Most of us have quite good memories, butour memories are limited. For example, we cannot remember everyone we have evermet or what we did on every single day of our lives. However, there are some people who do have prodigious memories. These people have a rare condition known as savant syndrome (学者症候群). Savants suffer from a developmental disorder, but they also exhibit great talents that contrast(显出差异) sharply with their physical and mental disabilities.

    Kim Peek (1951-2009) was a savant wholived in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States. He was born with damage to parts of his brain, but it seemed that other parts of his brain, particularly those relating to memory, became over-developed.

Peek's unique abilities appeared at avery early age. When he was just 20 months old, he could already remember every book that was read to him. Peek could read two pages of a book at the same time—one page with the right eye and one with the left—in less than 10 seconds and remember everything he read. By the time he died, Peek had memorized more than 9, 000 books. He could remember all the names and numbers ina variety of telephone books. He could remember thousands of facts about history, literature, geography and sports.

    Dr. David Treffert, an expert on savantsyndrome, once described Peek as “a living Google” because of his astonishing ability to memorize and connect facts. However, at the same time, Peek was unable to carry out simple tasks, such as brushing his hair or getting dressed, and he needed others to help him. In 1989, the movie Rain Man won the Oscar forbest Picture. The main character in the movie, played by Dustin Hoffman, wasbased on Kim Peek's life. He started to appear on television, where he would amaze audiences by correctly answering difficult questions on different topics. Peek became world famous, and he and his father began touring widely to talk about overcoming disabilities. He inspired a great many people with his words.“Recognizing and respecting differences in others, and treating everyone in the way you want them to treat you, will make our world a better place foreveryone. Everyone is different.”

    What makes a gift special? Is it the price you see on the gift receipt? Or is it the look on the recipient's face when they receive it that determines the true value? What gift is worth the most?

    This Christmas I was debating what to give my father. My dad is a hard person to buy for because he never wants anything. I pulled out my phone to read a text message from my mom saying that we were leaving for Christmas shopping for him when I came across a message on my phone that I had locked. The message was from my father. My eyes fell on a photo of a flower taken in Wyoming. and underneath a poem by William Blake. The flower, a lone dandelion standing against the bright blue sky, inspired me. My dad had been reciting those words to me since I was a kid. That may even be the reason why I love writing. I decided that those words would be my gift to my father.

    I called back. I told my mom to go without me and that I already created my gift. I sent the photo of the cream-colored flower to my computer and typed the poem on top of it. As I was arranging the details another poem came to mind. The poem was written by Edgar Allan Poe; my dad recited it as much as he did the other. I typed that out as well and searched online for a background to the words of it. The poem was focused around dreaming, and after searching I found the perfect picture. The image was painted with blues and greens and purples, twisting together to create the theme and wonder of a dream. As I watched both poems passing through the printer, the white paper coloring with words that shaped my childhood. I felt that this was a gift that my father would truly appreciate.

    Christmas soon arrived. The minute I saw the look on my dad's face as he unwrapped those swirling black letters carefully placed in a cheap frame, I knew I had given the perfect gift.

    For those who make journeys across the world, the speed of travel today has turned the countries into a series of villages．Distances between them appear no greater to a modern traveler than those which once faced men as they walked from village to village. Jet planes fly people from one end of the earth to the other, allowing them a freedom of movement undreamt of a hundred years ago.

    Yet some people wonder if the revolution in travel has gone too far. A price has been paid, they say, for the conquest (征服) of time and distance. Travel is something to be enjoyed, not endured (忍受).  The boat offers leisure and time enough to appreciate the ever-changing sights and sounds of a journey. A journey by train also has a special charm about it. Lakes and forests and wild, open plains sweeping past your carriage window create a grand view in which time and distance mean nothing. On board a plane, however, there is just the blank blue of the sky filling the narrow window of the airplane. The soft lighting, in-flight films and gentle music make up the only world you know, and the hours progress slowly.

    Then there is the time spent being “processed” at a modern airport. People are conveyed like robots along walkways; baggage is weighed, tickets produced, examined and produced yet again before the passengers move to another waiting area. Journeys by rail and sea take longer, yes, but the hours devoted to being “processed” at departure and arrival in airports are luckily absent. No wonder, then, that the modern high-speed trains are winning back passengers from the airlines.

