Every man wants his son to be somewhat of a clone, not in features but in footsteps. As he grows you also age, and your ambitions become more unachievable. You begin to realize that your boy, in your footsteps, could probably accomplish what you hoped for. But footsteps can be muddied and they can go off in different directions.

My son Jody has hated school since day one in kindergarten. Science projects waited until the last moment. Book reports weren't written until the final threat.

I've been a newspaperman all my adult life. My daughter is a university graduate working toward her master's degree in English. But Jody? When he entered the tenth grade he became a “vo-tech” student(技校学生). They're called “motorheads” by the rest of the student body.

When a secretary in my office first called him “motorhead”, I was shocked. “Hey, he's a good kid,” I wanted to say. “And smart, really.”

I learned later that motorheads are, indeed, different. They usually have dirty hands and wear dirty work clothes. And they don't often make school honor rolls(光荣榜).

But being the parent of a motorhead is itself an experience in education. We who labor in clean shirts in offices don't have the abilities that motorheads have. I began to learn this when I had my car crashed. The cost to repair it was estimated at $800. “Hey, I can fix it,” said Jody. I doubted it, but let him go ahead, for I had nothing to lose.

      My son, with other motorheads, fixed the car. They got parts(零件）from a junkyard, non-toasting toaster have been fixed. Neighbours and co-workers trust their car repair to him.a

        Since that first repair job, a broken air-conditioner, a non-functioning washer and a non-toasting toaster have been fixed. Neighbors and co-workers trust their car repairs to him.

        These kids are happiest when doing repairs. They joke and laugh and are living in their own relaxed world. And their minds are bright despite their dirty hands and clothes.

I have learned a lot from my motorhead: publishers need printers, engineers need mechanics, and architects need builders. Most important, I have learned that fathers don't need clones in footsteps or anywhere else.

        My son may never make the school honor roll. But he made mine.

    Imagine being a crew member, hundreds of years ago, sailing in southern waters. Your captain is searching for food while exploring unfamiliar waters. Your job is to watch the sea off the ship's side for ice. The wind is cold on your face. Alongside the ship, a fish darts past. Another slows to a stop and raises its head above the water to look at you. How could a fish do that?

    Did the sailors see fish with feathers or swimming birds? Today, we know that the sailors saw birds that developed the ability to swim. Their wings became flippers, and they could “fly” through the water with amazing speed.

    There are many types of penguins. Only two kinds raise their young on the continent of Antarctic. Adelie penguins grow up to 29 inches tall and have a white ring around each eye. Emperor penguins have yellow orange color near their necks. Standing about 35 inches tall, they are the tallest penguins living today.

    Emperor penguins have nests on top of their feet. Father Emperor penguins keep the egg on top of their feet for more than two months, until the egg is ready to hatch. The mother penguin goes out for food during that time. Imagine holding an egg on your feet for two months until someone returns with food!

    Male and female penguins are both good parents. Once the chicks hatch, both parents travel long distances to find food for them in the sea. It may be days before the parents return and the chicks eat again. When they return with food, the fun really begins. Chicks chase their parents, begging for food. Penguin chicks eat huge amounts at one time.

    Eventually, the adult penguins stop feeding the chicks. This is nature's way of forcing children to grow up. When the penguin chicks are hungry enough, they find their way to the sea. Without any swimming lessons, they make their way into the icy waters and swim as only penguins do.

    I'd planned to spend my weekend in the sun, potting flowers outdoors. But that was before the pair of crows (乌鸦). Out of nowhere, they had set up their base camp in our backyard.

    We first discovered our feathered enemies on Friday morning. It was early, and the sound the birds made traveled through our neighborhood. I figured they'd go away soon. But, no. They were getting louder and probably annoying my neighbors nearly as much as us with the noise. I admit I got a little desperate.

    Then, on Sunday afternoon, I looked out the kitchen window to see our dog Quatchi staring at something on the ground. I went to explore and found a small coal-black bird in the grass. Its eyes were milky, and it stayed perfectly still as my dog inched towards it. Only when Quatchi touched his nose to its head did it walk away. I took hold of the dog and locked him inside and came back with my camera.

    It never occurred to me that the young would be hanging out on the ground, growing and gaining strength as its parents guarded it from above. The second I saw this little creature I forgave the crows.

    To be honest, I've never been much of a bird person. I also have a healthy respect for birds, and by healthy I mean slightly fear-based. They're basically living dinosaurs.

