The TV shows like “Children are hard tosupport!”, “Where are we going, Dad?”, “hot mom” and “cute kids” are becomingmore and more popular. All of these show the new parents' confusion inchildren's education and the appeal for the balance between career and family.

In real life, on the one hand, the youngparents feel helpless because they are too busy to accompany their childrenunder the pressures of work and life; on the other hand, they continue to doso. The data collected by HNTV show that nearly two-thirds of their audienceare female, among whom 36% are aged from 25 to 34. We can imagine such a scenethat one evening a young mother is watching the show with her young children,while her husband is still at work or trapped in socializing, or maybe is justplaying computer games in the bedroom. The story of a child without the companyof father is still going on. In fact, it is sometimes the same to mothers. In amodern family, it is often the old who take the responsibility for raising achild. The participation of mother in the children's education is also verylow.

    It is just this kind of confusion wherethe parents have gone in the modern family education, and where the parentswill guide their children to go that “Where are we going, Dad?” shows us. If achild wants to grow up healthily and safely into a modern citizen withindependent personality and free spirit, it is very important for him or her tofollow the parents who serve as their first teacher. Maybe this is the realreason why such kind of TV programs could get hot. The truth is that childrenwill go where their parents go, and society will go where the children go.

    My grandparents believed that you were either honest or you were not. They had a simple saying hanging on their living-room wall: “Life is like a field of newly fallen snow. Where I choose to walk every step will show.” They didn't have to talk about it; they showed this truth by the way they lived.

    They understood that honesty is an inner(内部的) standard for judging your behavior. Unfortunately, honesty is in short supply today. But it is the real bottom line in every area of society and a discipline (自制能力) we must demand of ourselves.

    There's a story told about a surgical nurse's first day on the medical team at a well-known hospital. She was responsible(负责) for all surgical instruments and materials during an operation. At the end of the operation, the nurse said to the doctor, “ You've only removed 11 sponges（海绵）, and we used 12. We need to find the last one.”

    “I removed them all,” the doctor assured her. “ No, you didn't , sir,” insisted the nurse. “ Think of the patient.”

    Smiling, the doctor lifted his foot and showed the nurse the twelfth sponge.

    So when you know you're right, you can't yield. Don't be afraid of those who might have a better idea or who might even be more intelligent than you are.

    Self-respect and a clear awareness (意识)of right and wrong are powerful parts of honesty and are the basis for enriching your relationships with others. Honesty means you do what you do because it's right and not just fashionable or politically correct. A life of principle, of not easily yielding, will always take you forward. My grandparents taught me that.

    These days a green building means more than just the color of the paint. Green buildings can also refer to environmentally friendly houses，factories，and offices.

    Green building means "reducing the effect of the building on the land"，Taryn Holowka of the US Green Building Council (评议会) in Washington，D.C.，said. According to Holowka，building accounts for 65 percent of total US electricity use.

But green buildings can reduce energy and water use. Also，the buildings are often located near public transportation such as buses and subways，so that people can drive their cars less. That could be good for the environment，because cars use lots of gas and give off pollution. Green buildings are often built on developed land，so that the buildings don't destroy forests.

    Marty Dettling is project manager for a building that puts these ideas into action. The Solaire has been called the country's first green high-rise building. According to Dettling，"We've reduced our energy use by one-third and our water by 50 percent."

    The Solaire cuts energy in part by using solar power. "On the face of the building we have solar panels (光板) which change the sun's energy into electricity，" Dettling explained.

    The Solaire also has lights that automatically turn off when people leave the room. In addition，the building has lots of windows，allowing people to use the sun for light during the day. The Solaire cuts water by reusing it.

    Not everyone is eager to move into a green building，however. Some people think that things like solar panels cost more money than more traditional energy sources. Anyhow，Holowka said，"It's going to be big."

    China is fondly remembering one of its most famous radio voices, a man whose vivid storytelling was a comfort to millions of people, from commuters stuck in traffic to restless teens struggling to sleep. Shan Tianfang, was a leading performer of the traditional Chinese art form pingshu, which translates as "storytelling".

    Pingshu dates from the Song Dynasty (AD960-1279) when performers would entertain villagers by telling stories in a particularly emotive style. It remains particularly popular in north-eastern China. Performers wear traditional dress and use very basic props - often a folded fan and a gavel. Pingshu is sometimes performed in tea houses and small theatres, but many Chinese associate the art form with radio. And in a country where sleeping problems are commonplace, pingshu is still popular as a way of helping people to wind down at bedtime.

