I first came across the concept of pay-what-you-can cafes last summer in Boone, N.C., where I ate at F.A.R.M (Feed All Regardless of Means) Café. You can volunteer to earn your meal, pay the suggested price($10) or less, or you can overpay—paying it forward for a future customer's meal. My only regret after eating there was not having a chance to give my time. So as soon as Healthy World Café opened in York in April, I signed up for a volunteer shift(轮班).

    F.A.R.M and Healthy World are part of a growing trend of community cafés. In 2003, Denise Cerreta opened the first in Salt Lake City. Cerreta now runs the One World Everybody Eats Foundation, helping others copy her pay-what-you can model.

    “I think the community café is truly a hand up, not a handout,” Cerreta said. She acknowledged that soup kitchens(施粥所) have a place in society, but people typically don't feel good about going there.

    “One of the values of the community café is that we have another approach,” she said. “Everyone eats here, no one needs to know whether you volunteered, overpaid or underpaid.”

    The successful cafés not only address hunger and food insecurity but also become necessary parts of their neighborhood – whether it's a place to learn skills or hear live music. Some teach cooking to seniors; some offer free used books. Eating or working there is a reminder that we are all in this world together.

    My 10 am—1pm shift at World-Healthy-Café began with the café manager — one of the two paid staff members. Our volunteer crew wasn't the most orderly, but we managed to prepare and serve meals with a lot of laughs in between. At the end of my shift, I ordered my earned meal at the counter, together with other volunteers. After lunch, I walked out the door, with a handful of new friends, music in my head and a satisfied belly and heart.

    The first Ferris wheel was built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The people who planned the fair were looking for an attraction that would bring people to Chicago. The Eiffel Tower had been a great success for the fair in Pairs in 1889, and they wanted something like that.

    George Ferris handed in drawings of a giant wheel that people could ride on. At first everyone laughed at his strange idea. But Mr. Ferris didn't give up, and finally the idea was accepted. The ride opened in June of 1893.

    That first wheel had thirty six enclosed cars, each holding sixty passengers. When filled it carried 2,160 people. During that summer in Chicago one and a half million people rode the Ferris wheel, which was named after Ferris. Six platforms were used to pick up and drop off passengers. Each ride was two full turns of the wheel. On the first turn, it made six stops for loading. Then the second turn was a nonstop nine-minute ride. Each car had five large glass windows in front and in back, giving everyone a great view of Chicago and Lake Michigan.

    After the fair the ride was moved to a nearby amusement park built especially to show off the wheel. In 1904 it was moved again—this time to St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. After the fair in St. Louis closed, the wheel stood unused. In 1906 it was finally sold to a company for scrap(废弃材料）metal. It took 200 pounds of dynamite to bring it down.

    Fortunately a Chicago bridge builder, W. E. Sullivan, figured out how to make a smaller Ferris wheel that could easily be taken apart and put together. In 1906 he started the company that still makes many of the Ferris wheels used today.

    But whenever you ride one remember that it all began with George Ferris' very strange idea.

    Many people believe that you lose the ability to learn new languages as you get older. Language experts, however, will tell you that you're never too old to learn a new language. As you get older, it can be more difficult to learn a new language, though.

    Children and adults learn new languages in different ways. For children, language is their life. They study for thousands of hours every year, because they need to learn languages to become part of their communities. Adults, on the other hand, are already part of a language community. Learning a new language means becoming part of another language community, and adults rarely get the chance to practice as much as young children do.

    Moreover, children learning a new language are expected to make mistakes. This gives them freedom when learning to be daring and confident. Adults, however, often feel pressured to be perfect when learning a new language. This can discourage many people and make it even harder to learn a new language.

    When young children learn a new language, they come to see various languages as a “normal” part of society. This mindset(思维模式) helps them embrace learning a new language without feeling like they're doing something unusual or “too hard”.

    So if you want to learn a new language, go for it! It's never too late to learn a new language. If you're older, it may take more work, but it can be done. If you're a young child, though, now is the time to step out and learn a new language!

    Chester is one of the best cities in the UK. As soon as you arrive in Chester you will appreciate the city's unique atmosphere and sense his history. Founded by the Romans over 2,000 years ago, much of the Roman influence remains and Chester's city walls are the most complete in Britain. Combined with history and heritage (遗产), Chester is a lively city full of bars, pubs, clubs, hotels, and restaurants for you to discover, attracting you to visit again and again.

    Travelling to Chester: Chester is easily accessible by many means of transport—whether you are travelling by rail, car, bus or plane. Please check our route planner below to help you plan your journey to Chester. Once you arrive in the city there are numerous car parks; however, during rush hours the easiest way to travel is by bus.

    Hotel: From bed & breakfast to the luxury of Chester's only five star hotel, Chester has all covered. Whether your trip is for business or pleasure, your room is just a click away!

    Sightseeing and Tours: The best way to see Chester is by a guided tour. If you join one, you still have a variety to choose from. Whether you choose the traditional guided walk, to be guided around Chester historical landmarks by bus or to take a boat down the River Dee, you will sure enjoy the delights of Chester.

Dear Bobby Brune,

    Children learn best when they're having fun. “Jungle Gym Jimmy” is an article for parents and children that teaches playground safety and shows how simply playing can promote good health and fitness. The tips are given through the funny voice of the “tour guide” on the playground, seven—year-old Jimmy. By listening to Jimmy, children learn how to use the equipment safely and how to get the most fun out of a day on the playground.

    As a Kid Talk subscriber for the last seven years. I am very familiar with your publication, and feel this article would be a positive addition to the “I Can Do It” section of the magazine. The article is 2, 114 words, and has been divided into categories in a way that holds children's interest. Being a mother of four children and using our home as a meeting place for most of the neighborhood, I've had the opportunity to test and confirm that the fun and easy “exercises” offered here are not only effective but are lots of fun for kids.

    I've been writing children's stories and articles for several years, and have had many of my stories published in Kids Know Best, a small newspaper that the Cinder Primary School publishes each month. I'm also a founding member of the “Right On Baby” editorial group which publishes a monthly e—zine for parents with newborns, and I'm a contributing editor to “Write Now,” an online site that teaches creative writing.

    Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Claudia Parker

    Even plant can run a fever, especially when they're under attack by insects or disease. But unlike human, plants can have their temperature taken from 3,000 feet away straight up. A decade ago, adopting the infrared（红外线） scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The goal was to let farmers precisely（精确的） target pesticide（杀虫剂） spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field, which always includes plants that don't have pest problems.

    Even better, Paley's Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye. Fixed on a plane flown at 3,000 feet at night, an infrared scanner measured the heat sent out by crops. The data were transformed into a color﹣coded map showing where plants were running "fevers". Farmers could then spot﹣spray, using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide that they otherwise would.

    The bad news is that Paley's company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the new technology and long﹣term supporters were hard to find. But with the renewed concern about pesticides on produce and refinements（改进） in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation. Agriculture experts have no doubt that the technology works. "This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the United States," says George Oerther of Texas A&M, who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture, thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only if Paley finds the financial support which he failed to obtain 10years ago.