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Inspiring young minds!

    TOKNOW Magazine is a big hit in the world of children's publishing, bringing a unique combination of challenging ideas and good fun to young fans every month.

    Sounds too good to be true?

    Take a look online—evidence shows that thousands of teachers and parents know a good thing when they see it and recommend TOKNOW to their friends.

    Happy Birthday All Year!

    What could be more fun than a gift that keeps coming through the letterbox every month? The first magazine with your gift message will arrive in time for the special day.

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    Dictionaries are not closed books. There is still plenty of room for more words in these great vocabulary authorities.

    Dictionaries are not closed books. There is still plenty of room for more words in these great vocabulary authorities. New words are continually being created and added to our language. And many of today's word experts can credit a famous mathematician with the creation of the method by which they develop many new words. The mathematician was an Englishman named Charles L. Dodgson. In addition to working with figures, Dodgson wrote books. His imaginative stories and poems have made Dodgson beloved to generations of readers. We know him, however, not by the name of Dodgson but by his pen name, Lewis Carroll.

    Lewis Carroll has delighted countless readers, young and old, with Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, and numerous poems. In these works, Carroll developed dozens of nonsensical words such as "chortle" and "galumph". Many of these words are combined naturally with more common words in the English language. Carroll referred to his made-up words as "portmanteau" words, named after a kind of leather suitcase that opens into two compartments. The name was well suited, because most of Carroll's words had two compartments. Rather than being entirely fabricated（虚构）, they were usually made from the combined parts of two different words. A "snark", for example, clearly came from a snake and a shark.

    Although Carroll died long ago, his technique continues to be used today. We clearly see his influence in such words as smog, brunch, and guesstimate.

    What would it take to persuade you to exercise? A desire to lose weight or improve your figure? To keep you away from diseases? To live to a healthy old age? You'd think any of those reasons would be enough to get Americans exercising. Yet a vast majority of Americans have thus far failed to swallow the "exercise pill".

    Now a research by psychologists strongly suggests it's time to think of current well-being（幸福）and happiness as motivators for exercise instead of future health, weight loss and body image.

    Dr. Segar, one of the researchers, believes that immediate rewards are more motivating than distant ones. "People who say they exercise for the quality of life exercise more over the course of a year than those who say they value exercise for its health benefits." He said. '

    Other studies have shown that what keeps people moving depends on age, sex and life circumstances. For those of college age, physical attractiveness typically heads the list of reasons to begin exercising, although what keeps them going seems to be the stress relief that a regular exercise program provides. The elderly, on the other hand, may get started because of health concerns. But often what keeps them exercising are the friendships and sense of community that may otherwise be missing from their lives. Improving daily well-being is the most influential factor for the women. Men indicate they are motivated by more distant health benefits, but this may be because men feel less comfortable discussing their mental health needs.

    "Exercise should be encouraged but the emphasis on weight loss, disease prevention and healthy aging should be reduced." Dr. Segar concluded. "Exercise can make people feel more energetic, less stressed and, yes, happier."

    If you wish to become a better reader, here are four important points to remember about rate, or speed, of reading:

    ⒈Knowing why you are reading—what you are reading to find out—will often help you to know whether to read rapidly or slowly.

    ⒉Some things should be read slowly throughout. Examples are directions for making or doing something, arithmetic problems, science and history books, which are full of important information. You must read such things slowly to remember each important step and understand each important idea.

    ⒊Some things should be read rapidly throughout. Examples are simple stories meant for enjoyment, news, and letters from friends, items, or bits of news from local, or hometown, paper, telling what is happening to friends and neighbors.

    ⒋In some of your readings, you must change your speed from fast to slow to fast, as you go along. You need to read certain pages rapidly and then slow down and do more careful readings when you come to important ideas which must be remembered.

    For over 70 years, UNICEF has been putting children first, working to protect their rights and provide the assistance and services they need to survive and develop all over the world.

    It's the end-of-year giving season, and UNICEF has lots of good news to share about the influence its supporters have had on the lives of children. Thanks to its generous donors, UNICEF has helped save more lives than any other humanitarian organization.

