New Orleans, Louisiana, was established as part of the French Empire in 1718.

    Its location on the east bank of the Mississippi River gave it control of the American hinerland and it became strategically important to many nations. It was transferred from France to Spain, returned to France, and finally sold by Napoleon to the United States in 1803. The city was the site of a famous battle fought in 1815 between the British, who hoped to control it, and the Americans under General Andrew Jackson.

    The riverbed of the Mississippi is constantly silting（淤积）and the river is now actually higher than the city. Levees hold back the river and giant pumps are used to move water from the city into the river.

    Although New Orleans has been a part of the United States for almost two centuries, its population takes great pride in its French heritage. Louisiana still retains parts of the Code Napoleon which, for many years, was its only law.

    New Orleans is carefree city and it boasts its hot, spicy Creole seafood and its native Dixieland Jazz. The Jackson Square neighborhood maintains its French colonial homes and in other sections are pre-Civil War mansions. Visitors are surprised to find that behind this interesting surface of yesteryear is a busy industrial and port city. Grain and coal come from the Midwest and foreign goods are unloaded here. New Orleans is no longer a sleepy Southern town—but it's still fun to visit.

    When I graduated from college I dreamed of being a television news reporter. Having no experience, I had to work in a small town until I finally got my big break in the form of a job in Boston. I made it.

    Soon, reality set in. I was too often sent to run after accused criminals out of courts, waiting outside of crime scene tape or at the doorstep of a family still crying for tragedy (悲剧). My breaking point came the day I accidentally informed a young woman that her mother died. It was the worst day of my professional life and the day I decided I no longer wanted to shine a light on these stories. My career was ebbing, and at the same time my personal life was too-I divorced.

    My mom had always told me “When you're feeling extremely upset, go help someone else.” So I started seeking out stories of people who had been in the news under tragic circumstances but were doing something inspiring with their lives: a young girl who was paralyzed (瘫痪的) by an accident but was uplifting her classmates with her positive spirit, a blind and autistic (自闭的) musician who learned to play 27 instruments, a disabled soldier who opened his own art studio. I started to tell and promote stories like them.

    Over the last 10 years I have discovered my kindness gift: my ability to see the beautiful side of a person and reflect it back to them and the world. In telling stories of people turning their own hurt into acts of helping others I have become more sympathetic, more grateful and kinder. I have learned kindness is who we are, that our power for it is limitless and that, as we shine a light on it, it grows.

    Billionaire Bill Gates has offered the many thousands of graduates some career and life advice. Over a series of 14 tweets in his Tweeter posted last Monday, the world's richest man used the words “impact”, “happiness” and “progress”. He did not mention money. Instead, he told the graduates what jobs he would be looking for if he started out today.

“AI (artificial intelligence), energy and bio-sciences are promising fields where you can make a huge influence”, he wrote. Earlier this year, Gates—who famously dropped out of Harvard to found Microsoft—said that artificial intelligence had “ phenomenal” potential, and “anything connected with that would be an exciting lifetime career.” In the same speech at Columbia University, he said there is a huge growing demand in the energy field to develop reliable, cheap and clean energy.

    As well as urging new graduates to surround themselves with people who challenge you, teach you, and push you to be your best self, Gates reminded them to think of others, especially the less fortunate.

    He wrote that it had taken him decades to learn about the world's worst unfairness and described this lack of early understanding as his one big regret. “You know more than I did when I was your age,” he wrote, “ You can start fighting unfairness, whether down the street or around the world sooner.”

    He finished by asking graduates to consider the progress human has already made, saying that he believe the world is getting better. “ That matters because if you think the world is getting better, you want to spread the progress to more people and places.”

    A MENTORING (导师制) program is giving life changing opportunities to Banbury youth.

    Young Inspirations was founded two years ago to provide mentoring sessions for students and unemployed young adults aged 11 to 21.

