I really love my job because I enjoy working with small children and like the challenges and awards from the job. I also think my work is important. There was a time when I thought I would never have that sort of career.

    I wasn't an excellent student because I didn't do much schoolwork. In my final term I started thinking what I might do and found I didn't have much to offer. I just accepted that I wasn't the type to have a career.

    I then found myself a job — looking after two little girls. It wasn't too bad at first. But the problems began when I agreed to live in so that I would be there if my boss had to go out for business in the evening. We agreed that if I had to work extra hours one week, she'd give me time off the next. But unfortunately, it didn't often work out. I was getting extremely tired and fed up, because I had too many late nights and early mornings with the children.

    One Sunday, I was in the park with the children, and met Megan who used to go to school with me. I told her about my situation. She suggested that I should do a course and get a qualification（资格证书）if I wanted to work with children. I didn't think I would be accepted because I didn't take many exams in school. She persuaded me to phone the local college and they were really helpful. My experience counted for a lot and I got on a part-time course. I had to leave my job with the family, and got work helping out at a kindergarten.

    Now I've got a full-time job there. I shall always be thankful to Megan. I wish I had known earlier that you could have a career, even if you aren't top of the class at school.

Summer Holiday Fun 2015!

    The summer holidays are upon us again. Here is our guide to summer holiday fun in Peterborough!

Peterborough Museum

    The Age of the Dinosaurs is the museum's main attraction this summer. Get up close to prehistoric creatures via some great hands-on exhibits！Watch out for monsters lurking around every ember！The museum is open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Saturday，and from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Sundays in August.

Call 01733 864663 for details.

    School holiday fun：Young people aged 13—19 will be able to produce their own music，compete in sports activities，or try their hand at cooking at Saxon Youth Club，Saxon Community Centre，Norman Road，Peterborough every Monday and Wednesday from 3:00 pm. PLUS an aero ball tournament will take place on Thursday,12th August between 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm.

Call 01353 720274 for details.

Houghton Mill

    Through the Looking Glass—a new production of the family favorite on Monday 30th，August. Bring rugs or chairs to sit on and a picnic if you wish to eat during the play. Gates open 5:30 pm，performance 6:30 pm—8:30 pm. Tea room will be open until the end of the interval. Adult ￡ 10. Child ￡7. Family ￡20.

Booking advisable on 0845 4505157.

Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey

    Farmland Games：From Wellie Wanging to Pretend Ploughing matches，come and join the Farmland Team. Collect your sporting stickers and create a colorful rosette that is fit for a winner！No need to book，just turn up between 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Thursday,19th August. Suitable for children aged four and above，each child should be accompanied by an adult and all activities are included in the normal admission price. Tickets Cost：￡ 7 per child.

For further information，call 01223 810080.

    When other nine-year-old kids were playing games, she was working at a petrol station. When other teens were studying or going out, she struggled to find a place to sleep on the street. But she overcame these terrible setbacks to win a highly competitive scholarship and gain entry to Harvard University. And her amazing story has inspired a movie, "Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story" shown in late April.

    Liz Murray, a 22.year-old American girl, has been writing a real-life story of willpower and determination. Liz grew up in the shadow of two drug-addicted parents. There was never enough food or warm clothes in the house. Liz was the only member of the family who had a job. Her mother had AIDS and died when Liz was just l5 years old. The effect of that LOSS became a turning point in her life. Connecting the environment in which she had grown up with how her mother had died,she decided to do something about it.

    Liz went back to school. She threw herself into her studies, never telling her teachers that she was homeless. At night, she lived on the streets. ".What drove me to live on had something to do with understanding, by understanding that there was a whole other way of being. I had only experienced a small part of the society,'' she wrote in her book Breaking Night.

    She admitted that she used envy to drive herself on. She used the benefits that come easily to others, such as a safe living environment, to encourage herself that "next to nothing could hold me down".

    She finished high school in just two years and won a full scholarship to study at Harvard University. But Liz decided to leave her top university a couple of months earlier this year in order to take care of her father, who has also developed AIDS."I love my parents so much. They are drug addicts. But I never forget that they love me all the time."

