When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Doctor Gibbs. He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard, but was always very kind.

    When Doctor Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees. He had some interesting theories about planting trees. He believed in the principle “No pain, no gain”. He hardly watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional(传统的) wisdom. Once I asked why and he told me that watering plants spoiled them because it made them grow weaker. He said you had to make things tough for the trees so that only the strongest could survive. He talked about how watering trees made them develop shallow roots and how, if they were not watered, trees would grow deep roots in search of water. So, instead of watering his trees every morning, he'd beat them with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention.

    Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I'd watched him plant some twenty five years ago. They were all tall and strong.

    I planted a couple of trees myself a few years ago. Two years of attending these trees meant they grew up weak. Whenever a cold wind blew, their branches trembled. Adversity(逆境) seemed to benefit Doctor Gibb's trees in ways comfort and ease never could.

    Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to meet with hardship. There's always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won't be torn apart.

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    YOUTR KIDS ARE AMAZING -especially compared with everybody else s (who seem to cry all the time). How do you show your love for your kids this holiday season? With toys that are smooth and colorful, interactive and exciting. And with ones that have educational value - because you are the boss.

FLAX ART HOSPITAL PUZZLE AND PLAY SET

    Here is a toy that doesn't need power, and the kids have to put it together themselves. This 50*piece-puzzle set is made of soft-edged hardwood and makes a complete hospital, with an X-ray room. It also includes eight patients, a car and a driver. $135; flaxart.com.

    TINY LOVE ACTIVITY BALL

    Sure, it's cool, but this colorful baby toy also develops problem solving and motor skills. It has a head and legs, a magnetic (磁铁) hand and a tail. Suitable for little ones from 6-36 months. $19.95; tiny-love.com.

    ROBOSAPIEN

    This small, remote-control robot is really powerful. It performs 67 preprogrammed functions, including throwing, kicking, picking up and dancing. You can even program your own function - which, sadly, does not include doing windows. $ 99; robosapienonline.com.

    MINI PEDAL CAR

    Want a mini Cooper but can't fit the family inside? Get one for the kids. They can jump into this mini car, which comes in hot orange with a single adjustable seat, and ride away. But it could spoil them for that used car they'll be driving when they turn 16. For ages 3 to 5. $ 189; mlnicar.com (click on “gear up” then “mini motoring gear”）

    The arm bones of women who lived 7,000 years ago show a surprising level of strength-even higher than today's professional athletes. that's according to a first-ever study comparing prehistoric(史前的) bones to those of living people. The finding suggests a revision of history- the everyday lives of prehistoric women were filled with hard labor, rather than just sitting at home doing lighter tasks while the men struggled and fought for life.

    Before the study, there are no clear records describing how our ancient ancestors lived. It can be easy to forget that bone is a living tissue, one that responds to the difficulties we put our bodies through, "said lead author Alison Macintosh."Physical force and muscle activity both put pressure on the bone. The bone reacts by changing in shape, thickness and other aspects over time.

    Previous studies only compared female bones to contemporary male bones, the researchers said-and that's a problem, because the response of male bones to stress and change is much bigger than that of women. For instance, as humans moved from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle constantly on the move to a more settled agrarian(农耕的) one, changes can be observed in the structure of the shinbone(胫骨)- and these changes were much more evident in men.

    However, a comparison of the bones of prehistoric women to the bones of living female athletes can help us work out a more accurate picture of what those prehistoric women were doing. "By analyzing the bones of living people and comparing them to the ancient bones, we can start to explain the kinds of labor our ancestors were reforming, Macintosh said. What they found was that women's leg strength hasn't changed a great deal, but their arms used to be very powerful. Prehistoric women, the researchers found, had arm strength 11-16 percent stronger than those of modern rowers, and 30 percent stronger than those of non-athletes.

    Tim Richter and his wife, Linda, had taught for over 30 years near Buffalo, New York – he in computers, she in special education. "Teaching means everything to us," Tim would say. In April 1998, he learned he would need a heart operation. It was the kind of news that leads to some serious thinking about life's purpose.

    Not long after the surgery, Tim saw a brochure describing Imagination Library, a program started by Dolly Parton's foundation (基金会) that mailed a book every month to children from birth to age five in the singer's hometown of Sevier, Tennessee. "I thought, maybe Linda and I could do something like this when we retire," Tim recalls. He placed the brochure on his desk, "as a reminder."

    Five years later, now retired and with that brochure still on the desk, Tim clicked on imaginationlibrary.com. The program had been opened up to partners who could take advantage of book and postage discounts.

    The quality of the books was of great concern to the Richters. Rather than sign up online, they went to Dollywood for a look-see. "We didn't want to give the children rubbish," says Linda. The books – reviewed each year by teachers, literacy specialists and Dollywood board members – included classics such as Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day and newer books like Anna Dewdney's Llama Llamaseries.