    Alex Goldberg, the program's founder, said: "We set up Young Inspirations because we wanted to give young people experiences which will potentially be life changing and broaden their outlook.

    "We try to create work experience opportunities that will really make a difference to our youth. For example, we've secured internships (实习) with world­famous firms such as Honda."

    "At a time of funding cutbacks where schools are finding it more and more difficult to offer this kind of mentoring, it is extremely important that these opportunities are available both to help youth with their school work and grades and to give them opportunities which may help shape their futures." Kieran Hepburn, 14, is one of a group of Banbury youth who has benefited from the program so far. In October the Banbury School pupil was accompanied by Young Inspirations staff to Paris where he was an observer at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) International Youth Forum (论坛).

    The event was held for young people from around the world, to seek their views on how the future of youth and education should look. Kieran joined several hundred observers mostly in their 20s and was the only UK school pupil to attend the event. Kieran thinks the trip was a life changing experience. "Before we left I didn't quite know what to make of it but when we got there we didn't stop, it was amazing, " he said, "We went to three or four hours of debates each day and then did something cultural each afternoon."

    The main theme of the forum was how youth can drive change in political and public life. It dealt with issues (问题) such as drug abuse, violence and unemployment.

    Kieran said: "It has really helped me to improve my confidence and social skills as well as my school grades and I was voted most improved pupil at school in August."

    The Young Inspirations mentoring sessions take place each Friday in Banbury. For details visit www.younginspirations.com.

Year-12 student Noah Little has already sat his first Chinese-speaking exam and said it was "the easiest exam I've ever done". That view is not surprising given that the Wagga Wagga High School student loves language—so much that he has built a Chinese translation app.

Noah said his love of language was encouraged by his community. "Wagga Wagga is a place full of people from different cultures, and sometimes when I meet new people who have trouble speaking English, I like to talk to them in their own language," he said. "I also have a few Chinese friends so I think it will be cool to talk to them in their language."

The 17-year-old started teaching himself Chinese around five years ago, before taking distance education courses at the start of Year 11. His language ability was also useful in his part-time job at a local Chinese restaurant, where he translated orders for the cooks and customers.

Noah said he also had a basic knowledge of seven other languages. It was while teaching himself the languages that Noah got the idea of the translation tool. "I decided to make my own app because there weren't many around—all the other apps were full of advertisements (广告) and the translation feature (专题节目) wasn't powerful enough," he said.

His app also includes a word of the day feature, lessons on how to write Chinese characters (汉字) and a news feed of important Chinese news.

He said learning computer programming to build the app had been like studying another language. With the end of school around the corner, Noah said he would like to pursue (追求) both his interest in computer programming and languages. "I'm planning to work for a year and save so I can go on to university as I really want to make a career (事业) out of one of these two topics."

Ma Mian Qun, also known as "Ma Mian Zhe Qun (horse face pleats (褶) skirt)", is a kind of traditional Chinese dress. The question of{#blank#}1{#/blank#}the dress is named Ma Mian Qun has always been puzzling. What's the relationship between the animal's name and the skirt? In fact, "Ma Mian" is a kind of structure {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(use) for defense in the city wall system.

But {#blank#}3{#/blank#}its name is really related to the city wall is still a question to be confirmed. All the related books only show that the smooth surface without pleats in the middle {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(call) "Ma Mian", but there is no {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(far) explanation for the source of "Ma Mian".

The Chinese Horse Face Skirt shows {#blank#}6{#/blank#}unique structural design that pairs practicality with elegance. Its form-fitting waistband transforms into an A-line shape, characterized by a series of pleats that expand outward,{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (offer) a glimpse of the wearer's grace with every step.

With its deep historical roots the dress has successfully turned into modern fashion, where it serves {#blank#}8{#/blank#}a bridge between the past and present. In today's fashion landscape,{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (design) frequently draw inspiration from it, skillfully weaving its traditional elements with a modern twist,{#blank#}10{#/blank#} thereby broadens its appeal to a contemporary audience.