Papa's jaw dropped when Mama told him that Sister had cheated on her final exams—not to succeed but to fail. “It's unbelievable!” he said. “Sister has always been so proud of her good grades!”

    “Yes, she has,” said Mama. “But it's not unbelievable. It just shows how badly she wanted off the swimming team.”

    “Wanted off the swimming team?” said Papa. “She never said anything about that to me.”

    “Of course she didn't,” said Mama. “She was afraid you'd blow your top. You already had her getting a swimming scholarship to college and winning gold medals at the Olympics. Can you imagine how much pressure she must have felt? For her, being on the team couldn't have been much fun.”

    “Oh, my god!” Papa said, clapping a hand to his forehead. “I've been so stupid! I just thought she'd want to be a champion swimmer because she's so good at it.”

    “It's like anything else, dear,” said Mama. “No matter how good at it you are, if it stops being fun, you won't want to do it anymore.”

    Papa put his head in his hands.

    “She must be really mad at me,” he mumbled. “Maybe I should say sorry to her.”

    Sister's footsteps could be heard on the stairs. She came into the kitchen and looked hopefully up at her parents.

    “Honey,” said Mama with a smile, “your papa and I have decided that there's no reason for you to be on the swimming team if you don't want to.”

    Sister's face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Yippee!” she cried.

    “And,” added Papa, “there's no need for any more drills. I'm sure you'll bring your grades back up all by yourself.”

    Sister ran to Papa and jumped into his arms. She gave him a big hug. “I'm going to go play cards with Lizzy!” she said. “See you later!”

    From the kitchen window, Mama and Papa watched their daughter run down the sunny road toward Lizzy's house.

    “It's good to see her happy again,” said Mama.

    “It sure is,” Papa agreed. “As for the swimming team, there's always next year.”

    “If?” Mama prompted him.

    “Oh, right,” said Papa. “If she wants to.”

    Mama smiled. “At least you're learning, dear,” she said. She kissed him.

    “Well, you know what they say,” Papa said. “Better late than never.”

    Nowadays airfare isn't getting any cheaper with fuel costs rising every day. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to find the most affordable fares and also avoid paying as many extra charges as possible when you plan ahead.

    On July 1, 2017, Canada turned 150. That day, more than half a million people visited Ottawa for the country's biggest birthday celebration ever. At the same time, hundreds of parties, fireworks displays, and performances took place across Canada to mark the occasion.

    As we all know, native people like the Inuit have lived in Canada for thousands of years. About 500 years ago. French and British people started arriving there. They claimed some of the land for their countries. The two countries often fought over control of the land. The British won full control of the area in 1763. But French remains one of the official languages, along with English. Canada became fully independent of Britain in 1982.

    Over the years, it is now the second-largest country in the world. At more than 5,500 miles, its border with the US is the longest border between the two nations.

    Canadians are proud of their country. Canada even made the list of the 10 happiest countries, according to a 2017United Nations report. Located not far from the North Pole, its cold and icy north is home to about two-thirds of the world's polar bears. Its icy and snowy land also helps explain why some of its popular sports are ice hockey, skiing and curling(冰壶)

    They are also very proud of the country's history of welcoming people from around the world and of the diverse population. “It reminds us of the values that unite us—openness, and deep respect for our differences,” says Prime Minister Trudeau. “Today, and every day, let us celebrate the differences that make Canada strong, diverse and proud.”

    One day a professor entered the classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They waited anxiously at their desks for the test to begin. The professor handed out the question paper, with the text facing down as usual. Once he handed them all out, he asked his students to turn the page and begin. To everyone's surprise, there were no questions but a black dot in the center of the page. The professor seeing the expression on everyone' face, told them the following, "I want you to write what you see there."

    The students were confused and got started on the inexplicable (令人不解的) task.

    At the end of the class the professor took all the answer papers and started reading each one of them aloud in front of all the students. All of them with no exceptions, described the black dot, explained its position in the middle of the sheet, imagined what the black dot stood for and so on.

