Doing homework not only can help children master the knowledge they have learned, but also can train their abilities of finishing the work alone, planning the time and doing the duties. But some children don't like to complete the work. Why? There are some reasons.

    Some children feel it is very difficult to do their homework, because they can't understand their teacher clearly, and can't follow their teacher's teaching process. Maybe there is something wrong with their intelligence.

    But some children's intelligence is normal. They are even cleverer, but they don't listen to the teacher carefully. It is hard for them to sit well and pay attention to anything. It needs to carry on the attention centralized（集中注意力）training to help the children.

    Some children love their teacher and then they like the subject. Their interest depends on the teacher who teaches them. So every teacher should be helpful and kind. It can make children love you and the subject you teach. So they can do their homework happily.

    At a daycare center in Texas, children were playing outside. One of the children was Jessica Mc Clure. She was 18 months old. Her mother, who worked at the daycare center, was watching the children. Suddenly Jessica fell and disappeared. Jessica's mother screamed and ran to her.

    A well was in the yard of the center. The well was only eight inches across and a rock always covered it. But children had moved the rock. When Jessica fell, she fell right into the well.

    Jessica's mother reached inside the well, but she couldn't feel Jessica. She dialed 911 for help. Men from the fire department arrived. They discovered that Jessica was about 20 feet down in the well. For the next hour the men talked and planned Jessica's rescue.

    “We can't go down into the well,”they said.“It's too narrow. So, we're going to drill a hole next to the well. Then we'll drill a tunnel across to Jessica. When we reach her, we'll bring her through the tunnel and up through our hole.”

    The men began to drill the hole at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, October 14, 1987. The men had a difficult job; they were drilling through solid rock. During her days in the well, Jessica sometimes asked for her mother. Sometimes she slept, sometimes she cried and sometimes she sang.

    All over the world, people waited for news of Jessica. Everyone worried about her.

    At 8 p.m. on Friday, October 16, men reached Jessica and brought her up from the well. She was soon sent to hospital. Jessica was dirty, hungry, thirsty and tired. Her feet and forehead were badly injured. But Jessica was alive.

    After Jessica's rescue, one of the rescuers made a metal cover for the well, saying,“To Jessica, with love from all of us.”

    “Don't tell anyone”. We hear these words when someone tells a secret to us. But it can be hard to keep a secret. We5re often tempted to “spill the beans"，even if we regret it later.

    According to Asim Shah, professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, US, keeping a secret may well "become a burden”. This is because people often have an “obsessive and anxious urge to share it with someone”.

    An earlier study, led by Anita E. Kelly, a scientist at the University of Notre Dame, US, suggested that keeping a secret could cause stress. People entrusted (受委托的)with secrets can suffer from depression, anxiety, and body aches, reported the Daily Mail.

    But with secrets so often getting out, why do people share them at all? Shah explained that people often feel that it will help them keep a person as a friend. Another reason people share secrets is guilt over keeping it from someone close to them. A sense of distrust can develop when people who are close do not share it with each other. "Keeping or sharing secrets often puts people in a position of either gaining or losing the trust of someone,” according to Shah.

    He added that talkative people could let secrets slip out (泄露). But this doesn't mean that it is a good idea only to share secrets with quiet people. A quiet person may be someone who keeps everything inside. To tell such a person a secret may cause them stress, and make them talk about the secret.

    Shah said that to judge whether to tell someone a secret, you'd better put yourself in their position. Think about how you would feel to be told that you mustn't give the information away. Shah also recommended that if you accidentally give up someone's secret you should come clean about it. Let the person know that their secret isn't so secret anymore.

    Steven Stein likes to follow garbage trucks. His strange habit makes sense when you consider that he's an environmental scientist who studies how to reduce litter, including things that fall off garbage trucks as they drive down the road. What is even more interesting is that one of Stein's jobs is defending an industry behind the plastic shopping bags.