    I wish they'd chosen another backyard. There are only so many sunny days in Seattle, and I still can't do any gardening out there. But I'm also grateful that I got to see this little bit of nature unfold up close. It's pretty amazing.

    The experience has also strengthened my desire to create a beautiful backyard garden that attracts lots of bees, butterflies, and yes, birds. They are welcome here.

    A couple near Pittsburgh finally removed an alarm clock from inside their walls. It had been stuck there for more than ten years.

    Every night between 6:50 and 7:50, the alarm clock stuck in the living room wall rang. Sylvia and Jerry Lynn heard the alarm ring at the same time every evening for 13 years. And they finally had the clock removed after their story gained national attention.

    Keith Andreen and Dawn Michelucci work for Low-Cost Heating and Air Conditioning. They came to get the clock out of the wall through the couple's garage.

    “This is the first time that I had to remove a clock from inside a wall,” Andreen told CBS Pittsburgh.

    Jerry accidentally dropped the clock down an air vent (通风口) while making home repairs in 2004. The couple expected the clock to die after a few months. However, its battery remained undamaged even as it was pulled from the wall. Jerry said they finally got used to the nightly alarm and even considered it “kind of cute”. So he chose to leave it in the wall as a conversation starter. “You're sitting around playing cards and it goes off,” he told Inside Edition. “Is that an alarm clock? Why is the alarm clock going off? It's in the wall.”

    After 13 years, Jerry said the clock looked almost exactly how he remembered it when he dropped it in the wall. “It is a travel alarm clock,” he said. The couple plans to keep their nightly routine going by placing the clock in their room and keeping the alarm set for 7:50 p.m.

    China is fully prepared to export a full supply chain of high-speed railway technology, according to industry experts.

    China Railway Corp, the national rail operator, said exports of railway equipment and railway construction projects are proceeding well, and breakthroughs are being made in a number of projects overseas.

    Among the projects, the first full-chain commission, the Jakarta to Bandung high-speed railway in Indonesia, which includes technology, design, construction, equipment manufacture, supply of resources, operations management and staff training, has been granted a construction permit and work is proceeding smoothly.

    “China's railways have established a comprehensive and advanced technology system, which is able to provide overseas customers with solutions from many different perspectives, including financing, construction, operations, and research and development,” said Yang Zhongmin, the CRC's deputy chief engineer, who added that China's railway system is competitive in terms of technology and economy of use.

    According to Yang, the nation's railway equipment and infrastructure (基础设施) service businesses have entered markets in Asia, Europe, North America and Africa.

    Last year, Joko Widodo, president of Indonesia, and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, rode Chinese-made bullet trains.

    Yang Hao, a professor of rail transportation management at Beijing Jiaotong University, said China has a major advantage in that it is able to export a full range of railway technology: “For example, it is inconvenient to import the technology for the signaling system from one country and civil engineering technology from another.”

    When we have troubles we turn to our family. But what would we do if we lost our family? I want to share with you a touching film about an Indian child who loses his loved ones.

    The main character in the 2016 Australian film Lion is a child named Saroo. When he is 6 years old, he follows his brother Guddu to a job, but gets lost. Saroo ends up in a new city and is adopted by a kind Australian family.

    However, one day Saroo is reminded of his original family. He knows immediately that he must find out as much about them as he can, so he racks his brains (绞尽脑汁)for all that he can remember.

    Lion is the most moving film that I have ever seen. When I saw the young Saroo trying to help his brother while they worked on a construction site at such a young age, I was amazed.

    In today's society，the poor are always looked down upon. But I saw in the eyes of young Saroo great courage and kindness that made me think differently. He has great qualities that help him survive in the strange city where he finds himself.

    When Saroo sees that people are kind he rewards them with the sweetest smiles and loves them with all of his heart. Saroo's goodness, I believe, allows him to live a happy life with his Australian foster (收养)family.

    It is unbelievably hard for Saroo to reunite with his original family. He can't even remember the name of his hometown. It takes him days to find the real one. In fact, he has to go through every alternative (供选择的东西)he can find on Google Maps.

I'm deeply impressed by Saroo's determination. It is why, when I saw the movie, I cried at the moment when he finally found his mother.

    Lion is full of moving and impressive details. There are so many that I can only mention a few of them here. But what stands out most to me is Saroo's commitment (投身)to finding his original family，and the fact that his search doesn't stop him from loving his foster family.

    I want to recommend this film to everyone. See it and you'll come to understand so much about family and love.