It was a hot, humid day, and my brother Walt and I had decided that the only way to survive it would be to go swimming in a deep swimming hole across Mr. Blickez's pasture(牧场) and through some woods.

    The only problem with our plan was that this pasture was guarded by a huge, mean Hereford bull. Mr. Blickez had told us that Elsie was the meanest bull in the township, maybe even the county, and we believed him. But the hotter it got, the more we thought there was something fishy about his claim. For one thing, we remembered Mr. Blickez liked telling tall tales; for another, Elsie seemed like an odd name for a bull.

    Finally, I talked Mom into asking permission for us to walk through the pasture, but then another problem surfaced. Mom said she would talk to Mr. Blickez if we would take our cousin Joanie along with us. Joanie was almost two years older than me and a head taller. If her teasing ever got around my grade school, it would be all over for me. In fact, I still had a headache from a quarrel with her that morning. “I'm not going swimming with that dumb girl cousin.” I told my mom.

    “Either Joanie goes with, or you stay home alone,” Mom said in her serious tone. I gave in and we set out. On our way across the pasture, Walt yelled suddenly. Elsie had approached him quietly and was licking(舔) his back.Joanie and I dove under the wire fence, but while I was on the ground I looked up and saw that Elsie wasn't a big mean bull after all. She was going to keep licking my brother's back as long as he stood still.

    We had many good days growing up and visiting our secret swimming hole guarded by the so-called “big mean bull”. And as it turned out, for a girl cousin, Joanie hasn't been too bad. She's been one of my best friends over the years.

    South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religions. It has 11 official languages. If you want to say hello, it's "sawubona" in Zulu, and "hallo" in Afrikaans. Now, South Africa's school children may start using "ni hao" to say hello.

    The country's education minister says, the nation is adding the Mandarin language teaching in some schools. Mandarin is the official spoken language of China. That country is a major trading power for South Africa.

    A recent agreement between the two nations centers on five areas of cooperation. They include development in basic education, school books and lessons, mathematics and science, teacher training and career education and research.

    South Africa officials have not said how much they teaching Mandarin will cost. Troy Martens is an officials with South Africa's Ministry of Basic Education. She says the new partnership is extremely valuable.

    A public opinion study last year found that South Africans have mixed feelings about China. The survey showed 46 percent of South Africans do not like the spread of Chinese ideas and customs in their country, the results also showed that 60 percent dislike Chinese music, movies and television.

    But Ms Martens said Chinese trade is more important than those feelings. She said it is extremely helpful to learners in South Africa to study Mandarin as well as Chinese culture. And she said not every school will offer Mandarin.

    “Now this will not be compulsory, it will not be for every school, and it will not be for every child. But for schools that feel they have the capacity to offer Mandarin as a subject, we think it is a great opportunity for South African learners to be exposed to this international type of language,” said Martens.

    Lisette Noonan heads the 80-year-old Pretoria Chinese School in South Africa's capital. The school serves about 500 students from kindergarten to grade 12. Every student studies Mandarin.

    Ms Noonan says the school welcomes the new cooperation between South Africa and China. She said it is in the best interests of children to study Mandarin. She said that especially true with China becoming what she called “a huge economic power in the world”

    Walk down the drinks section at the supermarket.Look in the drink cooler in your local convenience store.A new drink is taking up more and more space on the shelves，and that drink is water.Bottled water sales in the US rose to 1.7 billion gallons in 2010 for plastic bottles alone，compared to total sales of only 700 million gallons in 1990. Whereas bottled water was once associated only with the rich and the privileged (特权阶层)，it is now regularly drunk by people at all income levels despite the fact that the price of bottled water can be between 240 and 10,000 times higher per gallon than tap water.What accounts for this surprising increase in demand?

    Traditionally，people have drunk bottled water for health reasons.The practice of “taking the waters” originated with the Romans，who believed that a person developed a healthy mind by building a healthy body.Across Europe，drinking or bathing in mineral water has been associated with the power to cure various diseases.Health spas at Evian in France and Pellegrino in Italy began bottling water so that their consumers could continue their treatments at home.The consumers in the 21st century are also concerned about health.However，in America，where the habit of drinking bottled water is relatively new，the concern is often more related to the purity or sterilization (消毒) of the water than to its mineral contents.Americans are often worried about the effects of the chemical pollution and other contaminants on the water supply.Many Americans view bottled water as a safe alternative to tap water.

    Further reasons for drinking bottled water are its usefulness as an aid to digestion，as a complement to a good meal in a restaurant，and for taste.City tap water is often treated with chlorine (氯) to guard against harmful micro­organisms.Chlorine，as well as metals from pipes and tanks used to distribute and store tap water，can leave behind an unpleasant taste.

