In the fall of 1985, I was a bright-eyed girl heading off to Howard University to study law, aiming at a legal career and dreaming of sitting on a Supreme Court bench somewhere. Twenty-one years later I am still a bright-eyed dreamer and one with quite a different tale to tell.

    My grandma, an amazing woman, graduated from college at the age of 65. She was the first in our family to reach that goal. But one year after I started college, she developed cancer. I made the choice to withdraw from college to care for her. It meant that school and my personal dream would have to wait.

    Then I got married with another dream: building my family with a combination of adopt and biological children. In 1999, we adopted our first son. To lay eyes on him was fantastic and very emotional. A year later came our second adopted boy. Then followed son No.3. In 2003, I gave birth to another boy.

    You can imagine how busy I became, raising four boys under the age of 8. Our home was a complete zoo--a joyous zoo. Not surprisingly, I never did make it back to college full-time. But I never gave up on the dream either. I had only one choice: to find a way. That meant taking as few as one class each semester.

    The hardest part was feeling guilty about the time I spent away from the boys. They often wanted me to stay home with them. There certainly were times I wanted to quit, but I knew I should set an example for them to follow through the rest of their lives.

    In 2007, I graduated from the University of North Carolina. It took me over 21 years to get my college degree!

    I am not special, just single-minded. It always struck me that when you're looking at a big challenge from the outside it looks huge, but when you're in the midst of it, it just seems normal. Everything you want won't arrive in your life on one day. It's a process. Remember: little steps add up to big dreams.

    Recently a new study has been carried out. It shows students who write notes by hand during lectures perform better on exams than those who use laptops.

    Students are increasingly using laptops for note-taking because of speed and legibility (清晰度). But the research has found laptop users are less able to remember and apply the concepts they have been taught.

    Researchers performed experiments that aimed to find out whether using a laptop increased the tendency to make notes “mindlessly” by taking down word for word what the professors said.

    In the first experiment, students were given either a laptop or pen and paper. They listened to the same lectures and were told to use their usual note-taking skills. Thirty minutes after the talk, they were examined on their ability to remember facts and on how well they understood concepts.

    The researchers found that laptop users took twice as many notes as those who wrote by hand. However, the typists performed worse at remembering and applying the concepts. Both groups scored similarly when it came to memorizing facts.

    The researchers' report said, “While more notes are beneficial, if the notes are taken mindlessly, as is more likely the case on a laptop, the benefit disappears.”

    In another experiment aimed at testing long-term memory, students took notes as before but were tested a week after the lecture. This time, the students who wrote notes by hand performed significantly better on the exam.

    These two experiments suggest that handwritten notes are not only better for immediate learning and understanding, but that they also lead to superior revision in the future.

    Earlier this month, 6-year-old Isaac went on vacation to Fort Walton, Florida, with his family. While they were there, his mother Garrett learned about LuLu, a restaurant that offers food to customers with food allergies(过敏).

    At LuLu, Isaac could eat a salad and a bowl of chicken soup with rice. "Isaac looked at me as if asking, 'Is this OK?' " Garrett said. Once his mom gave the OK, Isaac enjoyed for the first time the experience of eating at a restaurant. "That look on his face was like, 'This is the coolest thing I've ever done,' " Garrett added.

    Garrett and her family rarely eat out because of Isaac's food allergies. When they do, she cooks something for Isaac at home before they leave and brings it with her to the restaurant. "It's not fun and it feels unfair," she said.

    Their night at LuLu marked a celebration for Isaac. Garrett shared the moment on the restaurant's Facebook page. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving Isaac this wonderful experience," she wrote in her post.

    Barnett, the restaurant's manager, said, "When customers tell the staff that someone in their group has a food allergy, I assist with the order by passing it to the kitchen, ensuring it's cooked in a separate station and delivering the finished food to the guests. We have been improving this process over the past ten years since our allergy program was started."

    On Garrett's Facebook post, LuLu thanked Garrett for sharing her story. "Thank you for sharing your experience with us," the restaurant wrote in a comment, "We are excited to see your son so happy!"

    Garrett is hoping her post's popularity will convince other restaurants to be more considerate. "LuLu takes it seriously as we take it – nothing could make us happier than that," she said.

    Sure it's good to get along with your teacher because it makes the time you spend in the classroom more pleasant.

    And yes, it's good to get along with your teacher because in general it's smart to learn how to understand the different types of people you'll meet throughout your life.