    After all had been read, the classroom was silent. The professor began to explain, "I am not going to grade on you this time. I just wanted to give you something to think about. No one wrote about the white part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black dot and the same happens in our lives. We have a white paper to observe and enjoy, but we always focus on the dark spots. Our life is filled with love and care, and we always have reasons to celebrate—nature renewing itself every day, our friends around us, the job that provides our livelihood, the miracles we see every day…"

    In fact, we insist on focusing only on the dark spots—the health issues that bother us, the lack of money, the complicated relationship with a family member, the disappointment with a friend, etc. Take your eyes away from the black spots in your life. The dark spots are very small compared to everything we have in our lives, so enjoy each moment that life gives you.

    The New Caledonia Barrier Reef (新喀里多尼亚堡礁)is located in New Caledonia in the South Pacific, and is the second-longest coral reef in the world, after Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The New Caledonia Barrier reef surrounds Grand Terre, New Caledonia's largest island, as well as the Ile des Pins and several smaller islands, reaching a length of 1, 500 km. The reef encloses(围住) in a lake of 24, 000 square kilometers, which has an average depth of 25 meters. The reefs lie up to 30 kilometers from the shore, but extend almost 200 km to the Entrecasteaux reefs in the northwest. This northwestern extension encloses the Belep Islands. Several natural passages open out to the ocean. The Boulari passage(通道), which leads to Noumea, the capital and chief port of New Caledonia, is noted for the Amedee lighthouse.

    The reef has great species diversity with a high level of endemism(动植物的特有分布), and is home to endangered dugongs, a kind of sea animal, and is an important nesting site for Green Sea Turtle.

    Most of the reefs are generally thought to be in good health. Some of the eastern reefs have been damaged by wastewater from nickel mining(镍开采)on Grand Terre. The waste from mining, agriculture, and grazing(放牧) has affected reefs near river mouths, which has been worsened by the destruction of mangrove forests, which help to keep wastes. Some reefs have been buried under several meters of wastes.

    In January 2002, the French government proposed(提议) listing New Caledonia's reefs as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO listed New Caledonia Barrier Reef on the World Heritage List on 7 July 2008.

Imagine turning on the GPS and seeing an image of your car from above. As the car drives, the map follows along in real time, informing you of any traffic, pedestrians, animals or other things nearby. Routes and names of road appear over the live stream. It's like the map has come to life.

This type of map isn't available yet. But it could be very soon. In 2014, the WorldView-3 satellite was sent into space. Even though it orbits Earth at more than 370 miles (600km) away, it can take images of objects on Earth that are just 10 inches (25cm) across. Looking all the way from outer space, it can make out a smart phone held in your hand. It can tell what types of cars are travelling down a road. But it can't identify your face or read the cars' license plate numbers.

According to some reports, this satellite and other US satellites have the technology to take even sharper images, with a resolution of up to around 4 inches (10cm). But US law forbids making these super-sharp pictures public. But the idea that anybody might be able to spy on the entire Earth in such detail may seem scary. Live, high-detail satellite mapping could be used to keep tabs on anybody at any time, without the person's knowledge. Ray Purdy of University College London told CNN that he couldn't imagine what this could mean for privacy. "Most satellites are commercially owned, so if you have money, you can have that imagery. It means anyone can spy on anyone." he said.

At the same time, live, detailed maps of the Earth's surface could aid humanity in amazing ways. Satellite images can help experts track storms as they form and chart their paths. At high detail, live maps of a disaster area could quickly reveal people in need of rescue as well as the safest routes in or out. Satellites images are already helping the police catch illegal fishing operations. Higher detail may make it possible to catch other criminals in the act. The images could also make it easier for farmers to watch over their crops or for scientists to find minerals. Also, these images play a very important role in monitoring the health of forests and other landscapes.

What do you think? Would you like to see everyone accessing high-detail live maps of the Earth's surface? Please share your idea with us on the website.