    Monthly donors are a major reason why UNICEF can make that claim, according to Karla Coello, UNICEF USA Senior Director for Monthly Giving. “Last year, UNICEF responded to 377 humanitarian emergencies, from conflicts to natural disasters,” says Coello. “Emergency appeals bring in important revenue - but after the emergency, there are still a lot of things children need to make life bearable. That's what our monthly donors provide.”

    When drought destroys crops, conflict forces families from their homes, an epidemic breaks out or a disaster strikes, children suffer most. And in some countries, even the best of times are dangerous for its youngest citizens. Every day more than 15,000 children under 5 die from preventable causes.

    Protecting children before, during and after a crisis requires a reliable source of funding. The constant stream of revenue provided by monthly donations enables UNICEF to reach children with what they need most when they need it, prepositioning emergency supplies before a disaster strikes and continuing to build sustainable solutions after an immediate crisis has subsided.

    Monthly giving is also important to funding large-scale interventions(介入). Thanks to UNICEF's global immune campaigns, the world is now nearly free of polio(小儿麻痹症)and there are only 14 countries where mothers and children still face maternal and neonatal tetanus(破伤风)deadly threat. And UNICEF programs in 120 countries are helping to prevent and treat malnutrition, which is linked to nearly half of all deaths of children under 5.

    “UNICEF USA monthly donors are our most engaged, most dedicated supporters,” says Rebecca Volpe, UNICEF USA Manager, Monthly Giving. “So we do our best to make them feel appreciated by keeping them thoroughly updated about the powerful impact they are having and showing them how much they matter to us.” In turn, monthly donors tend to be dedicated supporters. “Protecting children - giving them opportunities to play, learn, feel safer, heal - is critical to us,” explained a survey respondent, expressing a commitment to children that UNICEF USA's Monthly Giving team sees every day.

    Supporters who sign up with UNICEF USA to give monthly automatically become members of the Guardian Circle, which affords them benefits, including:

    Annual statements to make tax time easier

    An easy-to-use donor access that simplifies modifying gift amounts, updating payment methods and making other changes, including the timing of donations with the option to cancel at any point

    Targeted communications in the form of monthly statements and a quarterly 8-page newsletter with stories from the field.

    A team available to answer questions via email or phone.

    “We have some donors who are on fixed income, others who can afford to make considerable monthly donations," says Coello. “Whether you give $5 or $700 a month, you are super important to us. What's important is that they all really want to give and help children. And that's amazing.”

    It can be time-consuming and difficult to track charitable donations. At end of year, Guardian Circle monthly supporters receive one statement that makes filing tax returns easier - and it's always delightful to see how much good has been done for the world's most vulnerable(受伤害的)children.

    People have grown taller over the last century, with South Korean women shooting up by more than 20cm on average, and Iranian men gaining 16.5cm. A global study looked at the average height of 18-year-olds in 200 countries 1914 and 2014. The results show that while Swedes were the tallest people in the world in 1914, Dutch men have risen from l2th place to claim top spot with an average height of 182.5cm. Larvian women, meanwhile, rose from 28th place in 1914 to become the tallest in the world a century later, with an average height of 169.8cm. James Bentham, a co-author of the research says the global trend is likely but once you average over whole populations, genetics plays a less key role," he added.

    But while height has increased around the world, the trend in many countries of north and sub-Saharan Africa causes concern, says Elio Riboli of Imperial College. While height increased in Uganda and Niger during the early 20th century, the trend has reversed in recent years, with height decreasing among 18-year-olds.

    "One reason for these decreases in height is the economic situation in the 1980s," said Professor Alexander. The nutritional and health problems that followed the policy of structural adjustment, he says, led to many children and teenagers failing to reach their full potential in terms of height.

    Bentham believes the global trend of increasing height has important implications. "How tall we are now is strongly influenced by the environment we grew up in," he said. "If we give children the best possible start in life now, they will be healthier and more productive for decades to come."