Does your local town have a nickname？If so，what does it say about the area and the people who live there?

    Many cities are recognized across the world by  their unofficial titles.New York is the Big Apple，London is the Big Smoke，and Los Angeles is famously called La La Land.

    Now Britain's National Mapping Agency(规划局)，Ordnance Survey，and the British Linguistics (语言学)Charity，the English Project，are launching an interactive project to uncover the nicknames people use for local places.

    The project，which was launched last week to coincide with English Language Day，is called Location Lingo.It aims to identify the names people use every day，whether it's a term of endearment(昵称) or a hate name.

    The University of Winchester's Professor Bill Lucas is a leader of the English Project.He explains that unofficial place names often show what people think about a place.“The name that people conjure up or create for a place forms an emotional connection，”he says.“So Basingstoke becomes Amazingstoke，Swindon is known as Swindump.Padstow，hometown of chef Rick Stein，is nicknamed Padstein.”

    Basingstoke is a town in central England.The local nickname，Amazingstoke，shows the love that locals seem to have for the area.Swindon，on the other hand，is sometimes called Swindump，showing that local people think it's a big dump.Stanford Le Hope in Essex is called Stanford No Hope by locals.And Padstow in Cornwall is so closely associated with the local celebrity Rick Stein that it's become known as Padstein.

    Since launching the online database (数据库) last week，the creators have already received 3,000 alternative  titles for places and landmarks.

    Some also say that the project could even have a practical use.Glen Hart，Ordnance Survey's head of research，says the information could be very helpful to the emergency services，for example.“By having the most complete set of nicknames，we could help the emergency services quickly locate the right place，and maybe even save lives，”he says.

    On a snowy and windy afternoon, Ann, a ten-year-old girl, went out to play. She was walking along the sands when she was blown into a ditch (壕沟) by the seashore. She was frightened and tried her best to climb out. But the ditch was too deep and she was too weak to get out of it. So Ann cried at the top of her voice for help. But what she could hear over the snow ditch was nothing but the terrible noise of the wind. Nobody came to her and nobody knew where she was. She struggled again and again. Her face was struck by the strong wind, snow and sand, and was almost frozen. Her hands were stiff. She also felt that she was worn out. She started to cry hopelessly. Just at the moment Ann saw a black dog appearing through the heavy snow. It was Victor, her true friend. He was glad to see the sign of life. And the dog set out to work as soon as he got to Ann. He cleaned away the snow around her with his own paws and hind legs, and then reached out his big strong fur head to Ann. The little girl closed her arms round Victor's neck. The dog backed away slowly, pulling her out of the ditch little by little.

    Successfully, Ann got out of the ditch at last. Then she struggled to her feet. With great difficulty, led by her true friend Victor, she was rescued. Victor, the black dog, was given a gold medal and was honoured as Brave Hero Dog of America.

    “Image is everything.” An entire industry has been built upon the concept that image is everything, but an appealing image isn't enough when there's no substance behind it.

    First of all, one should consider how important image is in selling products and services. Advertising agencies have raised the art of creating an image to a state of near perfection. But if the product or service doesn't live up to it, customers will be very dissatisfied. The recent scandal (丑闻) about the Arthur Andersen accounting firm showed that behind that image, it had unfair business practices under the table. Despite the previous positive image, the firm is being accused of criminal actions. Although the image had been nearly perfect, the reality behind the image has led to its downfall.

    Similarly, personal consultants(顾问) can build up a very positive public image for politicians and movie stars in the view of the general commons. But once again, history is filled with examples of both that fell from grace (体面) like the story of the Hollywood actor giving in to the pressures of fame and fortune. With people, just as with products and services, image is certainly important, but without positive substance behind it, failure is close.

    To conclude, it's clear that an appealing image is extremely important to success, whether that image is related to selling a product or service or to the “selling” of a person. But image is only half of the equation(等式). What lies behind that image is every bit as important as the image itself — the person or product must live up to that image or there's little chance for long-term success.

    After spending a long day driving the day before, Steinkamp left his hotel around 5:30 a.m. to a funeral in Green Bay, Wisconsin. About half an hour into his journey, he noticed a small strange sound coming from his front tire. By 7 a.m., he still had 70 miles ahead of him, but the noise was so loud that he knew he had no choice but to stop.

