If anyone knows what makes a great children's book,it must be Sussex author and illustrator(插图家) Jane Hissey. Her " Old Bear" books have achieved classic status in a variety of formats.

    I caught up with Jane at her home in the East Sussex countryside and asked her what she thinks is the secret of a classic children's book. "That's a difficult one. I suppose it's got to be relevant to the child's stage of development-for young children, pictures on a page that are familiar, for older children, an experience. The book should be familiar,but hold some surprises too to keep the interest. It must inspire and delight, but there are the things that happen every day. "

    After the birth of her first child,she gave up teaching and worked on her own artwork, drawing pictures of teddy bears. An editor from a publishing company saw her work and invited Jane to do a children's book. Over the years, from the first " Old Bear" book in 1988,her children have made a huge contribution-not least in terms of plot. She said, "I used to give my children the toys to play with-and they had tea parties and so on. One of my bear characters,"Little Bear",is the same age as Ralph, my youngest, who's seven now. All the children have joined in my work and,in years to come, they will realize how much. "

    "I hope I'll know when people are getting tired of the characters. If ever they did, I think I'd go on drawing them for fun," Jane continued," My own children have been very useful to me in my work, but as they are older now, I'll just have to hope that other people's children can inspire me. "

    Flying devices called drones(无人机) may be one of the most important technologies of the future.

    The number of jobs for people who know how to design, build and control them is increasing. Because of this increase, several U.S. universities have started offering degrees in unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS.

    One of these universities is the University of Washington in Seattle. Ward Handley is seeking a master's degree in UAS at the university. When the drone program first began, he did not think it was a good idea. “Drones can be used to invade privacy(侵犯隐私).” He said. But later, Handley changed his opinion. He said, “I think there are good enough purposes for them.”

    The FAA (the part of the U.S. government that controls air travel and traffic) is creating new rules to control the use of drones, however. A new law requires drone owners to register(登记) their drones. People who do not register their drones could face fines of up to US$20,000.

    The new rules may also present problems for students. One problem is finding a legal place to fly.

    Students at Blue Mountain Community College fly inside the college gym. In Seattle, University of Washington students test their drones in a big room.

    Christopher Lum, a scientist at the University of Washington, helps students explore how drones can safely share the sky with regular aircraft. Lum explained why they test drones inside a building, “We need to register our aircraft and get permission to fly outside. That process can take months.”

    At this time, Kansas State University is the only school with permission to offer unmanned aircraft flight classes to students outside. The FAA selected Kansas State University and 15 other universities to be part of a national research group.

    Lum and some of his students recently moved their research to Australia. Australia has fewer rules limiting drones. A professor at Western Washington University also took his department's drones to Canada for the same reason.

    From self-driving cars to carebots for elderly people, rapid development in technology has long represented a possible threat to many jobs normally performed by people. But experts now believe that almost 50 percent of occupations existing today will be completely unnecessary by 2025 as artificial intelligence continues to change businesses.

    "The next fifteen years will see a revolution in how we work, and a revolution will necessarily take place in how we plan and think about workplaces," said Peter Andrew, Director of Workplace Strategy for CBRE Asia Pacific.

    A growing number of jobs in the future will require creative intelligence, social skills and the ability to use artificial intelligence.

    The report is based on interviews with 200 experts, business leaders and young people from Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. It shows that in the US technology already destroys more jobs than it creates.

    But the report states: "Losing occupations does not necessarily mean losing jobs — just changing what people do." Growth in new jobs could occur as much, according to the research.

    "The growth of 20 to 40 person companies that have the speed and technological know-how will directly challenge big companies," it states.

    A 2014 report by Pew Research found 52 percent of experts in artificial intelligence and robotics were optimistic about the future and believed there would still be enough jobs in the next few years. The optimists pictured "a future in which robots do not take the place of more jobs than they create," according to Aaron Smith, the report's co-author.

    "Technology will continue to affect jobs, but more jobs seem likely to be created. Although there have always been unemployed people, when we reached a few billion people there were billions of jobs. There is no shortage of things that need to be done and that will not change," Microsoft's Jonathan Grudin told researchers.

    Allan Guei, 18, was a star basketball player at Compton High School in the Los Angeles area before he graduated last month. His good grades made him eligible for an unusual competition: A free-throw contest in the Compton High gymnasium. The top prize: ＄40,000 in scholarship money.

    Guei, whose parents immigrated to the United States from the Ivory Coast, knew how much that financial aid could mean for his family. He was also feeling a fair share of pressure as students and teachers crushed into the gym to watch Guei and seven other randomly compete against each other.

    Guei won the free-throw contest by one basket and netted the ＄40,000. But it's what he did next that's truly astonishing.

In the weeks following the March free-throw competition, Guei learned that he'd scored a full-ride basketball scholarship to California State University—Northridge. NCAA(全国大学生体育协会)rules allowed Guei to accept the athletic scholarship and also keep most of the ＄40,000 he had won.

    But Guei couldn't stop thinking about the seven talented runners-up from the free-throw contest. They, too, had dreams and very real needs. So, he asked Principal Jesse Jones to make a surprise announcement at Compton High's graduation ceremony: Geui wanted to donate the ＄40,000 to the other seven students.

    “I've already been blessed so much and I know we're living with a bad economy, so I know this money can really help my classmates,” Guei said in a statement. “It was the right decision.”

    Guei elaborated on his decision to give the money away in an interview with ESPN(体育电视网): “I was already well taken care of to go to school, to go to university for free… I felt like they needed it more than I did.”

    Many seniors feel pressured to go straight from high school to college, but Camden Olson, who graduated from the Latin School of Chicago in the US last year, didn't give in. She decided to spend a gap year-taking a year off before college-raising a guide dog for Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Maine. The non - profit provides trained guide dogs to blind and visually - impaired (视力障碍的) people. "This is something I've always wanted to do." Olson said.

    It is becoming more and more popular among American teenagers to have a gap year. Some students use the year off to figure out what they want to do: travel the world or save money for college.

    Olson is using her time to follow a passion she's had since 7th grade. For years, she kept an eye on guide dog services until she came across the opportunity at Guiding Eyes. With support from her friends, family and teachers, Olson went for it. Olson's volunteer work centers around Derby, a one-year-old black dog.

    "My job is to raise him to be well-mannered and socialized," she said. "Guide dogs can't be distracted. They go everywhere with their visually-impaired owner. They give a blind person a lot of support, too."

    Of course, there's an end in sight for Derby and Olson's close bond. When Derby celebrates his own graduation, Olson will have to say goodbye to him.

    "No doubt there will be tears, but, if he passes, I will be so happy for him to become a working dog," she said.

    While some do not agree that gap years are a good choice, Olson said she's seen major success. In fact, she'll be attending Princeton University soon and is thinking about majoring in biology.

    "I think I'm already so much more mature than I was," she said. "So many kids come back from gap years a lot more focused and prepared."