When 12-year-old Taylor Smith wrote a special letter to herself last spring, to be read in 10 years' time, she didn't know it would be opened before even a year had passed— and that it wouldn't be her eyes reading the words.

  “She had told me that she had written a letter to herself, and that she was excited that she was going to open it when she was older,”said Taylor's  mother, Mary Ellen Smith.

    Instead, it was opened by Taylor's parents after she died last spring. They posted the letter to Facebook, hoping it would inspire others.

    It has. “We've gotten letters from lots of parents who have said it has encouraged them to love their kids and love each other,” said Mary Ellen Smith.

    In the letter, Taylor congratulated herself on graduating from high school and asked, “Are you in college?”

    She also wanted to know if she had been on a plane yet and if the show “Doctor Who” was still on the air.

    Taylor also had some words for her future kids. After considering the idea of selling her iPad and getting an iPadmini instead, she told her future self to mention to her kids that “We're older than the tablet.” She included a drawing of an iPad for them to see.

    Taylor died suddenly of pneumonia (肺炎), leaving behind both her parents and an older brother.

  “I just want people to know just what an awesome, awesome person she was,” her father, Tim Smith said.

    Her mother said, “I can't bring her back, but I'm so grateful people have been inspired by her story.”

    Taylor's father read the closing g words of her letter, which said, “It's been years since I wrote this. Stuff has happened, good and bad. That's just how life works, and you have to go with it.”

    26-year-old Anna Cherdantseva, from the city of Ufa in Russia, is a full-time employee of a furniture company, spending up t0 10 hours every day trying out new sofas for comfort and safety.

    Last month, Russian furniture giant M25 Group announced that it was taking application for a new position. Although all new products are tested in a specialized laboratory, management decided that in order to better meet the needs of consumers it needed some feedback(反馈) on real-life use of its sofas.  In just a few days, M25 received over 5,000 job applications.

    "We selected candidates in several stages," M25 Group spokesperson Anastasia Russkih said.  "Initially we checked their CVs, and then we let them tell us why they wanted the job. " Eventually, the furniture company shortlisted just 7 candidates, out of which Anna Cherdantseva, a 26-year-old marketing expert, proved to be the most suitable for the job.  "It was a real fight for my dream job," Anna said after getting selected.

    Despite describing herself as an active person, Cherdantseva says that spending about l0 hours a day sitting on sofas doesn't sound bad at all.  "Of course I will spend a lot of time on new sofas.  The more time I spend on them, the better it will be for my work," she told reporters.

    Anna Cherdantseva is at present on a three-month probation(试用期) at M25, but the company claims that as long as she proves to be up to the task, they plan on offering her a permanent position The young woman will receive a monthly salary of 56,000 rubles( $l,000) for the first three months.  It's not so bad for sitting on the job.

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    “My wife of 24 years, Marie Roberts, was raised in New York City, worked in the fashion industry, and never got her hands dirty,” said Keith Roberts. “Then, nine years ago, I wanted to move to Florida and reconnect to my country life, but how would I inspire（激发）the same feeling in, well, a city woman? I brought her a two-month-old potbellied pig.”

    At first sight, Marie, then 46, was smitten. So soon she took in another abandoned（遗弃）pig. And thus began Sugarloaf Mountain Farm, her animal shelter in central Florida. With the couple's two children grown up, these animals would now be Marie's babies.

    The Farm now has 300 rescues, from alpacas to donkeys, each with its own story. “A gentleman had a litter of eight pigs, and all but one died,” says Marie. “She weighed one pound and suffered great pain. For three weeks straight, I fed that baby every hour, day and night, seldom sleeping.” Till now, Marie still gets five to ten requests a day to save animals and has to turn most down. “If she can't rescue the animal, she works with that person to find a solution,” Keith says. “She's not only saving animals; above all, she's giving their owners peace of mind.”