    Liz wants moviegoers to come away with the idea that changing your life is "as simple as making a decision".

    In 2007, the editors of the Oxford Junior English Dictionary, convinced that their reference work “needed to reflect the consensus experience of modern-day childhood.”banned a group of old terms used less today describing the natural world. They inserted newer and supposedly more useful words describing the digital fields that young people in habit today.

    Thus they say goodbye to “acorn”, but say hello to “attachment”. “Beech” and “bluebell” come out of the dictionary. While “blog” and “broadband” come into it. And they say farewell to “catkin” and “cowslip” because here come “celebrity” and “chat room”.

    It's possible, of course, that those Oxford editors had a good reason for their vocabular cleansing. Perhaps they had read the Cambridge University study revealing that most young children can identify Pokémon(神奇宝贝)species far more easily than they can name real-life sparrows.

    But is this simply another fight in the language war, an ongoing battle between people? Some people argue that a dictionary should model how language works best, while some people insist that it should capture how language works now.

In Britain, some citizens felt justified in fighting back against the decision of the Oxford editors. The protest of the thinning of the word herd almost immediately attracted more than200, 000 signatures.

    Susie Dent, author of Modern Tribes：The Secret Languages of Britain, is doing everything in her power to guarantee “the old markers of time”. “Fortnight”(fourteen nights, or two weeks)is among her cherished favorites.

    Thanks to them, I can now show off my knowledge that a “snollygoster” is a “shrewd person, especially a politician”.

    It's difficult to know the exact answer to whether babies dream and what they dream about. However, sleep experts have shown that newborns dream the most in the first two weeks after birth. Babies spend most of their sleeping time in REM(rapid eye movement) stage. As dreaming takes place in a light state of sleep, newborns tend to wake up due to noises, movements and other factors. When dreaming, newborns make a few noises and their eyes move. They may move around the sides or up and down. They may laugh, scream, or cry during the REM sleep. Also, their facial muscles, hands, and legs move, due to which they may wake up. So wrapping a baby in swaddling(裹紧的) clothes can keep the baby's body from moving and help them sleep better. As babies grow, their body movement decreases when dreaming.

    Studies say that the brain activity associated with dreaming is essential for the babies' mental development. During the REM stage, the flow of blood to the brain increases. As a result, certain nerve proteins are produced, which are the building units of the brain. Babies get stimulation from what they see, hear, or feel. The brain processes the information acquired while awake, and stores what is essential to the individual. A study concludes that babies learned while they were dreaming.

    What's the time for babies to start dreaming? Researchers say that before birth, babies start experiencing REM sleep around week 25, and so they may start dreaming at the point. On the contrary, some psychologists believe that children start having dreams when they are about 5 years old. At that age, they start becoming aware of themselves and begin to understand the things around them, which is what dreams are actually made of.

    Everybody hates rats (big mice). But in the earthquake capitals of the world — Japan, Los Angeles, Turkey — rats will soon be man's best friends.

    What happens after an earthquake? We send in rescue dogs. Why? Because they can smell people. Dogs save lives. They help rescuers to find living people. But dogs are big and they can't get into small spaces. So now a new research project is using a smaller animal to save lives: the rat.

    How does it work? First, the rat is trained to smell people. When this happens, the rat's brain gives a signal (信号). This is sent to a small radio on its back, and then the rescuers follow the radio signals. When the rat's brain activity jumps, the rescuers know that someone is alive. The rat has smelled that person.

    Although there are already robots which can do this job, rats are better. Christian Linster at Cornell University, New York, says, "Robots' noses don't work well when there are other smells around. Rats are good at that." Rats can also see in the dark. They are cheaper and quicker to train than dogs, and unlike robots, they don't need electricity!

    The "rat project" is not finished, but Julie Ryan of International Rescue Organization in Scotland says, "It would be wonderful. A rat could get into spaces we couldn't get to, and a rat would get out if it wasn't safe." Perhaps for the first time in history, people will be happy to see a rat in a building (but only after an earthquake, of course).