    "But really there's one super-important reason why you should get along with your teacher. When you do learning bursts right open " says Evelyn Vuko a longtime teacher who writes an education column(专栏) called "Teacher Says" for the Washington Post newspaper.

    In fact, kids, who get along with their teachers not only learn more but they're more comfortable asking questions and getting extra help. This makes it easier to understand new material and do your best on tests. When you have this kind of relationship with a teacher he or she can be someone to turn to with problems such as problems with learning or school life such as bullying.

    As a kid in a primary or middle school you're at a wonderful stage in your life. You're like a sponge (海绵) able to absorb lots of new and exciting information. On top of that you're able to think about all this information in new ways. Your teacher knows that in most cases is very excited to be the person who's giving you all that material and helping you make it. Remember teachers are people too and they feel great if you're open to what they're teaching you. That's why they wanted to be teachers in the first place-to teach!

    Some kids may be able to learn in any situation whether they like the teacher or not. But most kids are sensitive to the way they get along with the teacher and if things aren't going well they won't learn as well and won't enjoy being in class.

    When men get together, they seldom talk about their feelings or inner thoughts. However, they talk about a lot, like their newest computer, how to repair their car, or even business.

    Talk might move to the best place to find fish or women, jump to computer games, then continue to the sport of the season. They also like to tell jokes each other and spend a fair amount of time playing one-up and boasting (吹牛). Men seldom call each other to chat.

    When man meets woman, he usually wants to make a good impression. Many single men try hard to carry on amusing, fun, and pleasant conversations. They use conversation to discover her interests and feelings in order to learn how to be attractive to her.

    Some men, either out of nervousness or ignorance, spend most of the time talking about themselves, often appearing to brag about their achievements or talk endlessly about their problems or work. Even the quietest man talks to his woman when love is new.

    When women get together, they talk about feelings and relationships, their work and their family. They enjoy talking but also want the give and take of talk, then listen. Women often call each other to chat. Conversation is an important part of most women's lives.

    As relationships progress, however, many a man turns on the television and forgets how to talk. This raises anger and cry from his woman partner who says, "You never talk to me anymore." Some men start talking. Many, however, mainly discuss their own achievements and problems.

    When the woman starts talking about her favorite subjects: feelings, family, relationships, friends and her work, many men lose interest or bring the conversation back to themselves. Pretty soon, the man is back to staring at the television each night, wondering where his relationship has gone. The woman is talking to her friends, mom, sister, or neighbor, often about that very relationship and how she is hurting.

Earthworms don't move fast. But humans can accelerate the worms' spread. Fishermen often use invasive(蔓延性的) earthworms to catch fish. Many have introduced invasive earthworms to rivers, streams and lakes previously unexposed to these animals. Gardeners who use earthworms to make their soil rich may unknowingly introduce invasive ones. The worms even give rides in the mud on wheels, potted plants and road materials shipped around the nation.

But they're not everywhere yet. In the Great Lakes region, "20 percent of the land is earthworm-free," says Cindy Hale, a research biologist. Of the remaining 80 percent of land, half of the land has fewer than two earthworm species-meaning there isn't yet too much impact on the ecosystem, she explains. For these regions, she says, now is the time to take action. According to Hale, educating the public, especially fishermen, is one approach to stopping the spread of invasive earthworms. Identifying which lands are currently earthworm-free is another.

Ryan Huefimeier, a program coordinator for Great Lakes Wom Watch, has been working on a model that will help create large maps of areas with minimal(最小的) or no damage from earthworms. Ultimately, landowners can use it to identify earthworm activity on their property. once identified, lands with minimal or no earthworm damage should be protected.

But scientists suspect that once invasive earthworms arrive they can't be removed. And even if all could be, affected forests might never return to the way they were. "It's very much a story of learning to live with them," concludes Lee Frelich of the University of Minnesota's Center for Forest Ecology.

Forest ecologists have called earthworms "ecosystem engineers" because they can change or create habitats that otherwise would not be present. Whether this is a good thing depends on the situation.

"What the earthworms do and how we value it is what really matters." said Hale. "In one place-farm fields or gardens-we really like European earthworms and what they do, so we consider them good. In native hardwood forests, we really don't like what they do-so we consider them bad. You really have to understand how an organism(微生物) affects an ecosystem. Things aren't black and white."