What does it take to be a good neighbor？Over the years I have had all kinds of neighbors, ones that were enjoyable and others that were to be avoided at all costs.

    One of the most important things in being a good neighbor is to respect尊敬 a person's privacy(隐私).When someone new moves into the neighborhood it is a good idea to watch them to see how friendly you should be. If you go rushing over as soon as they move in they may think you are going to be one of those neighbors that come over at all times of the day, not respecting their privacy.

    It is a good idea always to be friendly to everyone in the neighborhood. This can not only put you on good terms with them, but will also be a form of protection for your family and home. If you wave as they drive by or offer a friendly hello while they are out in their yard this shows that you respect them. If you are friendly to them they are much more likely可能的 to watch out for any wrong doings going on around your home while you are out and let you know if anything happens.

    Another way of being a good neighbor is to be helpful in times of need. If you see that they are in need of a helping hand doing something or in times of a disaster(灾难), it is good to offer your help. Even though you have never really talked to the people down the street, they are willing愿意的 to take the time to help out a neighbor in need.

    In conclusion, if you respect a person's privacy, treat them kindly and be helpful when you see they are in need, you will be a great neighbor and anyone would be happy to have you next door!

    Washington, D.C. Bicycle Tours

    Cherry Blossom Bike Tour in Washington, D.C.

    Duration Tour

    This small group bike tour is a fantastic way to see a world-famous cherry trees with beautiful flowers of Washington, D.C. Your guide will provide a history lesson about the trees and the famous monuments where they blossom. Reserve your spot before availability — the cherry blossoms—disappear!

    Washington Capital Monuments Bicycle Tour

    Duration:3 hours (4 miles)

    Join a guided bike tour and view some of the most popular monuments in Washington, D.C. Explore the monuments and memorials on the National Mall as your guide shares unique facts and history at each stop. Guided tour includes bike, helmet, cookies and bottled water.

    Capital City Bike Tour In Washington, D.C.

    Duration:3 hours

    Morning or Afternoon, this bike tour is the perfect tour for D. C. newcomers and locals looking to experience Washington, D.C. in a healthy way with minimum effort. Knowledgeable guides will entertain you with the most, interesting stories about Presidents, Congress, memorials, and parks. Comfortable bikes and a smooth tour route(路线）make cycling between the sites fun and relaxing.

Washington Capital Sites at Night Bicycle Tour

    Duration:3 hours(7miles)

    Join a small group bike tour for an evening of exploration in the heart of Washington, D.C. Get up close to the monuments and memorials as your bike the sites of Capitol Hill and the National Mall. Frequent stops are made for photo taking as your guide offers unique facts and history. Tour includes bike, helmet, and bottled water. All riders are equipped with reflective vests and safety lights.

    A linguist is always listening, never off-duty. I invited a group of friends round to my house, telling them that I was going to record their speech. I said I was interested in their regional accents, and that it would take only a few minutes. Thus one evening, three people turned up at my house and were shown into my front room. When they saw the room they were a bit anxious, for there was a microphone at head height, with wires leading to a tape-recorder in the middle of the floor. They sat down, rather nervously, and I explained that all I wanted was for them to count from 1 to 20. Then we could relax and have a drink. I turned on the tape-recorder and each in turn counted seriously from 1 to 20 in their best accents. When it was over, I turned the tape-recorder off and brought round the drinks. The rest of the evening was spent in total relaxation. I joined them in talking and joking freely, leaving them only to take a telephone call, which lasted some time.

    As a matter of fact, the microphones were not connected to the tape-recorder in the middle of the room at all but to another one in the kitchen. My friends, having seen the visible tape-recorder turned off, paid no more attention to the microphone which stayed in front of their chairs, only a few inches from their mouths, thus giving excellent sound quality. And my long absence meant that I was able to get as natural a piece of conversation as it would be possible to find I should add, perhaps, that I did tell my friends what had happened to them, after the recording was over, and asked them whether it should be destroyed. None of them wanted to—but for some years after that, it always seemed that when it came to buying drinks, it was I who paid for them. Linguistic research can be a very expensive business.

    Norman Garmezy, a development psychologist at the University of Minnesota, met thousands of children in his four decades of research. A nine-year-old boy in particular stuck with him. He has an alcoholic mother and an absent father. But each day he would walk in to school with a smile on his face. He wanted to make sure that "no one would feel pity for him and no one would know his mother's incompetence." The boy exhibited a quality Garmezy identified as "resilience".

