In France, a man walks on what can only be described as a human-sized hamster wheel. The wheel moves around and around, as the man keeps walking. What is he doing? He is lifting a heavy object to the top of a tower the same way workers moved such objects 800 years ago.

    In the 13th century, workers did not have the 100-meter tall cranes they now use to build tall buildings. So they had to be creative and come up with simple machines to get their work done.

    The man on the large wheel is walking at a reasonable speed. The wheel turns and pulls a rope connected to a pulley(滑轮)at the top of the tower. Another rope tied to the pulley lifts supplies from the ground.

    This is just one way skilled craftsmen arc building a 13th-century castle without using modern tools. Crew have been working on the castle since 1997. It is being built in the Burgundy area of central France. Organizers expect the work to last another 10 to 15 years. That means it will take close to 30 years to finish the project.

    The crew are making progress at about half the speed of the workers from 800 years ago. That is because many of them are accustomed to using modern tools. When the crew use heavy chisels(凿子）and hammers to break rock, as they did hundreds of years ago, they are learning as they go. The goal of the project is to learn more about old building techniques in case they might be of use today.

    Clement Guerard, 44,is a stonemason; he cuts and builds with stone. He has been working on the tower for 17 years. He said one way he is able to work on something like this for so long is by forgetting “some of the pace of modern life", he is able to adapt to working by hand.

    In 1971 a young man who grew up very poor was traveling across the country, trying to make a new start for himself. Along the way he had completely run out of（用光了...） money and was forced to spend the night in his car. This continued until one morning, after a week of sleeping in his car, he walked nervously into a restaurant and ordered a big breakfast.

    After eating his first good meal in weeks, he found himself lying to the waiter, telling him he had lost his wallet. The waiter, who was also the owner, walked behind the chair where the young man had been sitting. He bent down, and came up with a $20 bill that looked as if it had fallen on the floor and said, “Son, you must have dropped this,”the owner said. The young man couldn't believe his luck! He quickly paid for the breakfast, left a tip, bought gas with the change, and headed West.

    On the way out of town, he began to understand what the owner did. Maybe nobody dropped the money at all.“Maybe that fellow just knew I was in trouble and he helped me in a way that didn't embarrass(使尴尬)me. So I just made a promise to help other people if I can.”

    Later, he worked very hard and became a rich man. Now he lives near Kansas City. Each year he gives away thousands of dollars. He is known as the “Secret Santa” because at Christmas time each year, he personally hands money out to those on the street and at restaurants. Last year, he gave more than $50,000 away in Kansas City.

    Thirteen-year-old American Jessica Goldstone wants to be a fashion designer when she finishes school. She thinks her designs would be more exciting than clothes bought from stores. But until this month, Jessica has never touched a sewing machine(缝纫机).

    After her first class, Jessica and six other girls aged 9 to 13 said that sewing was fun, cool and challenging.

    These students at Fabrics' Sew Fun class show that the sewing machine is becoming popular again.

    "There have been a lot of teens getting excited about sewing," said a sewing company worker Donna Smith. "Some of them come from the Project Runway TV show," she said. This TV show is an exciting weekly contest to make a great fashion designer. Every week one contestant (参赛者) fails the test and has to leave the contest.

    The number of people who joined sewing class summer camps grew by 10 percent this year. That's good news for companies that make sewing machines and publish sewing magazines. The Singer Sewing Company sold nearly 3 million sewing machines in the United States last year. This is about twice as many as in 1999.

    Sewing machines have been around for more than 150 years, but they have changed a lot since your grandmother was a girl.

    Spencer Carmel started sewing lessons after getting a sewing machine for her 11^th birthday. She has sewn a lot by hand, but she wants to make more difficult things. Spencer's class recently made hats.

    Another member of the class, Kelsey Oen, 9 years old, needed time to get used to her machine, but soon she could use it well. By the end of the class, Kelsey was happy and wearing her new hat.

    It's well-known that meditation (冥想) has many benefits, but do you know how to practice it for a beginner?