    Man, however, is now a world traveler and cannot turn his back on the airplane. The working lives of too many people depend upon it; whole new industries have been built around its design and operation. The holiday maker, too, with limited time to spend, patiently endures the busy airports and limited space of the flight to gain those extra hours and even days, relaxing in the sun. speed controls people's lives; time saved, in work or play, is the important thing—or so we are told. Perhaps those first horsemen, riding free across the wild, open plains, were enjoying a better world than the one we know today. They could travel at will, and the clock was not their master.

    “Attention, everyone!” Miss Dalrymple looked at her class of ten-year-olds. “Today we are going to create a special card for Father's Day, which falls on this weekend.” Then she busied herself handing out the paper and art materials to her noisy pupils.

    They were a mixed punch. Some came from the rich side of the town, but the majorities were from parents who struggled to get jobs. So she had not been eager to carry out this activity.

    “Think about all the things that your dad does that make him special,” she said loudly as she approached the last table. “You can write a poem or short story thinking of the positive characteristics that make your dad special. The written part of this activity should be completed before you start to decorate your card.”

    Andrew looked at the blank page. He had never met, spoken to, or been hugged by his dad, so how could he write about him? Once when he was looking in his grandma's photo box, he had seen an old black and white photo but it was badly creased(弄皱) and difficult to recognize any clear features. She had quickly taken it from him and buried it deeply among the rest, never to be found again. After thinking for a while, he wrote:

Dear Dad,

    You are a person I do not know and would probably not recognize as I only saw an old photo of you a long time ago. I think and wonder about you often, especially when I have no one to talk to about the Saturday fixtures(体育活动). One day when I grow up I will do an Internet search to find you, but I am not sure whether I will be successful as several attempts by the Child Support Agency have not been successful. Happy Father's Day, Dad.

Love,

Andrew

    I always dreamed of studying abroad, to learn at a world﹣class university while further exploring the grounds on which these nations achieved new milestones of development with each passing day.

    To study abroad after my graduation, I could not stop seeking my dream. To take the first step, I did some brainstorming and explored opportunities on the Internet and finally decided to go for China. There were a number of reasons behind it﹣its advanced education system and thousands of centuries of rich culture inspired me to study there. The primary one was my curiosity how a nation has left many nations behind in a short time at its fast pace of development.

    So just like that, I applied, along with some of my friends, for a master's degree program at Communication University of China. I was the only one who got selected in the said program and in addition, the Chinese Scholarship Council sponsored all of my expenses. This good news was welcomed by my family.

    This is my seventh month in Beijing. In my experience so far, one thing that appeared to be missing was the internship（实习） which I tried to find because I want to work here after completion of my studies. After some struggles I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to work as an intern with the Center for China and Globalization（CCG）. It's very exciting to work on their team as a researcher. Now I can proudly say that my decision to choose China as a study destination was the best decision I have ever made.

    As the weather gets colder, we start wearing jackets, and most of us stop thinking about the sun. But the sun's rays can be just as harmful when it's cold and cloudy outside. "Any exposed area of your body can still get sunburned," Dr. Apple Bodemer, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Live Science.

    Whether you spend a day on the slopes, skating on a pond or clearing snow out of your driveway, your face is still getting exposed to the sun's radiation in the form of ultraviolet (紫外线) (UV) light, which can go deep into your skin cells causing DNA damage, according to Bodemer.

    The sun's long ultraviolet A (UVA) waves can cause earlier aging, sunspots and wrinkles, while its short ultraviolet B (UVB) rays are known for causing skin reddening and burns.

    Skin damage caused by UV exposure increases over time. More exposure to radiation contributes to more severe damage, even skin cancer. In addition, snow and ice can also make sun damage worse. They reflect up to 80 percent of UV rays reaching the ground. That means you get hit from both the sky and the ground. And skiers and snowboarders increase their risk of getting sunburned even more because UV exposure increases at higher altitudes.

    "Generally, the biggest factor for sun-sensitivity is how pale your skin is," he said. "But, the reality is that even the darkest individual can get sun damage."

    Luckily, the solution for protecting your skin is simple: Wear sunscreen every day. Rigel recommended using sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30, and going higher at high altitudes. As a rule of thumb, SPF 30 will block 97 percent of UVB rays, SPF 50 blocking 98 percent, and SPF 100 blocking 99 percent. Whatever kind of sunscreen you use, it's important to apply SPF about once every 2 hours.

    Rigel also suggested sunscreens with "broad spectrum (光谱)"—to protect against both UVB and UVA rays—as well as sunscreens that are water resistant for up to 80 minutes. That way, you can go about your day without it wearing off too quickly.