    Resilience presents a challenge for psychologists. People who are lucky enough to never experience any sort of adversity (逆境) won't know how resilient they are. It's only when they're faced with obstacles, stress, and other environmental threats that resilience, or the lack of it, comes out. Some give in and some conquer.

    Garmezy's work opened the door to the study of the elements that could enable an individual's success despite the challenges they faced. His research indicated that some elements had to do with luck, but quite large set of elements was psychological, and had to do with how the children responded to the environment. The resilient children had what psychologists call an "internal lens of control(内控点)". They believed that they, and not their circumstances, affected their achievements. The resilient children saw themselves as the arrangers of their own fates.

    Ceorge Bonanno has been studying resilience for years at Columbia University's Teachers College. He found that some people are far better than others at dealing with adversity. This difference might come from perception(认知) whether they think of an event as traumatic(创伤), or as an opportunity to learn and grow. "Stressful" or "traumatic" events themselves don't have much predictive power when it comes to life outcomes. "Exposure to potentially traumatic events does not predict later functioning," Bonanno said. "It's only predictive if there's a negative response." In other words, living through adversity doesn't guarantee that you'll suffer going forward.

The good news is that positive perception can be taught. "We can make ourselves more or less easily hurt by how we think about things," Bonanno said. In research at Columbia, the neuroscientist Kevin Ochsner has shown that teaching people to think of adversity in different ways--to reframe it in positive terms when the initial response is negative, or in a less emotional way when the initial response is emotionally "hot"—changes how they experience and react to the adversity.

Sharks have been swimming in the ocean for millions of years. They were on Earth even before dinosaurs! At the top of the world's ocean's food chain, sharks help keep the population of other ocean animals in balance. A large drop in the number of sharks can cause serious problems for all ocean animals. Saving sharks makes sense!

Many people are afraid of sharks. But most sharks are harmless. Only a small percentage of sharks are known to attack humans. It adapt (适应) well to new habitats and eat whatever is available. However, today, sharks are in trouble. Nearly one－third of the 400 shark species are in danger of extinction, largely due to over－fishing. Each year, tens of millions of sharks are caught and killed just for their fins. The fins are used to make shark fin soup.

Humane Society International (HSI) joined with the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots and Shoots program and Beijing Zoo to protect sharks. An exhibit at the zoo, "the Price Behind the Taste—Protect Sharks. Don't Eat Shark Fins", was designed to tell people that shark finning is cruel and unnecessary. It's hoped that the activity will help put an end to the practice.

Shark fin soup is also eaten in the United States. In fact, the numbers of some shark species in US waters have dropped 90 percent in the last 30 years. To slow the fall, laws against the sale of shark fins have been passed in several states, including Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and California.

2024 TFK Poetry Contest

Call all poets! Time for Kids has a challenge for you: write a funny, rhyming poem. Enter the Time for Kids Poetry Contest! As fewer and fewer children are interested in writing poetry of their own, Time for Kids decides to organise and sponsor such a contest to change the situation.

Contest Rules

1. How to enter This contest begins on March 6, 2024 and ends on July 24, 2024. To enter, mail the following information to 1271 Avenue of the Americas, 32nd Floor, New York: 

(a) an original and previously unpublished poem that has a humorous and rhyming scheme;

(b) entrants' first name only and a parent's mail address. Limit one entry per person.

2. Judging All entries will be judged by poet Kenn Nesbitt, based on the following criteria: creativity and originality(50%), use of language and rhymes(25%) and appropriateness to the theme of the contest(25%). The length of the entry will not be taken into consideration.

3. Prizes Our judges will select four semi-finalists(半决赛选手) from which one grand prize winner and three finalists will be chosen. The one grand prize winner will receive an online class visit from Children's Poet Laureate Kenn Nesbitt and a signed copy of his newest book of poetry, The Armpit of Doom: Funny Poems for Kids, approximately value at $275. The three finalists will each get a signed copy of The Armpit of Doom: Funny Poems for Kids, and both their poems and that of the grand prize winner will be published on our website.

4. Eligibility(参赛资格) Open to legal citizens of the 50 States and the District of Columbia who are primary school students and are 8 to 13 years old at the time of entry.

5. Winner's list For names of the winner and finalists, visit our website (after August 1, 2024).