    Steinkamp figured there was little possibility that anyone in Wild Rose, Wisconsin-a tiny town with a population of 725-could help so early in the morning. Still, he look his chance at an auto repair shop. Luckily, Steinkamp spotted Glenn Geib stocking the shelves, and he asked for help.Giving Steinkamp a quick look, Geib asked why he was so dressed up, and Steinkamp explained his dilemma.

    The mechanic checked the car and told Steinkamp what he'd feared: the wheel bearing（轴承）was failing. Fixing it would take a few hours, but there was no chance the car would make it that distance without repairs.

    "I must have looked pretty stressed out at this time because Glenn then reached into his pocket, pulled out the keys to HIS vehicle and said 'Take my truck and get going,'" Steinkamp wrote in a Facebook post.

    The men had met just 10 minutes before and didn't know each other's names, but Geib insisted. Steinkamp made it to the funeral. When he came back to the garage seven hours later with a thankful heart, he stuck around to chat with Geib.

    "The 74-year-old mechanic turned a terrible day into a good one with a great lesson." Steimkamp wrote, "Just be kind and help if you can."

    10 years after my parents got married, my dad went to work in the oil fields, and soon accepted a job working overseas. The money was great, but the fact that we only saw him every other month disappointed me. My mom stayed home with her five children, raising us alone. We had a place in the country with horses, dogs, chickens and a few head of cattle. Mom was very busy, but always made time for us. Of course, lots of mothers did things like that. But Mom's greatest achievement was yet to come.

    When the oil business declined(衰退) in the 1980s, my dad and most of his friends lost their jobs. The wives were at a loss to know how to manage without large monthly paychecks. But my mom was different. She helped out by working part-time jobs and she learned to drive a semi-truck, so she could help my dad make more miles at his new job. But with three teenagers at home, she couldn't spend time on the road with him, so he decided to find a different kind of job.

    Mom found an ad for the International Air Academy in Vancouver, Washington. She had always dreamed of working as a flight attendant but had chosen a family over a career. She was fascinated by the idea that she might be able to work in the travel field after all. Having no idea how she would pay for the schooling, or even if she'd get a job, she took a leap of faith(冒险一试) and dialed the number.

    It wasn't easy, but she passed the entrance exam and was admitted to the three-month training course. That was only half the battle, though, as she still needed the tuition. She finally got a loan( 借款) to cover some of the expenses, and the president of the school gave her a personal loan to cover the rest.

    As she read her welcome packet, she realized there was a strict dress code( 着装要求), requiring professional dress each day. This was not something she had. And she also needed to see an eye doctor. Her older brother sent her enough money to buy the clothes she needed and test her eyes. And then she took her two youngest － daughters my sister and me to Vancouver, where there was an apartment waiting for her in the family housing section.

    In the first day of class, she was so nervous. I can remember her taking deep breaths and trying to calm herself before leaving. She was forty-five years old, and that made it a little intimidating to walk into a classroom full of twenty-year-olds and try to hold her own. But she stood by her commitment and graduated at the top of her class.

    Her first job as a travel agent was with a large agency in Aurora, Colorado. She felt great about her achievement and proud of the beautiful high-rise building she worked in. I was so proud of what she had done. She'd found a way to rise above the curveball( 弧线球) life had thrown at her. Instead of quitting as many of her friends had, she charged ahead and created a brand new career.

    Almost every second of every day an older adult falls in the United States. That's approximately 29 million falls per year and nearly 27, 000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Still in the stating stage, the Active Pelvis Orthosis (APO) system in Switzerland wants to make a lightweight, wearable exoskeleton (外骨骼) that could detect signs of balance loss and assist with balance recovery to keep the elderly wearer from falling, only when needed.

    Other exoskeletons, either in development or on the market today, assist with movement and make heavy objects feel lighter. Mobility-impaired people can walk again. But none of these devices predict what the wearer is going to do next and take measures to correct an unsteady move.

    The 3 kilogram (6.7 pound) exoskeleton was built entirely from scratch by the research team and is designed to be worn on the lower half of the body. A waistband connects to two movable carbon fiber braces (支架), each one positioned on the outer side of a leg. Tiny motors and so-called "adaptive oscillators" (适配振荡器) in the computer circuits use a special process to detect the, wearer's unique paces. That part takes just a few minutes.

    While wearing the exoskeleton, a person may feel the braces and the motors pushing slightly on their legs. If their paces go against normal, the motors create a force in the braces that cause them to stiffen up and push a little more strongly against the legs, which provides stability.

    In the next three years, the APO hopes to develop something that is commercially available.