As a little child, I was always plump（胖的）. In college I started blowing up. It got out of control when l went to law school.

    I'd made a decision a thousand times: I'm going to lose weight now. But what motivated（激发） me to get serious about it was turning 30.1 weighed 414 pounds.1 was always tired. Some of my family members have suffered from heart disease, and l was frightened. I also wanted to look better.

    So after my birthday, I walked into the office of a weight loss doctor.

    She was very understanding. Her focus was on balanced meals and she wanted me to exercise.

    Walking was all I could do at first. I started by walking a few blocks and gradually increased the distance, until one weekend, I heard myself saying, "Wow, this seems pretty easy." So I started to run.

    I was losing nine or ten pounds a month, and I had more energy. I started to think about the New York City Marathon. For years, I watched the runners and thought, "This looks like fun, but I could never do that." But now I realized that maybe I could. I joined the New York Road Runners. I ran a 10km, then a half marathon.I still wasn't confident I could run a full 26 miles. But I told myself I was going to do it, no matter what.

    By my 33rd birthday, I was down to 180 pounds. I started formally training for the marathon.

    And on the morning of November l, I stood on the Verrazano Bridge in Staten Island with more than 40,000 0ther runners, waiting for the event to start.

    It was unbelievable to have the audience cheering me on, handing me cups of water. And I crossed the finish line. My friends sprayed（向……喷射）me with beer, as if I'd won the Super Bowl.

    And at that moment, I knew: If I set my mind to something, nothing is impossible.

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    Do you have cold feet in winter? But now if you wear a pair of Ugg boots, you won't be troubled by that.

    UGG means Australian Sheepskin Boots. UGG boots became popular among shearers(剪羊毛的人）in the 1920s. The shearers sheared the sheep and grabbed a bit of dead sheep, wrapped it around their feet and called them “Ugly Boots”. Good old Australian slang shortened Shearers Ugly Boots to UGG boots. Thus UGG Boots date back as far as the 1920s in Australia.

    Ugg boots became so popular because of the amazing amount of comfort they bring to the feel. The sheepskin is made incredibly soft so the boots are warm and comfortable. Ugg boots fed more like socks than shoes, yet they are tough enough for outdoor wear. The unique, wool fool-beds lake the shape of the natural edge of each wearer's feet, creating personalized arch (弓形) supports.

    Our ugg boots are handmade with Australian sheepskin of the highest quality by our factory of Ugg Original Pty Ltd.

    We can also wear ugg boots in cold weather or summer. In cold weather, the thick wool of ugg boots provides a preventing layer of warmth by trapping your body heat. In the heat of summer, the natural fibres of the wool will actually cool your feet by absorbing sweat. Ugg boots are made to be worn barefoot to maximize the cushioning and warmth provided by the sheepskin.

    Why not pick up your phone and contact us right now at www.uggoriginal.com.au.?

    How do you get a man to do his share of the housework? If you are like most women, you've faced this question the hard way.

    A man will enjoy a clean, orderly house, but he usually won't make the effort to clean or organise it. This doesn't mean that a woman has to do all the housework; she may have to manage many of the household duties, and request her partner's participation(参与). A woman can often say that men and women should take equal responsibility(责任) for housework.

    Very few men are raised to be fully responsible for housework, and many men look on housework as women's work. On the other hand, most men will readily work around the yard, make repairs and complete projects on weekends or evenings, and it's important that you give your man appreciation(欣赏) for those things, too. Most men will take on a little housework around the house if asked politely. They are even more likely to do housework if they can choose what they want to do, and do it without being monitored(监视).

    Here's the key: men want to feel that they are doing housework either because they want to do a task, or because they simply want to please their women. Men are much less likely to take on household tasks they consider uninteresting and unimportant. In other words, men are likely to do a household task just for the good of the house.

    A nine-year-old kid was sitting at his desk when suddenly there was a puddle（水潭、泥坑） between his feet and the front of his trousers was wet. He thought his heart was going to stop because he couldn't possibly imagine how this had happened. It had never happened before, and he knew that when the boys found out he would never hear the end of it. When the girls found out, they would never speak to him again as long as he lived.

    He prayed this prayer, "Dear God, I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat!" He looked up from his prayer and here came the teacher with a look in her eyes that said he had been discovered. As the teacher was walking toward him, a classmate named Susie was carrying a goldfish bowl full of water. Susie tripped （绊倒） in front of the teacher and dumped （倒） the bowl of water in the boy's lap. The boy pretended to be angry, but all the while was saying to himself, "Thank you. Lord!"

    Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy was the object of sympathy. The teacher rushed him downstairs and gave him gym shorts to put on while his trousers dried out. All the other children were on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy was wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his had been transferred （转移） to someone else+—Susie. She tried to help, but they told her to get out.

    When school was over, the boy walked over to Susie and whispered, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Susie whispered back, "I wet my trousers once, too!"

    How a few members of the animal kingdom handle the transition to adulthood?

    African elephants

These beautiful beasts come close to imitate teen rebellion. Calves spend a decade with their mothers in female-dominated groups —- and ladies stay there —- but adolescent boys leave mom for noisy crews of bros. In their 20s, they often downsize to smaller male groups.

    Orangutans (猩猩)

Slow metabolism allows these primates to survive food shortages —- times when weather makes ripe fruit scarce. But energy efficiency comes at a cost; growth and maturation take time. Orangutan mamas nurse their young longer than any other wild creature does.

    Orcas(逆戟鲸)

    Killer whales join their mother's familial group for life. This lasting-relationship seems to increase a pup's chance of survival; if mom dies  a young male (under 30) is three times more likely to die than a peer whose mother is alive. Risk of death post-mom-mortem rises as kids get older.

Harp seals

A harp seal's "childhood" lasts just 12 days. A pup's sole purpose during that brief period of coddling(宠爱) is to constantly nurse, gaining a fifth of its birth weight in blubber(鲸脂) every day. Once it's fat —- they become greater from 25 to 80 pounds —- it slides off the ice and takes on the sea.

    Wolf spiders

    Every parent knows that tired toddlers love to hitch a piggyback ride. The wolf spider straps all her babies (40 or 50, on average) onto her back at once, carrying the brood until they are capable of fully functional spider-hood. But luckily she only has to pull them for a few days.

    There's so much to see and do in the coolest little capital. Here's our list of the top 5 must dos when you visit Wellington.