    Satisfied, the couple set up the Richter Family Foundation and got to work. Since 2004, they have shipped more than 12,200 books to preschoolers in their area. Megan Williams, a mother of four, is more than grateful: "This program introduces us to books I've never heard of."

    The Richters spend about ＄400 a month sending books to 200 children. "Some people sit there and wait to die," says Tim. "Others get as busy as they can in the time they have left."

    For over 70 years, UNICEF has been putting children first, working to protect their rights and provide the assistance and services they need to survive and develop all over the world.

    It's the end-of-year giving season, and UNICEF has lots of good news to share about the influence its supporters have had on the lives of children. Thanks to its generous donors, UNICEF has helped save more lives than any other humanitarian organization.

    Monthly donors are a major reason why UNICEF can make that claim, according to Karla Coello, UNICEF USA Senior Director for Monthly Giving. “Last year, UNICEF responded to 377 humanitarian emergencies, from conflicts to natural disasters,” says Coello. “Emergency appeals bring in important revenue - but after the emergency, there are still a lot of things children need to make life bearable. That's what our monthly donors provide.”

    When drought destroys crops, conflict forces families from their homes, an epidemic breaks out or a disaster strikes, children suffer most. And in some countries, even the best of times are dangerous for its youngest citizens. Every day more than 15,000 children under 5 die from preventable causes.

    Protecting children before, during and after a crisis requires a reliable source of funding. The constant stream of revenue provided by monthly donations enables UNICEF to reach children with what they need most when they need it, prepositioning emergency supplies before a disaster strikes and continuing to build sustainable solutions after an immediate crisis has subsided.

    Monthly giving is also important to funding large-scale interventions(介入). Thanks to UNICEF's global immune campaigns, the world is now nearly free of polio(小儿麻痹症)and there are only 14 countries where mothers and children still face maternal and neonatal tetanus(破伤风)deadly threat. And UNICEF programs in 120 countries are helping to prevent and treat malnutrition, which is linked to nearly half of all deaths of children under 5.

    “UNICEF USA monthly donors are our most engaged, most dedicated supporters,” says Rebecca Volpe, UNICEF USA Manager, Monthly Giving. “So we do our best to make them feel appreciated by keeping them thoroughly updated about the powerful impact they are having and showing them how much they matter to us.” In turn, monthly donors tend to be dedicated supporters. “Protecting children - giving them opportunities to play, learn, feel safer, heal - is critical to us,” explained a survey respondent, expressing a commitment to children that UNICEF USA's Monthly Giving team sees every day.

    Supporters who sign up with UNICEF USA to give monthly automatically become members of the Guardian Circle, which affords them benefits, including:

    Annual statements to make tax time easier

    An easy-to-use donor access that simplifies modifying gift amounts, updating payment methods and making other changes, including the timing of donations with the option to cancel at any point

    Targeted communications in the form of monthly statements and a quarterly 8-page newsletter with stories from the field.

    A team available to answer questions via email or phone.

    “We have some donors who are on fixed income, others who can afford to make considerable monthly donations," says Coello. “Whether you give $5 or $700 a month, you are super important to us. What's important is that they all really want to give and help children. And that's amazing.”

    It can be time-consuming and difficult to track charitable donations. At end of year, Guardian Circle monthly supporters receive one statement that makes filing tax returns easier - and it's always delightful to see how much good has been done for the world's most vulnerable(受伤害的)children.

    Forty-three years ago, a man took a "small step" on the moon and brought mankind a "giant leap" forward. As the first person to walk on the moon, American astronaut Neil Armstrong is a man whose name will be remembered for generations to come.

    But being the first is never easy. With so many unknowns about space at that time, Armstrong himself was astonished that Apollo 11 actually worked. He thought he and his partners had merely a 50 percent chance of a successful landing back in 1969.

    It was tough indeed. When the module (登月舱) was approaching the moon's surface, the computer wanted to rest them on a steep slope covered with rocks, but Armstrong realized it was an unsafe place to stop.

    As a last minute decision, he safely landed the module by himself. When they finally touched the ground, "there was something like 20 seconds of fuel left," he said in an interview earlier this year.

    Unfortunately, some people doubted his visit to the moon, saying it was faked. But Armstrong responded with a chuckle (轻声笑), saying: "It was never a concern to me because I knew one day, somebody was going to go fly back up there and pick up that camera I left."

    For all his global fame, Neil Armstrong is a remarkably modest man. He rarely gave interviews and didn't like talking about his achievement. He stopped giving his signatures when he found that people sold them for thousands of dollars.

    "I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks but for the ledger (记账簿) of our daily work," Armstrong said in a CBS interview in 2005. When asked how he felt knowing his footprints would be likely to stay on the moon's surface for thousands of years, he said: "I kind of hope that somebody goes up there one of these days and cleans them up."

    Armstrong passed away last month at the age of 82, but he will be memorized. "The next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink (眨眼示意)," his family said to Reuters.