    “A woman called from her nursing home,” Marie remembers. “Her pigs would be abandoned if she couldn't find a suitable home. 'I only have a few months, and I need to know that they'll be safe,' she said.” So Marie drove three hours and got them. Soon after, Marie received a note from the woman's daughter. “Dear Marie,” she wrote. “My mom went peacefully, as she went knowing that they are forever loved. Thank you for being Mom's angel.”

    “She is a ball of energy,” Keith adds. “A few times she's gone so far in some situations, like when she locked herself in the chicken coop（鸡舍）. I found her sitting in it with ten chicks nestled in her lap.” That is exactly what you'd expect from a true mother hen.

    French writer Frantz Fanon once said: "To speak a language is to take on a world, a culture." Since the world changes every day, so does our language.

    More than 300 new words and phrases have recently made it into the Oxford Dictionary Online, and in one way or another they are all reflections of today's changing world.

    After a year that was politically unstable, it's not hard to understand the fact that people's political views are one of the main drives of our expanding vocabulary. One example is "clicktivism", a compound of "click" and "activism". It refers to "armchair activists" -- people who support a political or social cause, but only show their support from behind a computer or smart phone.

    "We had all the words around Brexit (脱欧) in the last update and we are now starting to see all the words around Trump coming into the dictionary," Angus Stevenson, Oxford Dictionaries' head of content development, told The Guardian.

    Lifestyle is also changing our language. For example, "fitspiration -- a compound of fit and inspiration -- refers to a person or thing that encourages one to exercise and stay fit and healthy. The phrase "climate refugee" -- someone who is forced to leave their home due to climate change -- reflects people's concern for the environment.

    According to Stevenson, social media was the main source for the new expressions "People feel much freer to coin their own words these days." he said.

    But still, not all newly- invented words get the chance to make their way into a mainstream dictionary. If you want to create your own hit words, Angus Stevenson suggests that you should not only make sure that they are expressive and meaningful, but also have an attractive sound so that people will enjoy saying them out loud.

    At Beaver Meadows Ranch on Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, there is a long list of outdoor winter activities for the entire family. Take a winter vacation there.

    Ice Fishing

    For $10 a day, visitors can try their hand at ice fishing. Ice fishing is available from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week. You will need to bring your own ice fishing equipment because it cannot be rented. You will need to have your fishing license too. For more about it, call 800-462-5870.

    Hot Chocolate & Cookies Sleigh Ride

    Passengers take a 15- to 20-minute sleigh ride through beautiful Colorado country. During the sleigh ride, you'll have the experience of stopping at an old-time cabin, warming yourself by a fire and eating cookies while drinking hot chocolate. You will need to contact them at 970-231-1955 to set up a time for your sleigh ride.

    Winter Horseback Riding

    Experience winter horseback riding while viewing the breathtaking beauty of the surrounding 840 acres where Beaver Meadows Ranch makes its home. You'll be guided on a tour by one of the expert wranglers (牧马人) when the weather permits. One-hour rides cost $35 per person and two-hour rides cost $50. For more information, contact them at 866-881-7679 to set up your horseback riding winter activity.

    Other Winter Activities Information

    For more information about Beaver Meadows Ranch, or if you'd like to book a room for an adventurous holiday, call 970-881-2450. It's not very often you can find a one-stop adventure spot full of winter activities. Take advantage of your free time this winter season and enjoy the outdoor scenery in Colorado.

    Will it matter if you don't take your breakfast? A short time ago, a test was given in the United States. People of different ages, from 12 to 83, were asked to have a test. During the test, these people were given all kinds of breakfast, and sometimes they got no breakfast at all. Scientists wanted to see how well their bodies worked when they had eaten different kinds of breakfast.

    The results show that if a person eats a right breakfast, he or she will work better than if he or she has no breakfast. If a student has fruit, egg, bread and milk before going to school, he or she will learn more quickly and listen more carefully.

    The result is opposite to what some people think. Having no breakfast will not help you lose weight. This is because people become so hungry at noon that they eat too much for lunch. They will gain weight (增加体重) instead of losing it. You will lose more weight if you decrease your other meals.