    Set a proper scene

    Find a space for meditation. It should be private and quiet. Make sure the temperature is comfortable. Sit on a cushion (垫子) if the floor is uncomfortable. You may play soft music if you like.
                   

    Take a moment to loosen up. Remember that the goal of meditation is to relax. Loosen your clothing, remove your shoes and have a good stretch. Do your best to ease any muscle tension that might keep you from achieving relaxation. Make an effort to relax your facial muscles.

    Focus on your breath

    Sit down in the space you've prepared. Close your eyes and breathe. Each time you breathe in, count “one”. Each time you breathe out, count “one”. The idea is to strengthen being in the moment — the last breath doesn't matter, and the next one doesn't matter; only this one matters.

    Feel your breath inflate (胀大) your lungs and push on your diaphragm (隔膜). Feel how sweet it is to inhale the fresh air. As you do this, your body will gradually begin to relax and all of your attention will be centered within your mind.

    Return to real life

    Once you feel fully centered in your mind, allow yourself to gradually drift back to real life. Move your fingers and toes and slowly wake your body up. Open your eyes and remain there for a few minutes until your senses come back, and then slowly stand up.

    Even if you can't make it fully into your mind, you still get some benefits from it. If you want to feel better, you just need to practice. Set about 10 minutes around the same time every day and repeat this exercise.

    Students perform less well in final exams if smartphones are allowed in class, for non-academic (非学业的) purposes in lectures, a new study in Educational Psychology finds. Students who don't use smartphones themselves but attend lectures where their use is acceptable also do worse, suggesting that smartphone use damages the group learning environment.

    Researchers from Rutgers University in the US performed an in-class experiment to lest whether dividing attention between smartphones and the lecturer during the class affected students' performance in within-lecture tests and a final exam. 118 students at Rutgers University took part in the experiment during one term of their course. Smartphones were not allowed in half of the lectures and allowed in the other half. When smartphones were allowed, students were asked to record whether they had used them for non-academic purposes during the lecture.

    The study found that having a smartphone didn't lower students' scores in comprehension tests within lectures, but it did lower scores in the final exam by at least 5%, or half a grade. This finding shows for the first time that the main effect of divided attention in the classroom is on the length of time in keeping memory, with fewer things of a study task later remembered. In addition, when the use of smartphones was allowed in class, performance was also poorer for students who did not use them as well as for those who did.

    The study's lead author, Professor Arnold Glass, added: "These findings should alarm students and teachers that dividing attention is having a not obvious but harmful effect that is damaging their exam performance and final grade. To help manage the use of smartphones in the classroom, teachers should explain to students the alarming effect—not only for themselves, but for the whole class."

    This is the first-ever study in an actual classroom showing a relationship between losing attention from smartphones and exam performance. However, more researches are required to see how students are affected by using smartphones after school.

I was standing in the checkout line behind a woman who looked to be in her 60s. When it was her turn to pay, the cashier greeted her by name and asked her how she was doing.

The woman looked down, shook her head and said: "Not so good. My husband just lost his job. The truth is, I don't know how I'm going to get through these days." Then she gave the cashier food stamps (食品券).

My heart ached. I wanted to help but didn't know how. Should I offer to pay for her groceries, or ask for her husband's resume (简历)?

Walking into the parking lot, I spotted the woman returning her shopping cart. I remembered something in my purse that I thought could help her. It wasn't a handful of cash or an offer of a job for her husband, but maybe it would make her life better.

"Excuse me," I said, my voice trembling a bit. "I couldn't help overhearing what you said to the cashier. It sounds like you're going through a really hard time right now. I'm so sorry. I'd like to give you something."

I handed her the small card from my purse. When the woman read the two words "You Matter" on the card, she began to cry. And through her tears, she said: "You have no idea how much this means to me."

I was a little startled by her reply. Having never done anything like this before, I didn't know what kind of reaction I might receive. All I could think to say was: "Would it be OK to give you a hug?"

A few days earlier, one of my workmates gave a similar card to me as encouragement for a project I was working on. When I read the card, I felt a warm glow spread inside of me. Deeply touched, I ordered my own box of "You Matter" cards and started sharing them.