In Western countries, bread is one of the most important foods. When they get up in the morning many people eat toast (烤面包). They spread butter and jam on their toast. People eat bread at other times of the day too. For example, at main meals, they often eat bread with soup.

    It's also very common to eat sandwiches. A sandwich is two pieces of bread with a filling inside - salad, cheese or fish. A hamburger is a kind of sandwich.

There are many different kinds of bread. Some are special to some countries. For example, the baguette (法国棍子面包) is a long, thin loaf that began in France.

    There is also white bread and whole-wheat (全麦面) bread. What's the difference? White bread is refined (精制的). It has things taken out of it to make it softer and easier to eat. The trouble is, white bread also has lots of goodness taken out. Although some people dislike the taste of whole-wheat bread, it is much healthier.

    Some kinds of bread have additives (添加剂). They are put into the bread for many reasons. Some additives are good for you - for example vitamin C. Others are there to make the bread last longer. Still others to make it taste better - but they do not necessarily make the bread healthier to eat!

    Once a group of 17-year-old schoolboys decided to break the world basketball marathon record ( 马拉松记录). They wanted to play for ninety hours and add six hours to the record. Each team had nine players, with five at a time. The boys decided each person would play 21.5 hours and then rest for 2 hours. Then it started between both of the sides at 6 o'clock in the evening.

    The first night was very hard for the players. When it was their turn to rest, they were too exited(兴奋的) to fall asleep at once. After sleeping for a short time, they had to play again.

    On the second night, they fell asleep as soon as they stopped. Some of them had trouble with their feet and hands, but the only serious problem was a psychological one. Each boy was thinking: Why am I doing this? How can I play any longer?

    After the third night, the players knew they could finish the ninety hours. The basketball on the fourth night was very slow. But in the final hours, the players got better. For the last few minutes, the players looked as fresh as when they started. How happy everyone was!

    Summer time is a great opportunity for kids to learn how to work and earn a little bit of spending money. If your child needs a summer job, here are a few options to consider:

Lemonade/Cookie Stand

    Benefits

    Creates a concept of running a business: Your child will be his own boss, set his own price, and run the show. It's a great introduction to running his own business.

    Limited Start-Up Costs: The things used to make lemonade are cheap, so your child should be able to get back his investment with a handful of sales.

    What Kids Learn About Money: Your child will learn a very valuable lesson about pricing. The price of his lemonade will decide how much he can sell, if he will recover his investment and the amount of profit.

    Yard Work

    Benefits:

    Repeated Customers: If a homeowner needs help raking (耙地) this year, he'll probably want help again next year. Your child should be able to maintain a regular set of customers after one season.

    Safety: Yard work is generally safer than a lawn-mowing job. Without having to operate machines, your child will be much safer.

    What Kids Learn About Money: Because of the variability (变动) in pay, your child will need to learn how to negotiate(谈判) a fair price with homeowners if they ask.

    Lifeguard

    Benefits:

    Responsibility: Kids learn a lot about responsibility when lifeguarding. They are within rights to tell whether a certain activity is safe and are allowed to take action as they see fit.

    Exercise: Lifeguards need to be proficient at swimming and must exercise to stay in shape.

    What Kids Learn About Money: To be a lifeguard, one must be certified. Your child may have to pay for lifeguard training, although some employers provide it on-site.

    For Canaan Elementary's second grade in Patchogue, N.Y., today is speech day, and right now it's Chris Palaez's turn. The 8-year-old is the joker of the class. With shining dark eyes, he seems like the kind of kid who would enjoy public speaking.

    But he's, nervous. "I'm here to tell you today why you should … should…"Chris trips on the "-ld," a pronunciation difficulty for many non-native English speakers. His teacher, Thomas Whaley, is next to him, whispering support."…Vote for …me …"Except for some stumbles, Chris is doing amazingly well. When he brings his speech to a nice conclusion, Whaley invites the rest of the class to praise him.

    A son of immigrants, Chris stared learning English a little over three years ago. Whaley recalls(回想起)how at the beginning of the year, when called upon to read, Chris would excuse himself to go to the bathroom.

    Learning English as a second language can be a painful experience. What you need is a great teacher who lets you make mistakes. "It takes a lot for any student," Whaley explains, "especially for a student who is learning English as their new language, to feel confident enough to say, 'I don't know, but I want to know.'"

    Whaley got the idea of this second-grade presidential campaign project when he asked the children one day to raise their hands if they thought they could never be a president. The answer broke his heart. Whaley says the project is about more than just learning to read and speak in public. He wants these kids to learn to boast(夸耀)about themselves.

    "Boasting about yourself, and your best qualities," Whaley says, "is very difficult for a child who came into the classroom not feeling confident."

    I was asked by a reader recently why so many animals seem to have pink ears, when their bodies are all different colours? The truth is that most animals actually don't have pink ears. Let us explain.

    Near the equator (赤道), where the climate is hot, animals are likely to have darker skin, including on their ears. Think of the African elephant, which has quite dark ears. In colder climates, skin colour is usually lighter and often pink.

    Why is skin colour different in different climates？Skin pigmentation, which is what gives skin its colour, can protect against sunburn and skin cancer (癌症). When animals live in colder parts of the world, they don't need it as much to survive. Light-coloured skin also helps animals stay warmer because it reduces heat loss, which is useful if you're in a colder climate.

    For most animals, the colour of their fur or other body covering has generally developed as camouflage. That allows animals to mix into the background and avoid being eaten, or for predators (捕食者) to remain hidden during hunting. One example is the sandy-coloured coat of the desert fennec fox, which uses camouflage for both hunting and hiding.

    By the way, in many animals, ears come in many different shapes and sizes. For example, in bats, the serval (a type of African wildcat) and the fennec fox, the ears are large compared to their body size—this helps them hear better because it allows them to sense more sound waves. Naked mole-rats have tiny ears because they need to dig a lot. Big ears would get in the way. The other downside of big ears is that you can lose a lot of body heat. That's why animals that live in really cold places, like the Arctic fox, have quite small ears.

    The summer I turned 16, my father gave me his car — a gift wasted on me at that age. The important thing was that Hannah and I could drive around.

    Hannah was my best friend, a year younger but much taller, almost five foot ten. "Hannah's a knockout, "my mother always said. And that summer she signed with a modeling agency. She was already doing runway work.

    A month after my birthday, Hannah and I went to the movies. On the way home, we stopped at the McDonald's drive-through, putting the fries on the seat between us to share. "Let's ride around a while, "I said. It was a clear night, full moon slung(悬挂)low over the desert. Taking a turning too fast, I plowed (撞)through a neighbor's wall and drove into a full-grown tree.

    We were taken in separate ambulances. I'd cracked(使裂开)my cheek bone; Hannah's forehead had split wide open. End of her modeling career. What would I say to her?

    When her mother, Sharon, came into my hospital room, I started to cry. She sat beside me and took my hand. "I rear-ended(追尾) my best friend when I was your age, "she said. "I totaled her car and mine."

    "I'm so sorry," I said.

    "You're both alive," she said." The rest is window dressing. I forgive you. Hannah will too."

    Sharon's forgiveness allowed Hannah and me to stay friends throughout high school and college, to be at each other's weddings … The scars are so faded no one else would notice, but in the sunlight I can still see it just below her hairline — for me, a mark of grace(优雅).