My family was gathered for a barbecue when the discussion arose about a celebrity who earned a large amount of money. The major criteria for receiving millions of dollars seem to be determined by how much the audience will pay to watch the performer achieve.

    The discussion led to a sudden self-questioning. Why did I choose teaching for a career? I half-listened to their conversation as I pondered the answer.

    I remembered my three children watching me spend nights planning for my class. I remembered how they intently listened to my frustrations concerning materials, procedures and the amount of responsibility that seemed to endlessly be thrust into the laps of classroom teachers. I remembered when it came time for each of my own children to choose a profession. How I waited to hear if any had plans to follow Mom into teaching. Long considerations held no mention of anyone becoming a teacher.

    Dessert was being served, and everyone was still involved in the discussion of the enormous salary of one individual, when the phone rang. My husband handed the phone to me.

"Hello, this is Bonnie Block," I said.

"Is this the Bonnie Block who used to teach kindergarten?"

    A nervous sensation swelled in me, and my mind raced with memories of those days long ago.

"Yes!" I exclaimed with a lump in my throat. It seemed like forever as I waited anxiously to hear what the caller would say next.

"I am Danielle—Danielle Russ. I was in your kindergarten class."

    Tears of surprise and joy rolled down my flushed cheeks.

"Yes," I uttered softly as I remembered that darling, wonderful child.

"Well, I am graduating from high school this year, and I have been trying to find you. I wanted you to know what a difference you made in my life."

She proceeded to give details. My influence on her wasn't limited to kindergarten but remained a strong motivating force when she needed a coach to help her meet a challenge. "I pictured you praising and encouraging me all the way."

    Why choose teaching?

    The pay is great!

    Many animals recognize their food because they see it.So do humans.When you see an apple or a piece of chocolate you know that these are things you can eat.You can also use other senses when you choose your food.You may like it because if smells good or because it tastes good.You may dislike sonic types of food because they do not look,smell or taste very nice.Different animals use different senses to find and choose their food.A few animals depend on only one or their senses,while most animals use more than one sense.

    Although there are many different types of food,some animals spend their lives eating only one type.The giant panda eats only one particular type of bamboo.Other animals eat only one type of food even when given the choice. A kind of white butterfly will stay on the leaves of a cabbage,even though there are plenty of other vegetables in the garden.However,most animals have a more varied diet.The bear eats fruits and fish.The fox eats small animals,birds and fruits.The diet of these animals will be different depending on the season.

    Humans have a very varied（广泛的）diet.We often eat food because we like it and not because it is good for us. In countries such as France and Britain,people eat foods with too much sugar.This makes them overweight,which is bad for their health.Eating too much red meat and animal products,such as butter,can also be bad for the health. Choosing the right food,therefore,has become an area of study in modern life.

    According to a team of researchers, an animal's ability to perceive(感知) time is linked to their pace of life.

    “Our results lend support to the importance of time perception in animals where the ability to perceive time in a very short time may be the difference between life and death for fast moving creatures.” commented lead author Kevin Healy from Trinity College Dublin.

    The study was done with a variety of animals using phenomenon based on the maximum speed of flashes of light an individual can see before the light source is seen as constant. Dogs, for example, have eyes with a refresh rate higher than humans.

    One example of this phenomenon at work, the authors say, is the housefly and its ability to avoid being hit. The research showed flies “observe motion in a shorter time than our own eyes can achieve,” which allows them to avoid being hit.

    Professor Graeme Ruxton of the University of St Andrews in Scotland, who worked jointly on the research project, said in a statement, “Having eyes that send updates to the brain at much higher frequencies than our eyes do is of no Value if the brain cannot process that information equally quickly. Thus, this work highlights the impressive abilities of even the smallest animal brains. Flies might now be deep thinkers, but they can make good decisions very quickly.”

    In comparison, the tiger beetle (虎甲虫) runs faster than its eyes can keep up, basically becoming blind, which requires it to stop periodically to re-evaluate its prey's(猎物) position.

    Our results suggest that time perception offers an as yet unstudied dimension along which animals can specialize and there is considerable range to study this system in more detail.

    The European Union(EU) is an organization of European countries. The countries are independent and are governed in different ways. In the United Kingdom, for example, the head of state is a king or queen. In France, on the other hand, the head of state is a president. But each of them sends representatives to European Parliament, which has some control over what happens in each of the member countries.

    The idea of the EU began in the 1950s. The first members were France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Italy. Little by little, the number increased during second half of the twentieth century. By the year 2000, there were 15 member countries. The new countries were Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

    In 2004, the EU increased to 25 members. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia, plus the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus and Malta all became members. The expanded EU has a population of more than half a billion people, twice as big as the population of the US.

    Next month, I'm traveling to a remote area of Central Africa and my aim is to know enough Lingala — one of the local languages — to have a conversation. I wasn't sure how I was going to manage this — until I discovered a way to learn all the vocabulary I'm going to need. Thanks to Memrise, the app I'm using, it feels just like a game.

    "People often stop learning things because they feel they're not making progress or because it all feels like too much hard work," says Ed Cooke, one of the people who created Memrise. "We're trying to create a form of learning experience that is fun and is something you'd want to do instead of watching TV."

    Memrise gives you a few new words to learn and these are "seeds" which you plant in your "greenhouse". When you practice the words, you "water your plants". When the app believes that you have really remembered a word, it moves the word to your "garden". And if you forget to log on (登录), the app sends you emails that remind you to "water your plants".

    The app uses two principles about learning. The first is that people remember things better when they link them to a picture in their mind. Memrise translates words into your own language, but it also encourages you to use "mems". For example, I memorized "motele", the Lingala word for "engine", using a mem I created — I imagined an old engine in a motel (汽车旅馆) room.

    The second principle is that we need to stop after studying words and then repeat them again later, leaving time between study sessions. Memrise helps you with this, because it's the kind of app you only use for five or ten minutes a day.

    I've learnt hundreds of Lingala words with Memrise. I know this won't make me a fluent speaker, but I hope I'll be able to do more than just smile when I meet people in Congo. Now, I need to go and water my Vocabulary!

I've just arrived from New York City at the airport in Rome and already I'm lost, wandering left and right and searching for the right exit. I'm supposed to meet my wife Elvira, who lives in Italy now, and then drive to Guardia Sanframondi, the little town where we own a house, to meet our newborn granddaughter Lucia, now all of 11 weeks old.

But I takes a wrong turn, and then another, all in vain. I'm lost for 15 minutes, then 30, and finally about 45, unable to get my passport properly scanned and pick up my luggage. This is more than mildly inconvenient. After all, I've just flown more than 4,000 miles, a flight into my future.

But suddenly I see Elvira, who is holding baby Lucia in her arms. I'm found.

I stay in Italy for three weeks. It's impossible for me to get enough of Lucia, and so I follow a strict agenda(日程). Hold Lucia in my arms. Kiss Lucia all over her face. Wheel Lucia in her carriage in the most public places available. Make faces at her and even sillier gestures and sounds.

Today, at 70, I'm a permanent resident of Italy, with Lucia living a five-minute walk away. We visit her at her house and she visits us at ours almost every day. In most American families, adult children with grandchildren live in different towns and states far away. Italian families, on the other hand, are more likely to live near each other. Sometimes three generations here even stay together in the same home. I've happily turned my life upside-down to be a grandpa Italian-style. Lucia is just what I need right about now. If I'm lucky, I'll be just what she needs, too.