    Shan Tianfang was born in 1934 in Yingkou, in north-eastern Liaoning province. His family introduced him to folk arts from a young age and he began learning pingshu when he was 19. He became known in Liaoning for his work on stage and in local teahouses during the 1950s and 1960s, and performed in an art troupe around the region. From 1966-1976, Shan, along with other pingshu performers like Yuan Kuocheng, was forced to stop work. During the 1980s.Shan made the transition (转型) to state-run radio, and his captivating storytelling became comfort listening for people across the country. By the 1990s, Shan had become a well-known face on state TV, even performing in the annual Spring Festival Gala show. He has died aged 84 following a long illness.

    Shan performed over 12,000 stories on TV and radio. His stories attracted people of all ages. One of his most acclaimed performances is of the Heroes in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. He gave countless performances of the “Four Classic Novels” (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber and Water Margin) and also helped to bring lesser-known classical Chinese literature to new audiences.

    He was able to use the medium to entrance his audience and in the process he helped to popularise classical Chinese literature. As film director Zhang Jizhong told the Global Times newspaper: “He could describe a scene and a character extremely vividly. He once had a long talk with me about adapting the heroic stories he told into films or television shows to help promote Chinese classics and traditional culture.”

    But in his later years, the growth of online and digital media exposed the challenges of keeping his art form alive. Shan turned his efforts towards writing books and opening performance schools to teach pingshu to young people. They included the Shan Tianfang Culture and Media Academy in Beijing, a Shan Tianfang teahouse and “storytelling base” in Anshan in Liaoning province. Meanwhile, modern productions of pingshu reference (引用，参照) contemporary  (现代的) culture to draw in new performers and audiences. Performers like Guo Heming have emerged, putting a modern spin on pingshu by adapting popular works, including the Harry Potter stories.

    Although he wasn't particularly active on social media, he amassed more than one million fans on the Sina Weibo platform.

A memorial was held for him on 15 September but millions of Chinese will miss his voice.

    Saving money is a golden rule in everyday life. And in the western countries it is especially obvious. As prices and building costs keep rising, the "do-it-yourself" (DIY) trend in the US continues to grow.

    "We need furniture for our living room", says John Rose, "and we just didn't have enough money to buy it. So we decided to try to making a few tables and chairs."

    John got married six months ago, and like many young people these days, they are struggling to make a home at a time when the cost of living is very high. The Roses took a 2-week course for $ 280 at a night school. Now they make all their furniture and repairs around the house.

    Jim Hatfield has three boys and his wife died. He has a full-time job at home as well as in a shoe-making factory. Last month, he received a car repair bill for $420. "I was deeply upset about it. Now I've finished a car repair course, I should be able to fix the car by myself."

    John and Jim are not unusual people. Most families in the country are doing everything they can do to save money so they can fight the high cost of living. If you want to become a DIY, you can go to DIY classes. And for those who didn't have time to take a course, there are books that tell you how you can do things yourself.

    My teenage son Karl became withdrawn after his father died. As a single parent, I tried to do my best to talk to him. But the more I tried, the more he pulled away. When his report card arrived during his junior year, it said that he had been absent 95 times from classes and had six falling grades for the year. At this rate he would never graduate. I sent him to the school adviser, and I even begged him. Nothing worked.

    One night I felt so powerless that I got down on my knees and begged for help. "Please God, I can't do anything more for my son. I'm at the end of my rope. I'm giving the whole thing up to you."

    I was at work when I got a phone call. A man introduced himself as the headmaster. "I want to talk to you about Karl's absences." Before he could say another word, I cried and all my disappointment and sadness over Karl came pouring out into the ears of this stranger. "I love my son but I just don't know what to do. I've tried everything to get Karl to go back to school and nothing has worked. It's out of nay hands. "For a moment there was silence on the other end of the line. The headmaster seriously said, "Thank you for your time", and hung up.

    Karl's next report card showed a marked improvement in his grades. Finally, he even made the honor roll. In his fourth year, I attended a parent-teacher meeting with Karl. I noticed that his teachers were astonished at the way he had turned himself around. On our way home, he said, "Mum, remember that call from the headmaster last year?" I nodded. "That was me. I thought I'd play a joke but when I heard what you said, it really hit me how much I was hurting you. That's when I knew I had to make you proud."