“Cleverness is a gift while kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy—they're given after all. Choices can be hard.”—Jeff Bezos

    I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that the Internet usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old, and I'd been married for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most start-ups don't, and I wasn't sure what to expect. MacKenzie told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor. I'd always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.

    I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job.” That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but finally, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision not to try at all.

    After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice. For all of us, in the end, we are our choices.

    Even before my father left us, my mother had to go back to work to support our family. Once I came out of the kitchen, complaining, “Mom, I can't peel potatoes. I have only one hand.” Mom never looked up from sewing. “You get yourself into that kitchen and peel those potatoes,” she told me. “And don't ever use that as an excuse for anything again!”

    In the second grade, our teacher lined up my class on the playground and had each of us race across the monkey bars, swinging(荡秋千) from one high steel rod to the next. When it was my turn, I shook my head. Some kids behind me laughed, and I went home crying.

    That night I told Mom about it. She hugged me, and I saw her “we'll see about that” look. The next afternoon, she took me back to school. At the deserted playground, Mom looked carefully at the bars.

    “Now, pull up with your right arm,” she advised. She stood by as I struggled to lift myself with my right hand until I could hold the bar with my other elbow(肘). Day after day we practiced, and she praised me for every rung(横档) I reached. I'll never forget the next time, crossing the rungs, I looked down at the kids who were standing with their mouths open.

    One night, after a dance at my new junior high, I lay in bed sobbing. I could hear Mom come into my room. “Mom,” I said, weeping, “none of the boys would dance with me.”

    For a long time, I didn't hear anything. Then she said, “Oh, honey, someday you'll be beating those boys off with a bat.” Her voice was faint. I peeked out from my covers to see tears running down her cheeks. Then I knew how much she suffered on my behalf. She just never let me see her tears.

    Spell checks are turning us into a nation of idiots with a third of adults failing to reach the expected spelling ability of an 11-year-old child,a shocking study shows.

    A survey involving 1,000 adults aged between 16 and 77 found that 67 percent would reach Level 4 in Standard Assessment Tests (ASTs),while less than half (44 percent) would achieve Level 5.Fifteen percent of the adults tested even failed to reach Level 3,which is below Level 4—the expected level of children at age 11.Experts blamed the poor showing of the adults on the popularity of tools such as spell check and auto-correct,which both play an important role in modem-day living.

    The study asked adults to complete Key Stage 2 spelling tests designed to judge the performance of children aged 10 and 11,as they reach the end of primary school.But the test spelled trouble for many of the adults tested.The study was charged by King Digital Entertainment,makers of popular mobile games such as Candy Crush.People taking part in the test were asked to spell 35 different words taken from SATs spelling papers from the past three years.In a test which imitated real exam conditions."Phenomenon" and "unnecessary" were among the words spelled wrong by more than half of those participants.Other words which fewer than half were able to spell included rhythmic (42 percent) and jewellery (49 percent).

    Susie Dent.Lexicographer（字典编纂者）and resident word expert on TV show Countdown,believed the results were partly down to the popularity of tools such as spell check and auto-correct.She said,"Tho result is disappointing. It suggests that the ability to spell is losing its importance in our daily lives.Modem tools like spell check and auto-correct encourage us to switch off from learning,leading to satisfaction or,at worst,indifference."

    Are you content with the shape of your nose? If not, the climate may be to blame, not your parents.

This is according to a recent study carried out by scientists from Pennsylvania State University, US. They found that climate played a key role in shaping our noses. The findings were based on an examination of the size and shape of noses of 476 people from four regions—West Africa, East Asia, South Asia and Northern Europe, using 3-D facial imaging technology.

     “People have thought for a long time the difference in nose shape among humans across the world may have arisen as a result of natural selection because of climate,” Arslan Zaidi, one of the lead authors of the study, told The Guardian. But while previous studies were based on measurements from human skulls, Zaidi and his team looked at nose shape itself.

    The result showed that wider noses are more common in warm and humid climates, while narrower noses are more common in cold and dry climates. That, Zaidi said, could be because narrower nasal passages help to increase the moisture (潮湿) content of air and warm it，which is easier on our lungs. This, in turn, led to a gradual decrease in nose width in populations living far away from the equator.

    More study is still needed to test the link between climate and nose shape, but Zaidi believes the current findings are valuable in understanding potential health issue. “As we become more of a global community, we are going to come across climates that we are not adapt to,” he told the Guardian. This means moving to a very different climate might increase the risk of breathing problems.

    However, he added, “This may not be necessarily true for various reasons such as of modern medicine and the fact that our current climate is very different from what it used to be.”

    Booking a theatre

    These locations have theatres available for rental:

    Fairview                • Palmerston                • York Woods

    Priority Bookings

    Each June, theatre booking requests for dates in the following calendar year (January to December) are accepted.

    For more information call the Room Booking Unit at 416-397-5969.

    Regular Bookings

    For people who didn't make a booking request in June, call the Room Booking Unit at 416-397-5969 to check for remaining dates.

    Completing a Booking

    Once the library receives a request, staff will check the availability and place a tentative booking for you. You will then receive a contract that you must return with payment within 10 calendar days of the tentative boding and with a minimum of two months before the first booking to confirm the booking.

    Payment

    Payment for the first booking and any bookings in the current month is due when you return the signed contract. If you have booked for multiple months, payments for those months are due at the beginning of each month.

    Visit the Newseum During "Museum Day"！

    Museum Day is an annual celebration of boundless curiosity hosted by Smithsonian magazine. Participating museums and cultural institutions across the country provide free entry to anyone presenting a Museum Day ticket. The Museum Day ticket provides free admission for two people.

    Here is some information about a popular museum — the Newseum.

    EVENT DETAILS

    Registration: free tickets will be available for the public to download on December 15 via the link: https://www.smithsonianmag. com/museumday/museum-day-2018/.

    Advanced registration is requested so that the museum sites know how many people to expect. If you don't register beforehand you may still be admitted the day of the event, but no guarantee for admission. All are welcome to attend including children and groups.

    Meeting Point #1: From 7:45 – 8:00 some volunteers will be in the Starbucks at 325 7th St NW before walking 2 blocks to the Newseum.

    Meeting Point #2: Outside the Newseum's Pennsylvania Avenue entrance. The Newseum opens at 9:00 am. However, as this is an extremely popular event we highly recommend arriving as early as possible, by 8:15 if you can, to bypass the masses that will show up later in the day.

    Meeting Point #3: Once the museum opens we recommend immediately heading to the 6th floor to avoid the masses since most people start on the 1st floor. On the 6th floor, the Hank Greenspun Terrace, which overlooks Pennsylvania Avenue and the U. S. Capitol, has one of the best views in Washington, DC. After that you can proceed through the museum's exhibits starting on the 6th floor and working our way down. The Newseum is open until 5:00 pm and guests are free to arrive and depart whenever they like.