A Lifesaving At-Home Checkup

    More importance is attached to physical fitness nowadays. However, staying fit can be expensive when going to professional agencies for medical checkups. Here we show you three ways to do medical checkup at home, try them for a rough idea about your health condition.

    1 Balance On One Leg

    Hold for up to 60 seconds. If you fall down early, you may be at higher risk for brain decline. In a Japanese study, 30 percent of older adults who could balance for only 20 seconds or fewer had microbleeds in the brain, an early sign of risk for stroke or dementia(痴呆). These microbleeds can affect balance, memory, and decision making.

    2 Touch Your Toes

    Sit with your back straight, then lean forward and try to touch your toes. Not even close? You might be at risk for heart problems. By using this test, University of North Texas researchers found that some old inflexible folks have to have the heart work harder to provide enough blood, raising the risk of heart attack or stroke.

    3 Sitting To Standing

    Time how long it takes to lift and lower yourself from a chair ten times as fast as you can. Senior adults who did ten repetitions in 21 seconds or fewer were less likely to die over the next 13 years than those who took longer. The test requires muscle strength, balance, and heart fitness; being slow could mean underlying disease before symptoms arise.

    The above are home tests everyone could do to keep you fit and they don't require much time or money. Learn what possible dangers are hiding inside you and how to deal with them.

    Drug companies have spent billions of dollars searching for therapies to reverse or significantly slow Alzheimer's disease, but in vain. Some researchers argue that the best way to make progress is to create better animal models for research, and several teams are now developing mice that more closely imitate how the disease destroys people's brains.

    The US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the UK Dementia Research Institute and Jackson Laboratory (JAX) - one of the world's biggest suppliers of lab mice - are among the groups trying to genetically design more suitable mice. Scientists are also exploring the complex web of mutations(突变) that influences neurological (神经学的) decline in mice and people.

    "We appreciate that the models we had were insufficient. I think it's sort of at a critical moment right now." says Bruce Lamb, a neuro-scientist at Indiana University ~ho directs the NIH-funded programme.

    Alzheimer's is marked by cognitive impairment(认知损伤) and the build-up of amyloid-protein plaques (淀粉样蛋白块) in the brains of people, but the disease does not occur naturally in mice. Scientists get around this by studying mice that have been genetically modified to produce high levels of human amyloid protein. These mice develop plaques in their brains, but they still do not display the memory problems seen in people.

    Many experimental drugs that have successfully removed plaques from mouse brains have not lessened the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in people. One focused stumble came last month, when three companies reported that their Alzheimer's drugs had failed in large, late-stage clinical trials. Although the drugs successfully blocked the accumulation of amyloid protein in mice, they seemed to worsen cognitive decline and brain shrinkage in people.

    The drive for better mouse models comes as genomics studies are linking the most common form of Alzheimer's to dozens of different genes. This diversity suggests that each case of the disease is caused by a different combination of genetic and environmental factors. "There is no single Alzheimer's disease," says Gareth Howell, a neuro-scientist at Jackson Laboratory (JAX) in Bar Harbor, Maine.

    Howell argues that scientists' reliance on lab mice with only a few genetically engineered mutations might have limited research. His own work suggests that in mice, just as in people, genetic diversity plays a part in determining how Alzheimer's develops.

Top 4 Amusement Parks in the World

    It's summertime! That means parents have extra time to spend with their children, and what better way to engage in classic fun with family and friends than to visit an amusement park? Take a look at these fun choices — perfect summer trip ideas to fit every budget (预算).

    Cedar Point

    Tickets: $280 for adults, $120 for children

    Praising itself as the roller coaster capital of the world, Cedar Point's 18 coasters will ensure you're riding all day. Reader Alicia Goettemoeller describes the park as a "paradise for excited thrillers" while reader Nick Schuyler says it is "built for grown-up kids."

    Knoebels

    Tickets: $120 for adults, $10 for children

    This old-fashioned amusement park is a must for your old memory games as well as money saving - admittance and parking are free of charge. Reader Tracy Ginsburg Maier says "a family of 4 can enjoy special offer to eat, swim and ride all day for $100" at Knoebels.

    Kings Island

    Tickets: $340 for adults, $160 for children

    Kings Island is one of the most visited theme parks in the US, with more than 3 million visitors per year. The park is especially known for its family-friendly attractions, such as Snoopy Island. Tickets to the main park also include admission to the nearby water park, Boomerang Bay.

    Dells Water Parks

    Tickets: $140 for adults, $80 for children

Wisconsin Dells is a water park with dozens of indoor and outdoor water parks to spread around in. One of them, Noah's Ark, is the largest outdoor water park in the US. Many are open year-round and no charge for children under five.