    Americans use more than 100 billion thin film plastic bags every year. So many end up in tree branches or along highways that a growing number of cities do not allow them at checkouts(收银台) . The bags are prohibited in some 90 cities in California, including Los Angeles. Eyeing these headwinds, plastic-bag makers are hiring scientists like Stein to make the case that their products are not as bad for the planet as most people assume.

    Among the bag makers' argument: many cities with bans still allow shoppers to purchase paper bags, which are easily recycled but require more energy to produce and transport. And while plastic bags may be ugly to look at, they represent a small percentage of all garbage on the ground today

    The industry has also taken aim at the product that has appeared as its replacement: reusable shopping bags. The stronger a reusable bag is, the longer its life and the more plastic-bag use it cancels out. However, longer-lasting reusable bags often require more energy to make. One study found that a cotton bag must be used at least 131 times to be better for the planet than plastic.

    Environmentalists don't dispute(质疑) these points. They hope paper bags will be banned someday too and want shoppers to use the same reusable bags for years.

    Proudly reading my words, I glanced around the room, only to find my classmates bearing big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. Confused, I glanced toward my stone-faced teacher. Having no choice, I slowly raised the report I had slaved over, hoping to hide myself. "What could be causing everyone to act this way?"

    Quickly, I flashed back to the day Miss Lancelot gave me the task. This was the first real task I received in my new school. It seemed simple: go on the Internet and find information about a man named George Washington. Since my idea of history came from an ancient teacher in my home country, I had never heard of that name before. As I searched the name of this fellow, it became evident that there were two people bearing the same name who looked completely different! One invented hundreds of uses for peanuts, while the other led some sort of army across America. I stared at the screen, wondering which one my teacher meant. I called my grandfather for a golden piece of advice: flip (掷) a coin. Heads—the commander, and tails—the peanuts guy. Ah! Tails, my report would be about the great man who invented peanut butter, George Washington Carver.

    Weeks later, standing before this unfriendly mass, I was totally lost. Oh well, I lowered the paper and sat down at my desk, burning to find out what I had done wrong. As a classmate began his report, it all became clear, "My report is on George Washington, the man who started the American Revolution." The whole world became quiet! How could I know that she meant that George Washington?

    Obviously, my grade was awful. Heartbroken but fearless, I decided to turn this around. I talked to Miss Lancelot, but she insisted: No re-dos; no new grade. I felt that the punishment was not justified, and I believed I deserved a second chance. Consequently, I threw myself heartily into my work for the rest of the school year. Ten months later, that chance unfolded as I found myself sitting in the headmaster's office with my grandfather, now having an entirely different conversation. I smiled and flashed back to the embarrassing moment at the beginning of the year as the headmaster informed me of my option to skip the sixth grade. Justice is sweet!

    To ensure an excellent experience during your tour of the Mark Twain House, here are some guidelines and general information:

The House is Shown Only by Guided Tour.

    To ensure an optimum (最佳) experience, house tours are limited to 14 people, first-come, first-served. If your group has more than 10 people, call (860) 280-3130 to reserve a discounted group tour in advance of your visit. If you have a party of fewer than 10 people feel free to purchase tickets online: We will hold them at Will Call. The tour schedule is usually online about a month in advance.

Our site is made up of three buildings

    The Webster Bank Museum Center at the Mark Twain House & Museum is always your first and last stop as it houses our ticket counter, museum store, film, exhibits and cafe. All tours gather in the museum center before heading over to Mark Twain's historic 1874 home. Mark Twain's historic carriage house is the third building on our property, but is generally not open to the public. The hayloft (干草棚) has been repurposed into offices and the main floor of the barn is a space available for rent for parties and meetings.

Coupons & Discounts

    The Mark Twain House offers only a few coupons and discounts. The price you pay for admission helps us maintain the beauty of this icon of American architecture. If you are lucky enough to find one of those special offers online or at your local library, keep in mind they are good only for the general Mark Twain House Tours. No passes or discounts may be applied to our specialty tours.