to the game on Saturday."

    Saturday arrived, and the game was not going well. In the third quarter, when the team was ten points behind, a silent young man quietly slipped into the empty locker room and put on his football gear. As he ran onto the sidelines, the coach and his players were surprised to see their faithful teammate back so soon. "Coach, please let me play. I've just got to play today, "said the young man. The coach pretended not to hear him. There was no way he wanted his worst player in this close play-off game. But the young man insisted, and finally feeling sorry for the kid, the coach gave in. "All right," he said. "You can go in. ''Before long, the coach, the players and everyone in the stands could not believe their eyes. This little unknown, who had never played before, was doing everything right. The opposing team could not stop him. He ran, passed, blocked, and tackled like a star. His team began to succeed. The score was soon tied. In the closing seconds of the game, this kid got a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown.

    Finally, after the stands had emptied, the coach noticed that this young man was sitting quietly in the corner all alone. The coach came to him and said, "Kid, you were unbelievably fantastic! Tell me what got into you? How did you do it? "

    He looked at the coach, tears in his eyes, and said "Well, you knew my had died, but did you know that my dad was blind?" The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile, "Dad came to all my games, but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him I could make it!"