I remember my childhood summers fondly, as many of us do. Those golden days in which I would leave the house after a still sleepy, leisurely breakfast and come home only for lunch in the middle of a day spent entirely outdoors. We did not live in town and, thus, playmates were limited to siblings (兄弟姐妹) and the cousins who lived down the road.

    Our backyard became the playground in which our imaginations would run wild—turning those few acres into magical forests, the creek (小溪) into a violent river and our trusty dog, Rex, into the many roles of horse, monster and any other creature that we children did not want to play. By the end of the three months of summer break we were sunburned from our hours in the sun, full of the memories of a thousand magical moments and bonded to our siblings in a way that winter's forced hibernation (冬眠) never seemed to connect us.

    Today, I live on the same acreage that I did as a child. My children have the blessing of having the same grassy patches to scratch their bare feet as they run through it, the same creek to stomp(跺脚)through, and not the same dog—but their very own energetic pup to imagine away the days with.

    However, this is not the same world as it was twenty, thirty years ago. There are screens everywhere in the house to demand attention—televisions with hundreds of channels, computers with access to a thousand entertaining sites, tablets stocked with apps. There is also no longer the expectation of a stretch of an unscheduled three months. Their school friends tell competitive stories of carefully planned vacations, spending time traveling to all of the local attractions—various parks, the zoo, the science center, all of the festivals which come breezing through town. On the very first day of school they will be asked to list their favorite activities of the summer and no longer are these lists filled with things like finding wood to make a bridge over a creek or a day spent in imaginative play with their siblings. The lists are now full of trips, overscheduled days and “camps” that no longer offer a stay in nature.

    Our children have become used to being entertained every minute. In our house, we have limits on electronics and kick the kids outside on a nice day. Even as we try as parents to set limits and get our children out in nature, the new cry of childhood seems to be “I'm bored,” which is not really just meaning “I'm bored,” “but “Please find something to entertain me, as I no longer can entertain myself even for a short period of time.” Our children no longer know how to sit in silence, entertain themselves while even waiting for a few minutes and have lost the awe of nature as they have become addicted to screen time.

    We have made a choice in this household to do what is no longer expected of children in many households—we will ensure that there are days of “boredom.” We refuse to spend our days scheduling our children's every hour. There will be many days with no plans at all, when they will be sent outside with only the grass and the trees and their own imaginations to entertain them.

    The screens will be turned off and our children will find that times of quiet can be just as or even more entertaining. They will bond with their brother and sister, making memories that they will replay in their minds well into adulthood. Even though sunscreen will be religiously applied, they will leave summer with sunburned and scratches coming from climbing trees, stomping through creeks and chasing the dog in the field.

    This summer I will be giving my children the greatest gift of all—boredom. For inside boredom is the gift of getting to know your own mind, of finding comfort and joy in nature and in the realization that the greatest gifts are experience, not things.

    Choosing where to live may be one of the biggest decisions you'll make when you move to Sydney, but you'll have plenty of help.

    Temporary arrival accommodation

    Before you move to Sydney, we recommend that you book a temporary place to stay. Once you get here, you can look for longer-term accommodation.--sydney.edu.au/accommodation/short-term

    On-campus-residential colleges (fully catered饮食全包的）

    The University has eight residential colleges on the Camperdown/Darlington Campus, including International House, a residential community of global scholars, Colleges provide comfortable, fully furnished single rooms and daily meals, along with sporting, cultural, leadership and social programs. They also include on-site tutorials（辅导课）in addition to campus-based classes.--sydney.edu.au/colleges

    On-campus residences (self-catered饮食自理的）

    The University has two self-run residences—Queen Mary Building (QMB) and Abercrombie Student Accommodation—on the Camperdowm/Darlington Campus. Both just under a year old, they house up to 1000 students. These residences provide modern single-study rooms with large common living, learning and study spaces, shared kitchens, a theatre, gyms, soundproofed music rooms, art studios, sky lounges and rooftop gardens.--sydney.edu.au/campus-life/accommodation/live-on-campus.html

    Off-campus living

    More than 90 percent of our students live off campus. The University is close to many dynamic and multicultural suburbs such as Annandale, Newtown, Chippendale and Glebe. A great place to search is our large online database of properties.--sydney.edu.au/campus-life/accommodation/live-off-campus.html

    London—A morning's train ride away, across the Channel, English kids talk about Liverpool's soccer team in a Paris pub. Some Parisians have even started to go to work in London. In the 19^th century, Charles Dickens compared the two great rival (竞争) cities, London and Paris, in " A Tale of Two Cities". These days, it might be A Tale of One City.

    Parisians are these days likely to smile in sympathy at a visitor's broken French and respond in polite English. As jobs grew lack at home over recent years, perhaps 250,000 Frenchmen moved across the Channel. With an undersea tunnel, they could travel between cities in three hours. The European Union freed them from immigration and customs.

    Paris, rich in beauty, is more attractive. But London feels more full of life, and more fun until the pubs shut down.

    "For me, the difference is that London is real, alive," said Trevor Wheeler, a banker.

    Chantal Jaouen, a professional designer, agrees. "I am French, but I'll stay in London," she said.

    There is, of course, the other view. Julie Lenoux is a student who moved to London two years ago. "I think people laugh more in Paris," she said.

    In fact, London and Paris, with their obvious new similarities, are beyond the old descriptions. As the European Union gradually loosened controls, Londoners flocked into Paris to shop, eat and buy property (地产).

    "Both cities have changed beyond recognition." Said Larry Collins, a writer and sometimes a Londoner. Like most people who know both well, he finds the two now fit together comfortably.

    "I first fell in love with Paris in the 1950s and it is still a wonderful place," Collins said. "But if I had to choose, it would be London. Things are so much more ordered, and life is better."

    But certainly not cheaper. In fancy parts of London, rents can be twice those on Avenue Foch in Paris. Deciding between London and Paris requires a lifestyle choice.

    Like Daphne Benoit, a French journalism student with perfect English, many young people are happy to be close enough so they don't have to choose.

    "I love Paris, my little neighborhood, the way I can walk around a centre, but life is so structured," she said. "In London, you can be who you want. No one cares."

    Scientists have connected the "fat gene" with the "happy gene". They believed there could be genetic evidence which explains why fat people are often happier than their skinny friends. The breakthrough could be an explanation for why fat characters, such as The Laughing Policeman and Father Christmas are often described as joyful and kind.

    FTO is the major genetic contributor to being fat. But it is also connected with an eight percent reduction in the risk of depression. Researchers at McMaster University in Canada had been studying whether there was a connection between being fat and being depressed. They found the opposite was true.

    They studied 17, 200 DNA from participants in 21 countries. Results showed people with FTO gene—the fat gene—showed less signs of depression. This finding was supported by three additional international studies.

    Professor David Meyre said, "We set out from the belief that being depressed and being fat both deal with brain activity. We thought that fat genes may be related to depression. However, we have discovered a molecule (分子) contributing to depression. It is the first evidence that an FTO fat gene is connected with protection against depression.

    In a recent interview, actress Lisa Riley said she was more than comfortable with her size. She said she is a "big, really happy" girl who is lucky enough to be confident in her own skin, and added, "Many people want to be thinner. Not me. I love being different and it drives me mad that people don't believe I'm happy with what I am."

    Before you make friends, you have to decide who you want to be your friends.

    Most people like to have friends who like to do the same kind of things they do.

    The quickest way to make a friend is to smile. When you smile, people think you are friendly and easy to talk to. It may not be easy at first to smile, but remember most people will stay away from a scaled or angry looking.

    One easy way to start a conversation with someone is to say something nice about him. Think about how great you feel when someone says something nice to you. Doesn't it make you want to keep talking to that person?

    Ask your new friends questions about themselves. Who's their favourite singer, where do they live, what do they do after school are all good questions to start a conversation. Make sure you have something to add to the conversation, too. Then someone asks you a question, do have an answer for it. There is nothing that will stop a conversation quicker than a shrug for an answer.

    Kids who show an interest in other kids and who are kind and friendly make good friends. Remember, everyone wants to be around people who like to do similar things and people who are nice to them.

Grandma celebrated her fifty-third birthday just weeks before grandpa died of cancer in 1965. Although his passing was very difficult for her, I think their shared struggle to make his life longer taught grandma that good health was not to be taken for granted, and she made up her mind to live her rest of her own life as fully and as long as she could. One day, when she announced to attend lessons at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Portland, Oregon, where she lived, we rolled our eyes in embarrassment and helplessly wished she would just stay home and bake cookies as normal grandmothers did. Many years filled with countless dance lessons passed before we learned to appreciate the wonder of having a dancing grandma.

I suppose grandma's primary motivation for wanting to learn to dance was social. She had been a shy girl, always very tall and heavy, and had married into grandpa's quiet lifestyle before developing any elegance or confidence in her personal appearance. Dancing, on the other hand, filled her life with flash lights, wonderful parties, beautiful dresses, handsome young dance instructors, and the challenge of learning. Although the weekly dance lessons did not change her ample, two-hundred-pound figure, grandma surprised everyone with energetic performances on the dance floor, which soon gave her as much elegance and confidence as any Miss American competitor.

Having taken weekly dance lessons for years, my grandma learned various dances easily and was soon participating in dancing matches all over the Northwest. When I was fourteen, grandma proudly invited me to watch her compete in one of these matches to be held in the grand ballroom of the Red Lion Inn. My attitude was still unenthusiastic at that point, but to make her happy, my mother and I attended the match. As if to prove me wrong, grandma made a wonderful showing in every event she entered. I thought she was truly the queen of the ball during the dance, and my thoughts were shared by the judges a short time later when she was awarded a gold cup for her outstanding performance.